Evolution in Pop Culture
jrosenhouse | March 25, 2008Have you been following this? P. Z. Myers got recognized at a screening of Expelled and was thrown out. Richard Dawkins, who was with Myers, did not get recognized and was allowed in. Hilarious! I think most people would agree with Dawkins' take:
The blogs are ringing with ridicule. Mark Mathis, duplicitous producer of the much hyped film Expelled, shot himself in the foot so spectacularly that the phrase might have been invented for him. Goals don't come more own than this. How is it possible that a man who makes his living from partisan propaganda could hand so stunning a propaganda…
jrosenhouse | May 11, 2007Matthew and Land look like Nobel Prize winners compared to Bill O'Reilly. He had Kirk Cameron on to discuss the vexing questtion of whether God exists. The video is available here. The interview opened with O'Reilly boasting of having defeated Richard Dawkins in their recent debate. Dawkins couldn't tell him where the universe came from, you see.
To set this up, O'Reilly asked Cameron to prove, in a minute, that God exists. Cameron answered with his stadard child's version of the argument from design. Then the following remarkable exchange occurred:
CAMERON: Plus, Darwin said in…
jrosenhouse | May 11, 2007On yesterday's edition of the MSNBC chat show Hardball, host Chris Matthews had the following surreal discussion with Richard Land, President of the Southern Baptist Convention:
MATTHEWS: Let's get to it. On Broadway right now, "Inherit the Wind" is playing. I hear Christopher Plummer is fabulous. I've always been a Brian Dennehy fan. Brian Dennehy is playing the William Jennings Bryant character. Are you surprised that three of the Republican candidates for president in our debate last week openly expressed opposition to a belief in evolution?
LAND: No. I'm not surprised at all.…
jrosenhouse | August 24, 2006That's the title of this article from the August 2006 issue of GeoTimes. The article is by Kathryn Hansen. The article details some of the difficulties faced by national parks and museums in communicating science to the public.
It begins as follows:
STOP: This exhibit is about animal thinking. It contains some things you may agree with, some you may disagree with, and others that may even trouble you. Come explore and see what you think.
This disclaimer, attached to a bright red stop sign, is the first material offered to visitors at the Think Tank, an exhibit about animal cognition at…
jrosenhouse | August 23, 2006Anyone familiar with D. James Kennedy, leader of Coral Ridge Ministries, knows that he is one of the vilest ignorance peddlers in the business. When I lived in Kansas I listened frequently to his sermons on the local Christian radio station. He managed to stand out even on a station where lies and ignorance were the norm.
So it is no surprise that they would put together a documentary called “Darwin's Deadly Legacy,” alledging among other things that Hitler was an evolutionist, and that this in some way shaped his political views.
Of course, the idea is ridiculous on its face. It's not as…
jrosenhouse | July 26, 2006During those rare moments when I am not doing mathematics or blogging, I am usually reading. I read a lot of nonfiction, mostly books related in some way to science or mathematics. I also read a lot of fiction, and here I generally stick to a steady diet of mysteries, horror, science fiction and political thrillers.
But every once in a while I get the urge to read something good. A Les Miserables or a Moby Dick. That sort of thing. Recently I got it into my head that I really ought to read some Dickens. I've never read any of his novels. Theoretically I read Great Expectations in high…
jrosenhouse | June 14, 2006P. Z. Myers says all the right things on the subject of replying to Ann Coulter. She's loathsome, dishonest and ignorant. But we can't simply pretend she doesn't exist. I haven't managed to get a copy of her book yet, but when I do I expect to have some things to say about her evolution chapter.
Andrew Sullivan offers this interesting post about Coulter. He reproduces the following e-mail from a reader:
Just wanted to add my little bit of insight to the Ann Coulter discussion. While interning at a cable news show a year ago, I was responsible for guest relations on a day when Ann…
jrosenhouse | May 19, 2006Who was the guest on yesterday's episode of The Colbert Report? It was Ted Daeschler, a paleontologist at The Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia. He was part of the team that discovered the fish-tetrapod transitional form Tiktaalik roseae. Not only did he appear with Colbert, but he was there to discuss paleontology and evolution. He even brought a plaster cast of Tiktaalik.
This is no surprise coming from Colbert. Both he and Jon Stewart routinely have scholars on their shows to have at least somewhat serious discussions of important issues. In this they differ from virtually…
jrosenhouse | May 14, 2006I used to be a big fan of The Simpsons, but like a lot of people I started losing interest a few years ago. After more than a decade on the air the show seemed to have lost its spark. Well, maybe it's time to start watching regularly again. Tonight episode was first rate. The following synopsis is from memory, so forigve me if I get some details wrong.
In tonight's episode, Ned Flanders becomes outraged that the local natural history museum promotes evolution while presenting the Biblical story as a myth. His children are plunged into spiritual confusion by seeing the display.…