"He must, so know the starfish and the student biologist who sits at the feet of living things, proliferate in all
directions. Having certain tendencies, he must move along their lines to the limit of their potentialities."

John Steinbeck - Log from the Sea of Cortez

Monday, July 26, 2010

Don't confuse me with facts...

The Livingston Parish School Board in Livingston, LA wants to explore the possibility of teaching creationism in their public school system's science classes.  Some of the pertinent quotes from school board members.

David Tate: "We let them teach evolution to our children, but I think all of us sitting up here on this school board believe in creationism."

Clint Mitchell:  "I agree.... You don't have to be afraid to point out some of the fallacies with the theory of evolution."

Board President Keith Martin (after noting an increase in discipline problems):  "Maybe it's time that we look at this."

 Dave again:  "Why can't we get someone with religious beliefs to teach creationism?"

Maybe this guy's available.  These are, after all, his old stomping grounds.  Hell, ole Dave probably hangs out with Jimmy at some of the roadhouses on Airline Highway.  After church.

None of these people, of course, know a damn thing about evolution.  Most of them probably don't know much about creationism either.  To be fair, some of them are just naive, and naive can be educated.  Others are just plain stupid, which is harder to cure.  But they're not all naive.  They're not all stupid.  Some are intelligent, and they're the ones that should be ticketed for that Hell they want so badly for you to be terrified of.  They're motivated by the very worst of human traits.  They want to use your fears to control you.  And they want to force you to think like they do.   Even if it hurts you.  They want to rob the children of Livingston and Denham Springs and Killian. 

We know what will happen, of course.  Livingston Parish will take its rightful place alongside the Daytons and Dovers of the country.  Another symbol of just how far we've failed to come.  But, if the ignorant and the naive and the malicious have their way for long enough (and clearly, there are a lot of them out there), the day may come when the judges of this country won't have the backbone to stand up for what's right.  And then, we'll be set back another 30 years while the rest of western civilization moves forward.  Don't stand for it.  It's time to quit playing nice.

For the good people of the Livingston Parish School Board.  They're playing your song....

3 comments:

  1. My favorite quote from the story:

    "...several board members expressed an interest in the teaching of creationism, an alternative to the study of the theory of evolution..."

    Now maybe I'm the naive being here, but since when did creationism become an alternative to the theory of evolution??

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  2. This stuff would be funny if it were not so dangerous. Conservatives worry about our country losing our competitive edge when they are a major cause.

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