Seeing several wanna-be Nazis (Heil shitheads!) in this group made me realize that Intelligent Design (in the academic sense) is exactly like Holocaust Denying. Here is a quick USA Today-styled chart. It's in ASCII, so just imagine it garishly lit up if you desire...

    Intelligent Design	                   Holocaust Deniers
    ------------------                     -----------------

Claims to have evidence that          Claims to have evidence that
mainstream science is wrong           mainstream historians are wrong

Uses the appearance of scholarly      Uses the appearance of scholarly
work as a transparent facade to       work as a transparent facade to
promote religious ideas               promote racist ideas

Questions evidence that is            Questions evidence that is
accepted by scientists                accepted by historians

Sees teaching evolution as a          Sees teaching the Holocaust as a
"recruiting tool" that leads          "recruiting tool" that leads 
people astray from their "truth"      people astray from their "truth"

Hardly, if ever, are their ideas      Hardly, if ever, are their ideas
examined by peers before              examined by peers before 
publication                           publication

The support of an underlying          The rejection of an underlying
religious philosophy is               religious philosophy is
acknowledged by many adherents        acknowledged by many adherents

The rejection of their views is       The rejection of their views is
written off as being PC               written off as being PC

Uses their belief as a                Uses their belief as a 
"recruiting tool" for larger          "recruiting tool" for larger
issues                                issues

I came up with this idea when I responded to a local newspaper that ran the results of one of those bogus Discovery Institute polls when Ohio was being inundated by the ID supporters a couple of years back.

Those polls often ask questions such as "Do you think that all of the evidence of evolution should be taught," questions that presuppose that there *is* any valid and presentable scientific evidence against evolution that should be mentioned in science class.

Even if you are not the scientific illiterate majority of this country who sees in the above wording only a sense of fair play, you still might reply yes because you DO want all of the evidence presented. You're just smart enough to know that there isn't anything that refutes it.

But the answer is still a yes. And newspaper headlines read how the community wants to "teach the controversy."

I would think that if we took a poll asking Americans if they thought that ALL of the evidence from World War II should be taught, a sizable percentage of respondants would affirm that they would want this. I would probably say yes.

Imagine the uproar when the headlines of newspaper screamed, "Residents Support Teaching Holocaust Denial in History Class!"

From: Harlequin <usenet@cox.net>
Subject: Re: Teach the controversy... In WWII History class
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 18:51:16 +0000 (UTC)
Message-ID: <Xns94538387E2FEFusenet123mmcablecom@68.12.19.6>

iebsk001@sneakemail.com (Spam Reporter) wrote in news:f63cd5a8.0312160309.3f07b9a2@posting.google.com:

> Seeing several wanna-be Nazis (Heil shitheads!) in this group made me
> realize that Intelligent Design (in the academic sense) is exactly
> like Holocaust Denying. Here is a quick USA Today-styled chart. It's
> in ASCII, so just imagine it garishly lit up if you desire...
[snip]

There is discussion about the similiarities of the methods of "inquiry" used by creationists and Holocaust deniers in _Why Do People Believe Weird Things_ by Michael Shermer if you are interested.

Of course the reason for such similarities is simple: Holocaust denial is 100% wrong and is discredited while creationism/ID is 100% wrong and is discredited.

-- Anti-spam: replace "usenet" with "harlequin2"

"...Everybody has opinions: I have them, you have them. And we are all told from the moment we open our eyes, that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Well, that's horsepuckey, of course. We are not entitled to our opinions; we are entitled to our _informed_ opinions. Without research, without background, without understanding, it's nothing. It's just bibble-babble...." - Harlan Ellison

From: "Daniel Harper" <daniel_harper@terralink.net>
Subject: Re: Teach the controversy... In WWII History class
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 00:18:07 +0000 (UTC)
Message-ID: <pan.2003.12.17.00.32.10.806470@terralink.net>

On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 18:51:16 +0000, Harlequin wrote:

> iebsk001@sneakemail.com (Spam Reporter) wrote in
> news:f63cd5a8.0312160309.3f07b9a2@posting.google.com:
>
>> Seeing several wanna-be Nazis (Heil shitheads!) in this group made me
>> realize that Intelligent Design (in the academic sense) is exactly like
>> Holocaust Denying. Here is a quick USA Today-styled chart. It's in
>> ASCII, so just imagine it garishly lit up if you desire...
> [snip]
>
> There is discussion about the similiarities of the methods of "inquiry"
> used by creationists and Holocaust deniers in _Why Do People Believe Weird
> Things_ by Michael Shermer if you are interested.
>
> Of course the reason for such similarities is simple: Holocaust denial is
> 100% wrong and is discredited while creationism/ID is 100% wrong and is
> discredited.

Shermer even wrote a whole book about Holocaust denial. "Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say it?" I thought it was a fascinating book, and layed out the evidence very clearly as to why historians believe the Holocaust happened.

-- ...and it is my belief that no greater good has ever befallen you in this city than my service to my God. [...] Wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and that state.

Plato, quoting Socrates, from The _Apology_

--Daniel Harper

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