Search
Profile
PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
• a longer profile of yours truly
• my calendar
• Nature Network
• RichardDawkins Network
• facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter
• Atheist Nexus
• the Pharyngula chat room
(#pharyngula on irc.synirc.net)
Random Quote
The Declaration of Independence "was a denial, and the first denial of a nation, of the infamous dogma that God confers the right upon one man to govern others.
[Robert G. Ingersoll, "Individuality"]
Recent Posts
- Our illness is their profit
- Friday Cephalopod: NUMBERLESS HOSTS!
- Dear Jezebel
- There Will Be Blood?
- Zooming in on the Origin of Life Science Foundation
- Friday Cephalopod: Feasibility trial successful
- Making excuses
- More bad science in the literature
- An open letter to the Indiana legislature
- One Carnival of Evolution, coming right up
A Taste of Pharyngula
Recent Comments
- Tumara Baap on Our illness is their profit
- chriswarr on Our illness is their profit
- vibise on Zooming in on the Origin of Life Science Foundation
- mrpoxman on Our illness is their profit
- Everbleed on Friday Cephalopod: NUMBERLESS HOSTS!
- CherryBombSim on Our illness is their profit
- I'm sorry, thank you on Our illness is their profit
- https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawlg3ZrAn0yJktAa1txQLOB6bCND-AfW0pA on Our illness is their profit
- mandas on Our illness is their profit
- sue.welsh on Our illness is their profit
Archives
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
Blogroll
Other Information
« They have a real talent there | Main | An unholy Frankensteinian fusion »
More articles by PZ Myers can be found on Freethoughtblogs at the new Pharyngula!
It's so hard to satirize creationism
Category: Creationism • Humor
Posted on: January 28, 2008 5:16 AM, by PZ Myers
TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/62523
Leave a comment
HTML commands: <i>italic</i>, <b>bold</b>, <a href="url">link</a>, <blockquote>quote</blockquote>
Comments
Posted by: HalfMooner | January 28, 2008 5:50 AM
As an aspiring parodist myself, I must admit I have no special immunity to the effects of Poe's Law. The best parody of fundamentalism is difficult to distinguish from real apologetics. This video had me fooled for a bit. Sadly (and hilariously), some fundies will doubtless refer people to this video as proof of Creationism.
Posted by: resident_alien | January 28, 2008 5:55 AM
Damn,that was a tricky one!But at "lovely white skin" vs. "dirty brown skin",I thought:This HAS to be satire!PLEASE!
Posted by: DrFrank | January 28, 2008 5:58 AM
I knew it was parody when it showed that the guy had defaced his Bible by underlining a passage ;)
It is quite well designed, though, as the underlying pro-evolution sentiment starts off quite subtle and then gets stronger throughout the segment.
Posted by: sailor | January 28, 2008 6:05 AM
Bookmark this one, Then go on fundie sites, profess outrage at evilution and give links to it everywhere!
Posted by: Flaky | January 28, 2008 6:16 AM
Boo! I thought that the DNA sequences were some clever joke, where they'd code the same protein sequences, but they don't.
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD | January 28, 2008 6:36 AM
It's kind of funny that he would use Angelina Jolie in the video because I have heard some Creationists using the bad behavior of celebrities as proof against evolution.
"I mean when you compare the perfection of the Virgin Mary to the antics of Elizabeth Taylor it's obvious that people are de-evolving!"
Yep, they're stupid.
Posted by: holbsch | January 28, 2008 6:38 AM
How can you argue or reason with insanity? We will never
be rid of this irrational slime, and I feel the only way
to combat these brain-dead cretins is with caustic and
constant ridicule. Keep at it and make them aware that
they are insane and mock them to the point of frustration.
We will never convince them that they are insane, and since
they are will never extricate themselves from the depths
of unreason. They will have to come to their senses on
their own as most of us have. I will continue to hammer
away at them with undiminshed ridicule.
Posted by: Benjamin Franz | January 28, 2008 6:42 AM
Sadly, Morton's Demon will make True Believers in Creationism completely fail to get the satire. They will see it as honestly supporting their beliefs. They won't see the fact it is actually demonstrating that their beliefs are completely incompatible with physical reality.
I give the creator of the video full props for effort and subtlety, but the hit them in the head with a two by four approach is more effective in practice.
