News:

Unnecessarily argumentative

Main Menu

Guest Article in Local Newspaper

Started by Squid, December 16, 2007, 02:44:44 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Squid

An editor and former instructor of mine e-mailed me and asked me to pen and article on the ID controversy here in Texas.  Many people want ID to have a strong place in the Texas science curriculum and the forced resignation of Chris Comer a couple of months ago has added fuel to that fire.  So I wrote an article that will appear in next Sunday's paper in their Viewpoints guest column.

Here's the website of the paper where I also have my blog at:

http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/

And the link to my blog is in my signature.

Here's the article I submitted:

Etiology of the Evolution-Intelligent Design Controversy

As I pondered what to write for this article a plethora of thoughts ran through my mind â€" the Dover trial, the mountain of evidence for evolutionary theory, the scientific shortcomings of intelligent design (ID), the recent controversy over the dismissal (or forced resignation, however you’d like to see it) of Chris Comer et cetera.  I wanted to pack into this section of the paper something of substance, something I felt the reader could use to better understand why intelligent design has no place in the Texas school curriculum or any school science curriculum for that matter.  Then I realized what I’m truly needing to address is not the evidence for evolution or the failings of ID but something past all the debate.  Does it have to do with some scientific “controversy” in the halls of academia? No, it does not.  Scientific organizations from across the globe have publicly given statements against intelligent design having a place in science.  So what is the point here?
   The issue with intelligent design and evolution is not a question of empirical evidence, conspiracies of silence or the reluctance of science to change (by its very nature science is always changing).  The issue or issues, rather, are simply scientific literacy, ideological conflict and the possession of what the late Carl Sagan called a good “baloney detector”.
   Scientific literacy, whatever could I mean?  Am I launching an insult against the general populace? No, I’m not.  What I’m stating is that an individual’s knowledge on evolutionary theory and intelligent design is not always an accurate one.  It is difficult to take a large, wide reaching theory like evolution and condense it into bit size bits for mass consumption.  It reaches into and draws from many different disciplines and is so far reaching in biology that the evolutionary biologist Theodius Dobzahsky penned an article in a 1973 issue of The American Biology Teacher titled, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”  Many collegiate students of biology still have a hard time grasping the basic facets of evolution let alone the average citizen.  It is a complex theory and can be difficult to understand.  The information is out there for anyone to find in the form of texts, journals, and websites.  However, much distorted and inaccurate information exists as well.  The path to understanding any complicated scientific theory is one which demands dedication and exceptional motivation â€" two things that are hard to fit in our busy schedules to begin with let alone to focus a large portion of our time and energy upon.
   Mix distorted, inaccurate or the lack of knowledge of evolution and ID with personal ideology and you can have the makings for a personal and public struggle.  Many view evolution at odds with their personal beliefs and ID as in line with them.  This isn’t a question for science to answer and such discussion is better suited for a philosophy class than a science class.  There are those who have successfully integrated evolution and their personal beliefs and see no conflict.  Yet, if we recall, the major proponents of ID claim their ideas are not religiously motivated, although, the ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover concluded the contrary.
   Lastly, not many people carry with them at all times their “baloney detection” kits.  What does this kit consist of?  Well, simply a skeptical eye and a large helping of critical thought.  Utilizing the kit is harder than it sounds.  It often entails having to suspend our own personal predispositions and prejudices and it forces us to look at issues as objectively as we can.  We must sit down and say, “What is the evidence for this claim?”  People naturally operate on heuristics and categorical thinking, therefore making us go beyond and separate ourselves from that way of thinking can seem foreign and may even be aversive for some.
   The issue here is not a question of the science involved, the evidence speaks for itself.  The issue is how we perceive and assimilate that evidence - through what prejudicial filters will it pass through in our minds?  It is up to us to use that high effort thinking and to remember that there isn’t such a thing as “bad” or “evil” knowledge.  We must be prepared to understand that we might be wrong and accept it if we are to truly be keepers of the flame of knowledge.

tacoma_kyle

#1
Woah a little intense for me lol. Not really but well written. Maybe a little too intense for most of the pop though.

So get any response to it in some form yet?
Me, my projects and random pictures, haha.

http://s116.photobucket.com/albums/o22/tacoma_kyle/

"Tom you gotta come out of the closet, oh my gawd!" lol

ryanvc76

#2
I love it...  too bad it's not a nation-wide paper!
---=---=---=---=---
http://www.vancleave.de
---=---=---=---
"[The Bible] has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies." - Mark Twain

"Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies." - Thomas Jefferson

---=---

MommaSquid

#3
Congrats on the article, Squid.  Have you been published before?

Squid

#4
No response yet TK, probably Monday when he comes back to work.

Ryan: I hope one day to have a similar honor in something like the NYTimes.

MommaSquid: Nope, not other than my writing for my college newspaper.

Whitney

#5
Great article, Squid...hopefully it will get through to some ID in schools supporters.

