Haven't been blogging for many days, mainly because of being busy, but also because there's been little to report that hasn't been covered very extensively elsewhere in the atheist blogosphere, and Austin's been pretty quiet. Also, what else is there to say about the train wreck that is Expelled? Every day these people reveal themselves to be a little more reprehensible than they already were. My mind reels at the thought of what it would be like to be the kind of person whose life has been so completely swallowed up by the endless stream of lies required to shore up a creaking, desperate ideology. I think of what it must be like to be Ben Stein and Mark Mathis, and, if I believed in souls, I figure I know what it would be like to sell yours to Mammon. Sure, these guys have probably got the Benjamins. But to do so at the cost of all fundamental human decency is just depressing.
The UK paper The Guardian has now weighed in on Expelled (at least the bit of it that's been previewed online) in a snarktastic little dig at that pompous fool Ben Stein. It's a fun morning read.
From the parts I've seen - the first 10 minutes online - it seems to deploy all the loaded-dice arguments, the overdog's deep-seated sense of victimhood and conventional rightwing hysteria. Stein lambasts academe for dismissing the work of "ID scientists", even when they are bankrolled by the rancid likes of the Discovery Institute, a think-tank inseminated yearly with funds from California savings and loan heir Howard Ahmanson Jr, who in 1985 told the Orange County Register: "My goal is the total integration of biblical law into our lives." Man, I can't wait for that, Ben, the priests running everything and we live like it's Ireland in the 1940s. Par-tay!
Heh. But otherwise, yeah, not much new under the sun. The movie is still a dishonest piece of shit, and the people promoting it are still dishonest pieces of shit. That's creationism for you. [Cue Thompson Twins] Lies, lies, lies, yeah....
The link between Darwinism and what occurred during the Holocaust is very obvious in my opinion. If a persons worldview gives intelligent design relevance then they are going to be much more likely to viewing each human individual as if they are something more important than let’s say a rock. Because of that viewpoint it would make it more difficult to bring forth the attempted extermination of a race of people that occurred at that time. However, the fact that Darwinism diminishes human life to nothing more than a roach or a plant makes it makes it a prime ideology for any group of people who needs reason for doing away with another people group. It does not mean that every Darwinist would be capable of being a part of something as horrible as something as the Holocaust. However, the idea is there and makes it possible for this type of event to be justified.
ReplyDeleteExcept, of course, for one teensy little problem. The Holocaust was not in any way, shape or form inspired by Darwinism. The Third Reich banned the teaching of Darwin's theory. And in Mein Kampf, Hitler never once mentions Darwin. He does, however, say very plainly, that in "defending" him country against Jews, "he is doing the work of the Lord." Social Darwinism and eugenics were pseudosciences based on an ideologically distorted view of Darwin, and they were in fact being practiced in America before the Third Reich tried them out.
ReplyDeleteThe fact you seem to think Darwin's theory "diminishes" life in any way makes it abundantly clear that you haven't studied it, know nothing about it, and have only received whatever information you have about it from creationist disinformation. Darwin's theory showed us that all life is connected, that we are all — humans, apes, birds, fish, even bugs — cousins in the great family tree of life. The only reason I can think of that someone would consider that to be a "diminishing" view of life is if they have been programmed by some religious ideology to think themselves better and superior.
You also seem to be as ignorant of history as you are biology. Anti-Semitism was a long-established blight on European history, going back centuries before WW2. Anti-Semitic violence that was a staple of medieval Europe cannot possibly have been inspired by Darwin. Indeed, much of it was carried out with the blessings of the Vatican.
Fanatics hardly need to look to Darwin to figure out that if they slaughter a bunch of people they don't like, those people will no longer be around. That's been going on for millennia. Indeed, if you're looking for ideologies that inspire people to think they have a right to kill other groups of people they don't like, you need look no farther than your nearest house of worship. Let me leave you with a quote for you to chew on.
"Accordingly, it must and dare not be considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that is, from the devil and from eternal death. My advice, as I said earlier, is:
First, that their synagogues be burned down, and that all who are able toss sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone could also throw in some hellfire...
Second, that all their books-- their prayer books, their Talmudic writings, also the entire Bible-- be taken from them, not leaving them one leaf, and that these be preserved for those who may be converted...
Third, that they be forbidden on pain of death to praise God, to give thanks, to pray, and to teach publicly among us and in our country...
Fourth, that they be forbidden to utter the name of God within our hearing. For we cannot with a good conscience listen to this or tolerate it..."
Any guess as to who wrote that? Charles Darwin? Nope. Try Martin Luther. Luther's anti-Semitic tract On the Jews and Their Lies is acknowledged to have been a prime inspiration to the Third Reich, and a number of Nazis openly proclaimed it one.
I strongly recommend you study up on Darwin's theory. You may be surprised just how your sense of wonder about the beauty of life on earth is enhanced by understanding what it's really about, rather than the distorted misrepresentation of it you've been sold by creationists.