Posted by: Fletch | January 28, 2008 6:44 AM
You should check out all of his videos; he is one of my favorites on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/EdwardCurrent
Posted by: djlactin | January 28, 2008 6:56 AM
awesome!
anybody who doesn't see the satire needs a humor transplant.
Posted by: Wiggy | January 28, 2008 7:01 AM
Checkmate, Atheists!
Posted by: Daldianus | January 28, 2008 7:14 AM
Another moron ....
Posted by: Daldianus | January 28, 2008 7:16 AM
Darn, I posted too fast and made me look dumb ... It's really a great satire :)
Posted by: ~C4Chaos | January 28, 2008 7:20 AM
OMG! i find it more sad than funny that people have to create this kind of satire as a wake up call for some people.
anyway, this parody is makes up for the sadness i feel :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9onb8RcVnmE
which would only make sense if you've seen this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O2_rZIgrQI
which unfortunately, is not a parody.
~C
Posted by: DrFrank | January 28, 2008 7:35 AM
Boo! I thought that the DNA sequences were some clever joke, where they'd code the same protein sequences, but they don't.
I think the gag with the DNA sequences was that they'd just pulled two incredibly short lengths at random and compared them from the entire genome, and used that to disprove DNA similarity.
Also, the fact that not a single letter overlapped (rather than about a quarter, as you may expect) may be an oblique reference to Creationists distorting/carefully selecting `evidence'.
Of course, I may be reading too much into it. Probably still a lot less than your average English student could read into a single line knocked out by Shakespeare, but there you go.
Posted by: pedlar | January 28, 2008 7:56 AM
hmm. I followed up with a few more of his videos. 'Checkmate' is brilliant.
But... follow the comments. It's kinda sad. About one in five don't get it's satire. And the really sad part. Most of those are atheists. Not Xians. Just dumb as shit arrogant athiests.
These are on our side? Sad. Sad. Sad.
Posted by: Mena | January 28, 2008 8:11 AM
Is it wrong of me to find the high point of that video to be the deer-on-dog action? That would have qualified to be in the not so happy dog section too.
Posted by: MartinM | January 28, 2008 8:23 AM
These are youtube comments we're talkin about; stupidity is near-universal there.
Posted by: pedlar | January 28, 2008 8:42 AM
#16 "These are on our side? Sad. Sad. Sad."
#18 "These are youtube comments we're talkin about; stupidity is near-universal there."
Fair point.
OTOH, which is more representative of society in general. Youtube or Pharyngula?
Like I said: Sad. Sad. Sad.
Posted by: Fentwin | January 28, 2008 8:53 AM
Dirty brown skin?
I'm at a loss for words (except for these).
Posted by: sman | January 28, 2008 9:11 AM
I loved the shout out to us Ordovician Invertebrate geeks. We know where it really began.;)
Posted by: Severian | January 28, 2008 9:31 AM
YouTube breeds stupidity in a way that even makes the comments on Digg seem like a MENSA convention.
Posted by: Severian | January 28, 2008 9:35 AM
@ #19
If this country was more like the Pharyngula comments section and less like YouTube, "Meet The Spartans" would not have been the highest grossing movie this weekend.
Posted by: Chemist | January 28, 2008 10:10 AM
"I knew it was parody when it showed that the guy had defaced his Bible by underlining a passage ;)"
Not only do the most rabid of creationist apologists underline passages, some even use different colored pencils for the purpose, marking the scriptures as the Spirit moves them. Mormons are especially big on this activity. (Some TV evangelists will sell you a pre-marked and colored version of holy writ.) Once your Bible gets all marked up, reverently place it on a shelf and go to a Christian bookstore and buy another one. Repeat the process.... No wonder the Bible is such a "best seller". ;-)
Posted by: Scrofulum | January 28, 2008 10:21 AM
HAH! EVILOOSHUNISTS!! - SEE THE EVIDENCE OF THE BIBLE AND TREMBLE!!! TO FURTHER CONVINCE YOU OF YOUR WICKED WRONGNESS IN DENYING THE EXISTENCE OF GAWD, I AM TYPING IN UPPER CASE AND AT THE END OF THIS SENTENCE I WILL USE FOUR (COUNT THEM), YES, FOUR EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!
Case closed.
Posted by: RamblinDude | January 28, 2008 10:57 AM
It's almost too subtle by half. I know too many people who would fail to appreciate the satire because the science presented is way over their heads, and much of what is shown is what they actually believe. (Proper Christians don't do it doggy style.)
