Friday, October 31, 2008

Edward Sisson Needs a Logic Course

The Expelled DVD is coming out, and as is appropriate, the Discovery crew promotes that stinker of illogic with some grand illogic of their own, courtesy of Edward Sisson:

Hmmm — a video comes out saying that if you question Darwinism, you get trashed and denounced. And the mass response is to trash and denounce the video.

Don't the denouncers realize their own conduct proves the video is true? Do the denouncers not realize the irony of their own behavior?

Or are they really taking the position that those who doubt Darwinism are typically free of being denounced?

I reminds me of my C-SPAN experience with Barry Lynn — he denounced my doubting of Darwin, but then when I said that as a general rule people who doubt Darwin get denounced, he denounced that statement as well. But Barry — you just did it to me!


Ah, I get it. So if I say that people are unfairly denounced who criticize Edward Sisson for being an irrational, lying sack of bovine excrement who eats babies and tortures kittens, and Sr. Sisson denounces me for saying that, he's proving my point! What a novel way of deflecting criticism of your position: just make it part of your position that you are criticized unfairly!

Let me spell it out clearly for you guys, so even the Edward Sissons of the world can understand it. Questioning aspects of evolution, generally speaking, does not get you denounced. It happens all the time in science with evolution and other theories; that's how progress is made. Question, hypothesize, test by gathering evidence, revise accordingly. However, attempting to play semantic games with science by renaming it with a religious-sounding label (Darwinism), rehashing long-discredited creationist arguments by dressing them up in sciency-sounding language (Intelligent Design), and making a propaganda film intent on slandering science with political poison in the complete absence of evidence (linking Darwin to the Nazis) will indeed get you denounced, and rightly so.

Oh, and people who express that view are unfairly denounced, so you can't denounce me.

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