Uncommon Descent is the Intelligent Design blog of Bill Dembski, Denyse O'Leary and their friends. It represent the best that the IDiots have to offer.Yesterday's posting by DLH is an example of the best sort of creationist reasoning. The posting is an extensive quotation from an article by Robert Meyer originally posted in New Alliance Magazine [Ben Stein’s Dangerous Idea]. Here are the first three paragraphs quoted on the blog ...
Ben Stein has a dangerous idea. His idea is that professors and teachers who express skepticism about Darwinism are likely to find themselves not granted tenure, castigated and ridiculed, and disqualified from the opportunity to have research papers published.No, your eyes are not deceiving you. Re-read that last paragraph. For all we know Stein may be a secret evolutionist. He's only interested in academic freedom. It's just a coincidence that the phrase "No Intelligence Allowed" uses the same word as Intelligent Design.
. . .
Having reviewed the movie myself, it appeared that Stein was trying to make the case for academic freedom, not attempted to convert anyone to a particular ideological position.
Stein, in fact, never makes it known what particular beliefs he holds personally, he merely makes it known that he is disgusted by the idea that someone could lose their job over honest doubts about Darwinism.
Jeesh. And you wonder why we call them IDiots?
Uncommon Descent is a very pathetic site. Firstly, there is not a SINGLE actual working biological scientist who comments there. It's an assorted mix of amateurs, second-rate journalists, computer scientists, and lawyers.
ReplyDeleteDembski regularly creates posts that are best described as juvenile in the level of discourse provided (and his attempts at humor at at best pre-sophomoric). He regularly embarrasses himself and doesn't even realize it (yet wants us to believe he is this big-time intellectual).
Commentators regularly reveal their true affiliations through proselytizing and quoting of scripture (something Dembski never bothers to stop), to the point at times it reads more like a Christian Forum.
And unlike any other blog I ever visit, comments are heavily censored; opposing comments are rarely commented. ID is a closed community where no free speech or inquiry is allowed (which is hugely ironic and hypocritical given all the blather these people make about "academic freedom"). And of course don't you dare ask "Who is the Designer" on UD - yet they whine incessantly that Darwinism curtails inquiry.
And then there is "Davescot" - some amateur hack who is supposed to be the "resident scientist" and is so deluded about his grasp of science that it is breathtaking...(and won't even use his real name).
And this is the best ID has to offer...
Just for the record, not all computer scientists are IDiots. (Although it's sadly undeniable that the generalization is warranted.) There are still at least a few of us on the side of the good guys.
ReplyDeleteNow, come on Larry, of course Ben is an evolutionist :-D
ReplyDeleteListen to him saying so at 4:xx, at least he believes at evolution.
Yep, IDiot!
Echoing the Barefoot Bum, I'll point out that not all lawyers are IDiots, either. Not even those who went to the law school at Berkeley, home to the execrable Philip E. Johnson (emeritus).
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, the fact that Johnson – the John Yoo of ID – is a respected emeritus professor at Berkeley really is something of a monkey wrench to the whole Expelled "thesis."
Wow... just... wow...
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Dembski actually watched Expelled, in that case... which is sad becasue Dembski was in it. The word IDiot applies well.
(Anon from post #1)
ReplyDeleteSorry to all the lawyers and computer scientists out there - they are certainly not all IDiots. But the ones at UD are of course.
I guess the point was making is that UD, even though it loves to pontificate endlessly about evolutionary biology, does not have any actual bona fide scientists. It's basically a bunch of amateurs. What puzzles me is why Dembski does not get his pals Behe or Wells to post - at least these IDiots have bona fide scientific qualifications.
I do check UD fairly frequently, but honestly when I see posts from the likes of BarryA or DaveScot, I don't even bother to read them fully anymore. It's just a waste of time.
"There are people who want to put science in a little box where it can't possibly touch God." --Ben Stein
ReplyDeleteEpic FAIL.
mike says,
ReplyDeleteEchoing the Barefoot Bum, I'll point out that not all lawyers are IDiots, either. Not even those who went to the law school at Berkeley, home to the execrable Philip E. Johnson (emeritus).
We know this.
It's just that 99% of lawyers are giving all the others a bad name. :-)
That Expelled is about "academic freedom" is a blatant falsehood, and the charlatans at UD know it.
ReplyDelete@ Larry: I know – and I'm a huge lover of lawyer joke, anyway. But I wanted some hook by which to use the words "execrable" and "Philip E. Johnson" in the same sentence. 'Bout all he's good for when it comes to science. ;-)
ReplyDelete@Larry:
ReplyDeleteIt's just that 99% of lawyers are giving all the others a bad name. :-)
Oy, I heard that.
(Robin Levett)