In a display of untrammeled ignorance that seems flagrant even by the backwater standards of small-town Jesusland, Billy Wilbanks, a creationist in charge of the "science department" at Jacksonville "College" in Texas (an American protectorate bordering the continental U.S. and Mexico), has served up a number of statements -- some familiar, some novel -- that don't quite mesh with what most scientists believe.
You need to read the article to appreciate the full flavor and scope of the lunacy of this man's convictions, but here are some doozy pull-quotes:
"At the time of the Big Bang, evolutionists believe there was all this matter out there, where did that matter come from?"I wasn't aware that evolutionists routinely double as cosmologists, as I have yet to read a report or book concerning any aspect of evolutionary biology that relates any its precepts to the Big Bang. But according to creationists this radical multidisciplinarianism is extremely common.
"[N]o life-forms have ever been found anywhere else."Yes, and we've investigated such a huge fraction of the known universe (maybe about, I dunno, a trillionth of a trillionth of a fraction of a percent) that we can safely conclude that Earth is home to the only life forms anywhere.
"[T]he element we need more than anything else is oxygen -- that's what we've got the most of."So in his investigation of the scientific literature, Wilbanks has apparently failed to note that Earth's atmosphere includes almost four times as much nitrogen as it does oxygen. But there's no point in agonizing over minutiae, I suppose.
"There's a lot of questions right now that I can't answer. What holds the clouds up? If we throw a whole bucket of water in the air, the whole bucket is going to come right back down, but when it rains, all these little raindrops fall."
When people start babbling like this in the manner of lost children, showing a kind of misguided, incurious wonder that is almost quaint, it's tempting to feel bad for them. Wilbanks' first sentence, of course, explains every one of his other comments: The fact that he doesn't understand something implies -- at least to him -- that no one does. Amazing. I thought God was the only omniscient entity out there, but we can apparently add Wilbanks to the short list of know-all-there-is-to-know-ums.
The thing to remember is that Wilbanks isn't just another creationist idiot. He is the chairperson of a college science department. I dare not look into the accreditation status of the institution that employs him.
Hopefully, the reporter was merely parroting Wilbanks' crippled thought patterns and not endorsing them when writing this:
Wilbanks thinks that scientists often get caught up in thinking that everything in the world has some type of explanation and that everything can be explainedThe nerve of those scientists, always looking for answers! The next thing you know, basketball players will be caught up in thinking that the idea is to put the ball through the hoop and baseball pitchers will become overly focused on throwing strikes.
("Thanks," Razib)
Comments
It is truly stunning that this man is supposed to be the head of a science department. I seem to be better qualified than he is for that position. I have no qualifications at all but that is still better than what he has, which are negative qualifications.
Posted by: CaptainMike | September 18, 2006 2:36 PM
"What holds the clouds up?"
That has to be the best fundy idiot line of all time. I dare anyone to top it.
Posted by: qetzal | September 18, 2006 2:48 PM
qetzal wrote:
How about "NOTE: If you doubt this is possible, how is it there are PYGMIES + DWARFS??"
Posted by: Salad Is Slaughter | September 18, 2006 3:17 PM
Jacksonville College is a junior college that is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Billy Wilbanks is also listed as currently teaching a chemistry course at Navarro College, also a junior college in Texas.
Posted by: RBH | September 18, 2006 3:25 PM
Once you've been reading FSTDT for a while... you know to never, EVER dare something to top it. Because it will be done.
Posted by: themann1086 | September 18, 2006 4:00 PM
A parallel bit on this over at Pharyngula:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/09/three_teachers.php
Posted by: Jim | September 18, 2006 4:34 PM
This guy is a shoe-in for Carlos Mencia's next Dee dee dee of the year.
Posted by: Aerik
| September 18, 2006 4:38 PM
Did it ever occur to this idiot to try it with half a bucket and see what happens?
Posted by: Bill from Dover | September 18, 2006 7:09 PM
The whole ID position is based on the arrogant "I dont understand how this happens, therefore nobody else does/can except God, so God must have done it". I am baffled as to how any thoughtful person could honestly take this position and further their own interests through it.
Posted by: lanwolf
| September 18, 2006 8:48 PM
Truth is stranger than fiction... (Here's the fiction...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQFw2pb5Pwk
Billy Wilbanks does science at Jacksonville College.
Youth Minister Harry used to do science at City Tech.
Posted by: Don | September 18, 2006 9:03 PM
I don't really want to defend this idiot, but at least as far as the oxygen comment goes it is the element with the highest abundance in the crust, and second-highest in the planet as a whole. In other words, parts of his statement are almost right. Such a high mark, of course, to which a chair of a science department should aspire...
Posted by: skywalkthisway | September 18, 2006 9:03 PM
I had a creationist moment debating the religion-addled Witlesses at the door the other day. When I informed them that I firmly believed that we evolved from apes over millions of years, this gem was uttered by one of them:
"If we evolved from apes, why are the apes still here?"
I also firmly believe that the average IQ of the highly religious is under 80.
Posted by: DieFundie | September 20, 2006 10:40 AM