# Evolution back in Georgia **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 6, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-back-in-georgia/227889 "2004-02-06T19:55:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-back-in-georgia/227889/61 "2004-02-08T20:49:17Z")
> [@Dewey Cheatem Undhow](#): > > What she’s basically saying is this: “Hey, we have a lot of fundamentalist hicks in various parts of our state who simply won’t have anything to do with anything containing the word evolution – if they see that word, their minds will snap shut like a mousetrap. Isn’t it better to use a different phrase, even a somewhat-less-accurate phrase, if it allows us to educate those quarters of our society?” The problem is not that such concepts are taught using the word “evolution” - it should be pretty obvious that as soon as concepts such as adaptation and speciation and common descent are brought up, the teacher is talking about evolution, and those “fundamentalist hicks” will still be up in arms (probably throwing in some added indignation about using deceit to teach such an evil subject). It is rare that one’s first exposure to the concept of evolution is in the classroom. There are plenty of books and TV shows (and sermons) which discuss the subject, so students are very likely to “know it when they see it” (a possibility which increases as students progress through the K-12 system). Especially as soon as the name “Darwin” is mentioned. Granted, they may not know _much_ until they are formally taught, but removing the word from Georgian school curriculum was not likely to be the insurance against closed minds that Ms. Cox might have thought. On the other hand, as I mentioned previously, by switching to the phrase “biological changes through time”, the way _is_ opened to bypass the teaching of evolution altogether - much moreso than if the curriculum simply stated that _evolution_ has to be part of the curriculum. ---
**Author:** ![Milum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Milum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milum)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-back-in-georgia/227889/62 "2004-02-09T01:16:45Z")
> [@](#): > > **Dewey Cheatem** said : What she’s basically saying is this: “Hey, we have a lot of > **fundamentalist hicks** in various parts of our state who simply won’t have anything > to do with anything containing the word “evolution” – if they see that > word, **their minds will snap shut like a mousetrap**. Isn’t it better to > use a different phrase,\*\* even a somewhat-less-accurate phrase\*\*, if it > allows us to educate\*\* those quarters of our society\*\*?” Now Dewey, before we all start educating the wee children of those “fundamentalist hicks” down in Georgia let’s try to educate Dewey Cheatem in the creation of clearly constructed thoughts. Here’s a happy idea, let’s take your paragraph above and rearrange it so as to purge it of its condescension and then redo the wording so that it conveys clear constructive thoughts. Ok, first out let’s take the first paragraph you wrote and while keeping it’s form we will gain insight into its subtle paternalistic meanings by giving it a racial twist. Ready? > [@](#): > > **Dewey Cheatem** : What she’s basically saying is this: “Hey, we have a lot of > **fundamentalist black folks** in various parts of our state who simply won’t have anything to do with **classical music** – if they hear **classical music \*\* their minds will snap shut like a mousetrap. Isn’t it better to > use \*\* different music , even a somewhat-less-lofty music like elevator music, if it > allows us to educate those quarters of our society**?” Please note Mr.Dewey that the presumption remains the same, that is, both paragraphs demonstrate that the writer assumes that he knows better than the subjects of his paragraph what is best for their children. He has such little respect for their ability to think that he thinks that he can trick them into liking classical music or learning evolution. What a pragmatic pig. Good thing he doesn’t want to trick people into believing in psychotherapy, That was a loser: five generations of Americans wasted a few billion dollars being psychoanalyzed by psychoanalysis before some obscure study pointed out to academia that no one was getting cured and that the rednecks were right, Freudian psychoanalysis is a joke. Thank Heaven for decent people who don’t interfere in other peoples lives. Right? . > [@](#): > > ]I gotta admit, I think that’s a credible argument. A slightly > imperfect education is better than no education at all. What do you guys > think? I think that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. A slightly imperfect education can be a horror. Hitler’s education was imperfect, for example. Junk in, junk out. May God save the South from the Comet and meddling Yankees. Amen. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-back-in-georgia/227889/63 "2004-02-09T02:39:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Please note Mr.Dewey that the presumption remains the same, that is, both paragraphs demonstrate that the writer assumes that he knows better than the subjects of his paragraph what is best for their children. Well, in this case the author would be “she,” but it is good to see that, once you were shown the true nature of her comments via **Dewey** ’s paraphrase, you have begun to agree with several of the other posters that the comments of Ms. Cox are seriously insulting to the parents and children of Georgia. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-back-in-georgia/227889/64 "2004-02-09T04:19:23Z")
> [@Milum](#): > > Yeah it all fit perfectly. The Democratic Party. Who faught tooth and nail against freeing the slaves…–\>The Democratic Party. Who after the Republician Party had freed the slaves established the practice of legal race segregation…–\> The Democratic Party.\*\* I agree with a previous poster that it would be better to open another thread to debate the point about Republicans being racists-by-association and will therefore not debate it here. You are quite right, the Democratic Party was long the Evil Party wrt racism, but if you’ll get your butt into the latter half of the PREVIOUS century, you’ll see that that has changed. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-back-in-georgia/227889/65 "2004-02-09T05:27:23Z")
I’ve started a thread demonstrating that Repubs are racists, or might as well be: [Come join the donnybrook](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4527890#post4527890) ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-back-in-georgia/227889/66 "2004-02-09T08:44:10Z")
> [@Darwin's Finch](#): > > Perhaps because “biological changes through time” is _not_ equivalent to “evolution”. Development, for example, is a “biological change through time”. Ecological succession is a “biological change through time”. Heck, even the progress of a disease in an organism is a “biological change through time”. And death too. Definitely death. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-back-in-georgia/227889.md?page=3)