In my time I have heard some stupid things fall out of people's mouths in regard to this subject. The first took the cake back in junior high. Now, junior high is a time of misery, cliches and overall self-loathing. I went to a 'special' school for a long time prior to entering the school where I heard the first stupid thing I heard. This basically means that I hadn't ever interacted with truly ignorant people my own age. So, when I heard the following fall out of a friend's mouth in my new school, I was simply flabergasted.

This is what she said: "Oh, Jurassic park is a nice fantasy, especially considering there were never dinosuars to begin with. All those bones were put there by God to test satanic scientists..."

It's good to know that she thought of science as Satanic. Mind you, she also didn't believe in Plate Tektonicsand honestly thought the world was only ~5000 years old. She did, however, believe in science of medicine, inventions of convenience, smoking, drinking, and lying. I will never forget the phrase "Satanic Scientists". Nor will I forget how when I stayed the night at her house and she took me to church (Southern Baptist) that the lady in the Sunday school wouldn't give me a popsicle unless I filled out paperwork with my name, address, or phone number.

I believe she has two kids now, divorced once and currently unhappily married.

On to a brief interlude of my research into the phrase "Satanic". This idea that scientists are satanic is actually quite old. It was first applied to the scientific community by the Catholic Church in Galileo's time. There are rumors that they used this term in reference to the Illuminati, but who knows if they ever really existed in the way all the cult theorists speculate. Satan is derived from an arabic word Shaitan and is actually plural. You can be "a satan", which simply means a bad influence. A satan is something that is meant to lead people astray, confuse and begile them. In other words, a simple miscreant. No fire and brimstone, no horns or a tail. Just someone that another person sees as improper. (This is probably why the Church used an arabic term for it.)

So, perhaps I am a satanic scientist. Me and my miscreant ways.

This leads me up to the next stupidest things I've ever heard. This happened in college (I'm rating by order of jaw dropping, not horribly chronological.) This happened in an English class filled with fellow Engineers and Scientists. This one honestly made my head spin and apparently it also made the head spin of the chap sitting next to me who was Mormon. That should give you an idea of how truly assinine this was.

This guy (who later became my arch-nemesis) said this, outloud and with no humour: "People don't evolve, they just adapt to their surroundings."

I was stunned into silence by this one. Everyone in the class just turned and looked at this wanker and stared as if he had just stated the world was indeed flat. Let me refer you all to Webster for this:

evolution: a process of change in a certain direction

Okay. In other words, adaption dumbass. Gods above, the utter crap that falls from people's mouths is staggering. Of course, this is the same man who said, aloud, that the reason there were not many female scientists was because "God doesn't wan't women to be scientists so He made them inept in mathematics."

So, why am I ranting about this? Well, it's this whole intelligent design debate. Yes, I am sure many people believe in it, but in essense it is a religious theory and therefore cannot be taught in school under the laws of separation of Church and State. Evolution on the other hand is not a religious theory and can be taught within school under this same premise. It should be taught as a theory because that is what it is.

So, I leave you all with this little gem.

Posted by Utopia at September 19, 2005 08:13 AM

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Posted by: ravennacht at September 19, 2005 10:36 AM

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