Relativism be damned

[likethebeer]

In Georgia: Some worry evolution dispute hurts image: Stickers calling evolution 'theory, not fact' at center of case.

I love the fact that people argue that leaving the way open for creationism, and sticking a sticker on a book insisting that evolution is a theory not fact, is "open-minded." Fuck it. It's not open-minded. It's a deliberate turn away from the scientific method. I went to Catholic school--that my parents paid extra for in addition to their taxes, thank you very much--and we learned about evolution.

I was in grad school w/this woman whose name always escapes me. Y'know, in grad school there's always a percentage of the students who think they don't belong there. In reality, pretty much everyone deserves to be in grad school. Except this woman. Some examples. I was having a conversation w/her one day (we worked together in the slide department) and I mentioned a book on the 4th dimension. She had no fucking clue what I was talking about. She'd never heard to the 4th dimension, and when I explained that some people think it's an additional spatial dimension, or some say that it's time, she looked completely incredulous. She also had no idea who Salman Rushdie was. This was only a few years after the Satanic Verses flap, and we were reading Satanic Verses for our class. This was the class in which she eventually went to the professor and told him that she literally didn't understand anything he was talking about (it was a po-mo theory class).

But here's really why I brought up this woman. 2 other women in the slide department were having a discussion about language derivation while working (i.e., while trying to put away slides, and probably the slide titles got them into this discussion). I know that 1 of the women took Italian before grad school (b/c she got some reeeally bad advice from someone--this woman ended up studying African art, so the Italian was especially useless); the other woman knew German. So maybe that's how the discussion started.

Anyway, this woman whose name escapes me said, "Well, aren't all languages descended from Hebrew?" The other 2 women expressed ignorance of that fact, and asked why this woman said that. "Well, because of the Tower of Babel."

Let me tell you--you look like an idiot when you reference things that occurred in the Bible as fact.

Creationism is for 'tards. I would like to note that people in Georgia don't look upon it too well themselves: Doughnut shop worker Maria Jordan, 48, said her Atlanta customers were shaking their heads over the latest dispute. "Lord, don't we have more important things to worry about?" she asked. "It's just a flat-out embarrassment."

Comments

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

All-things-Christian will act as a lightning rod for the next while, I suspect.

This is supposed to be the best school system in Georgia? I like how of all the theories in a science book, they would centre out evolution. The whole thing is assinine, but obviously isn't going away unless people fight it, and I hope they do.

evolution as a lightning rod

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Yes, and i should really not concern myself so much w/these things, just sometimes....

Re: evolution as a lightning rod

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

I think it is good to know that such crackpot things go on in Jesusland. Hey, If you don't know, you can't care. "Well-informed society" and all that crap. I just wish all this anti-science blows up in their face.

evolution is a theory

[erisreg.livejournal.com]

it is,it still is in it's own evolution, but then everything is just a theory,.. i don't hold much hope for creation having any future as a theory because they use one of the most self contridictory doucuments as a basis,..o.o

Re: evolution is a theory

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know it's a theory, but we know DNA, we know mutation, we can extract the long term effects of these, and we'll never be able to prove evolution unless our civilization survives intact for millions of years.

I don't get it. If God created the world 6,000 years ago and "tricks" us into believing that there were dinosaurs, how do you explain the speed of light and the red shift? That's the 1 that gets me. If the speed of light is another trick on God's part to get us to think that distant galaxies are trillions of milesaway and millions/billions of years in the past, then how do you explain radio and tv waves? Seems like they only believe in the creation theory when it's convenient.

Aside from the fact that I think it doesn't give God enough credit, tgubjubg he'd trick people into believing in dinosaurs. That's a dumb way for God to spend his/hers/its time.

I'm sorry for the vitriol, I'm just at the point where I have to call stupid stupid.

tgubjubg?

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

My fingers where over on the keyboard by 1. "thinking" was what I was trying to write.

Re: tgubjubg?

[mslilly.livejournal.com]

most christians I know who believe God created the world believe that there's no way of knowing how He did and that evolution is possible. They explain the "six-day" thing as a metaphor where a day could be anything from a day to a million year period.

Re: tgubjubg?

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

That's how my science teacher in the 8th grade used Genesis to start out a discussion of the big bang. I can see that point of view, and I think it's a fine way for parochial schools and programs to approach it. It's the people who don't believe in evolution and who think those who do don't believe in God that gets me all cranky.

Re: tgubjubg?

[mslilly.livejournal.com]

there really aren't as many of them as one might think.

Re: tgubjubg?

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

mmmm--I wish tv reporters wouldn't talk to those people so much.

Re: tgubjubg?

[mslilly.livejournal.com]

But they make the ratings go up. Who tunes in to watch perfectly reasonable, level-headed people?

Re: tgubjubg?

[erisreg.livejournal.com]

i knew,..;D

for the vitriol

[erisreg.livejournal.com]

no problem babe,.. but you really made my point,.. if there is a god, how the hell can some bible toting monkey,presume to even begin to know how this creature (god) thinks/lives/preseves,..only in the abstract realm of possibilities do i envision a creator (which could encompass some divine plan, to an advanced alien spaceship dumping garbage on a planetoid setting off a chain reaction at the dawn of our time), on the other side every scientific "fact" undergoes scrutiny by science and gets disproven and reformed in small ways all the time, we know we don't know that's the fascinating thing about knowldge,it's new all the time,..:)

[kalimama.livejournal.com]

"Creationism is for 'tards"

word.

Of course, it's all the rage in my community...is it any wonder I'm chomping at the bit the get the hell outta town?

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

argh. That would drive me nuts if I had children. Obviously, it engendered a reaction in me from another state and I don't have children.

[coconuthead.livejournal.com]

This is appalling and all, but the big thing I got out of it was "Hey! I WASN'T too dumb for grad school!"

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I would think that, myself. I only thought I belonged in grad school in my 2nd year when my friend Lisa told me, "Of course you belong here!"

"Creationism is for 'tards."

[djymm.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's refreshing to hear somone else venting for a change. Even the lefties are trying to reclaim the christian voting bloc, so it's gonna be a preachy four years. Hmmm, maybe I should look for an LJ community of unrepentant apostates.

Re: "Creationism is for 'tards."

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there is one. And you've got coco near by for your movement.

Nice icon.