George W. Bush, our heroic Commander-in-Chief and now, apparently, our brilliant Scientist-in-Chief, has weighed in yet again. I'll tell you, for someone who was such a mediocre student and prides himself in his anti-intellectualism, this guy sure seems to know a great deal about an awful lot of subjects! From economics to evolutionary biology, from stem cells to uranium yellowcake, from environmental science to political philosophy, George W. Bush apparently has an opinion on everything. What next, should we start granting him honorific titles like his friend Kim Jong-il of North Korea? Here are a few ideas from Kim's reported 1,200 titles, all of which are meant to extol Dear Leader's "encyclopedic knowledge and superhuman abilities":
*great figure of the arts and architecture
*genius of music
*world famous writer
*computer genius who surprises computer experts
*ideal leader of the world
*incarnation of power
*hero of the heaven
Hey, maybe Karl Rove can conduct some focus groups and figure out which of these test highest with the American people!
Anyway, if you haven't heard, Bush is now an expert on the subject of Evolution vs. so-called "Intelligent Design." Now, according to our own version of "Dear Leader," it would be a good thing, apparently, if schools taught science (e.g., evolution) alongside pseudoscientific claptrap (e.g., "Intelligent Design"). What next, should schools teach astrology instead of astronomy? Should students learn their science from sci-fi movies, or maybe the Bible (written thousands of years ago by people who didn't know an atom from Adam, a molecule from Moses, or an isotope from Isaac!)? According to Bush, pandering to the Know Nothings in the Republican Party -- also known as "his base," apparently they should.
This manufactured, absurd, anachronistic "controversy" causes images of Galileo, the Inquisition, and the infamous Scopes "Monkey Trial" to spring to mind. From an article in Science and You:
Mumbling these words quietly to himself, or so the story goes, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) left the session of the Inquisition that had found him guilty after a trial for "grave suspicion of heresy." The "heresy" was in connection with his publication of a book, "Dialogue on the Tides" in which his belief in the Copernican notion of a Sun centered universe had sort of "slipped in."In Italy in 1633, suggesting that the earth, that rock solid center of God's universe actually moved around another body, the Sun, was not the wisest thing to do. In fact that idea could get you killed... or worse. Galileo got off easy since he was sentenced to life in prison which lucky for him, became permanent house arrest instead.
Oh and in addition he was commanded to never mention the idea again, his book was burned and the sentence against him was to be read publicly in every university. "And yet it does move" ["Eppur Si Muove"]. He may not actually have said it, in fact it would have been extremely dangerous for him to do that, but he no doubt thought it.
[...]
Underlying the tenacity with which the Church of Galileo's day clung to what to us were the utterly indefensible theories blamed on poor old Aristotle was a rather curious notion. It was this. The correct way to understand how the world functioned was to probe divine revelation. There really was only one truth and that was God's truth. If you should have any idea that did not square with God's truth then it obviously came from that other fellow, the Devil.
In such a climate, any theory you might dream up even if it was supported by actual observation had to be wrong if in some way it violated divine law. End of story! Galileo should have known better.
A world in which there is only one "truth," and it all comes from one source? A time in which "actual observation" and rational inquiry is superceded by blind faith? Are we talking about the Dark Ages or 21st Century America? Interestingly, according to online encyclopedia, "Wikipedia":
In 1992, 359 years after the Galileo trial, Pope John Paul II issued an apology, lifting the edict of Inquisition against Galileo: "Galileo sensed in his scientific research the presence of the Creator who, stirring in the depths of his spirit, stimulated him, anticipating and assisting his intuitions." After the release of this report, the Pope said further that "... Galileo, a sincere believer, showed himself to be more perceptive in this regard [the relation of scientific and Biblical truths] than the theologians who opposed him."
Pope John Paul II was certainly right when he said that Galileo was "more perceptive...than the theologians who opposed him." Just as scientists today are "more perceptive" than the right-wing Republicans who oppose them.
As far as Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is concerned:
The most famous confrontation took place at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Oxford. Professor John William Draper made a boring speech on Darwin and social progress, then 'Soapy Sam' Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford, argued against Darwin. In the ensuing debate Thomas Huxley established himself as "Darwin's bulldog" ? the fiercest defender of evolutionary theory on the Victorian stage. On being asked by Wilberforce, whether he was descended from monkeys on his grandfather's side or his grandmother's side, Huxley, recognising his opportunity, apparently muttered to himself: "The Lord has delivered him into my hands", and then replied that he "would rather be descended from an ape than from a cultivated man who used his gifts of culture and eloquence in the service of prejudice and falsehood."
Paraphrasing Huxley, I would "rather be descended from an ape than from an ignorant fool who uses his C average, his heavy-duty partying at Yale and elsewhere, not to mention his utter lack of knowledge regarding the topics upon which he expounds, in the service of prejudice and falsehood."
And I certainly would rather be descended from an ape than elect a candidate favored by George W. Bush. For example, Jerry Kilgore, about whom Bush recently said, "I strongly endorse the candidacy of Jerry Kilgore because he is a down-to-earth fellow, who holds dear the values of Virginia. He's not going to change his values when he gets to be your Governor. He will hold them close to his heart." Kilgore's not going to change his values if he becomes our Governor? Yeah, that's exactly what scares the hell out of me!