…and I didn't even get a lousy t-shirt. Professor Steve Steve, Jason, Tara, and Wesley, along with quite a few others, all took the grand tour last week. I'm glad they went, but it's becoming obvious there isn't a heck of a lot going on there — it's the same old tripe in every report at this point — and I think I can skip ever going myself.
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More articles by PZ Myers can be found on Freethoughtblogs at the new Pharyngula!
The Panda's Thumb gang went to the Creation "Museum"…
Category: Creationism
Posted on: June 24, 2007 8:42 PM, by PZ Myers
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Posted by: Blake Stacey, OM | June 24, 2007 8:54 PM
Your link list is mangled. It looks like a quotation mark which should be delimiting a URL isn't.
Posted by: Sean | June 24, 2007 9:03 PM
*nod*
I believe it is safe to say we all expected the museum to be wrong. I, for one, did not expect the museum to come across as empty. Seems filled with no content rather than wrong content.
Where are the displays showing how the flood waters could have sorted fossils? Where is the display on how rock layers can not be folded? The display on errors in radiological dating? The room filled with drawings of embryos, moths on tree trucks, cave drawings of dinosaurs, and footprints of contemporary men and sauropods? Lucy knees and pig teeth? Living fossils pulled out of the Indian Ocean? The dropping speed of light? Magnetic fields?
They have generations of canards that fill their pamphlets and are reguritated by their minions. Did they finally realize the golden oldies just are not holding up?
Posted by: Blake Stacey, OM | June 24, 2007 9:09 PM
My theory about the "Museum" is that it was built upon one of those numinous sites which Neil Gaiman describes in American Gods:
Centuries ago, an Indian mound must have been built on that site, which then eroded away under the water and the wind. Had a different man stumbled across that patch of dirt, it might be home to the world's largest frying pan or a Stonehenge made of soda cans.
Posted by: Carlie | June 24, 2007 9:57 PM
I posted this at Tara's - it's become more and more clear to me lately how well Christianity is entirely set up to counter the real world. There are numerous Bible verses that indicate that thinking for yourself is a sin, that using reason is of the Devil, and that anything that seems to contradict the Bible is either God testing you or Satan tricking you. That's a perfect pre-emtive strike against, well, any evidence in the earth that it's wrong. You simply can't use actual evidence or common sense, because they've already been warned about you. That makes them not only inoculated against what you have to say, it proves that the Bible can prophesy because it predicted that someone would try to talk sense into them someday.
Posted by: The biggest moustache you ever did see...yes, even bigger than that one. | June 24, 2007 10:54 PM
Alot of the museum's money seems to be coming from science bloggers wanting to sees how bad it is!
Posted by: arensb | June 24, 2007 11:12 PM
I went there earlier this month. My write-up is here.
Posted by: Skeptic8 | June 24, 2007 11:17 PM
I'll ride my new horsie: These guys are in the Entertainment Business. Don't expect any evidence 'cause it's far cheaper to fake it and the quality of the faux is adjusted to credibility of those who will pay for it.
Posted by: Eamon Knight | June 24, 2007 11:27 PM
I believe it is safe to say we all expected the museum to be wrong. I, for one, did not expect the museum to come across as empty. Seems filled with no content rather than wrong content.
That's also my reaction to the reports. Seems like they're preaching to the choir, rather than trying to make a serious "creation science" argument directed at non-Christians. I suppose some non-YEC (and scientifically-ignorant) Christians might be influenced by the way they've put it together to tell a theological story.
But really: Why would anyone be impressed by a display pitting "Human Reason" against "The Bible"? Seems like an a priori obvious answer to me, unless there's something in the fine print that tells enough lies to skew the outcome the other way.
Posted by: arensb | June 25, 2007 12:34 AM
Eamon Knight:
Because it's not really a museum in the sense of "here's a bunch of stuff on a subject. Hopefully you'll learn something." It's a big fancy revival tent.
At $20 per person (plus $5 for the planetarium show), it's not going to attract a lot of skeptics (even though at this point it looks like most of their money is coming from people like PT regulars and me). Most of their money is going to come from people who go to "strengthen their faith".
One thing that none of the others seems to have pointed out is that the museum is laid out linearly: you can't go look at the living fossils for a bit, then go look at the ark model, then wander over to the depiction of pre-fall life. Each room only has an entrance and an exit, so you have to proceed through the whole thing in the prescribed order.
The comparison between "Human reason" and "God's word" is a defense mechanism: it defends the God meme from harm, should the host start to think instead of just believing.
Posted by: Kseniya | June 25, 2007 1:11 AM
Yup Carlie. Preemptive is right. I've been accused of "hubris" for questioning the wisdom of a creator who creates ovarian cancer, appendicitis, and countless other poorly designed, um, features of human existence. It's not just wrong to reject the answers - it's wrong to ask!
