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Christine O'Donnell's Evolution
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Howdy!
It is by now a cliche to say that Christine O'Donnell is the gift that keeps giving. I don't mean the "gift that keeps giving" part. I mean the "Christine O'Donnell is the gift that keeps giving" part. By now that whole sentence has been repeated so often that it is itself a cliche.
We all know that Christine wants to crack down on masturbation (insert your own 2,145 jokes here), and would happily tell the Nazi soldiers exactly where Anne Frank is hiding, because "lying [even to Nazis] is bad". Specifically she said that "God would find a way for her to tell the truth" in the Anne Frank scenario. And if the truth is that Anne Frank is hiding upstairs, that's just unfortunate. (My religion teaches me that in that situation God would scream "Lie to them you zombie-freak!)
I would note that God did not find a way for her to tell the truth when she said for years that she was a college graduate. You see, that was true except for the part about graduating from college. So to recap, lying to Nazis....bad. Lying on your resume...part of God's plan.
A newly released video tape shows Christine arguing that "evolution is a myth" because she sees no evidence that apes are still evolving into humans. And she has apparently really, really looked. She once spent 4 hours at the zoo watching a group of apes very closely, and not one of them turned into Ryan Seacrest. Although she did leave to get a soft pretzel and think chaste thoughts for 10 minutes and when she came there was a janitor that wasn't there before. Where did he come from? Who can say?
The real issue is that evolution conflicts with Christine's religious beliefs. And apparently when any scientific assertion (the world is older than 6,000 years, the world is not flat, etc.) conflicts with her subjective view of religion, then religion must prevail. Fair enough. I have my own subjective beliefs for which there is no evidence (me having hair like Link on the Mod-Squad for example). It's a free country. People can believe what they want.
But what troubles me is when people actually try to make scientific arguments for what they believe in contradiction to all scientific evidence. I guess they feel it makes it more credible for them to make science-y arguments for implausible things. Hence Christine's "Look at him, that monkey's not evolving" argument. Of course, carried to its logical extreme, the personal observation argument would lead one to lots of interesting conclusions. Such as:
= I've never seen milk churned, so butter must come from Dairy Fairies.
= Have you ever seen microwaves? Me either, so don't try to tell me there aren't people in the TV set.
= I never see the sun at night. They must hide it in a warehouse in Brooklyn.
= I've never witnessed someone buying a Celine Dion album, so it simply doesn't happen (oh if that were only true!)
The origins of life in particular cause people to lose perspective. The same people who find "flaws" in science of evolution, have no problem believing that one day there was an open field, and literally the next day - POOF!! There is a brand new full-grown water buffalo who has had no parents. Clearly, there are no scientific flaws in THAT theory.
The desire to imbue the patina of "science" onto a religious belief is so strong, that there are entire institutions dedicated to the endeavor. For example, there is a museum in Kentucky called "Answers in Genesis" which claims that "overwhelming evidence proves" that the earth is 6,000 years old. They admit dinosaurs existed, but claim they lived side-by-side with people. There is even an exhibit of a man putting a saddle on a T-Rex, which, if it actually happened I'm guessing led to the invention of the phrase "Holy SHIT"! and the first "things to avoid" list.
The fact is that for many people who hold religious beliefs, there is literally nothing scientific you could show them to make them abandon those beliefs. If the good Lord himself came down and said "Listen, people, evolution really happened" these people would call it a socialist plot, which becomes all the more plausible if the person claiming that is wearing tea bags on his hat. These folks are not open to evidence or being convinced. Again, more power to them (so long as it's not literal power, like in government).
But it is one thing to reject science. It is quite another to try to make up science to fit beliefs that have no relation to science. The Flat Earth Society, which still exists claims that the earth is flat and "heaven is about 4,000 miles away. The fact that you can fly east from New York and eventually land in New York from the west doesn't impress it's founder Charles K. Johnson. And from his front yard, it's hard to argue. I wonder if Christine O'Donnell is afraid of falling off of the edge.
Daylin
Howdy!
