This guy... Bobby Jindal, is not only a self-proclaimed exorcist, but also wants ID taught in schools. And he's on the short list of potential McCain running mates. Yikes!
There is a part of me, though, that really wished that this story hadn't broken until after he had been selected. That would have led to lots of election media fun. But, since it's out there, might as well spread it.
More proof abstinence-only education doesn't work.
Creationists keep asking for evidence of evolution. Well, on top of all of this, now there is this.
And Priests plagiarizing sermons. Is it really that hard? The book's already been written for you!
Nota Bene: What the youtuber suspects is quote mining is in fact quote mining. Dawkins was asked what he thought the most plausible version of ID would be... he was asked to use his imagination, and he did, positing that aliens designed us. Stein then misrepresents the quote to fit his own purpose. Intellectual honesty, anyone? Oh wait, the makers of Expelled aren't the least bit concerned with that.
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Below the fold are a few youtube videos that I've come across that address the movie Expelled. I haven't yet seen the film, although there is a plan to see it later in the week. I'll be sure to write my own review after I've seen it. At any rate, though, the videos below argue (and, in my opinion, argue well, given the available evidence) that Stein and his movie demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of evolutionary theory, and are more than willing to lie in order to advance their agenda. Of special note is the last video in the series which details what actually happened to those who claim to have been "expelled" for their views on ID. Happy Watching!
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I just finished reading David Brock's The Republican Noise Machine and it got me thinking. In the book, Brock makes the claim, also put forward in the documentary Outfoxed, that the notion of "liberal bias" in the media is something that has in large part been put into the American consciousness by the right wing, and something that has been continually pushed even as the radical right has taken over the media in a number of ways. I'll refer to this political tactic - that of labeling something as biased when it's not - as the "bias tactic".
One of the immediate consequences of the populace's acceptance of the notion of "liberal bias" in the media - that is, of the success of the bias tactic with respect to media - is that it gives those with radical right wing beliefs an automatic trump card in debate. After all, any facts that you try to bring to light in debate that rely on the reports of the media are automatically under suspicion, since the media supposedly has a liberal bias. And any right wing debater can play this card whenever such reported facts threaten his position - "Well, sure the news supports what you're claiming" he can say, "the media is biased. We're not hearing both sides of the story". This, of course, can be an immediate debate stopper. If one has been sucked in by the idea that the media has a liberal bias, then, if one did not collect the facts oneself, it is impossible to properly justify the facts that you've presented on the basis of media reports. Not only that, but the success of the bias tactic also makes it possible for the right wing media sources like Fox to use anti-bias sounding slogans like "fair and balanced" to draw viewers to news that actually is biased.
It seems to me that Ben Stein's new bit of propaganda - Expelled - is a broadening of the application of the bias tactic. Charges of bias used to be thrown just at the people who report the facts. But now it's the people who collect the facts. This time they're after science.
Think about it for a moment. The whole premise of Expelled is that the scientific establishment is biased, that it kicks out people who do not agree with the established consensus. Now this is patently false, just as it was in the case of the media. There are many scientists who question the current paradigm and don't get kicked out. After all, if you have the evidence to back up your claim that the current paradigm is wrong, you're instantly famous! Here comes the Nobel Prize! But that won't stop the people behind Expelled any more than it stopped those who propagated the "liberal media" myth.
If application of bias tactic to science were to be successful the rewards for the right would be overwhelming - much better than the rewards reaped from duping viewers of Fox news. Just as Fox news managed to situate itself as an actual news organization rather than the propaganda machine that it is due to the success of the bias tactic with respect to the media, organizations doing pseudo-science that supported conservative ideas, even when they contradicted real science, would gain a much greater status. Global warming denialism, young earth creationism, and spurious claims about the ills of vaccines or the effects of abortion like the lie that abortion causes breast cancer would all instantly gain credit. After all, if the scientific establishment is biased, then we can't trust what they say, so we have to listen to both sides. "Fair and balanced" and "teach the controversy" are products of the same idea - the idea that the best way to get around facts that you don't like is to create your own "facts".
