Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tomato]

This illustration is a favorite among Creationists.
As an Evolutionist, I plead guilty to some of these charges, plead not guilty to some of these charges, and return the boomerang on some of these charges.

suicide: Evolution favors those with a self-preservation instinct, so suicide cases are a very small minority.

Let's look at some of the suicides which have hit the history books and the newspapers: Japan after World War II, Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, and the innumerable suicide bombers who are making news now. You blame those events on Evolution?

homosexuality: Evolution also favors those who can reproduce. Because of Evolution, normal heterosexuals have the majority.

abortion: Evolution has wrought some mischief here. Throughout most of our past, we were able to think only of people that we can see right here and right now. Consequently, it is difficult for us to think of embryos. It is difficult for us to think of disaster victims on the other side of the world. We can't think of our descendents who will live on an overpopulated and polluted planet.

humanism: As I understand the term, humanism teaches that our species is of utmost importance. One might attribute such a belief to the Creationists, who tell us that God told Adam to have dominion over the earth.

As a matter of fact, an Evolutionist might deny this charge on the grounds that we are nothing more than first cousins to the chimpanzees.

alcohol: I honestly don't know what to make of this one.

I am fond of asking my readers to come up with examples for these four categories:

that which is attractive to us and good for us

I list juicy fruit, friendship and companionship, food when we are hungry, sleep when we are sleepy, and exercise when we are restless.

that which is unattractive to us and harmful to us

I list wild animals, dangerous heights, and food which is good for other animals but not for us--grass which is good for cows, for example.

that which is attractive to us but harmful to us

I list illegal drugs, junk food, and excessive TV viewing.

that which is unattractive to us but good for us

I list school, flu shots, and dental appointments.

Note that first two categories contain mostly items which have been with us throughout prehistory, but the last two categories contain mostly modern inventions.

Yet apples and oranges have always fallen from trees and laid undisturbed long enough to become fermented. Not only humans but animals of other species have gotten inebriated thereby. So I will have to admit that my analysis is not ironclad.

cults: The Creationists are throwing a boomerang here.

The Unification Church, the Mormons, and the Christian Scientists all have their own pet versions of the story of Adam and Eve.

relativism: It seems that every animal species has instincts which are shared by all its members. However, most widespread species have differences in custom from one population to another. For instance, French wolves have a different howling code from German wolves.

So you could go either way on this one.

moral education: Creationists would have us believe that society would go haywire without a God who promises us pie in the sky if we're good or H F and D for our enemies if they're bad. That is not true. Instinct does a fine job of keeping other animal species in a very rigid social system.

There is only one place where I've ever run across the slogan that "anything goes." And that's from Creationists putting those words in the mouths of Evolutionists. The next time you hear this slogan from Creationists, ask them for documentation.

terrorism: Hardly. The Moslems believe in the story of Adam and Eve.

I don't know specifically whether ol' Binny boy does or not. I haven't seen him lately.

crime: The link between Evolution and crime seems to come from only one case. According to the Creationists' story, the notorious defendants Loeb and Leopold learned about Evolution and got the idea that they were Nietzsche's "supermen." And if that's not bad enough, they were defended by Clarence Darrow, who opposed God one year later in the Scopes Monkey Trial!

Sorry, but I don't feel like refuting an argument like that.

secularism: Guilty, your Honor.

hard rock: Not guilty. I like classical. If you know how any famous rock singers stand on C/E, please write back.

inflation: Don't know about this one. I got a D in Economics.

genetic engineering: Yes and no. Genetic engineering was first proposed by Francis Galton, a contemporary and first cousin to Charles Darwin. Galton never won Darwin's support. So obviously, some Evolutionists advocate genetic engineering, some don't.

racism: Yes, I've heard Black people referred to as monkeys.

But there are lots of racists on both sides of the fence. The Mormons used to preach that the Black people are descended from Cain. For reasons of expediency, however, they have swept that teaching under the rug.

Elijah Mohammed, the founder of the Black Muslims, said that the White people were created by a mad scientist living on an island off the coast of Africa. Another Black racist group, called the Black Hebrews, preaches that the White people are descended from Eve and the serpent.

socialism: This requires some discussion, so I can't make a simple plea.

