Thursday, March 31, 2005
Evolution Revisited
The process of Evolution from President Washington to President Grant was alone evidence enough to upset Darwin.
— Henry Brooks Adams, The Education of Henry Adams
When you do something dumb it’s nice to have attention drawn from you by someone doing something even dumber. Just ask Cobb County.
Cobb County is the Georgia county recently described here that first made news when in 1993 it decreed that homosexual life styles were incompatible with community standards in that god-fearing county. In 2004 it again drew attention when parents became upset with the introduction of a biology text book that included instruction on the highly suspect theory of evolution. As a result of parental protests a sticker was affixed to each text book advising students of the need to carefully evaluate evolution before placing too much faith in it and as a result of federal court action, the sticker was removed. Now we have learned that evolution in text books is not to be feared as much as evolution in the movie industry.
The evolution to be feared in the movie industry is not the perceived deterioration evolution of standards of morality although that no doubt upsets the opponents of evolution. It is about science presented as fact in movies. The newest vehicles that the scientifically inclined are believed to have found to infect the minds of the populace are movies shown at Imax. Thanks to the sensitivity of some of the managers of those theaters, however, the damage has been limited.
According to a report by New York Times reporter, Cornelia Dean, Imax theaters in the South have been sensitized to the perils of showing Imax films the content of which suggest that evolution has taken place. Those movies, it is believed by the anti-evolutionary cognoscenti, falsely suggest that evolution is more than just a flaky notion of how the world began espoused by a few scientists and some kooky lay people.
Among the shows that have been considered offensive and the showings of which have been cancelled, have been “Cosmic Voyage” which has nothing to do with Star Trek but according to an online description, presents us with a “cosmic zoom” that “extends from the surface of the Earth to the largest observable structures of the universe, and then back down into the sub-nuclear realm-a guided tour across some 42 orders of magnitude!” It “explores some of the greatest scientific theories, many of which have never before been visualized on film.” It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1997 for best documentary short subject by people unaware of its scientific problems.
Because of the reactions of a few viewers in the South, their friends and neighbors won’t have their scientific sensibilities offended by having that film shown in their neighborhoods.
Another victim of those opposed to evolution was “Volcanoes of the Deep Sea” that the National Science Foundation and Rutgers University had a role in producing. According to Richard Lutz, the chief scientist for the film, about a dozen science museums in the South turned down the film since it suggested that the undersea vents that exist in the underground volcano might have been where life on earth started. According to Ms. Dean’s report, the director of marketing for the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History declined to show the film after its preview to an audience of 137 people a number of whom considered the film “blasphemous.” Among comments from viewers were “I really hate it when the theory of evolution is presented as fact” and “I don’t agree with their presentation of human existence.” The director of the Charleston, S. Carolina Imax, echoing the comments of the Fort Worth director said: “Many people here believe in creationism, not evolution.” In the face of such informed and definitive statements it’s hardly a wonder that folks in Fort Worth won’t be subject to the indignities of that film.
Bayley Silleck wrote and directed “Cosmic Voyage.” He thinks a movie he is making about dinosaurs (the kind that lived a long time ago rather than the ones protesting cinematic suggestions of evolution) will not do well at the movies because of its subject matter. Movies about dinosaurs tend to favor the theories of evolution since dinosaurs lived a long time ago and those who don’t believe in evolution don’t believe in a long time ago.
Commentators suggest that although a relatively small number of theaters turn down movies, they are sufficient in number to inhibit the production of films dealing with evolution. That is OK with those who don’t believe in it. They reason that if people don’t learn about evolution it will probably go away. Judging by the state of their minds one might conclude that if it hasn’t stopped, it has slowed down appreciably.