Letters to the Editor
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Logic does not apply here
"But Mommy, why does the T-Rex have sharp teeth if it was a vegetarian?"
"Because God was, uh... Um... Hmmm. Honey, can we just have a day when we don't have to think and can just enjoy the exhibits?"
"Okay."
"Good."
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Fightin' words?
Normally, I wouldn't join in such an echo-chamber cluster-f, and I admit to not reading each and every comment. However, early on someone jumped on NASCAR as being representative culture of those who might visit the museum. I'm more an NHRA guy myself but that's just unfair generalizing, plain and simple. Anyway, this place is essentially a part of metropolitan Cincinatti, and THOSE people eat their chili on spaghetti. So, you know, we can't trust them with the facts at all. Wow.
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that is exactly what creationists want
If you want to see creationism go away, let it be taught in schools but insist that science be taught as well. The truth will set us all free if we trust in children to understand it, and not continue to force an English major’s view of science upon them.
Practically speaking, that is how they win this particular fight -- by sneaking Christian fundamentalism masquerading as science into the public schools.
You will never get the ideal world of perfectly presented "alternatives" and the free choice of that which is correct.
Instead, you will get confused kids wondering what the hell their teacher is going on about. And you will also get true believing teachers who have no problem dismissing real science for the biblical view.
Why participate willingly in the creationist scam?
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The real miracle
The tragedy of all this is that sometime around 100,000 years ago, or perhaps as little as 75,000 years ago, some kind of profound change happened to anatomically modern human beings in Africa that resulted in art, culture, and the ability of a very small group of these human beings to spread out and eventually colonize the world, leading to us, their descendants. The most likely change, scientists agree, would have been some kind of quantum leap in their ability to create syntactical language, which means, of course, in their ability to think, tell stories, imagine and communicate about the past and the future, and create. No less a scientist and anthropologist than Jared Diamond wrote about this in The Third Chimpanzee back in 1992, and all the latest findings from the field of anthropology, which has exploded over the past 15 years, has only made this scenario seem more likely (though it isn't yet more than a hypothesis).
And if you were to ask a scientist if the hand of God wasn't behind this genetic mutation, most would be happy to admit that they couldn't dismiss that possibility.
By insisting that the beginning of the chapter of Genesis is literally true, those who created and believe in this museum are creating a war between God and science (along with reason and scientific inquiry) that doesn't have to exist. They are dumbing down themselves and their own children. They are limiting the power, abilities, subtlety and creativity of God. And they are missing the real miracle.
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Xenophobia
Dear Realname:
I am uncertain exactly where you got your information on immigration to other countries, but you are very sorely mistaken.
Firstly, dual citizenship is something many countries do not accept, and something you need to have a true claim to (i.e. ancestral linage) to effect. While some countries desperate for affluent immigration may offer such options, unless your goal is to build a new life on the frontier you will be trading a headache for a stomach ache moving to such a place. Canadian citizenship can not be purchased. The laws with regard to duel citizenship although lax now are still relatively archaic for those born before 1974. Even then second generation emigrants must claim their citizenship early or lose their rights. The case of Hong Kong immigration has more to do with its membership in the common wealth than anything else. The US is not a member of the common wealth and as such receives no special immigration status.
As to American immigration it is not based on quotas and hasn't been for a few decades now. It is based primarily on familial ties that extend far beyond what other countries require. If you have any relative living in the US they can sponsor you for immigration, and the immigration is quite rapid. If you have no family to sponsor you, you are forced to wait in line with all the other people who are petitioning for entrance, but that line is based on a first come first served system, not a quota system. The number of non familial immigrants is limited but is still much more open than most other countries.
As to your statement that America has always been anti intellectual and xenophobic, I would say that they are these things only when compared to ourselves and our ideals. Compared to most other countries Americans are by far a more dynamic and accepting culture. Most other countries put many more strictures on speech, assembly, and movement than the US does. Although we always have a bit of the puritan in us, it has never been enough to keep our true founding fathers the gamblers and the debtors from making their way in this country.
Americans are first and foremost individualists. The problem with individualists is that they don't do a great deal to take care of the down trodden, but the advantage to them is that they don't like to organize around anything that doesn't provide immediate comfort and security for themselves and themselves alone. Fascism, like so many things looks good on paper which is why Americans to flirt with it. But as it breaks down almost immediately in practice it always falls by the way side. I would argue that socialism was just as popular as fascism in its hey day, but because there's no money in it, it too fell by the way side.
For better or worse Americans don't like to be told what to do, which is why any autocratic rule in this country always ends poorly, with at least half the nation if not more cursing the name of the leader who ruled his way alone. If you explain things to them they are very open minded and will except logic and reason, but if you brow beat them and tell them their wrong without adequate proof, they will dig in and fight you even when they don't necessarily buy into the alternative theory.