The lights are dimming and the next production of Inherit the Dumbassery is set to run in the state of Utah. This time, Utah State Senator Chris Buttars has produced a bill that would enshrine this special version of dumbassery into state law.
So sayeth Chris
What I have wanted to do all along is stop opinionated teachers from teaching human evolution as fact. Scientists disagree on the origins of humankind. Young students should have a fighting chance to appreciate the difference between theory and law.
First: “Opinionated teachers”? Really, WTF?
Second: “Fighting chance”? Dramatic, much?
Third: Chris here needs to understand the fact that “theory” in science is not some hunch or wild guess. Let’s try this once more—with feeling!
In science, a theory is “an explanation that binds together various experimentally tested hypotheses to explain some fundamental aspect of nature”. For an idea to qualify as a scientific theory, it must be established on the basis of a wide variety of scientific evidence. Its claims must be testable and it must propose experiments that can be replicated by other scientists.
Anyway, onto what the bill says…
(1) In order to encourage students to critically analyze theories regarding the origins of life or the origins or present state of the human race, consider opposing viewpoints, and form their own opinions, the Legislature desires to avoid the perception that all scientists agree on any one theory, or that the state endorses one theory over another.[...]
(3) The curriculum requirements described in Subsection (2) shall require that instruction to students on any theory regarding the origins of life, or the origins or present state of the human race, shall stress that not all scientists agree on which theory is correct.
Jesus wept.
The students of Utah are being sucked into an intellectual black hole by idiots who don’t know their heads from their asses.
(cross-posted on expostulation)
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