mmcirvin: (Default)
[personal profile] mmcirvin
You know, I don't even have much to say about President Bush taking the "teach the controversy" position on Intelligent Design creationism, because it's such an unsurprising item. I doubt Bush actually gives a crap about this issue, and if he'd said anything different, his base would be enraged; the fact is that the position he's endorsing has broad support from a completely hoodwinked public. After all, it sounds completely reasonable as long as you believe that there is a genuine scientific controversy here instead of a trumped-up political controversy.

As many others have said, you could probably use "teaching the controversy" in the classroom as a jumping-off point for making lots of interesting points about evolution, as talkorigins.org does so well. Were I a high-school biology teacher, I'd be strongly tempted to do it. But of course that's not what ID proponents actually want, or what they're really asking for, since it would amount to trashing their arguments; if they can't control the debate entirely, they want equal advocacy.

Date: 2005-08-03 06:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] manfire.livejournal.com
The transcript actually makes it seem like less of a big deal than the newspapers have been making it out to be:
Q I wanted to ask you about the -- what seems to be a growing debate over evolution versus intelligent design. What are your personal views on that, and do you think both should be taught in public schools?

THE PRESIDENT: I think -- as I said, harking back to my days as my governor -- both you and Herman are doing a fine job of dragging me back to the past. (Laughter.) Then, I said that, first of all, that decision should be made to local school districts, but I felt like both sides ought to be properly taught.

Q Both sides should be properly taught?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, people -- so people can understand what the debate is about.

Q So the answer accepts the validity of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution?

THE PRESIDENT: I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought, and I'm not suggesting -- you're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes.

Q So we've got to give these groups --

THE PRESIDENT: Very interesting question, Hutch. (Laughter.)
It kind of seems like the reporter was trying to drag something controversial out of him on an issue that's not really that big a deal to him.

Date: 2005-08-03 09:27 am (UTC)
ext_8707: Taken in front of Carnegie Hall (grumpy)
From: [identity profile] ronebofh.livejournal.com
You know, i suspected it would be something like that.

Date: 2005-08-03 04:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mmcirvin.livejournal.com
He's also said stuff basically equivalent to this on multiple previous occasions (and Reagan said far worse), so I'm not sure why it's suddenly a bigger deal now, though I do appreciate seeing people going to bat for teaching evolution.

June 2025

S M T W T F S
1234567
89101112 1314
151617181920 21
22232425262728
2930     

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 8th, 2025 03:01 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios