Letters to the Editor
-
How depressing (a response, in part, to bigdakine)
It is no wonder that millions of Americans don't believe in evolution, if this is an example of the arguments for it.
I write a post that is, essentially, a defense against the argument that "evolution is just a theory." It was meant to debunk and disarm one of the standard creationist attacks against evolution.
What response does it get? Virtually nothing, except bigdakine, supposedly arguing for evolution, basically by telling me I don't know what I am talking about.
First he calls me a creationist, despite the fact that nothing I wrote can in any way be construed to imply even slightly that I am a proponent of divine intervention. My assertion that evolution is not easily testable is called "balderdash," refuted based on some unexplained claim about genetics and the fossil record somehow being a test of evolution.
Then, again I am called a creationist, and described as "so confused [I] can barely express [myself]," because I discuss how evolution can only be tested over multiple lifetimes of the species under study. When I note the lack of actual experimental evidence confirming evolution, I am told to "put down [my] crack pipe," because tons of such evidence exists. Although not one ounce of the "tons of evidence" is cited.
I am accused of failing to understand science, and therefore being unqualified to discuss it.
If this is the sort of arguments that evolution supporters routinely put forth, how can anyone be surprised that there are disbelievers?
I believe that evolutionary theory is on the right track. I don't believe it has all the answers. But I also believe having people who clearly don't know what they are talking about arguing ineptly for it is actually detrimental to the long-term goal of basing our world view on science rather than mythology.