fuck a creationist

/pedant

/tenant

/delong

i'm actually pretty optimistic on the darwin vs jesus fite. all the history of science suggests that theologians and religious authorities spend whole lifetimes on arguments about the nature of thought, matter, time, etc, only to have empiricism slash whole realms of their debate away from them, leaving the next generation to reframe their debates in the smaller space left.

today i was discussing with my co-worker what to do when kids start crying at the end of velveteen rabbit ('but he loves that lil bunny...' 'no. it will only make him sick again. burn it with the rest') a early 30something mom sidled up & said

'you know that movie HAPPY FEET? from the commercials you think its just about penguins dancing and having fun but i heard from a lot of people that its really making kids cry because its scary and all full of adult and GAY THEMES and stuff like global warming'

i asked her who she heard all this from & she admitted it was her husband and the tv show 'fox & friends'

In any case, "Who do you think you are?"
Um...extremely genetically similar to that monkey right there?

I wasn't born in Ireland, but that doesn't mean a few Irish people aren't related to me on some level.
Note: I'm only part Irish. Small relationship on a genetic level relative to the rest of my heritage.

Feel free to peruse the user comments, tho, including the following:

JC L gave it a2:

The movie's agenda squashes the fun out of this film- Message: Anglo, religious, Southern, father authority=BAD. Latin, ethnic, U.N., rebellious children= GOOD. Scottish (Anglo) and Southern accents were given to the villains and failed father. Latin and ethnic accents given to the enlightened and fun characters. Unfortunately, I was in a theater full of kids and none of them were having fun or laughing. Graphics were great and kept this from being a total loss.

bran h. gave it a3:

I'd give this movie an 8 for ambition, but a 3 for execution. The film has 2 agendas, one of which reviewers and audience members alike seem to have totally missed. The first is the well-recognized eco-agenda that shows up in the last 30 minutes of the movie (practically out of the blue) and which, though creatively and compellingly handled initially, is ridiculously resolved in the closure of the film. The second, which is both the one that is missed and the one that drives the film's plot, is Mumble's personal storyline - which is a very thinly veiled metaphor about the experience of coming out and seeking community acceptance as a gay man. Mumble is "different" from birth, he's inherently happy (read: gay) about who he is and doesn't mind his difference at all, he is rejected by his community and his father particularly, and finds a new community with sassy, brassy, carefree, dancing, party animals who appear to lack serious convictions about major life issues (a metaphor for the gay bar scene). I like that the gay agenda is presented in such honest and matter-of-fact terms and think that the movie could've been a wonderful one had the filmmakers simplified their presentation around that, but the rest of the movie is just so confused and sloppy - once the eco-agenda is added in to the picture, and issues of madness and depression are thrown in, as well as various religious/metaphystical issues... Well, the movie just gets totally confused, loses its momentum, and, as a result, can't support it's story nor it's twin agendas very effectively.

Ray H. gave it a2:

I saw this with all of my cousins. The youngest is four and the oldest was thirteen. The other adults in my family also came with. We saw this movie thinking it would be at least somewhat funny. My four year old cousin and my six year old cousin, the audience the film was aimed at, FELL ASLEEP!!! The script was awful, the plot was pointless, and came from a definite tree- hugger. The only somewhat funny parts in the movie were Robbin williams' character and his friends. Overall I thought this movie was terrible and a waste of five bucks!!!

M D gave it a2:

