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May 9, 2005
Creationists Have Fun and Our Children Suffer
John Lynch at Strange Fruit has some fun with creationist claim that they are more fun than scientists.
We run across this again and again - IDer seeing themselves as "fun" and therefore preferable to us dour Darwinists.
All his examples are well worth the trip over to his site. I offer one here in the spirit of "fair use,"
Phil Johnson’s "Rule Number One" - "And we’ve got to keep it fun. As soon as people figure out that we’re a lot more fun to party with than the Darwinists, we’ve pretty much won." [See John's April 30, 2005 post for reference]
He ends his essay,
More or less illustrates their idea that this is a PR battle for the hearts and minds of a scientifically illiterate public rather than a scientific movement that actually frames and tests hypotheses.
with a link to the National Science Board's "Highlights Student Performance in Mathematics and Science." The implication is that dismal scientific knowledge is somehow related to the PR battle. And to some extent, it is. Polls show that belief in science increases as levels of education increase. But the most important point is that creationists see the battle as a PR battle for the "hearts and minds of a scientifically illiterate public" and scientists tend to see it as a battle about science that the creationists lost long ago. There is also a flip side. As long as a vocal group maligns science, the size of the scientifically illiterate population will remain way too big. Creationism reinforces scientific ignorance.
It is a misunderstanding of the target audience that makes it appear that creationist are at least holding their own if not winning the PR war even as they lose every scientific battle that comes along. This misunderstanding is found among scientists, the general public, and the news media. The only group that is clear about the target audience is the creationists. It is this misunderstanding that creationists seek to foster. There will always be large numbers of scientifically illiterate. However, they vote, complain to science teachers, and become successful politicians. It is exactly these scientifically illiterate that must be the target audience of any science marketing plan. Their opinions can be changed, but it takes work and time. It does not take a vaudeville act. But it does take effort. More on this later.
Posted by Duane Smith at May 9, 2005 9:52 AM | Read more on Evolution |
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Comments
The idea of "partying" with Phil Johnson is enough to make me ill. What the hell kind of fun would he allow?
Posted by: OGeorge at May 9, 2005 9:27 PM
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