# Alabama Shoots its goddamn self in the foot again. Fuck this place.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [November 9, 2001, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517 "2001-11-09T21:50:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/1 "2001-11-09T21:50:44Z")
There’s only so much I can take. It would be one thing if we were just misunderstood. Welcome to Alabama, where ignorance is away of life.
> [@](#):
>
> Alabama biology textbooks to warn students about evolution
>
> By Phillip Rawls, Associated Press, 11/8/2001 19:15
>
> MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) Alabama is maintaining its distinction as the only state where biology textbooks include a sticker warning students that evolution is a ‘‘controversial theory’’ they should question.
>
> The State Board of Education voted without dissent Thursday to place the disclaimer on the front of 40,000 new biology textbooks to be used in the state’s public schools.
>
> The statement says in part that evolution is ‘‘a controversial theory. … Instructional material associated with controversy should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered.’’
>
> The board included the same statement in course guidelines for science teachers.
>
> The state first put stickers on biology textbooks in 1996, but those books are being replaced with new editions next year. The new books will be used for the next six years.
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> The school board’s vote came without any debate, far different from the initial decision to use the stickers.
>
> ‘‘Boy, that was a surprise,’’ board vice chairman Ethel Hall said.
>
> The decision was actively supported by the Christian Coalition and the Eagle Forum, groups that seek more religious activity in public schools.
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> Joan Kendall, state education chairman for Eagle Forum, said the sticker is needed because biology textbooks contain outdated and disputed information about evolution.
>
> John Giles, state president of the Christian Coalition, said the board’s new sticker is not as strong as the old one, but he had been concerned the board was going to drop the sticker entirely.
>
> ‘‘The insert they approved does provoke the child to think through the process,’’ he said.
>
> At a 1995 board meeting to approve the original disclaimer, then-Gov. Fob James impersonated an ape to poke fun at Charles Darwin, whose works are the basis of evolutionary theory.
>
> That sticker contained questions students should ask about evolution, such as: ‘‘Why do major groups of plants and animals have no transitional forms in the fossil record?’’
>
> Alabama’s use of the sticker to discredit evolution causes scientists to question the quality of its biology education, said Eric Meikle, outreach director of the National Center of Science Education.
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> ‘‘It’s definitely a negative in people’s view of education in the state,’’ he said.
>
> The teaching of evolution, the theory that humans and other living beings evolved into their present form over millions of years, has been an issue in several states. But no other state has used a disclaimer sticker in textbooks statewide, Meikle said.
>
> The Alabama school board has approved several biology textbooks from different publishers, and local school boards select the books that are used in schools. The course is taught mostly in 10th grade.
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### Author:  [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/2 "2001-11-09T21:58:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The statement says in part that evolution is ''a controversial theory. … Instructional material associated with controversy should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered
Controversial? Sheesh, to uneducated, Bible-thumping Alabama Taliban, maybe. OTOH, posting a modified version of the sticker in every textbook is a good idea.
" Instructional material…should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered."
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### Author:  [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/3 "2001-11-09T21:59:17Z")
There are some people that I wish would stop using the word “Christian” to describe themselves. I’m supposed to love them, but they make it so _hard_ to do.
:mad:
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### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/4 "2001-11-09T22:00:06Z")
My high school biology textbook (this’d be upstate New York, for those who don’t keep tabs on my personal life ;)) said in the actual text that evolution is only a theory. The mind boggles at why people feel the need to be obnoxious about it.
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### Author:  [@super\_head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/super_head)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/5 "2001-11-09T22:00:26Z")
Sigh… ☹
Ah well, at least I don’t live there anymore. It’s scary that Ogre and I turned out well-educated and capable of critical thought given that we were victims of the Alabama educational system (and I use the terms loosely).
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### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/6 "2001-11-09T22:01:17Z")
…a way…
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/7 "2001-11-09T22:01:42Z")
They need to start putting warning stickers in the bibles too. “Warning! These stories are just that, stories. They are not to be taken literally, and should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered.”
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### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/8 "2001-11-09T22:13:24Z")
I have fought and fought and fought to make this place seem like less of a backwater than it is. It’s my home, and I love it. But every time I think perhaps we’re pulling ourselves out of the fucking Dark Ages, some shit like this happens.
And **gobear** , that’s one of the best ideas I’ve ever heard. All textbooks should have “WARNING: BIAS PRESENT. THINK CRITICALLY” stickers pasted all over them.
**super\_head** , remember that the Alabama educational sysytem treated us pretty well. Advanced courses out the wazoo, and accelerated programs pretty much all our lives. For everybody else, it seems to have been a morass of “Evolutionists=God haters” propaganda and apathy.
