Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Religion & Law Blogs -> Thoughts in a Haystack

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Religion & Law

: Thoughts in a Haystack

Stupidburn

By John Pieret

ADVERTISEMENTS

Ow! Ow! Ow!

Does anyone know how to treat third-degree irony burns?

The Discovery Institute has issued a press release (the closest it ever gets to science) that should only be viewed after applying a thick layer of SPF 100 sunscreen or above. Be warned before reading further!

SEATTLE, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "We're celebrating Charles Darwin's birthday by supporting what he supported: academic freedom," says Robert Crowther, Director of Communications at Discovery Institute. "Like Darwin, we recognize the importance of having an open and honest debate between evolution and intelligent design."
Discovery Institute today announced the launch of Academic Freedom Day in honor of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday on February 12, 2009.
In his revolutionary On the Origin of Species, Darwin wrote, "A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question." This quote is the cornerstone of the Institute's Academic Freedom Day efforts.

That would be the same Darwin that they're honoring that they've called a racist and an eugenicist, who would have probably advocated forced sterilization if only the technology was available in his day and age. And, of course, that would be the same Darwin whose ideas lead to Nazism and the Holocaust.

How, might you ask, does the DI "honor" Darwin? Why, by quote mining him, of course!

Here is the actual quote in context, with the quote-mined part in bold:

This Abstract, which I now publish, must necessarily be imperfect. I cannot here give references and authorities for my several statements; and I must trust to the reader reposing some confidence in my accuracy. No doubt errors will have crept in, though I hope I have always been cautious in trusting to good authorities alone. I can here give only the general conclusions at which I have arrived, with a few facts in illustration, but which, I hope, in most cases will suffice. No one can feel more sensible than I do of the necessity of hereafter publishing in detail all the facts, with references, on which my conclusions have been grounded; and I hope in a future work to do this. For I am well aware that scarcely a single point is discussed in this volume on which facts cannot be adduced, often apparently leading to conclusions directly opposite to those at which I have arrived. A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question; and this cannot possibly be here done.

Contrary to the implication arising from the period the DI inserted at the end, the quote-mined part was not a complete thought. Darwin was not saying that every alleged theory has to be weighed before a fair scientific result can be reached. He was saying that he had many more facts in support of his theory but could not list them all in the scant 490 pages he had at his disposal in the Origin.

Well, the quote mine might be dishonest but they were certainly truthful that such activity is the cornerstone of their Freedom Day efforts. After all, if they didn't have dishonesty to fall back on, the DI wouldn't have any arguments at all!
.

Full post as published by Thoughts in a Haystack on February 04, 2009 (boomark / email).