It is by now a cliche to say that Christine O'Donnell is the gift that keeps giving. I don't mean the "gift that keeps giving" part. I mean the "Christine O'Donnell is the gift that keeps giving" part. By now that whole sentence has been repeated so often that it is itself a cliche.
We all know that Christine wants to crack down on masturbation (insert your own 2,145 jokes here), and would happily tell the Nazi soldiers exactly where Anne Frank is hiding, because "lying [even to Nazis] is bad". Specifically she said that "God would find a way for her to tell the truth" in the Anne Frank scenario. And if the truth is that Anne Frank is hiding upstairs, that's just unfortunate. (My religion teaches me that in that situation God would scream "Lie to them you zombie-freak!)
I would note that God did not find a way for her to tell the truth when she said for years that she was a college graduate. You see, that was true except for the part about graduating from college. So to recap, lying to Nazis....bad. Lying on your resume...part of God's plan.
A newly released video tape shows Christine arguing that "evolution is a myth" because she sees no evidence that apes are still evolving into humans. And she has apparently really, really looked. She once spent 4 hours at the zoo watching a group of apes very closely, and not one of them turned into Ryan Seacrest. Although she did leave to get a soft pretzel and think chaste thoughts for 10 minutes and when she came there was a janitor that wasn't there before. Where did he come from? Who can say?
The real issue is that evolution conflicts with Christine's religious beliefs. And apparently when any scientific assertion (the world is older than 6,000 years, the world is not flat, etc.) conflicts with her subjective view of religion, then religion must prevail. Fair enough. I have my own subjective beliefs for which there is no evidence (me having hair like Link on the Mod-Squad for example). It's a free country. People can believe what they want.
But what troubles me is when people actually try to make scientific arguments for what they believe in contradiction to all scientific evidence. I guess they feel it makes it more credible for them to make science-y arguments for implausible things. Hence Christine's "Look at him, that monkey's not evolving" argument. Of course, carried to its logical extreme, the personal observation argument would lead one to lots of interesting conclusions. Such as:
= I've never seen milk churned, so butter must come from Dairy Fairies.
= Have you ever seen microwaves? Me either, so don't try to tell me there aren't people in the TV set.
= I never see the sun at night. They must hide it in a warehouse in Brooklyn.
= I've never witnessed someone buying a Celine Dion album, so it simply doesn't happen (oh if that were only true!)
The origins of life in particular cause people to lose perspective. The same people who find "flaws" in science of evolution, have no problem believing that one day there was an open field, and literally the next day - POOF!! There is a brand new full-grown water buffalo who has had no parents. Clearly, there are no scientific flaws in THAT theory.
The desire to imbue the patina of "science" onto a religious belief is so strong, that there are entire institutions dedicated to the endeavor. For example, there is a museum in Kentucky called "Answers in Genesis" which claims that "overwhelming evidence proves" that the earth is 6,000 years old. They admit dinosaurs existed, but claim they lived side-by-side with people. There is even an exhibit of a man putting a saddle on a T-Rex, which, if it actually happened I'm guessing led to the invention of the phrase "Holy SHIT"! and the first "things to avoid" list.
The fact is that for many people who hold religious beliefs, there is literally nothing scientific you could show them to make them abandon those beliefs. If the good Lord himself came down and said "Listen, people, evolution really happened" these people would call it a socialist plot, which becomes all the more plausible if the person claiming that is wearing tea bags on his hat. These folks are not open to evidence or being convinced. Again, more power to them (so long as it's not literal power, like in government).
But it is one thing to reject science. It is quite another to try to make up science to fit beliefs that have no relation to science. The Flat Earth Society, which still exists claims that the earth is flat and "heaven is about 4,000 miles away. The fact that you can fly east from New York and eventually land in New York from the west doesn't impress it's founder Charles K. Johnson. And from his front yard, it's hard to argue. I wonder if Christine O'Donnell is afraid of falling off of the edge.
Daylin
posted by Daylin Leach at
9:08 AM
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