Rollins on evolution

Multiple points for Henry! He got in the pledge and ID. Always liked HR, glad to see he's on our side!

Awesome. This should be the short film shown before 'Expelled'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGqA1lNXYhg

Welcome to the New Dark Ages
-Bad Religion

These guys have been badly against religion since 1980.

Henry is awesome , but I think his "Love Letter to Ann Coulter" is even better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM7MR5_v47w

Caucuses make it harder to vote, and disenfanchise many.

Ehh, kinda slapdash, too much reverence for the original Darwin book, not enough emphasis on the fact that evolution WORKS. Heart's in the right place though.

Luuv me some Henry Rollins...

Hey PZ, are your tats as cool as his, though?

I'm guessing yours is some sort of squid, but please, please, PLEASE don't tell us where it is. Some things are better left unsaid.

I've never had the chance to see Rollins speak on tour. The first thing that struck me about the video is how much he gesticulates.

It's nice to see that his intelligence extends to the science/religion divide, as well.

Rollins should be the official debater of the atheist/rationalist side.

No chickenshit religiot is going to dare go toe-to-toe with him, no matter how much they pretend to believe they've got god(s) on their side.

Here's something remarkable that I found in the comments:

Our strategy has been to change the subject a bit so that we can get the issue of intelligent design, which really means the reality of God, before the academic world and into the schools.
(Phillip E. Johnson, American Family Radio, January 10 2003, as quoted in "The Counter-
Creationism Handbook", Mark Isaak, University of California Press, 2007, p250)

Ehh, kinda slapdash, too much reverence for the original Darwin book

Yup, the claim that "scientists have been championing it ever since" is inaccurate and puts quite the wrong gloss on science.

Now if only Ed Rollins thought like that.

This was awesome, I especially like Rollins calling the ID crowd on their bullshit. It's hard to present a full case in a short clip, but it should get people thinking.

Hey, bring Henry Rollins to the Amazing Meeting to provide musical entertainment! PZ, you can do a spoken word rap with him, like William S. Burroughs did with the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. Or not.

#10:
"Rollins should be the official debater of the atheist/rationalist side."

Him, Hitchens and Dawkins. That's the team. None of those appeasers.

I call for punk rock and hardcore to become an official wing of the scientific defense league.

Hey, a guy can dream, right?

The primaries for my state aren't for another month.

Wheres the endorsement PZ?

Yes, I have done my caucus voting. Yes I have the yard signs and the bumper sticker (actually I converted this to a magnetic strip that is on my trunk next to my squiggly sticker). Yes, I volunteered to call. Yes I volunteered to do door-to-door pamphlets. Yes I have driven a number of people who were willing to use my services for transport to the any caucus sites (meaning, I did not care who they voted for but simply they were willing to vote!).

Whew, now it's time for a bit of blue and tonic!

Regarding the vid - this guy is serious! Have not ever seen him before, will try to watch out for in the future. Thanks for having this vid available!

Ohhh, ohhh, did I just find that last dream cigar in the humid-box?

Ahhh, yes! victory is mine!

Henry, you're the man!

PZ, you're even hotter than I'd imagined!

If only Rollins and Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister could join forces and talk straight to these religious nitwits. Punk and Metal can be a cause for good in Atheist circles. OK, I'm overstating the case here, but a man can dream.....a man can dream.....

Unfortunately I don't get the option of voting Gordon Brown out for a while. (I don't want any of the others to get in, either: vote them *all* out, I say, and put a horse in 10 Downing Street. Hey, it worked for the Roman Empire...)

I wanna watch the Henry Rollins Show, now...

All this did was show me how utterly stupid Henry Rollins is -- and how equally desperate PZ is to have someone -- anyone -- agree with him. And you get on Expelled's case for hiring Ben Stein as thier pitchman. Rather than spending your life picking apart other people, I think your time would be much better spent tending to the massive piece of splintered wood jammed into your own eye. I'm starting to feel embarrassed for you.

Go pray about it DAC.

Rollins is great. I've never seen him before. It's totally unexpected to see someone that tattooed and in-your-face be so eloquent. His "America is Under Attack", in the menu, is good, too.

The arm-waving is kind of distracting and I really don't care much about whether sex-education is abstinence-only or not (I leave that up to people who know the advantages and disadvantages better than myself), but otherwise very good.

