spendius wrote:PD wrote-
Quote:Anyway, the notion, which you and spendi seem to espouse, that truth should be determined not on the basis of careful observation but rather on the basis of what somebody or other determines will best benefit society smacks of fascism and 20th century state communism.
I can't speak for gunga but you can chunter away to yourself after asserting that slimy smear.
You are obviously stupid.
Let me clarify my own position here.....
If a theory were TRUE or provable, then it would not matter WHAT kind of consequences belief in it entailed. Avoiding it would amount to avoid reality, when profits nobody in the long run.
If on the other hand a theory basically amounts to a steaming pile of ideological BULLSHIT which had been disproven over and over and over and over repeatedly over a decades-long span of time, as is the case of evolution,
then it is perfectly legitimate to ask yourself what kinds of consequences that theory might entail.
In other words, in this world, there is harmless bullshit, and then there is harmful bullshit. Examples of both flavors of bullshit are not difficult to produce.
For instance, the whole world pretty much knows that the basic ideas of Mormon theology are bullshit (a quick google search on 'joseph smith' and 'rosetta stone' should suffice to convince anybody who has not previously made any sort of a study of this). Nonetheless, most people do not really give a rat's ass about theology, and the LDS church mainly functions as a support group for middle class people trying to raise children. Moreover, to my knowledge, there has never been a case of 20 Mormons flying airplanes into buildings. On a scale of one to ten for being harmful, the LDS church is basically a zero.
The theory of evolution on the other hand, is an opposite example. As bullshit goes, evolution is a spectacularly dangerous and evil flavor of it. Belief in evolutoin eliminates any rational or logical basis there could possibly be for morality. The doctrine was a major philosophical corner stone in the great isms of the last century, in the eugenics movements of the last century and a half or so, of the runaway arms races of the last century and a half or so, and in general of untold grief.
In a rational world, the teaching of evolution might easily be outlawed and banned; it sure as hell should not be taught as a "fact" in public schools at public expense.