All animal species are gregarious, but some animal species are more gregarious than others. Those which hunt in packs tend to be more gregarious. Most cat species tend to hunt alone, whereas wolves tend to hunt in packs. That is why your pet dog runs to the door wagging his tail when you come home but your pet cat doesn't.

If we were cats, all Americans would be Republicans, all British would be Tories, and all Italians would be Publicans. If we were dogs, all Americans would be Democrats, all British would be Whigs, and all Italians would be Plebians. The fact is that our ancestors hunted both ways, so we are now half and half.

Evolution has been used both ways. If you believe in "mutual aid" and "mutual comfort," you can quote Kropotkin. If you believe in Social Darwinism, you can quote Herbert Spencer. (Incidentally, that trademark was coined without Darwin's endorsement.)

I used to belong to a group of skeptics. Someone took a poll and found that the group was half and half, just like the general population.

communism: Well, yes, with reservations.

The Communists followed a scientist named Trofim Lysenko. This chap, in turn, followed Jean-Baptiste Lamark, who taught that acquired traits could be passed to the offspring. For example, the first giraffes stretched their necks to reach leaves in trees, thereby lengthening their necks. They then passed their longer necks onto their offspring.

That theory was worth a try, but the trial period is over. It is now believed that the giraffes born with longer necks prospered and their offspring prospered, while their unfortunate short-necked brethren died from starvation.

Since the Communists based their scientific research on a faulty theory, their scientific research itself became faulty.

NOW/child lib: Life in the forest primeval favored male supremacy. So I don't see how defendants of the status quo could associate women's lib and kiddy lib with Evolution.

dirty books: Belief in Evolution did not bring us dirty books; Evolution itself did.

It is because of Evolution that male heterosexuality and female heterosexuality diverged. A prehistoric woman needed a man with good character, so she could trust him not to walk off and leave her with a cave full of children. A man, on the other hand, had no such concern. He could walk off and leave a woman and it wouldn't hurt him a bit. Alimony? Child support? Never heard of such a thing!

It takes awhile to assess a person's character, but it takes only an instant to assess a person's looks. Consequently, a woman needs to be warmed up with a warm cozy relationship whereas a man does not. That is why we have drug store romances for women but not for men. That is why we have scanty-clad women posing in front of windows for men but not the reverse.

drugs: Illegal drugs are attractive to us but harmful to us. That is because they have not been around for millions of years. If LSD could be plucked from a bush, one of two things would have happened:

1. Those who were attracted to LSD might have been culled from our gene pool long ago. So LSD would not be attractive to us.

2. We would have developed a way to derive healthy nutrition from LSD. So LSD would not be harmful to us.

sex education: Creationists may think they hold the trademark on "family values" but they don't. Even the human species doesn't.

There are two factors which determine monagamy in a species. One is susceptibility to venereal disease, the other is length of childhood. We test positive for the first factor, and we have the longest childhood of any species.

[Bulsajo]

[Ya-ta Boy]

The original evolution tree cartoon is a good example of how a picture is worth a thousand words. It makes connections between ideas that really need books and books to prove/disprove.

Pictures can illustrate through simplification, but in this case the over-simplification produced distortion. I think what the cartoon really demonstrates is that that faction of the religious right rejects pretty much all of modernity. Good argument for home schooling.

[Cohiba]

Hey Tomato! Nice cut-and-paste job of some retarded
article you found on the net. Next time try using your
brains instead of your mouse.

[jinglejangle]

[tomato]

I will have to retract what I said about cults.

According to the Baha'i Faith, we are all descended from unicellular organisms, just like all the other animals. However, our uniccellular forefathers were endowed with souls whereas those of the other animals were not.

Also, I just found out that we are all descended from clams, according to the Scientologists.

[mindmetoo]

[RACETRAITOR]

I just hope "Intelligent" Design hurries up and dies; I'm getting bored of the FSM.

[numazawa]

Evolution causes monetary inflation, too?

Damn! Those b@stards really are evil!

Ben Bernanke is the Anti-Christ! Notice how the letters in his name can spell "babe" as well as "beer" but not quite "near beer"! And we all know what his full name, Benjamin, can stand for!

Wake up, you fools!

[shortskirt_longjacket]

[tomato]

Mindmetoo, how are the feminists blamed for 9-11?
I haven't heard that before.

I know that Chick blames the Catholics for the Nazi regime,
one never knows what to expect.

[Barking Mad Lord Snapcase]

[mindmetoo]