# South Korea Excises (Some) Evolution from School Textbooks Due to Creationist Demands **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-excises-some-evolution-from-school-textbooks-due-to-creationist-demands/624197 "2012-06-05T21:22:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-excises-some-evolution-from-school-textbooks-due-to-creationist-demands/624197/22 "2012-06-06T10:42:14Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I do note, reading through the linked article, that it seems that the Korean body politic is simply scientifically illiterate. (Not that the U.S. is not.) There are several statements to the effect that it is not a religious antipathy to evolution, but a general ignorance propelling the effort. (Of course, it could turn out that the Korean Creation Research group is heavily funded by the U.S. group, but they are still appealing to general ignorance, not the Bible.) Creationism is a religious concept. Whether it’s Christianity driving them or some other religion, it’s a religion or religions that’s providing the motive; there is no non-religious creationism. And if it was just ignorance there’d just be indifference, not an active campaign against evolution. Also the ignorance in question appears to be exactly the kind of artificial, targeted ignorance that the creationists seek to create by propaganda and by distorting the education system in order to create a viable audience for their delusions. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-excises-some-evolution-from-school-textbooks-due-to-creationist-demands/624197/23 "2012-06-06T13:28:55Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > I’m not sure, something about a ghost eating your nails and taking on your form. That’s the version I’ve heard anyway. Whoah. What happens if you clip your nails and leave one lying around until it gets dark? Do ghosts only eat fresh nail clippings or something? ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-excises-some-evolution-from-school-textbooks-due-to-creationist-demands/624197/24 "2012-06-06T13:44:38Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Whoah. > > What happens if you clip your nails and leave one lying around until it gets dark? Do ghosts only eat fresh nail clippings or something? u worried bro? Honestly it’s not even the oddest Korean superstition I’ve heard of. My mom used to tell me that if I whistled at night, snakes would fall from the ceiling. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-excises-some-evolution-from-school-textbooks-due-to-creationist-demands/624197/25 "2012-06-06T14:04:12Z")
Terrified. My nails and hair grow very quickly so I have to clip them a lot. Maybe the ghosts only eat Korean peoples’ nails. …snakes from the ceiling? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-excises-some-evolution-from-school-textbooks-due-to-creationist-demands/624197/26 "2012-06-06T14:49:56Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Terrified. My nails and hair grow very quickly so I have to clip them a lot. Maybe the ghosts only eat Korean peoples’ nails. > > …snakes from the ceiling? If you clip your snakes after midnight, ghosts will drop from your ceiling. What’s so hard to understand? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-excises-some-evolution-from-school-textbooks-due-to-creationist-demands/624197/27 "2012-06-07T18:31:54Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Yes because Korea is doomed because of this one event despite going from being one of the world’s poorest countries to one of the wealthiest in a half century and surviving military dictatorship, a Stalinist/National Socialist neighbour, and the IMF. :rolleyes: Don’t forget the colonization and the war. Things were pretty bad in korea until the 1960’s and didn’t really get good until the 1980’s. > [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Sometimes. But they can be pretty adamant about certain things. Most people would say they don’t REALLY believe in superstitions, but wouldn’t let their daughter marry on an unlucky day, for example. What days are unlucky and is it OK to let their son’s get married on those days or are there unlucky days for sons to get married? > [@BigT](#): > > What’s the superstition there? Is it that you can’t trim your nails, or that it’s unlucky to do so after dark? And are there any specific things that are supposed to happen to you? A roommate explained it to me once. It had to do with ghosts taking your nail clippings, it sounded a bit like voodoo. I’m not sure he was entirely clear on his own superstituous belief but he was compulsive about getting every last bit of nail clipping and flushing it down the toilet. On the bright side, if I ran across some nail clippings opn the sofa I knew they were mine. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-excises-some-evolution-from-school-textbooks-due-to-creationist-demands/624197/28 "2012-06-07T21:15:09Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > If you clip your snakes after midnight, ghosts will drop from your ceiling. > > What’s so hard to understand? You can kill all the snakes by keeping the windows closed and an electric fan running. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-excises-some-evolution-from-school-textbooks-due-to-creationist-demands/624197/29 "2012-06-07T21:31:07Z")
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**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-excises-some-evolution-from-school-textbooks-due-to-creationist-demands/624197/30 "2012-06-08T17:15:28Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > You can kill all the snakes by keeping the windows closed and an electric fan running. Yeah, wtf is the deal with that. He would turn off all the window mounted air conditioners before he went to sleep at night. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-excises-some-evolution-from-school-textbooks-due-to-creationist-demands/624197/31 "2012-06-09T15:19:38Z")
Unlucky days vary with your horoscope. In general even numbers are unlucky and odd numbers are lucky. Son or daughter, doesn’t matter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-excises-some-evolution-from-school-textbooks-due-to-creationist-demands/624197.md?page=1)