Discoveroids — Still Enemies of the Enlightenment

When we began this humble blog back in April of 2008, we adopted the slogan you still see in the blog’s heading, which describes our purpose: “Conserving the Enlightenment values of reason, liberty, science, and free enterprise.” For those who have never bothered, reading even a little bit about the Age of Enlightenment should explain why we consider it to be of such great importance.

We identified blogs and organizations that were opposed to the Enlightenment, and we wrote about them. An example from this blog’s very first week is Discovery Institute: Enemies of the Enlightenment. Nothing has changed, as you can see from the latest post at the Discoveroids’ website. The thing is titled Shades of Titanic — Probing the Wreck of the Unsinkable Enlightenment, and it was written by Klinghoffer. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

The week that the submersible Titan was revealed to have been instantaneously flattened on its way down to the wreck of the Titanic, David Berlinski spoke with James Lileks and Peter Robinson on Ricochet about the wreck of the Enlightenment. Much like the Titanic, and a bit like the Titan, so much was expected at the glorious launch of the experiment in human reasoning — yet down it went to disaster, not least in the 20th century with its horrors.

You’re following this, aren’t you? According to the Klinghoffer, the Enlightenment is a wreck. Then he says:

Writing yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan suggested that the story of the Titanic haunts us in part because its demise came two years before the start of the century’s great catastrophe, World War I: “the reason the Titanic endures is that there was an immediate connection in the public mind with the Great War. The 20th century was to be the century of progress.”

That’s why the story of the Titanic haunts us? Klinghoffer gives us his reaction:

Interesting connection. Science and reason were supposed to transform the world for the good instead of soaking it in gore.

Ah yes, the Enlightenment was a disaster. He continues:

In his books — Human Nature and his latest, Science After Babel [both Amazon links!] — Berlinski probes the causes behind that failure. “A cold wind is blowing,” the mathematician and philosopher observes, revealing how “fragile” the Enlightenment dream really was.

Yeah, the Enlightenment was just a bunch of nothing. And now we come to the end, which refers to the podcast mentioned at the beginning:

The conversation with Dr. Berlinski begins at 31:45.

If this one didn’t give you a brain ache, then there’s no hope for you.

Copyright © 2023. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

An Amazingly Horrible Attack on Evolution

This one is a humdinger. We found it at the website of New American, a magazine published twice a month by the John Birch Society. Their article is titled The Theory of Evolution: A False Religion Bringing the West to Destruction, and it was written by Luis Miguel. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

Modern society is awash with idolatry and false religions designed to lead the nation astray from its Christian foundation. Many of these false faiths are deceptive because they are not openly sold as religion, yet they have all the hallmarks of it. Of the many corrosive beliefs that have been propagated in Western society, one of the contenders for most heinous, as measured by the degree to which it has caused the decline of our civilization, is the “Theory of Evolution.”

Creepy beginning, huh? Then it says:

It is more apt to call it “Darwinism,” which, like Marxism, is an idolatrous false religion whose aim is to destroy and replace Christianity. If we wish to restore Christendom and Western civilization to the grandeur they once held, it is imperative that we cease promoting Darwinism, especially to impressionable young people.

Powerful stuff. After that they tell us:

One of the most abominable and astute things the Left achieved was to introduce Darwinism in the schools, where it is taught as fact. This pernicious fable of evolution has been greatly responsible for pulling people away from religious faith.

Amazing — Darwin’s theory is a communist conspiracy. We debunked that nonsense years ago — see Marx, Stalin, and Darwin. Among other things, we pointed out that Darwin was a life-long Victorian capitalist, and he lived the life of a conservative country squire. Darwin’s work had no influence on Marx, and Marx’s writing never mentioned Darwin. Ah well, the New American article continues:

I previously wrote [Link omitted!] that a nation’s history and founding myths play a pivotal role in shaping individual and national identities, and that this is why the Left has long considered historical revisionism to be one of the chief fronts in the culture war. If our understanding of where our nation came from has such a deep influence on our psyche, it isn’t hard to imagine how much greater are the ramifications of our beliefs regarding our origins as a species. [Gasp!] By boiling man down to nothing more than another animal, to the cousin of apes [Oook, oook!], Darwinism degrades the human soul, making the adherent of this faith believe that there is nothing special or unique about humanity. It cheapens human life, minimizes our accomplishments, and limits our capacity for greatness.

Good grief! Let’s read on:

Marxism and tyrannical government are also justified by Darwinism, for if we were not created by God, we have no inherent natural rights and there is no objective good or evil — to believe that there is becomes nothing more than the latest social and evolutionary development, as concepts of good and evil might change tomorrow as we evolve again.

This is really wild stuff! Skipping a bit, here’s another excerpt:

Furthermore, Darwinism, despite what leftists say, is nowhere near the consensus in the scientific community. Many scientists [link to an article about the Discoveroids’ list of dissenting scientists ] have come out with dissenting research and scholarship. The problem is they are usually censored by the establishment.

This is the sort of stuff we’ve seen from the Discoveroids for years, and now the John birch Society has jumped on board. Here’s how the brilliant article ends:

The fable of evolution must be rooted out by a renewed era of scholasticism centered on the Bible and classical philosophy. Parents must get their children out of government schools before they are further corrupted by anti-Christian pseudo-religions masquerading as science.