Squid

#6
I've also started working on my book again after a long period of inactivity (due to not having enough time to work on it).  It will be about the creationism/evolution thing but I'm going to try and take a lot of the complicated stuff like genetics, cladistics, population dynamics, comparative morphology, biochemistry et cetera and explain it so that the average, high school educated person can understand it. To make the information accessible and to educate those who may be turned off by it being too complex to want to get a handle on.  I may post some excerpts here and there as I work on it to see what everyone thinks.

McQ

#7
It's a good read, Squid. I hope it isn't cut down or edited too much (I hope not at all).

I don't know if you've considered it, but it or some version of it would be an excellent submission to Skeptical Inquirer or Skeptic magazine. Probably a few others too. Thanks for sharing it.
Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette

Squid

#8
Quote from: "McQ"It's a good read, Squid. I hope it isn't cut down or edited too much (I hope not at all).

I don't know if you've considered it, but it or some version of it would be an excellent submission to Skeptical Inquirer or Skeptic magazine. Probably a few others too. Thanks for sharing it.

I actually hadn't thought about that...it may be worth some consideration.  I think I'll see what their stipulations about articles submissions are.  Maybe I can delve more into the psychological aspect of it which is where I think the problem truly lies.

SteveS

#9
Sorry I came late to this, but I like your article Squid.  Specifically, I approve of your tactic of separating the issue of putting ID in a science class from the actual science itself.  This part here:

Quote from: "Squid"Then I realized what I’m truly needing to address is not the evidence for evolution or the failings of ID but something past all the debate. Does it have to do with some scientific “controversy” in the halls of academia? No, it does not. Scientific organizations from across the globe have publicly given statements against intelligent design having a place in science. So what is the point here?
The issue with intelligent design and evolution is not a question of empirical evidence, conspiracies of silence or the reluctance of science to change (by its very nature science is always changing). The issue or issues, rather, are simply scientific literacy, ideological conflict and the possession of what the late Carl Sagan called a good “baloney detector”.
I agree with your view here completely, which is why I think explicitly pulling it out and addressing it was a great move.  Almost the first thing anybody will talk about when discussing the Evolution/ID debate is the evidence for evolution.  And yet, seems to me you are entirely right: the issue is not really about the evidence for evolution at all.

Here's something I find puzzling and frustration about this situation: when I read through the Dover transcripts and watched a TV program about the trial, there was stuff that came forward in the excellent Ken Miller's testimony that I truly didn't know we knew (one of the journalists on the TV show made this same observation).  I guess my issue is that it seems to me that because of the religious mistrust/intolerance of the theory of evolution we aren't even covering it in depth to students, which is driving the scientific illiteracy which is driving the whole issue.  Its sort of a self-driven cycle (or so it seems to me).  Somewhere, we've got to break out of this or the situation will never improve.

Congrats on the publication - and keep the presses rolling, this is good stuff!

Will

#10
That's a fantastic article, and I appreciate your attempt to get to the root of the problem instead of repeating the arguments we (atheists, evolutionists) have all made. We have a counter for every argument, be they terrifically absurd or maddeningly stupid, but the answers tend to do one of two things: fly over their heads like so many reindeer this season or run into a wallâ€"of intentional ignoranceâ€"like I hope Santa doesn't. It seems that the root of the problem has less to do with convincing arguments and more to do with slapping them in the face to get them out of their stupor. The glazed look in their eyes, like glazed holiday desserts, is symptomatic of the brainwashing that's primary goal is the removal of Sagen's bullshit detector (excuse me, bologna detector). The question is: how to remove one from that stupor? Squid, in his brilliant article, attempts to do this by highlighting the lazy nature of IDs or creationists. They don't want to do their homework, but no one is there to give them a failing grade. Squid essentially critiques their homework in a sense through this article.

Me? I talk and talk and talk until their either change their mind or they politely tell me to fuck off. I'm not sure if this is more or less successful than the professor approach, but it's fun. I do know that I've helped people who were deeply depressed because of religion and "faith", and that's the name of the game.

So I really, really hope that someone read that article and took it to heart... no took it to mind.
I want bad people to look forward to and celebrate the day I die, because if they don't, I'm not living up to my potential.

Squid

#11
The article appeared today in the newspaper although it's listed as yesterday online:

http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/896/story/172755.html

McQ

#12
Congrats, Squid!

Well written piece.

The comments were interesting as well. It did seem as though a couple of those folks had axes to grind though. First guy should have had some cheese to go with his whine.
Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette

Squid

#13
Yep, can't please all of the people all of the time - there's a heuristic that seems to hold true in this case.

tacoma_kyle

#14
So does anyone know what the 'mytwocents' guys point is in the comments?

Good thing he did quotes cause he makes about jack shit for sense.
Me, my projects and random pictures, haha.

http://s116.photobucket.com/albums/o22/tacoma_kyle/

"Tom you gotta come out of the closet, oh my gawd!" lol