Evolution More Than Just A Buzzword

Feb 12 2004
Counterbias.com
Robert Furs

A buzzword. That’s what evolution is, according to Georgia’s Superintendent of Education, Kathy Cox. Never mind the scientific data behind it: the word alone is devastatingly harmful to her students.

“By putting the word in there, we thought people would jump to conclusions and think, ‘okay, we’re going to be teaching the monkeys-to-man sort of thing,’ which is not what happens in a modern biology classroom,” she said, adding that evolution is “a buzzword that causes a lot of negative reaction.” So Cox took it upon herself to free the Georgia education system from that evil word, replacing it with the apparently less-controversial phrase, “biological changes over time.” It means the same but sounds nicer.

It all begs the question: if simply renaming problematic, shitstorm-brewing terms and converting them into a less succinct form is all it takes to make the problem go away, why not apply the same “anti-buzzword” formula to other controversial topics that might confuse or harm our precious children?

Take sex, for example. That’s a mean one for the kids, especially when it comes to its classroom-based education. Of course, the word “sex” has been corrupted by the media to conjure up prepubescent, erection-forming fantasies before the kids know what’s really up. So what better way to revoke sex’s buzzword-status than by calling it the “affection-based semen transfer process”? No more dirty

S-words! Let’s just get to the meat of the matter, right? What a way to save the kiddies a lot of undue corruption and the education system a lot of time.

This is why Georgia’s new suggested moniker for evolution is just silly. At face value, the idea is inane enough—what purpose will a name change serve? Whether Georgians are abnormal enough already or not, why go forward with such a minute change that will only alienate Georgian students even further from the rest of their country and the world’s scientific zeitgeist?

Evolution, while still technically a theory, has so much evidence supporting it that it’s virtually scientific fact. And as the evidence continues to pile up, the theory’s acceptance continues to grow.

If the Bible-Belt state of Georgia is uncomfortable with evolution as a competitive force against their beloved creationist ideas, then they need only look to the Pope for a dose of reality. In 1996, Pope John Paul II stated, “new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis ... It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favour of this theory.” If you can’t agree with science at one end, and you’re at odds with the Pope at the other, there’s something seriously wrong with where you stand.

The governor of Georgia, Sonny Perdue, also disagrees with Cox: “If you’re going to teach evolution, you ought to call it evolution.” Former President Jimmy Carter said he was “embarrassed” by the proposal and feared “ridicule” towards his former home state.

Thank God—or, “one that is worshiped, idealized, or followed”—that on 5 February, Cox reversed her position—but she didn’t reverse the laughter directed towards her and her state from around the world.

If education officials feel the need to block students from what they see as the ever-encroaching evil of science, then so be it. But reality-minded individuals can only hope that the mind-state of anti-evolutionists and conservative cultural protectionists evolve into something a bit more intelligent.