JIMMY MONKEYS WITH EVOLUTION FOE

New York Post ^ | 1/31/04 | Reuters

[kattracks]

January 31, 2004 -- ATLANTA - Former President Jimmy Carter yesterday blasted a top Georgia education official's bid to strip the word "evolution" from textbooks in some of the state's public schools. Kathy Cox, Georgia's school superintendent, has come under fire for suggesting that science books used in the state's middle and high schools carry the term "biological changes over time" instead of "evolution."

[PatrickHenry]

The theory that dare not speak its name.

[In_25_words_or_less]

I thought of coining something new, like "blurf," but that sounds too much like you need a Tums.

I don't know. "Man blurfed from apes" has a nice ring to it. As does "Kazzingled."

[VadeRetro]

That sounds a bit like Kris Kazzingle brought us in his bag. Not sure we want to go there.

[tallhappy]

To my own knowledge I haven't read any current Georgia textbooks.

So you are making it up. You have no idea if that phrase is used.

Currently that phrase is not used and a contingent wants to keep the phrase banned.

Why are you so against using the phrase "biological change over time?"

Morph? How about we just make up a word? Zwawb.

[tallhappy]

Blurf is OK.

[tallhappy]

Interesting free association on your part...

[In_25_words_or_less]

Blurf is OK.

For now. But language is fluid and adaptive. Eventually "blurf" will kazzingle.

[tallhappy]

For now. But language is fluid and adaptive. Eventually "blurf" will kazzingle.

Yes. That is the nature of zwawb.

[RightWingAtheist]

Maybe something like "morph."

Sure...if you want to teach the kids Lamarkian theory instead of Darwinian.

Pop Quiz: which legendary German author coined the term "morphology"? Hint: a Freeper whose initials are Y.W. named himself after one of his classic works.

[VadeRetro]

So you are making it up.

So you are brazening the unbrazenable. Do you feel a draft, Emperor?

You have no idea if that phrase is used.

My suspicion is that the Georgia Superintendent of Schools, Cathy Cox, although no doubt a clever person, is not the author of the phrase. Even is she is, that hardly gives you a basis for pretending a "ban" exists on something she just made up. But if she didn't make it up, she read it. There is no ban.

Currently that phrase is not used ...

You have not shown this, and yet you would like it assumed. You're the only one I know of who is even claiming that a ban on this phrase now exists. Please put up or shut up. Please provide the evidence for an actual ban upon the active use of the phrase "biological change over time."

... and a contingent wants to keep the phrase banned.

Comic relief.

Why are you so against using the phrase "biological change over time?"

I do not favor dropping the word "evolution" to describe a process in which variation and natural selection produce novel forms from common ancestors. Why are you trying to disguise any refusal to ban a word as the banning of a phrase?

Morph? How about we just make up a word? Zwawb.

You have been beat to this idea many times over. Talk to Cathy about it. She's the one who needs the help.

Read the thread. Hell, read the article. Try joining the real world. Then again, you might find the experience disorienting.

[VadeRetro]

Sure...if you want to teach the kids Lamarkian theory instead of Darwinian.

Indeed that is the problem. The understood Darwinian sense of "evolution" tends to have its own place in the dictionary. In the one I'm looking at right now, it's 2a (the theory) and 2b (the historical process) out of a total of five. As I mentioned already, "biological change over time" could refer to the rotting of fruit.

Per "morphology," I could cheat and Google it, but I'm going to guess Goethe, mostly because Y.W. suggests "Young Werther."

[RightWingAtheist]

Per "morphology," I could cheat and Google it, but I'm going to guess Goethe, mostly because Y.W. suggests "Young Werther."

Correct! Goethe fancied himself as being something of a scientist, although none of his scientific work carried much merit.

[tallhappy]

Sure...if you want to teach the kids Lamarkian theory instead of Darwinian.

Vaderetro's understanding of (as opposed to familiarity with popular writings on the topic) evolutionary biology is a bit less than that of the most wild eyed Usherite.

[RightWingAtheist]

Actually, he demonstrates an excellent knowledge of evolutionary theory which everyone should have, and which everyone would have if only the schools taught science properly. And the best way to get a good grasp of evolutionary theory is by going to the original source text, Chuckie Darwin's Origin of Species. Not only is it one of the three or five most seminal scientific texts (I only rank Newton's Principia and Copernicus's On the Revolutions of Heavenly Bodies as being more significant), it is one of the most beautifuly written books you will ever encounter. It ranks with the greatest works of Plato and and Aristotle as a masterpiece of rhetoric and argument.

[RightWingAtheist]

A big salute to Sonny Perdue for his courageous stance. There's probably not a jockstrap big enough to hold him.

[Virginia-American]

I only rank Newton's Principia and Copernicus's On the Revolutions of Heavenly Bodies as being more significant

Let me put in a plug for Gauss's Disquisitiones Arithmeticae

[razorbak]

"You do know, don't you, that Darwin's Origin of Species wasn't published until 1859?"

Gee, really?

[Modernman]

Gee, really?

If you knew that already, why would you make the pointless statement that the FF did not believe in evolution?

[razorbak]

Although Darwinism had not yet arrived, there were many humanistic attacks on the idea of creationism as an explanation for the origin of the universe [i.e. Paine, Voltaire]. Unless you believe that Darwin invented atheism also.

The point is that this nation was founded with a creationist philosophical worldview ["endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights"].

Most FR posters revere the founding fathers. Yet many of these same individuals ridicule creationism. It's just an interesting observation from my standpoint. If you do not see the irony, fine.

[tallhappy]

And the best way to get a good grasp of evolutionary theory is by going to the original source text, Chuckie Darwin's Origin of Species. Not only is it one of the three or five most seminal scientific texts (I only rank Newton's Principia and Copernicus's On the Revolutions of Heavenly Bodies as being more significant), it is one of the most beautifuly written books you will ever encounter.

Wow! The depth of your reverence for this book and sincerity in your proselytization sure comes through.