I suppose if the museum dies a quick death from lack of interest, the cause will be "loss of faith" and blame will fall squarely on the shoulders of the secular/science community for corrupting the spiritual life of all Americans who live within a day's drive of Cincinnati.
Posted by: Skeptic8 | June 25, 2007 2:14 AM
Good point Kseniya!
What will happen if this s-o-s goes thud? They claim to have invested some 20 Mil in this fiasco and presumably expect a return. They've had a surge of skeptics boosting the take but that won't last. If they can't compete with other forms of entertainment they'll blame the "War On God" and just might seek redress from the PT reviewers who assaulted their "artistic & scriptural integrity" with the photos of the Panda in their exhibits. I liked the Fig Leaf comment! If you make people laugh at their "truths" would that constitute "terrorism" at the Federal level?
Posted by: bernarda | June 25, 2007 2:42 AM
Other things are not going so well for the god squad either.
"Hollywood's most expensive comedy ever needed divine intervention and didn't get it at the box office this weekend as Universal's Evan Almighty debuted to a disappointing $32.1 million. That's well below the $50 mil which box office gurus initially expected and the studio's own lowered expectations of 40+ mil. The PG faith-based pic made less than half the $68 million that the original PG-13 Bruce Almighty took in its opening weekend at the box office."
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/weekend-bo-so-so-evan-almighty-matinees/
Quotes from another site,
"It's awful. It hasn't moved in weeks," a source from a rival studio told me. "Can you tell me how a movie that is PG rated, has 3,000 animals, and boasts God, can't get parents to take their kids?""
"Almost everyone thought the pic would be a slam dunk the same way Bruce Almighty was in 2003 when it scored a $68 million opening weekend and went on to nearly $500 million gross receipts worldwide. And this new script had even more God-is-great propaganda than the first one."
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/evan-almighty-needs-a-hellacious-miracle/
Posted by: Dianne | June 25, 2007 3:44 AM
First thought: "Sure, you get a movement to drag poor Scalzi to the museum then wriggle out of seeing it yourself. Leading from the rear, are we?"
Second thought: "I wonder if any actual creationists have been to the Creation Museum yet or if it's all science bloggers going there so they can post snide reviews?"
Posted by: BG | June 25, 2007 5:04 AM
Was no one else a little disappointed that they obviously messed with the displays by putting their small panda bear directly on/in the exhibits?
I dislike the anti-evolutionists as much as the next rational person, but something about violating the exhibits really didn't sit well with me. I would be pissed to no end if crazies came through and put their jesus dolls in our natural history museum exhibits so they could take a picture.
Look, criticize, humiliate, etc, but please don't touch should be respected I think.
Posted by: Art | June 25, 2007 9:21 AM
BG, think children's museum.
Posted by: fusilier | June 25, 2007 9:37 AM
Dianne asked:
I know of at least one genuine YEC - a poster going by RKBentley, over at CARM - who went, and took his 4-year-old son along. (Sorry, you have to register, no lurkers allowed.)
He said the kid got really antsy during the "Men in White" movie; nothing about getting sprayed in the face with water during The Flood, though.
Interstingly enough, he (RKB) said nothing at all about any new evidence - as other posters have mentioned, it's just preaching (literally) to the choir.
fusilier
James 2:24
Posted by: efp | June 25, 2007 9:57 AM
The best coverage of the creation museum yet is at the Buffalo beast. It's the only story you really need to read. (Note the link to the Ken Ham interview toward the bottom!)
Posted by: bernarda | June 25, 2007 10:33 AM
efp, that was a wonderful account from the Beast, pure Hunter Thompson Gonzo.
Posted by: Chuck C | June 25, 2007 12:03 PM
Here's your t-shirt:
http://www.cafepress.com/defconamerica
I've already ordered mine.
Posted by: cserpent | June 25, 2007 4:09 PM
They'll claim a big tax write-off - unless, of course, they pulled a Hovind and didn't pay any taxes!
Posted by: aiabx | June 25, 2007 5:33 PM
Had a different man stumbled across that patch of dirt, it might be home to the world's largest frying pan or a Stonehenge made of soda cans.
It would be a cooler and better world with either of those creations.
Posted by: David vun Kannon | June 25, 2007 11:43 PM
At least the photographer knows his business - Tara front and center!! Yay!! I'm sure that photo is the best thing that will ever come out of that museum.
I was immediately reminded (yes, I'm a dork) of the scene in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix where Harry is shown a group photo of the original Order, most of whom died fighting evil. Where will this wonderul group be in 15 years? I hope we can all move on to more productive pursuits by then.