Awesome. He could probably kill a bear with his hand-talking alone.

"Willful ignorance, intimidation, and suppression of information are their tools." Well said, Mr. Rollins, well said.

To comment further, I didn't know Henry Rollins was such a funny m-fer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9S5-EB8dR8&NR=1

Gosh, I am sooo surprised that DAC didn't say anything. Hey, if you can't attack the message, attack the messenger!

DAC, think about this: What is the source of your pastor's income? How would it be affected if his flock diminished?

I have no idea who this bloke is but I'm willing to have his babies.

I've been a Henry Rollins fan for many, many years and have seen him live a few times. He tours almost constantly, and has dates around the world for his current tour. http://www.henryrollins.com/website/news/index.html

There's something about Henry that's just so sexy!

Alex: ... whether sex-education is abstinence-only or not (I leave that up to people who know the advantages and disadvantages better than myself)...

Abstinence-only programs are as successful socially as creationism is scientifically.

Like I said, not the most well-crafted speech ever, but Rollins still kicks Stein's ass up and down the block.

WOOO! *chest-bumps DAC*

One of my favorite people. Thanks for posting this. His "Love Letter to Ann Coulter" is probably one of the best things out on the internet right now as well as some of his other monologues.

Thanks to the Barefoot Bum I found this blog:
http://www.evolvedrational.com/

Here are some samples:

The infantile, moronic, brain-dead gasbag of lies more commonly known as religion has claimed its' latest victim. After being indoctrinated into the Jehovah's Witnesses cult by his aunt, a 14-year-old boy stupidly refused a potentially life-saving blood transfusion. The sad part about all of this is that this child died for a god that does not even exist in the first place.

And...

Creationists are not only deluded dumbfucks who want to see the death of modern science and drag the world back into the Dark Ages (where scientists could conveniently be burnt at the stake). They are also cunning liars who are all out to fleece their flock in the name of an imaginary god.

Tangential to the topic--
Minutes ago, a panelist on CNN, commenting on Huckabee: "He doesn't believe in evolution, or gravity, or photosynthesis..."

I don't know who Henry Rollins is, but I want to have his babies.

How on earth do people not know who Henry Rollins is?!
I'd feel sorry for you people if it wasn't for the fact that you have the opportunity to hear his stuff for the first time, which is an experience that cannot be reproduced.

You think his hand talking is frenetic? When he's on stage he's a machine, punching the air with the mike, pacing, running and jumping around the stage, and that's just his spoken word stuff, watching him sing (or whatever he does, I'm not a huge fan of his musical projects) is like a boxing match.

He does that for two hours without a pause longer than to take a gulp of water. Heck, I was exhausted just being in the audience.

My name is PZ!
You're in my world now!

Was going to say the same as Fox1- if you think Rollins is animated in this vid, you should see him on stage. He's way toned down here.
I imagine the people here not familiar with Rollins are either not from the U.S., or prefer classical music. :)

Also, I like what he said and how he said it- it's what they call "layman's" terms.

Hey! My reference is old enough, it might as well be classical music.

I can't get sound at work but I'll listen to this at home later. Glad to see that HR is still doing his thing, I used to hear him on radio in the late 80's (probably associated with tours out here in Australia) and can believe the guy's demonically intelligent.
Out here, a guy called Peter Garrett fronted a band called Midnight Oil that did a lot of activist rock'n'roll in the 70s and 80s, then moved on the the Wilderness Society, then the Greens, then the Labor Party and is now Minister for the Environment. Unfortunately that means he probably has less power now than at any time in the last 20 years. Rollins is much smarter and more charismatic than Garrett. If only you had a political party that could use him!

Hey DAC, Henry's even written you a song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vgQalXaIxs

I've been saying for about ten years now that Henry Rollins should be president of the united states. I'm completely serious.

How on earth do people not know who Henry Rollins is?!

I had never heard of him until PZ posted this video. I had to go look him up on Wikipedia. Even after reading that, I'm not sure where all the folks here would have heard of him. This doesn't seem like a hangout for punk rockers.

