Texas: Careening toward DOOM
So Texas had its brief shining moment of light when the state Senate rejected creationist goofball Don McLeroy’s bid to once again head up the Board of Education. McLeroy was the guy who famously said, "Someone has to stand up to experts!" when talking about the science advisors contacted by the BoE to advise them on, y’know, science.
And even in that very post I said that this win was at best temporary, since the same Governor Rick Perry who picked McLeroy in the first place would pick his replacement.
And guess what? I hate being right all the time. It looks like Perry may pick über-far right religious zealot Cynthia Dunbar to replace McLeroy.
Dunbar actively and opens hates the public school system (check that link in the last paragraph for details). Dunbar campaigns to tear down the First Amendment of the Constitution. Dunbar is a ball of crazy even by Texas politics standards.
Right now, she has not yet been nominated by Governor Perry. Given his own leanings, even if he doesn’t tap Dunbar I’m sure he’ll find some other young-Earth creationist to try to teach the children of Texas fantasy instead of science.
To the good folks of the Lone Star State: make your voices heard. Contact Perry’s office and let him know you’d rather have someone grounded in reality in charge of the education of your children. Otherwise — and honestly, I’d love to never have to use this graphic again, but I know I will —
I sent in an e-mail. I’m a “texan” (moved there when young) who got out of Texas as quickly as I possibly could– and as far away as possible (now live in England). I find it disgusting what is going on. Thankfully my parents still live there so I sent in a response :) Hopefully I will be heard– for the greater good.
Unfortunately with how right winged Texas is, I’ll be quite surprised if they actually went a bit more moderate on this whole issue… :(
openly
I would think that having such a strongly anti-Public Education stance would immediately rule her out as a candidate, even among insane fundies — isn’t that kind of like electing an Anarchist as President? It seems more than a bit backward to me, but hey, what do I know?
Phil, might I suggest you hold back on the use of words like “crazy” and “stupid”? Those are flat-out ad hominem attacks (even if I feel they’re warranted!) that really aren’t helpful to anyone – especially us. If you were just some guy, fine, but as the head of the JREF, I hope you can portray a more confident, even-handed tone. I just read a BA post where you call an AZ senator stupid, and now you call Dunbar crazy (and by extension, all Texas politicians). Their positions and statements speak for themselves, so it doesn’t help for you to lower your standards and call them names. In the past I’ve heard you call libertarians as a whole crazy too. And that’s just off the top of my head. I really enjoy your writing and I whole-heartedly support your cause, but I cringe when I read stuff like that.
Yes, I, too feel uncomfortable hearing these kinds of strong negative descriptions of people whom one may not like or doesn’t agree with. Not to say that I may not also agree with Phil’s assessment…
Well, these are not ad-hominem attacks. Ad-hominem is when they are used in place of a valid argument against them. The statements are merely something extra added onto the post…
But, I do agree, calling people crazy or stupid can sometimes come off as childish.
@Ryan Quick — I can see where you are coming from with this, but I also happen to believe that you are wrong. I don’t think it hurts anybody for Phil to be calling an obviously insane person crazy. Calling Libertarians crazy could be counter-productive, I have not seen the post in question or the context so I cannot comment, but calling a YEC crazy is certainly fair game. Everybody is entitled to their own interpretation of the facts, but we all need to start with the same facts. If you are denying fact and making up your own, you are no longer on the same playing field as the rest of us, you clearly cannot be reasoned with, and you are very obviously crazy.
This is amazingly bad, and the scary part (to me) is that most Texans probably don’t even know what’s going on. Texas is a huge state with a massive population and I can’t believe that young earth creationism is the norm. I’m trying to think what I would say to my hypothetical child who came home one day and proudly informed me that the Earth is 6000 years old and dinosaurs are a trick by a magical invisible guy.
On the plus side, I feel less crazy all the time. At least the notion that our universe was spun off from the expectoration of the Mad Daemon Sultan Azathoth, spinning and dancing in the center of all eternity to the piping of its flautists does not *directly* conflict with mankind’s pitiful explorations into the deep unknown. I demand equal time ;)
Interestingly, this sort of thing happening in a state such as Texas also makes me suspicious of public education. Our textbooks are frequently erroneous without manufacturers intentionally putting bad information in them. I wonder if this will cause a trend in Science Based Private Schooling.
Rob – “crazy” is a very specific charge. I know plenty of people who are deeply religious, some of whom may be YECs, and they are not insane. Some are very smart. Some are experts in other fields. All are capable of conducting their lives competently. When it comes to religion, people can have some really uncritical, poorly reasoned beliefs based on fear/upbringing/etc., but are otherwise very smart and knowledgeable. This doesn’t make them crazy and it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re stupid or wrong about other things too.
Absolutely call these people wrong. Absolutely question their critical thinking abilities. But “crazy” is another thing, and “stupid”, though maybe arguable, simply halts all discussion.
And just to be clear – I’m horrified by these people too!
I think the term to use is “delusional”, not insane. YECs for the greater part function very well in life. Belief in YEC as literal scientific fact is a delusion, and a very specific one. They can compartmentalize; they can go from YEC lunacy to the complexity and exactitude of tax accounting, airplane mechanics, etc., without batting an eye. This describes a local delusion, not 24/7 insanity.
Perhaps we could compromise with the term “part time crazy’.
Crazyish?
in⋅sane
–adjective
1. not sane; not of sound mind; mentally deranged.
2. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a person who is mentally deranged: insane actions; an insane asylum.