To be honest, I’m at the point where I’m overcome with a massive wave of utter futility when I think about it.
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### Author:  [@super\_head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/super_head)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/9 "2001-11-09T22:18:20Z")
Ogre - good point - perhaps our accelerated programs were funded by the Illuminati in the state, such that we would rise to secretive power within its borders as we grew older, guiding and shaping the lives of the sheep who benefited not from the same courses, and - naturally - profiting off of their ignorance as we moved closer and closer to world domination.
Or perhaps the Board of Education is a bunch of fucktards.
Hey, can we say fucktards here?
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### Author:  [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/10 "2001-11-09T22:23:16Z")
This policy would have been ignorant 75 years ago.
Today, after we have understgood the biology of heridity and mapped the human genome, it’s fucking unbelievable!
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### Author:  [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/11 "2001-11-09T22:27:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _originally by gobear_
> Controversial? Sheesh, to uneducated, Bible-thumping Alabama Taliban, maybe.
Alabamiban?
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### Author:  [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/12 "2001-11-09T22:30:04Z")
Remember, these are people that, despite the genetic evidence, will still conclude that there are MAJOR genetic differences in Races and such.(“I’m not 99.9% the same as a BLACK man…”):rolleyes:
I like Revtim’s idea the best…
Sam
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### Author:  [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/13 "2001-11-09T22:37:05Z")
Ya know, even back in the 1700s, people more or less had this “evolution” thing sorted out. Back in the mid-1800s, it even became a legitimate science, what with the introduction of a viable mechanism for the process and all.
So, why, in Cecil’s name, are these people **still** so damned ignorant in the 21st-freakin’-century?
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### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/14 "2001-11-09T22:50:20Z")
Physics
**WARNING:** These theories are consistent with what God has chosen that we remember as the past, but we cannot assume God is in any way restrained to evolve the universe subject to them in the future.
Just About Everything
\*\*WARNING:\*\*For reasons mortals should not presume to understand or debate, God has provided evidence for these theories. Only believe those which are genuine indications of how you should act, not those which are fabricated to lead the insufficiently faithful astray.
Literature
**WARNING** Some of the topic is fiction, and thus is not an accurate representation of the world. Be very wary but you might strengthen your understanding by considering these hypothertical worlds.
Maths
**WARNING:** Some mathematicians controversially claim that pi is an irrational number between 3 and 4, but offer no explanation of how a large cauldron was once constructed with a diameter/circumference ratio of 3.
Logic
**WARNING:** Many people believe these theories more strongly than anything else, but you should not be so closeminded. For example, the bible is littered with counterexamples to [a true] and [a=\>b] means [b true].
etc.
(Most of this is a joke, but some I genuinely am puzzled by)
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### Author:  [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/15 "2001-11-09T22:50:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Abe Babe \*
> Alabamiban?
Reading about the stupidity of creationists depresses the hell out of me, but it was worth opening this thread just for that.
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### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/16 "2001-11-09T23:00:14Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Abe Babe \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > _originally by gobear_
> > Controversial? Sheesh, to uneducated, Bible-thumping Alabama Taliban, maybe.
>
> Alabamiban? \*\*
Oh God (he said ironically,) I think I’m going to cry.
Hold me, mama, please.
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### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/17 "2001-11-09T23:04:10Z")
Oh, and other parts I’m serious about. I mean, no theory is absolutely certain, so all textbooks might as well start with an introduction to scientific method: “Everything in this book has been tested countless times and seems true. However science is always updating, and refinements may be needed in future. They may be a steaming pile of horseshit, but they’re better than wild guesses about what God meant us to read into all that evidence for evolution.”
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### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/18 "2001-11-09T23:06:56Z")
Hell, **Shade** , I wouldn’t mind seeing a synopsis of the scientific method on about every fifth page of science books. People forget the important stuff so easily.
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### Author:  [@Race\_Bannon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Race_Bannon)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/19 "2001-11-09T23:07:07Z")
I have found that I manage to put up with life in Alabama, but my biggest concern is the effect on my kids (I am not native). My jaw drops whenever I hear someone say “But, it’s such a great place to raise a family”.
Anyway, a question to you folks in more civilized parts, anybody heard of Judge Roy Moore?
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### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-shoots-its-goddamn-self-in-the-foot-again-fuck-this-place/92517/20 "2001-11-09T23:09:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by kellymccauley \*
> \*\*I have found that I manage to put up with life in Alabama, but my biggest concern is the effect on my kids (I am not native). My jaw drops whenever I hear someone say “But, it’s such a great place to raise a family”.
>
> Anyway, a question to you folks in more civilized parts, anybody heard of Judge Roy Moore? \*\*
Oh please don’t get me started on that jackass. I can feel my blood pressure rising just thinking of him.
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