80 years after the Scopes Trial

July 12, 2005 D. H. McKee

In the summer of 1925, a young teacher named John Scopes was tried and, after a famous trial that lasted several days, found guilty of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act on July 21, 1925. You’d think that such antiscientific sentiment would have abated over the years, but you’d be wrong. True, in the eighty years since 1925, we’ve developed antibiotics, jet travel, molecular biology, cancer chemotherapy, and have gone to space and the moon. We’ve developed technological marvels undreamt of 80 years ago. Despite all that, however, unfortunately somehow we haven’t moved beyond the attempts of religious ideologues to impose their religious beliefs upon science. Indeed, depressingly, the antiscientific attacks on evolution today sound much the same as they did 80 years ago.
Respectful Insolence (a.k.a.

2 Responses to “80 years after the Scopes Trial”

Fred
19 years ago

So what are you saying? You believe in evolution!!!?! Youve gotta be kidding me.
dmckee
19 years ago

Geez, where to start on this question… First of all, this isn’t a blog posting, or a comment by myself — it’s a link to an outside publication. You may want to read it to understand it better (excellent use of punctuation, by the way!!!?!).
To disbelieve in evolution, despite the mountain of evidence that it exists and is observable is to generally accept that life exists in stasis, a kind of stagnation since its origins, and this is childish. It doesn’t explain the numerous new species that have come out of nowhere, the presence of mutation in organisms, and the general adaptation of animals to their specific environments. But you may not be asking if I agree that the theory of evolution is sound. You may be talking about creationism — something more specific to the Scopes trial.
Have a look at this useful link, and it may help you out if you are asking the question “do you believe in evolution versus creationism as the origin of the human species”:
http://oracknows.blogspot.com/2005/06/reply-to-14-year-old-creationist.html

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As a guy who occasionally curates art shows and wrangles artists together, I often have to edit and post artist bios, profile pictures, and artwork images. This can be a problem, since many artists and writers aren’t used to selling themselves. Artists rarely know how to present their art for display in a brochure, and writers aren’t used to writing about themselves.

Writers often treat the bio like it’s an interview or something. Maybe like they’re having a conversation with you, the reader. While it may work sometimes, the most common way to write a bio is to write in the 3rd person.

I’m like those writers, and I’m talking to you directly, unlike the common way to do a bio. You should see my About page. It makes sense to me, since this is a bit which describes my blog’s website. When I get famous enough that I don’t have time to talk to you, I’ll have an intern write everything in 3rd person. Until then, you get to talk to me.

Like blogs of old, this one is a personal document of the comings and goings of me. Articles I’ve written, links I’ve posted, videos I liked, etc. Here, a first-person perspective is the way to go, at least for now. So, this is my site. I’m D. H. McKee, a sometimes artist, sometimes writer. Mostly just a guy on the internet.