At least they weren't the only ones. The Toronto Star is a perfectly respectable newspaper. It's not one of those tabloids that publish anything in order to pander to the lowest common denominator.But even a "respectable" newspaper can get taken in when it comes to religion. For some reason, the editors of this newspaper thought it was legitimate to publish a story on the latest announcement about the discovery of Noah's Ark [Noah’s Ark found, researchers claim]. They picked up on a story in a Chinese newspaper.
Anyone with an IQ over 100 knows there was no such thing as a world-wide deluge in 2800 BCE and there's no such thing as a giant ark built by some shepherd in Israel.
Science disproved that particular Biblical myth a long time ago. Whenever you see a story like this there are only two possibilities; either the "researchers" are making it up, or they were the victims of a hoax (or a bit of both). In this case, it seems to be mostly a hoax perpetrated on a gullible group who were only too willing to fall for it.
PZ Myers has the details: Latest Ark finding is a fake.
What about when a presumably respectable newspaper publishes something silly that flies in the face of everything we know about science and history? There's no excuse for that. Shame on The Toronto Star. Maybe they should hire a science journalist to save them from future embarrassment?
5 comments :
Wouldn't they do better if they employed a scientist instead?
Yes.
If they hire a 'science journalist' they might go for someone local and pick Denyse O'Leary. eeek!
The biggest newspaper in switzerland also brought the story. I wrote a letter to the editors this morning, pointing out what complete crap they just had published.
I dont expect any answer from them, however...
wicker
My local newspaper also carried the story but pointed out that it was a load of crap!
I understand your skepticism but when the ark myth is framed this way:
http://bizarrocomic.blogspot.com/2008/11/ark-theory.html
...it does have some charm.
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