In the latest chapter of the Bush administration's ongoing War on Science, President Bush has come out in favor of the teaching of the "intelligent design" theory of the Earth's creation. "I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought," Bush said. "You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes."
This is yet another bold initiative from a bold leader, and one that shouldn't simply be confined to the science classroom. In all other fields, we should apply the same approach, teaching side-by-side the theory that all the experts agree on, and the theory that some ill-educated mouthbreather believes in. If we don't, then we'll be guilty of persecuting Christians. Again.
In history class, for instance, we should teach that the North won the Civil War, and then that the South won, and let the students decide. Teach students that FDR led Allied forces to victory over Adolf Hitler, and then teach that he led the A-Team to victory over Col. Decker, and let the students decide. Teach them that Martin Luther King delivered his powerful "I Have a Dream" speech, and then that he delivered the powerful guitar solo in Aerosmith's "Dream On" and let the students decide.
Seriously, I don't know about you all, but between the creationism, the denial of global warming, and all the stem cell stuff, I'm really looking forward to my geriatric days, when my doctor will tell me we have two course of treatment to heal my broken hip -- saying the rosary or a good, old-fashioned leeching.
(For more thoughts on this nonsense, check out a classic post from Norbizness. Now with 100% more Tom Wopat!)
Update: Wonkette has a brilliant line on this mess: "Teaching it as 'alternative' to evolution is a little like teaching magic as an alternative to physics, which at least would at least explain the president's belief in the missile defense program."
5 comments:
Great post! I love how Bush has to change the question he's being asked so that he can claim he wasn't saying whatever it is that someone says he said (or something).
Hey, I live to serve. And frankly, I've been looking for an excuse to use the church sign generator.
Tokyo joe - curious if you accomplished your studies at the same place Tom Cruise mastered the ins and outs of the black art commonly referred to as "psychiatry"? .... I actually agree with the bulk of what you are saying: teaching (and being aware of) multiple viewpoints is important (and saying american history is rife with ignorance and lacking in objective oversight is a world class understatement) but to completely dismiss global warming is crazy (sure the alarmist propaganda is out of control and further investigation is needed to examine all the factors but your blanked dismissal negates any positive spin on any of your comments) -- ps why are your fraternizing with the enemy???
otto - excellent post, plus I like pictures....
Christopher, as much as we love Nintendo, we don't really review other blogs. I have enough trouble reading this one.
Joe, I agree that multiple perspectives on history are worthwhile, but there's a difference between different perspectives on events and different versions of what happened. The Japanese may believe the US oil embargo pushed them towards war, but that's different from believing space invaders from the planet Voltron started the war. And that's what ID seems like to me.
As far as global warming goes, I'm pretty convinced by the evidence I've seen. What doesn't sway you?
Joe - A couple things about post:
1. I understand your hesitance with accepting data from 1880, but according to the EPA site ( http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/climate.html) most of warming has been done in the past 30 - 50 years.
2. Besides satellites, If I am not wrong, global warming has been scientifically recorded in the study of tree rings, corals and ice cores that record the average temperatures of Earth at different times in history.
3. Lastly I love the Elvis impersonator quote and I understand your point about statistics, but rarely does the Earth act in the same way as a Vegas performers (and if it does - what's the cover charge?)
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