"...not really much of a theory, more of an over fancified collection of sentiments..."

heehee

love it

Had to teach tonight...that's what happens when you work for a private college. I was pissed I missed the caucus, several of my students and my TA were too. At least our man (we all supported his) Obama did fine here. Still...

Curt, my dear boy, I can pick up on it from some of the regulars here. You just need to know the cues. But I will say this, Deepsix overstated just how well known HR is.

I've been saying for about ten years now that Henry Rollins should be president of the united states. I'm completely serious.

Well there's always 2012.

PZ,

That could be you. In a few months. If your serious I'll lone you my olympic weight set.

Not that its been doing me so much good lately.

Always been a big fan of Hank and finally got to see him at the Edinburgh Festival last year. He's such a cool guy to see in the flesh, just instantly likeable and extremely well-informed on a huge range of subjects.

President Rollins? Kinda has a nice ring to it :-)

This doesn't seem like a hangout for punk rockers.

Why would that be?

Although I'm more of a metalhead myself.

Even among the usually outspoken punk rockers over the years (John Lydon, Jello Biafra, Ian MacKaye, Joe Strummer) Henry Rollins has always been one of the most voluble and potent, going on spoken-word tours in the late '80s. He parlayed that into some acting (well, "acting" might be more accurate) and a cool talk show on IFC. He's always been massively informed and down to earth, and not at all the spitting, puking, heroin-shooting girlfriend-stabbing "punk rocker" stereotype (which I also like!). I'm never surprised to find punk rockers espousing atheism, rationalism or skepticism, and I'm not surprised at all to see him expounding at length on this topic.

This doesn't seem like a hangout for punk rockers.

You never know. Some punk rockers end up writing their Ph.D. dissertations on evolutionary biology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Graffin

Thanks for posting this. My sister has been wanting me to go see Rollins with her next month and I've been so-so about it. Now I have seen her Henry Rollins concert and I am raising her a Democratic caucus this weekend!

It's ridiculous how quickly you people leap to conclusions. Since when is a criticism of Rollins an endorsement of religion? If you people weren't so pathetic, you'd be laughable. I can't believe how you're standing by this guy. He didn't even do a good job of representing Darwinism, much less criticizing intelligent design. If this is the sort of person you're looking to for help, you're in desperate straits. If you people really think you have the truth and you want to share it with the world, how about starting by not treating everyone who disagrees with you as an idiot? Oh right, because the only reason anyone would disagree with you is because they are an idiot. Got it. I think there's a clinical term for people who think that way...

loves me some Henry Rollins...and it's not just physical.

DAC reminds me of a song by another punk luminary: "Small Man, Big Mouth".

Rey, you just proved my point. All posturing, no substance.

Let us all know when you plan on posting something of substance DAC.

So far all you have done is troll.

Anybody know what channel that show is on? Rollins Rules!

I saw him in.. uh... concert? at one point at the 930 club. It ruled.

I also love the one commenter to that youtube post that said that Henry was a punk and he'd take him down or something..

Yeah Here's $5, you go give it a try sparky. I'll stand back here with this gallagher style sheet of plastic. I don't want to get any goo on me when he splatters your ass.

IFC. It's on IFC.

ROLLINS!!!!!

If you people really think you have the truth and you want to share it with the world, how about starting by not treating everyone who disagrees with you as an idiot?

Coming from someone who entered this thread by calling other people stupid and desperate, that's remarkably hypocritical.

DAC: "I know you are but what am I?"

Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about your shameful secret man-crush on Henry Rollins...oops. Oh well, it was pretty obvious anyway.

#47: "This doesn't seem like a hangout for punk rockers."

Not all punk rockers look like punks, you know! :)

#58: "I can't believe how you're standing by this guy."

Rollins has been composed of 100% Awesome for many years. A man of massive energy, intelligence, and work ethic. Do I agree with him on everything? Not always (though he certainly hits the spot here). But there's no denying the cool.

#58: "If you people weren't so pathetic, you'd be laughable." AND "...how about starting by not treating everyone who disagrees with you as an idiot?"

These appear in the same comment. Do you even read what you write? If I were to do a Venn diagram of "idiots" and "people who disagree with me", they wouldn't be the same set, though there'd be some overlap. I'm starting to think you fit in that zone.

PZ, you can rock with Henry and Greg!

MUHABBET

thanks...