Saturday, January 7, 2012

Creationism & Conservatism - Two Sides, Same Coin

Almost a year ago, I uploaded a video that I had worked on intermittently for something like 7 months.  I just found it linked on another blog site, and was touched to find it being treated fairly well.  I reviewed it and found it to be pretty good, although there are certainly things I would change.  My voice, for one.

Anyway, this is where my brain is almost a year later... this will be a bit on the rambly side but as I explain below, I have my reasons.

I discourage you from reading my post at the same time the video is playing.

In this video are my thoughts on creationism and its proponents, and how they are still attempting to make a case for teaching religion in our science classrooms.  In this video, I also compare this philosophical approach to that of our current conservative movement in America.

What they have in common is the quality of being selective in their facts, and ideological in their implementation.  In both cases, their reasoning is incomplete and deserving of ridicule.

I am seeing a lack of respect for the basic idea of a "fact."  We must have facts in order to move forward.  Facts are units of information or data on which both sides can agree.  It is fascinating to me that although so many influential people on the Right (and a few on the left, to be fair) continually ignore and intentionally suppress facts, while simultaneously deliberately misinforming their viewers, the charade is rarely challenged.  They act as though their listeners are rationally analyzing the situation in order to arrive at a reasoned approach toward a solution to a problem, but what is happening in reality is that their ideal "solution" has already been chosen, and now all they have to do is dishonestly parade a bunch of supporting "facts" to make it sound reasonable.

If we are to follow the All The President's Men philosophy, and always engage our skepticism by always Following The Money, then every time we see a flagrant disregard for full honesty, shouldn't we ask ourselves who would profit?  I think it's fair to assume that the dishonest among today's influential talking heads aren't being dishonest for fun.  Is it really just a case of keeping the paycheck coming in?

When fundamental facts are challenged by one side or another, it begs the question: why challenge the facts?  Are we doing things in the correct order?  Are we starting with impartial information, thenceforward arriving at a solution or approach that seems to be agreeable to most of the people involved?  Are we really doing that?

When one side's talking points are nearly universally misinformed, AND there seems to be no possibility for correction or reconciliation, what is our recourse as thinking people?

The video below is something I put together during the rise of the Tea Party movement, such as it is.  I compared their tactics and philosophical approach with those of the creationism movement.  In both, I see frequent disinformation, faulty reasoning, historical ignorance, blatant dishonesty, appeals to emotion, and, perhaps worst, revisionism in the historical record.

As I hinted above, some of my posts are finished, completed projects, and some are more of a ramble - a mental filedump where I spend a few minutes getting my thoughts into pixel form.  This post, in my view, certainly is in the latter category; although I won't apologize for it, I believe that the video below may help you understand where I'm headed, at least in general terms.  This line of reasoning is far from complete, and I confess that it is still somewhat undeveloped.  However, I think I did well with the script and presentation, so without further ado, I invite you to watch and comment on Creationism: a Square Peg in a Round Hole:

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