That was a truly disgusting ark-load of creationism. What’s your opinion, dear reader?

Copyright © 2023. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

Texas 2023 Creationism Bills — Dead

There’s good news today, dear reader. Another creationist bill has gone down in defeat. We first wrote about it back in January: More Crazy Legislation — This Time in Texas.

Today’s news comes from our friends at the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), written by Glenn Branch, their Deputy Director. His post is titled “Strengths and weaknesses” bills die in Texas. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

When the Texas state legislature adjourned sine die on May 29, 2023, a pair of identical bills that would have harmed science education, House Bill 1804 and Senate Bill 2089, died in committee. If enacted, the bills would have amended the state education code to require that instructional material adopted by the state board of education “present a scientific theory in an objective educational manner that: (i) clearly distinguishes the theory from fact; and (ii) includes evidence for both the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of the theory.”

Nice going — the dumb things just died in committee. Glenn says:

Clause (i) appears to reflect a common misconception about facts and theories. “In scientific terms, ‘theory’ does not mean ‘guess’ or ‘hunch’ as it does in everyday usage,” as the National Academy of Science explained in its publication Science and Creationism, second edition (1999). “Scientific theories are explanations of natural phenomena built up logically from testable observations and hypotheses. Biological evolution is the best scientific explanation we have for the enormous range of observations about the living world. … [S]cientists can also use [“fact”] to mean something that has been tested or observed so many times that there is no longer a compelling reason to keep testing or looking for examples. The occurrence of evolution in this sense is a fact.”

Well, you can’t expect creationist to know what they’re legislating about. Glenn also tells us:

Clause (ii) betrays the intention of the bills. As The New York Times editorialized of the phrase “scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses” in 2008, “This is code for teaching creationism.” Employed by proponents of “creation science” and “intelligent design” alike, the phrase appears in antievolution laws enacted in Louisiana in 2008 and Tennessee in 2012.

Indeed — the legislation was hopelessly stupid from the start. Glenn’s post ends with this:

House Bill 1804 was sponsored by Terri Leo-Wilson (R-District 23), who previously served three terms on the state board of education (as Terri Leo) where she continually sought to undermine the treatment of evolution in the state science standards and in textbooks submitted for state adoption [obviously a genius]; Senate Bill 2089 was sponsored by Brandon Creighton (R-District 4). Both bills received committee hearings, during which public comment was heard and amendments were proposed, but neither bill came to a committee vote.

That’s pretty much the whole story for state legislation this year. But there are legislatures still in session, and there’s no shortage of idiotic legislators. One never knows what might happen tomorrow, so stay tuned to this blog!

Copyright © 2023. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

Does Hillary Clinton Believe in the Firmament?

This is a bit off-topic, but it somehow fits with our posts about flat earth and the firmament, and there’s nothing else going on anyway. It’s titled Hillary Clinton’s glass ceiling speech cited by flat earthers as proof world is covered by glass dome. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

Conspiracy theorists who believe the earth is flat are circulating clips of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in which she discusses the “glass ceiling,” a metaphor often used to describe an invisible barrier that holds women back in their careers. But according to conspiracy theorists, Clinton is actually referring to a glass dome that covers the flat earth. Clearly, this isn’t true. [It isn’t?]

Wowie — the firmament! We’ve written about it several times — see, e.g.: AIG Attempts To Explain the Firmament. Is Hillary involved with it? Let’s find out. The article says:

In one such speech from 2008, Clinton, who had just lost the Democratic presidential nomination, referenced the glass ceiling while discussing her campaign. The glass ceiling was also mentioned by Clinton 8 years later after she became the presumptive Democratic presidential nomination during the 2016 election season. “It may be hard to see tonight, but we are all standing under a glass ceiling right now.”

She’s definitely a firmament believer! After that the article tells us:

When conceding the presidential election to Donald Trump, Clinton once again discussed the glass ceiling in a speech to her supporters. Incredibly, all such quotes have repeatedly been used by flat earth believers to promote their world views.

Why is that incredible? The article continues:

The claim began circulating once again across social media [Link omitted!] this month, leading the majority of people to mock it outright. Flat earth enthusiasts, however, were quick to fight back.

Aha — the flat earthers know that Hillary is their friend. Let’s read on:

“What about those multiple videos of Hillary Clinton saying we will break that glass dome one day?” one Twitter user asked. … “Hillary made her comment about finally breaking through the glass sealing [sic], another said. “There are videos of rockets hitting something that is invisible and continues to spin. Round or flat, these things say something is fishy.”

Those people on Twitter are really smart! Another excerpt:

While it shouldn’t come as a shock to readers of the “One Dumb Conspiracy” newsletter [Link omitted!], Clinton’s remarks about a glass ceiling have absolutely nothing to do with flat earth or a secret dome covering the planet. [They don’t?] The earth also isn’t flat and isn’t covered by a glass dome. [Gasp!]

That’s blasphemy! The article babbles on a bit, but here’s our last excerpt:

While such beliefs still remain fringe, they have grown significantly in the 21st century with the spread of the internet. Don’t be surprised in the future if any mentions made by Clinton of the glass ceiling are used to revive flat earth talking points.

There’s a lesson to be learned from this, but we can’t figure out what it is. Can you, dear reader?

Copyright © 2023. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.