I do on occasion run out of ideas for my column writing. I do this after finishing a huge writing project like a book. I am just plain "written out" and am fresh out of things to say. When this happens, I turn to the news and am rarely disappointed.
This morning, I read a story by Associated Press writer, Carl Hartman, entitled, Smithsonian Finds Scopes Trial Photos. This seemed innocuous. The story, as well as the photos, were... interesting.
What got my "Snit-O-Meter" going was how this reporter, like probably everyone on the face of the earth would report, reported the Scopes Trial as a genuine and bona fide criminal trial that took place.
Would it surprise you to learn that it was not so?
Let me first site two sources you simply must read. The first is an article by Carol Iannone.[1] The second is small book by Phillip E. Johnson, a law graduate of Harvard and The University of Chicago. He was also a law clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren and taught law for thirty years at University of California at Berkley.
In Johnson's book, Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds[2], he says:
"The Scopes Trial was not a serious prosecution but a symbolic confrontation engineered to put the town of Dayton, Tennessee on the map. The Tennessee legislature had funded a new science education program and, to reassure the public that science would not be used to discredit religion, had included as a symbolic measure a clause forbidding the teaching of evolution. The governor, who signed the bill, realizing that any prosecution would be an embarrassment, predicted that the law would not be enforced. The American Civil Liberties Union wanted a test case, however, and advertised for a teacher willing to be a nominal defendant in a staged prosecution."[3]
This man never had a chance in hell of going to jail or paying a fine for anything. The Scopes Trial was a hoax.
Now I encourage you to seek out these sources and read them. The small book by Johnson can be purchased cheaply at most bookstores and at Amazon.com. Get it and read it!
But my point in writing about this is NOT to unravel the hoax of the Scopes Trial but to pose an issue that I often bring up in my writings and in my newest, yet-to-be-released book, America's Anti-Mexican Xenophobia (I apologize for that shameless plug for my book-not really! BUY IT!).
It is just beyond the pale that this Associated Press writer would accept, minus the application of a finely tuned "Phony-Baloney Detector", without question that the Scope's Trial was a genuine criminal prosecution. I might add the American public as a whole and most scientists as well to that list.
How is it the Scope's Trial, as well as any other number of ideologically motivated hoaxes (The Gay Agenda movement?) has been accepted and ingrained into the minds of the American people as incontrovertible fact?
Harvard Genetics Professor Richard Lewontin writes of a possible reason (one which I accept as valid):
"We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a priori commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door. The eminent Kant scholar Lewis Beck used to say that anyone who could believe in God could believe in anything. To appeal to an omnipotent deity is to allow that at any moment the regularities of nature may be ruptured, that miracles may happen."[4]
Professor Lewontin's quote is probably the most salient explanation for why the Evolution hypothesis or the "I was born that way" Gay Agenda hypothesis seems so certain to elitist insiders and so uncertain to those outside the elite groups. It is the a priori commitment to an ideology first, then to setting about to "prove" their ideology with evidence. These groups are compelled by their ideological a priori commitment to go about creating methodologies of investigation, to produce their desired outcomes, based not on Critical Thinking Skills (Phony-Baloney Detection) but on ideology.
This is why it is so important NOT to live your life according to untested assumptions! You have to develop a finely tuned and razor sharp Phony-Baloney Detection kit that you will pull out to evaluate everything you hear and read-including this author's writings!
Thinking critically is hard work. It takes time and it takes commitment. Nevertheless, please do not doom yourself to living an "a priori" commitment to an ideology first kind of life. Test! Test! Test!
Get busy developing that phony-baloney detection kit today!
In addition, make sure you buy all my books!
[1] http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9702/articles/iannone.html
[2] Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds; by Phillip E. Johnson; Intervarsity Press; copyright @1997
[3] Ibid
[4] The Unraveling of Scientific Materialism; by Phillip E. Johnson; http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9711/articles/johnson.html
Freelance writer, Syndicated Columnist, and book author, Doug Bower, has written a compelling new book titled, AMERICA'S ANTI-MEXICAN XENOPHOBIA. Have you wondered if the Minuteman Project is really on the "up and up"? Have you wondered if they represent all that is good and right with America-paragons of patriotic virtue? Doug Bower may have the answers you've been looking for.
Check out his new book: http://www.lulu.com/mexicanliving
recurring maid service Buffalo Grove ..How many of you take the time to really write... Read More
Peter Abrahams is the author of thirteen novels, including "The... Read More
In the current job market, many editorial workers have turned... Read More
For many authors just starting out, it can be a... Read More
The freelance writing market is a growing market to be... Read More
You are far more likely to successfully write and publish... Read More
Far too many inexperienced writers create flat, stereotypical characters: the... Read More
Beyond three and four act story structure, lies the Hero's... Read More
One Saturday afternoon, I sat in a packed conference room... Read More
Writing technical articles is a challenge. There you sit, surrounded... Read More
Chaos and confusion come when established rules and procedures are... Read More
Want to write a how-to article but can't come up... Read More
Writing for the web is very different from writing for... Read More
Short Story Writing Tips -We've established what a title should... Read More
Whenever you sit down to plot a story (or even... Read More
You may wonder why I have chosen this title of... Read More
Writing is a muscle that needs exercise to stay in... Read More
So, the decision is final. I am a writer.Actually, I... Read More
~TYPES~You Want Us to Write What? Understanding the Task AssignedWhich... Read More
Once you've plotted out your book, developed the characters and... Read More
My article this issue is an excerpt from a book... Read More
When the writing bug hits you, get out your pencil,... Read More
1. What Is A Premise?A premise is the point you... Read More
May I tell you about a writing technique shared by... Read More
Regardless of what sort of writer you are and how... Read More
premium house cleaning Glenview ..On my first newspaper assignment as a critic, I was... Read More
1. What Is A Premise?A premise is the point you... Read More
Working on my first humorous novel, I started with a... Read More
Hands up all those who'd like to have a successful... Read More
If you dread the thought of writing, if you fear... Read More
Set your journal or diary where you will see it... Read More
One Saturday afternoon, I sat in a packed conference room... Read More
The Blogfest 2005 Writing Contest has only been running for... Read More
Q and A.Best choice when subject is very verbal or... Read More
Reading through a writer's notebook or journal is like discovering... Read More
1) Convince yourself you want to do something else. If... Read More
What a wonderful resource the Internet is!Students find information to... Read More
There is a psychological nuisance so powerful that can deflate... Read More
If you have an online home based business you know... Read More
You can learn a lot about what it takes to... Read More
When my first book "Starting Your Own Business" was published... Read More
If you are looking for copywriter books, you'll want to... Read More
How to get a lot of traffic to your website... Read More
How to avoid mistakes that undermine your credibilityYou're probably already... Read More
Beginning writers often tend to think of a book as... Read More
Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury,England in 1965.... Read More
Whether you are working for a small business, large corporation,... Read More
The purpose of this article is to consider Print-On-Demand publishing... Read More
With the expansion and diversion of businesses, manufacturers, and even... Read More
Do you suffer from writer's block? Is there a pending... Read More
Writing |