Seattle Times Guest Editorial on Expelled!

Posted by Greg Laden on April 17, 2008
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The Seattle Times, which as far as I know is a regular newspaper, has published a guest editorial by Bruce Chapman in their opinion section.

Chapman has published a lot of editorials in the Seattle Times, and in sum, they make him look like (I’m just sayin’) he’s on the payroll of both Microsoft and the Discovery Institute

His editorial is loaded with the usual creationist crap … claims that Darwin was forced on him in college, noting Haeckel’s embryos, quote mining from Dawkins, etc.

…Darwinists have avoided debates, and in universities have stooped to denial of academic tenure, promotions and even graduate-student status to dissenters. They either ignore the case against Darwin’stheory or debunk a straw-man version of it.

The editorial is here. To send a letter to the paper, use this email address: opinion@seattletimes.com

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Comments

  1. #1 Virgil Samms
    April 17, 2008

    claims that Darwin was forced on him in college

    O Noez! Did they force that odious “round earth” material on him too?

  2. #2 Virgil Samms
    April 17, 2008

    This is going to make it harder for the Discovery Institute to run away and pretend it wasn’t involved when the Expelled! intellectual property issues hit the fan.

  3. #3 Virgil Samms
    April 17, 2008

    Where facts and reason might fail to persuade, personal attacks are employed..

    Wowza. Would you believe he is talking here about “Darwinists”, not a movie which compares scientists to Nazis and Stalinists?

  4. #4 Jonathan Vos Post
    April 17, 2008

    I’m confused. Did Micro$oft Windows evolve, or was it Intelligently Designed? Or neither?

  5. #5 mlf
    April 17, 2008

    Art history was forced on me in college. But you don’t here me bitching about it.

  6. #6 John McKay
    April 17, 2008

    You got it backwards. Chapman isn’t in the pay of the Discovery Institute, he’s the founder of the Discovery Institute.

  7. #7 Greg Laden
    April 17, 2008

    John: I can’t believe I failed to mention that, thanks for pointing it out, and he is president of the DI as the editorial points out. I should have italicized “both” … I had not previously realized that he had written MS apologetics, which was my poorly made point.

  8. #8 Etha Williams
    April 17, 2008

    Even leaving aside the horrible misrepresentation of facts and outright lying in this article, the writing style is so poor and stilted that it’s almost comical.

    Also: “But instead of following such a policy, most Darwinists have avoided debates…”

    Really? I’ve seen so-called ‘Darwinists’ debate IDiots far more than is really warranted. It always ends the same way…

  9. #9 onkel bob
    April 17, 2008

    MLF – Were you in one of my classes?
    I must admit, I find it humorous when scientists complain that they are forced to study science. The frau teaches at a prestigious university and her medical students complain endlessly being “forced” to take histology.
    I run into the same thing. The artists complain when they are forced to study art history. I suspect it has something to do with the unwelcome revelation that their “unique” vision is/was shared by another artist 3,000 years ago.

  10. #10 Virgil Samms
    April 17, 2008

    Chapman has published a lot of editorials in the Seattle Times, and in sum, they make him look like (I’m just sayin’) he’s on the payroll of both Microsoft and the Discovery Institute

    Which reminds me of something:

    Intelligent donation?
    Why the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave more than $10 million to the Discovery Institute, champions of “intelligent design.”
    …

  11. #11 Anne Gilbert
    April 17, 2008

    This editorial makes me feel very sad. You see, I met Bruce Chapman some years back, before he became involved with the Discovery Institute. In fact it was before the DI was even b>founded! He was a decent guy then, and rather likeable. But in the intervening years, we went our separate ways, and he got a job in Washington DC under the Reagan administration. Once there, he started to drift rightward rather rapidly. He drifted so far, he actually lurched rightward. And ended up playing a prominent part in the founding of the DI, which eventually moved to Seattle. So he moved back to Seattle, too(did I mention that he was a city councilman there for some years?, and that was when I met him?). I am not sure whether the guy is being opportunistic, or whether he really, truly believes this stuff. Either way, it is a very sad “evolution”, if I may use that word.
    Anne G

  12. #12 the real cmf
    April 17, 2008

    “devolution,”, Anne, as in the ‘handing down’ of power to an inferior or subordinate…

  13. #13 Greg Laden
    April 17, 2008

    Anne, wow, I never knew you had had that experience! That’s amazing!

  14. #14 Virgil Samms
    April 18, 2008

    The Seattle Times runs a brief review of Expelled
    (No stars out of four)