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Poll Crashing Parade: Darwin's legacy

In dubious honour of Darwin's birthday, Parade Magazine wrote a dreadful article with an equally ridiculous poll.

Obviously, that poll is just screaming to be crashed so go vote. Feel free to clear (or eat) your cookies and vote again.

The article irked me because it seemed to suggest that only “scientists and secularists” accept evolution while everyone else rejects it.

The poll itself is problematic because it seems to assume evolutionary theory begins and ends with Darwin, that evolution is something that happened in the past rather than something that is ongoing, and finally that the only nonscientific alternatives are related to God. If the superstitions of a bunch of bronze-age goat herders can be a valid response to a question of modern science, why not other superstitions too? At least Raelianism is modern.

Can we please do something about this nonsense? Poll crashing isn’t enough. I wrote them a letter. Can we use the community here at AN to keep watch on publications like this and flood them with letters when they write so irresponsibly?

Tags: Atheism, Darwin, Evolution, Poll, Poll crashing

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Comment by Фелч Гроган on February 11, 2009 at 9:07pm: Eeew. That was the grammatically error ridden draft. But its essentially what I sent.

Comment by Tao Jones on February 11, 2009 at 8:01pm: Nice!

Comment by Фелч Гроган on February 11, 2009 at 7:58pm: mediarelations@parade.com

http://www.parade.com/export/sites/default/news/2009/02/charles-dar...

"Charles Darwin, arguably the most influential—and controversial—scientist of all time, would have turned 200 years old Thursday. And more than a century after the publication of his groundbreaking book, On the Origin of Species, his work still stokes the debate over human evolution."

The only "controversy" and debate over human evolution in the modernised, industrialised world occurs in the United States. No other nation wastes any time on this and even the Vatican has given evolution its blessing.

The United States is allowing a small, militant, loudmouthed minority to push its wedge agenda through the courts continuously, corrupt education and spread its propaganda freely - often with government subsidies via "faith based initiatives". This idiological poison has been spreading freely for the last 20 years - and the fundamentalist idealogues greatest friend in all of this has been the media. What happened to journalistic standards and integrity ? Why are you actively participating in the promoting an ignorant minority who's agenda which is transparently attempting to push us back into another dark age ? Their numbers grow - your assitance accelerates this. Do you really want an American Taliban to get the upper hand ?

The fact that so many Americans, alone in the civilised world, believe this superstitious mythology only proves they are making inroads in corrupting education and lowering intelligence standards. Are you proud of the fact that you are helping raise generations of imbeciles ? You should be thinking about how this may affect you and your country in the future if this stupidity is allowed to grow like an unchecked cancer. It is very dangerous ground.

Comment by Tao Jones on February 11, 2009 at 7:04pm: Post your letters you two, I'd love to read them.

Comment by Фелч Гроган on February 11, 2009 at 7:00pm: Already did. I just think its always a bad idea to use the weapons and tactics of your enemy (ie. deliberate poll corruption / crashing) - incrementally, it makes you more like them.

Comment by marie on February 11, 2009 at 6:45pm: Ugh, I hate that this is even a question at all. Thanks for posting this poll; I'm composing my letter as we speak.

Comment by Tao Jones on February 11, 2009 at 4:47pm: Felch, sometimes tactics are more for us than they are for them. If you don't want to vote at all, don't. Are you sending them a letter though?

Comment by Adam Johnson on February 11, 2009 at 2:23pm: Thank you for voting!
Yes. Humans evolved without divine intervention 90% (2035 votes)
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No. God created humans as they are 5% (104 votes)
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Yes and no. Evolution required divine intervention 5% (106 votes)
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I don't know. 1% (21 votes)
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Total Votes: 2266

Comment by Фелч Гроган on February 11, 2009 at 9:17am: Tao Jones: Obviously, that poll is just screaming to be crashed so go vote. Feel free to clear (or eat) your cookies and vote again.

Yeah, great. Clever. Use the same types of tactics that fundies use. That will really help our cause. Fantastic idea.

We're supposed to be above those cretins.