Well, I thought it was going to be a cute happy little kids' flick, but little did I know that I was going to have preachy political messages crammed down my throat. It isn't that I necessarily disagree with all of the messages that the movie is trying to preach to us, in fact, I agree with the majority of them. The problem is HOW they did it. How they did it was actually rather offensive and heavy-handed. I felt like they were forcing ideas on me and overtly trying to manipulate me into thinking a certain way. As well, they used strange stereotyping that seemed unnecessary and just wrong somehow. Like, why were some of the penguins Mexican? Weird. And how come the leader of the penguins had a strong Irish brogue and all of the rigid penguin leaders seemed kind of like they were penguin Catholic priests? What point were they trying to make by using stereotypes in this way? That religion is bad? That people who are accepting are latino? Strange. And did you need to use these specific stereotypes to make the point you were trying to make? I felt like I was watching one of the newer Star Wars movies, and expected Jar Jar Binks to show up in one of the scenes... And, frankly, all of these stereotypes and political messages changed the movie from being a movie into being a diatribe. The movie stopped being a cute kids movie about a penguin with special tap-dancing skills who wants to be accepted, and started being a vehicle for the movie-maker's political propaganda. Tell a story OR share your opinion--when you try to pretend like you are telling a story when really you are shoving your views on others, it is dishonest and irritating. And, for a children's movie, it was awfully sexual. Yes, I know, much of the movie revolves around mating, but really, some of this stuff was just too adult for children. And just for the record, I am politically pretty liberal, but when watching this movie, I felt like I was being bashed with a liberal propaganda stick so hard that it almost made me want to say, fish all you want, you eco-destroying trawlers! When you push your views so hard that people already on your side want to get away from you, I don't think you have relayed your messages in the best way possible, eh?

"ethnic"

C on http://www.cool-names.net/msn-emoticons-smiley/cross.gifs

ME: So, I was at this crazy website last night, this creationist guy who thinks humans existed at the same time as dinosaurs, and tries to prove it...it's bizarre, you have to see it.

HER: ...Yeah, but what about Africa?

ME: ..What ABOUT Africa?

HER: Well, you know, what's it called, pangaea? You know, so the dinosaurs were actually in Africa at the same time that humans were.

ME: Um, no, dinosaurs went extinct a really really long time before we evolved into humans.

HER: *rolls her eyes and gives coworkers the "Zach is dumb" look*

THE US PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM HAS FAILED US ALL

wtf?

I think Curtis summed it up, actually. wtf.

Or something. It's obviously wrong, but that's the only thing I can think of since she obviously has a fundamental misunderstanding of (a) dinosaurs, (b) humans, and (c) Pangaea.

These days, I just let people believe that humans had to watch out for dinosaurs when they left their caves during the day. Especially the fire-breathing Dragonasaur!

People weren't on Pangea, to my knowledge.

She' seems to be having difficulty seperating physical space and time.

Pong came before the Genesis. Just because both were sold at Sears doesn't mean they were there at the same time.

Genesis was first dude, it's right there in the Bible :-P

Same plot as Footloose definitely. It was probably in all seriousness pitched as Footloose meets March of the Penguins.

Everyone knows that dancing saves. Parliament always preached that you have to shoot endangered species with your bop gun.

Aquaboogie would have been the perfect soundtrack to the big underwater synchronized swimming scene. Although "Lets Do I Again" in that scene was one of the few good bits of music in the whole thing.

So it's essential U&K viewing, then?

Shortly after school began in September, the teacher told his sixth-period students at Kearny High School that evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific, that dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s ark, and that only Christians had a place in heaven, according to audio recordings made by a student whose family is now considering a lawsuit claiming Mr. Paszkiewicz broke the church-state boundary.

“If you reject his gift of salvation, then you know where you belong,µ Mr. Paszkiewicz was recorded saying of Jesus. “He did everything in his power to make sure that you could go to heaven, so much so that he took your sins on his own body, suffered your pains for you, and he’s saying, ‘Please, accept me, believe.’ If you reject that, you belong in hell.µ

Of course, the kid who recorded him is now being attacked, even receiving a death threat.

The article touches on something else:

Greice Coelho, who took Mr. Paszkiewicz’s class and is a member of his youth group, said in a letter to The Observer, the local weekly newspaper, that Matthew was “ignoring the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gives every citizen the freedom of religion.µ Some anonymous posters on the town's electronic bulletin board, Kearnyontheweb.com, called for Matthew's suspension.

which is something that's been popping up more & more in fundie political circles, that "freedom of religion" translates to "freedom to annoy your class/office-mates with tone-deaf evangelizing."

So it adds another bit to the rightwinger perception of persecution( and resulting self-righteousness), 'coz the evil secular libruls are taking away their freedoms, etc.

this was par for the course at my high school...my biology teacher flat-out said he didn't believe in evolution and wasn't going to teach it.