I have been neglectful in not linking to this post by PZ Myers, wherein he exposes the highly dishonest tactics of Jonathan Wells in chapter 3 of his new book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design. It's pretty much just a rehash of the Haeckel material from Icons of Evolution, which just reminds us again of three things: that creationists never seem to learn from previous mistakes, that all they have, now and then, is a set of arguments against evolution, and that those arguments rely on misrepresentation of the evidence and the views of scientists in order to sound credible. Myers does an excellent job of dismantling Wells' claims about embryology.
His post is part of a larger project from the crew of the Panda's Thumb. PT contributors are taking the chapters on various subjects in the book that fit their expertise and dissecting the claims in considerable detail. In that way, we will essentially be constructing an online book that takes on his claims one by one. You will see the evidence of distorting and misrepresenting the data and the views of other scientists over and over again throughout the process; it is Wells' favorite MO.
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One expects lies and incompetence from creationists.
One expects lies and incompetence from creationists.
When defending an untruth, a certain amount of lies are to be expected. Sometimes these lies are conscious, original acts, but in many other cases they are inherited from liars gone before. Distortions of truth spread when their speakers accept them — dare I say it? — on faith. When the conclusion comes first and is held to be inviolate, the speaker can justify — perhaps even subconsciously — any amount of dissembling.
It's no surprise that creationism goes hand-in-hand with all forms of plagiarism.