What kind of a subject is Evolution?

The idea

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T
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It's "potentially offensive."

Source: Dec 13, 2004 Fortune (business magazine)

At the end of the cover story on Google, the following is said about MSN Search:

"Safe search" controls let parents restrict searching on potentially offensive subjects, like sex or evolution.
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You must have missed the post where I announced the opening of my evolution and pornography site, talkorgasms.org It was something me and my athiest coven had dreamed of for a long time, but once we finally found a sponsor in Morning Star Industries we were able to buy the science texts and hire the science teachers needed to convert good, God-fearing young men and women to our Satanic, athiest ways. Then we got them hooked on drugs and forced them to pose in pictures with the fossil record, skeletons of humans and primates, DNA molecules, the definition of "scientific theory," and those moths. You'd be surprised at what can be done with a double helix.

HOT!
 
bigred said:
I give up: are there any points being made here?
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That while blocking sexual websites makes sense, blocking a website about science does not. I just decided to be silly about it.
 
ah

Well for some this isn't simply a "science topic" but ties into religious beliefs, hence the offense and desire to block it.....not that I agree w/that, but they don't see it as comparable to blocking a site that teaches algebra (as you or I might consider it to be).
 
bigred said:
ah

Well for some this isn't simply a "science topic" but ties into religious beliefs, hence the offense and desire to block it.....not that I agree w/that, but they don't see it as comparable to blocking a site that teaches algebra (as you or I might consider it to be).
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What if some religious organization decided that algebra was inconsistent with the teachings of their bible?
 
Don't know if you're "trolling" or not, as that's hardly the same and I suspect you know it.....
 
bigred said:
Don't know if you're "trolling" or not, as that's hardly the same and I suspect you know it.....
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If you don't want to answer just say so, don't make uneducated or ill-informed assumptions.
 
bigred said:
Don't know if you're "trolling" or not, as that's hardly the same and I suspect you know it.....
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It is core to most of the opposition to ID and you should see that. The question "what is next?" is constantly on the minds of many opposed to ID as a science.

I understand that the buy-bull clearly states (twice) that Pi=3. What fun we would have if that is pushed as the TRUTH.
 
bigred said:
Don't know if you're "trolling" or not, as that's hardly the same and I suspect you know it.....
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How is it hardly the same?

There are all sorts of beliefs that can be interpreted in a manner that runs contrary to science...so there are folks out there who can demand that their children not be exposed to such 'offensive' ideas, even if it is numbers being used to express the ideas.

Opening the door to only teaching what no parent will ever complain about leaves nothing to teach.
 
DavidJames said:
If you don't want to answer just say so, don't make uneducated or ill-informed assumptions.
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Sorry, but I did answer, and my assumption was as educated and informed as it could be, given your response.


crimresearch said:
How is it hardly the same?
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If one doesn't get the diff. between the teaching of evolution and algebra in relation to religious beliefs (or anything else, for that matter), there's no point in trying to explain it.

:rolleyes: cmon y'all. From a very broad, philosophic view, you technically have a point, but a little reality check please. I really kinda doubt any parent has ever taken a kid out of school due to "issues" with algebra. To equate the 2 is ridiculous.
 
Your moving of the goalposts to whether teaching algebra is different from teaching evolution smacks more of trolling than any of the responses you have received.

I've worked with a parent who pulled his kids out of school because he didn't want the girls to learn anything that wasn't useful for following biblical injunctions on being a good wife...therefor studying algebra was a sin for a woman...

And I can easily deduce that other parents who have similar beliefs would also object to allowing such material to be available on computers.

Perhaps you need to experience some of the more extreme belief systems out there before deciding what no parent would ever do.
 
Either that or be glad that I don't live anywhere near parents such as you describe. Unreal. My bad then, I guess such silliness exists after all (wow I can't believe I just over-estimated people in any way...this is a keeper). Although I'd bet a shiny new dime that the parents you mentioned aren't just very extreme, but (nationally speaking) extremely rare as well. Fortunately.