Now, I may be being a bit of a conspiracy theorist here. And either way it doesn't look like they're going to get away with it this time. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you, and just because they fail once doesn't mean they won't try it again.
It's not just science that won't let this sort of talk in. I know from experience that it's completely unacceptable in philosophical circles as well. This is a serious infringement on the free speech of scientists and philosophers who see the evidence for this alternative theory!
via Pharyngula via Dawkins
Creationists often complain about the lack of transitional fossils. They claim that evolution has been disproven because we haven't found the fossils that would verify the theory. Blah, blah, blah. Well, since I'm so sick of hearing it... and since Ben Stein's IDiotic movie will be coming out soon, I thought I would compile some of my favorite youtube videos laying out the fossil record. Some are more science intensive than others, and there is some overlap between them. And, of course, there is no way the whole fossil record could be documented by a couple of youtube videos (as a matter of fact, I'm missing early mammal to our primate ancestors in this video compilation). But have fun... you're guaranteed to learn something watching these!
We have the fossils. We win!
In the beginning....
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And then the earth was peopled with fish and reptiles and mammals and the great whale...
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But where did we come from? Glad you asked....
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Many thanks to somecomputergeek, KennyTew2 and DonExodus2 for these awesome videos!
So, this is definitely a bit of ID/Creationist material, and if you listen closely you can hear the bad arguments of the creationists and theists slipped coyly in. But it's still absolutely hilarious. Anything that has Dennett in a big pimp hat with a cane can't help but be funny.
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Update 4/8/08: After significant discussion with other atheists who have seen the video, I have come to the conclusion that this is in fact not creationist propaganda, but rather satire. (Would a real creationist put a squid on PZ's hat? Highly improbable.)This is just an instantiation of Poe's Law - creationist beliefs are indistinguishable from parody of those beliefs.
So, while I was meandering around YouTube (rather than doing the grading I ought to be doing... I'll go back to it in a sec. Promise) I discovered this great video explaining why atheists care about religion (with Pantera playing in the background. Nice!) I thought I would share it. You can find it below the fold.
I often get asked why, as an atheist, I care about religion, or why I spend so much time talking about god. Well, I care about religion for much the same reasons the youtuber who made the video cares. Religion has a detrimental impact on my life and the lives of others. And I spend so much time talking about whether god exists or not because almost all religions (particularly the most harmful ones) are based around a deity. Do away with the deity, do away with the religion.
The number one reason that I spend so much time and effort talking about religion and god, though, is that religious belief and theism are based on the same thing - faith. Faith is a bad epistemic method. And continuing to accept it in our society is damaging in more ways than one. Not only does it breed religious belief, but it also leads people to accept spurious claims - to rely on woo, waste time searching for ghosts, and to reject the opponents of faith. Opponents that have brought us so much good (and, yes, in the wrong hands, some bad - but way more good). I talk about religion and god because I support reason and evidence. Because I support science, and because I see the foundation of religion and theism -faith - as antithetical to these pursuits.
PZ Myers over at Pharyngula (if you don't already read his blog, you should) noticed this. Apparently, the creationists are now claiming that all words in all human languages have "Edenic" roots. Unfortunately, they've been as sly with this attack on science as they are with most of their others. How are we to possibly verify this claim? After all, they are claiming that all words have proto-Hebrew roots - roots that derive from the language designed by god and given to humans in the Garden of Eden. So, what was this language? How do we get at it? Many of their articles (yes, there are articles, take a look if you want to get ticked off) make sad attempts at linking current English words to Hebrew. But since Hebrew came about after the Tower of Babel (yes, they actually believe that human languages split off as a result of an incident at the Tower of Babel), what reason do we have to believe that is is closely related to "edenic"? None. If you want to be as incensed as I am right now, check out their website.
Expect more on this disgusting nonsense soon. For now, I'm going to go bang my head against a wall.
Some good news from my hometown. The Rio Rancho School Board has decided, in a rather close vote (3-2), to do away with a science policy that looks an awful lot like sneaking creationism into the science classroom.