Posted by: Dano | January 28, 2008 11:15 AM
Here's a Sunday-School video parody of intelligent design some friends and I made a few years back (right before The Onion made a similar point). It was also frequently confused as being genuinely anti-science.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y-5zWw3eeY0
Note: we would often respond to comments in character, as the producers of the religious video. Sarcasm is a lovely thing...
Posted by: Laser Potato | January 28, 2008 11:25 AM
["lovely white skin" vs. "dirty brown skin"]
I'm sort of a bronzey in-between; does that make me only slightly soiled?
Posted by: dcb | January 28, 2008 11:43 AM
This is a beautiful thing.
Posted by: Glen Davidson | January 28, 2008 11:59 AM
Hard to do or not, it was a pretty good satire. I loved the "moist full lips" bit (repressed sexuality--though only a satire would voice it), and all of the humping parts. The latter would surely tip off many creationists, though, since their "museums" really are marvels of sexual repression wrt to humans.
There's the anti-homosexual message in the deer screwing the male dog, sort of the cross-sexuality=homosexuality claim--but none of the true believers would show such a "horror".
It's too obvious again at the end, as the anatomical, genetic, and temporal parallels of all life are mentioned, because to the "real creationist," that's all due to "the common designer," or more sensibly, the common imitator. It's perhaps the weakest portion anyhow, because it's being done with a bunch of diagrams which do categorize information in the only meaningful way, but which your average fundy never did understand, whether through ignorance or through bigotry.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
Posted by: Epistaxis | January 28, 2008 12:06 PM
Me too! I went back and paused it while I checked if they were complements, or reverse complements. Nope. (That's what I would have done. Except I might have used U's instead of T's in one of them just to drive the point home.)Posted by: FRANKIEMOUSE | January 28, 2008 12:16 PM
it's been removed :(
Posted by: frankiemouse | January 28, 2008 12:17 PM
apparently it's back. i feel like a mormon i mean moron now.
Posted by: Dan | January 28, 2008 12:41 PM
"We're sorry, this video is no longer available."
Now I'm kind of disappointed. ;-)
Posted by: Dan | January 28, 2008 12:47 PM
Hurray! It back. (My bad. Must be my link.)
Posted by: W. Kevin Vicklund | January 28, 2008 12:50 PM
No, they actually do this. The second time my fundie grandmother caught me reading books about dinosaurs, she made me sit down and highlight every place in the Bible where Jesus spoke. Because of her, I've been a foot-soldier in the evolution-creation wars since I was five. On the evolution side, of course.
Posted by: armillary | January 28, 2008 1:04 PM
On the same theme, I'll refer you to today's Sinfest:
http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2701
Posted by: Bob O'H | January 28, 2008 1:38 PM
Sorry, PZ, but it's easy to satirize creationists. The folks at UD do it all the time.
Bob
Posted by: Kimbits | January 28, 2008 2:35 PM
Times like this when, in a YouTube video, I see, briefly, a paper I've read on venom system evolution in reptiles and I exclaim, loudly, "HOT!" I really know that I must be pursuing the right field.
I think I'll go do some studying.
:D
Posted by: CS Lewis Jr. | January 28, 2008 5:28 PM
That's pretty funny, I didn't think it was too subtle. Also, your YouTube experience will be improved if you use this Firefox script to kill comments.
Posted by: Sven | January 28, 2008 7:48 PM
Be sure to check out another one of his videos called "God's cool designs".
Posted by: Cephus | January 28, 2008 9:25 PM
At first I thought it was a satire, sat all the way through it and when I saw it was a Current piece, I knew he was serious. Delusional, stupid and foolish, but serious.
Ed Current is about the best argument against creationism we could ever hope for.
Posted by: Jan Chan | January 29, 2008 8:39 AM
Hey, let's be fair, it's quite difficult to tell apart creationist satire from the real thing. Creationists' arguments are well known for their ability to make your head spin while listening to them. (My first hint was the DNA part, but come on, creationists might screw things up so badly that you feel dumber listening to their arguments.)
Posted by: RamblinDude | January 29, 2008 9:50 AM
I just watched diseases are cause by sin by Ed Current. He's definitely on our side.
Posted by: Jim Thomerson | January 30, 2008 5:49 PM
This bothers me. If I am created in God's image, then God is somewhat like me, right? Then why doesn't God put down lightning strikes on people who lie and do other bad things in his name? I think I would do so if I could.