What's next, Suzy can't take gym because it's "sacrilegious" - ?? I can't imagine what the schools they then parade their kids off to must be like.
 
Actually, I take back what I said about you needing to experience meeting those with extreme beliefs...being aware that they are out there is sufficient.
Just be glad they aren't able to inflict them on you and yours.
 
crimresearch said:
Actually, I take back what I said about you needing to experience meeting those with extreme beliefs...being aware that they are out there is sufficient.
Just be glad they aren't able to inflict them on you and yours.
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I think anyone who hasn't been living on Mars without a telescope for the past 4 years is aware of the dangers of extreme religious beliefs.

However, the original post merely seems to be pointing out that the search engine allows parents to control what their children can view on the internet. It doesn't seem to have any default parameters built in to exclude evolution or any other subject.

I have noticed an interesting parallel on this forum. Extremists of both the fundie and atheist persuasions want to use the power of the state to force children to learn whatever. Both seem to think the state's wisdom supersedes the parent's. Both seem to have a profoundly low opinion of parent's ability to raise their children well without state intervention.
 
coy aren't we

bigred said:
I give up: are there any points being made here?
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yes, and you know precisely what they are. You think it is legitimate to be offended by science and truth and you think promoting untruth is a defensible position.
 
Internet blocks

DavidJames[/i] What if some religious organization decided that algebra was inconsistent with the teachings of their bible?[/QUOTE] Then the parents should have the right to block that information on the computers in their own home and in their churches said:
yes, and you know precisely what they are. You think it is legitimate to be offended by science and truth and you think promoting untruth is a defensible position.
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No, nothing was said about promoting untruth, either in the article or by BigRed, IMO. And it is legitimate for parents to be offended by whatever, and be allowed to raise their own children in their own home, with whatever parental blocks on the computer they wish.
 
bigred said:
Don't know if you're "trolling" or not, as that's hardly the same and I suspect you know it.....
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Maybe it's unlikely anyone would take issue with mathematics (even a system invented by those "evil anti-Christian towel-heads"), but young-earth creationists and many other IDers take offense to far more than evolution, including, but not limited to, Geology, Plate Tectonics, Biology, Anthropology, Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Cosmology, Astronomy . . . and the end is listless, as they say.
 
Psi Baba said:
Maybe it's unlikely anyone would take issue with mathematics (even a system invented by those "evil anti-Christian towel-heads"), but young-earth creationists and many other IDers take offense to far more than evolution, including, but not limited to, Geology, Plate Tectonics, Biology, Anthropology, Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Cosmology, Astronomy . . . and the end is listless, as they say.
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Yeah, point taken. But as I mentioned, there are always absurd extremists on the fringe from all angles about any topic nowdays, whether it's about religion or anything else.....I just think it's worth keeping in mind they are just that, ie absurd extremists, and also (thankfully) extremely rare. Unfortunately, they tend to get much more attention than they merit.....perhaps because they're more colorful than "regular" people and we're bored. :(



John Bentley said:
Then the parents should have the right to block that information on the computers in their own home and in their churches, and in their church schools but not in public schools. Simple.




No, nothing was said about promoting untruth, either in the article or by BigRed, IMO. And it is legitimate for parents to be offended by whatever, and be allowed to raise their own children in their own home, with whatever parental blocks on the computer they wish.
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Good replies on both counts - thanks for trying to explain as I wasn't about to bother (esp. since I barely understood the response in the first place) :rolleyes:
 
I’m not so certain that it is “legitimate” for parents to be “offended by whatever.” For example, I don’t think being offended by Huck Finn has much of anything legitimate to it. Speaking as a parent and a teacher, it certainly is not legitimate to allow children to grow up ignorant of subjects like evolution and biology (and so many others that connect to these) in today’s world. Depriving someone of knowledge and perpetrating ignorance clearly lacks legitimacy.
 
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