3. utterly senseless: an insane plan.
I would argue that believing the the Earth was created in 6 days 6,000 years ago against mountains of evidence would qualify a person as being not of sound mind and utterly senseless. Many people with a wide range of mental illnesses manage to be functional in nearly all other areas of their lives — a very good friend of mine is a paranoid schizophrenic and still manages to be fairly functional. This does not make him sane or not crazy, he is most certainly insane. I think that this argument applies to a YEC as well — they hold a belief system totally at odds with reality so therefore they are insane, regardless of their intelligence or competence in other areas.
The psychiatric field disagrees and would not diagnose a YEC-er as the clinical equivalent of ‘insane’ or ‘crazy’ based on that belief alone. I think much depends on one’s definition of insane.
I agree that there is something seriously delusional about these people and they need to be publicly called on this. I’ll leave the issue of what to call them to individual writers.
I think you’ll need to search the DSM IV long and hard to find a diagnosis of either ‘crazy’ or ‘insane’. Neither has any meaning in today’s mental health field. So use them as you will.
Yes, exactly. (I’m a psychologist). The aforementioned high-functioning schizophrenic offered to show one may be ‘insane’ and function well is almost certainly kept stable on meds and other treatment, without which he may again suffer delusions and hallucinations. However, his delusions would be singular to him, and likely paranoid in nature – ‘the mailman is a CIA agent or ‘the neighbor’s dog is watching me’ sort of thing. Specific delusions and hallucinations are not shared by large groups of schizophrenics.
With YEC-ers, you have a shared religious belief of a 6,000 yr old earth created by a god, and the belief has existed generationally for centuries. Unlike the individualized delusions of the schizophrenic, this YEC belief has been codeified, taught and preached for centuries, and is supported by texts in the Christian bible (to the extent one values such ‘support’), and most YEC-ers have the belief inculcated when they were children and incapable of critical thought or skepticism. There are widespread social organizations that support the YEC beliefs, plus newsletters, websites, etc.
Those of YEC belief congregate regularly with others sharing the belief in churches which support the belief. There is much communal reinforcement of the belief. While the YEC belief system is readily disproved by held scientific knowledge, the insular communal reinforcement of the YEC network of believers renders them impervious to the science – they just ignore it, pointing out some perceived scientific error and deciding science is wrong this time too. None of this is ‘insane’ behavior. It is all normative for the milieu. No psychiatric medication will affect it the way psych meds can stabilize the schizophrenic’s delusions and hallucinations.
The problem with layman psychiatric diagnosticians is that they tend to use their own state of sanity as the baseline with which they compare the one being ‘diagnosed’. They think, “I’d have to be crazy to belief in Young Earth Creationism, therefore this guy is nuts!” And they’d be right if they believed in YEC without benefit of all the factors that brought YEC-ers to the belief (inculcation from childhood, communal reinforcement, willful ignorance of science, regular social networking with the like-minded, etc.). For the truly ‘insane’, none of these supports and reasons are required. They have fully detailed delusions created entirely within their own heads and shared in the themes and details with no other human.
At some point we may have to visit tough love on Texas and just let them go. After a generation or two of creation science as the mainframe of Texan medicine and technology, the state will likely lift itself up into the glowing beam of God’s love, breaking away from the mainland to drift slowly ever southward towards the Galapagos Islands, where God shall send forth a messenger, the heavenly spirit of Charles Darwin, to explain the inevitable consequences of refusing to adapt to critical new discoveries in an everchanging world.
Hey!!! We’re right here!!!
Rob said: “I would think that having such a strongly anti-Public Education stance would immediately rule her out as a candidate, even among insane fundies — isn’t that kind of like electing an Anarchist as President?”
That’s not a strong argument, since we recently elected a America-hating, socio-fascist for president. An anarchist president could be a welcome change.
@ Dr T … Really? No, REALLY?? you think Obama hates America? and he is a Socio-Facist? This is your arguement?
He must be referring to Bush.
and Jose. I can say the same thing to you. Neither Bush nor Obama hate America. Neither are Facists or Socialists.. They both have different ideas on how to govern.. and I voted for one and against the other. But I love Brian Dunnings Sarah Palin podcast
Rob said: “I would think that having such a strongly anti-Public Education stance would immediately rule her out as a candidate, even among insane fundies…”
Can’t speak for Texan fundies, but the NC rural bible-belter fundies I know are categorically anti-public education. They hate the public schools, actively seek a school voucher system, and would never vote for a pro-public education candidate. They see the public schools as responsible for removing prayer from schools, being in bed politically with the liberla Democrats (true in NC), and believe the public school system routinely denegrates religion while promoting secular liberalism.
Check out Brian Dunning’s Skeptoid episode entitled “Sara Palin is not stupid”… he talks about this matter of name-calling. I think there is a point with avoiding name-calling.
Sorry, had to share… has anyone seen this youtube video of Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen pushing for support for uranium mining by claiming that the earth is 6000 years old, and has been around longer than environmental laws? Isn’t radioactive decay of Uranium itself used to prove otherwise?! Who elected this fool? Arizona is a beautiful state to visit but with people like this running the show I can’t imagine living there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtzJhTfQiMA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fiamsoannoyed%2Ecom%2F%3Fpage%5Fid%3D588&feature=player_embedded
That earned her Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person In The World” last night! Check out his comments afterwards (starts at 1:33):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgl7eO0NWcM
“Of Uranium!”
Strange, when i was in high school north shore creationism wasn’t even mentioned in our chemistry class.