Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Saturday, September 20, 2014

GOP’s 7 most mind-boggling “scientific” theories



As a follow-up to P.E.'s most recent post, here's an interesting article from AlterNet:


GOP’s 7 most mind-boggling “scientific” theories



1. Abortion Leads To Cancer, Birth Defects, And Everything Else 

 2. Everything They Say About Rape 

 3. Climate Change Doesn’t Exist, and If It Does It’s Caused By Trees 

 4. Breast Implants, On The Other Hand, are a Fine Use Of Science 

 5. No Dead Fetuses In Your Soft Drinks 

 6. Evolution Is (Still) Out To Get Jesus 

 7. It’s Only Science If Republicans Agree With It

Also, there's this:


ISIS targets evolution in Iraqi schools



"The AP report added that Islamic State explicitly prohibits lessons on 'Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.'

 As it turns out, Iraqi schools weren’t teaching evolution anyway, but in the name of 'eliminating ignorance,' ISIS wants to be absolutely certain that modern biology is banned from science classes. The violent extremists prefer 'religious sciences.' ”

11 comments:

Infidel753 said...

ISIS shows us what lies at the ultimate end of the path the US Christian Right wants us to take: the Dark Ages with modern guns.

The best that can be said for this dreadful crusade against modernity and objective reality is that large numbers of voters seem to see it for what it is when it's thrown in their faces. Republican Governors, most identified with the war on abortion, are doing notably less well in the polls this year than their Congressional candidates are. Akin and Mourdock were doomed when they put hard-right blithering about rape in terms too blunt to ignore. The reality of global warming is making headway with the public, though terribly slowly due to all the oil-industry money being spent on lies. Creationists who infiltrate school boards usually get voted out once they reveal their true agenda.

But it's incredible that we're still dealing with such madness at all in the 21st century.

Les Carpenter said...

Starting the weekend out with a zinger eh Shaw?

I'm rather confident the audience you're presumably trying to reach will remain willfully clueless to the connection.

Anonymous said...

Mankind has time and again proven itself incapable of sustained righteousness. Therfore it should be evident that no man made religion is capable of leading mankind to it.

Dave Miller said...

Shaw, I know many will object to posts like this and the linkage of the views of some within the GOP to the larger group of followers.

But unless and until, some leaders within the GOP step up and denounce their fringe, and the flat earth folks, isn't fait to assume that the entire party is monolithic and believes like this?

That is certainly how many conservatives view people of other cultures and beliefs isn't it? They've said repeatedly, if you disagree with the views of the radicals, then just stand up, denounce them, and be counted.

BB-Idaho said...

Your list reminds about the word 'fundamentalist': it has
'list' in it. It was a fun list
and fundamentalist has 'fun' in it. And appropriately, fundamentalist contains the word
'mental'.

Dave Miller said...

JMS... I would agree that we are seeing that happen, but mostly by Western Muslims.

My point was not to deal with Muslims in my comment, more to highlight a glaring inconsistency in conservative talking points.

But I do believe that unless we see large numbers of Muslims in their traditional homelands take up the challenge, denounce terrorism, suicide bombers and groups like ISIS and Al Qeada, problems will continue.

Are we seeing that and I am just missing it? Are leaders in Middle Eastern countries publicly saying in print and to international journalists that the behavior of the extremists is not representative of Muslim thought and religion?

Are we hearing that from government leaders and from the religious leaders in that region?

I hope we are, but I am not aware of it...

Ray Cranston said...

science and conservatism for some reason don't mix. do they have an explanation for this?

Infidel753 said...

Dave Miller: Are we seeing that and I am just missing it? Are leaders in Middle Eastern countries publicly saying in print and to international journalists that the behavior of the extremists is not representative of Muslim thought and religion? Are we hearing that from government leaders and from the religious leaders in that region?

Here are some examples.

Never assume that what you see in the media is the full story. They are generally shallow and ignorant and will interrupt an actual news story to "report" something about Justin Bieber. Their comprehension of the Middle East is particularly dire.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Thank you for that link, Infidel753.

Several conservative blogs have come out and actually proposed that the US deport ALL Muslims (that would included American citizens --where would they be "deported" to, they don't explain) -- as well as making their religion illegal here in the U.S., and also not allowing anyone of Arab ethnicity to emigrate to the U.S.

It smells of exactly what a certain country in Europe did to a certain religious group.

Hysteria and lies make people say and do stupid things.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Ooops, sorry J.M.S., thank you too for the link.

Too many conservatives have bought into group-think and willfully ignore what those two links verify: That there are Muslims who condemn the murderous religious fanatics among them.

Infidel753 said...

Several conservative blogs have come out and actually proposed that the US deport ALL Muslims (that would included American citizens --where would they be "deported" to, they don't explain) -- as well as making their religion illegal here in the U.S.

Interesting that it doesn't bother them that this would be flagrantly unconstitutional.

I'm sure you know what I think of the Islamic religion, but we can't have this kind of guilt-by-association crap where individuals who haven't done anything wrong are penalized for the acts of other individuals with whom they share some prominent distinguishing feature. It's no different than the types who want to condemn all white people because of slavery or all men because of sex crimes.

There are also very good practical reasons for not alienating an entire population. In Britain, many Islamic extremist terrorist plots have been stopped before they were carried out because law-abiding Muslims informed the police about them. If the government created an atmosphere of war against the whole Muslim minority, such cooperation would stop.