This just in: Plaintiffs give up in Dover

Posted 12 January 2005 by Nick Matzke

↗ The current version of this post is on the live site: https://pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/01/this-just-in-pl.html

In breaking news from The Christian Post, crack reporters declare:

ACLU Abandons Lawsuit Against Intelligent Design Notice

American Civil Liberties Union abandoned its lawsuit challenging a Pennsylvania school district’s decision to notify biology students of theories other than evolution

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005 Posted: 4:32:27PM EST

Just kidding. This report is totally, 100%, clear-as-day false.

But this is a real live news story that just came across Google News. The “reporter” evidently misread this Thomas More Law Center press release, or read only the title (“ACLU Abandons Early Effort To Stop School District From Making Students Aware of Controversy Surrounding Evolution”). They appear to have mistakenly concluded that the ACLU et al. had given up, and then constructed an entire news story around this assumption.

It’s actually a quite extraordinary bit of self-delusion, especially considering the last sentence in the TMLC press release (“The ACLU lawsuit will continue with a trial expected in early summer.”). I think it highlights the fact that propaganda can have two messages: the official message, with technically accurate (well, sometimes) text, and the emotional message for the public, which is the message that the innocent reader gets. Put a snappy title on a press release, exude confidence, and declare victory, and, don’t you know it, people conclude that you’ve won!

This kind of thing is actually quite common in creationist/ID-land, in only slightly less extreme form. I can’t count the number of times where the Discovery Institute or another creationist group has put out a press release, the right-wing echo chamber bounces it around for a few days, and the result that emerges is the emotional message being portrayed as the actual facts on the ground. In rare cases, enough of a din gets created that someone from a respectable news outlet will repeat the message, at which point the Discovery Institute will quote it in the next press release! The peppered moth case is perhaps the most massive example of this engineered disconnect between discourse and reality.

I’ve saved the Christian Post news story in case they fix it tomorrow. Fortunately for them they’ve got it covered:

You acknowledge that you are using the Web site at your own risk. ChristianPost.com assumes no responsibility for error or omissions in these materials. ChristianPost.com makes no commitment to update the information contained herein.

(Christian Post Terms and Conditions of Use Policy)

8 Comments

Wedgie World · 12 January 2005

As they say 'priceless' almost as good as the censorship of user comments on the DI blogsite while whining aboug censorship of ID...

Gary Hurd · 12 January 2005

One can only hope that this will put a shaft in the spokes of the TMLC money wagon. Why donate if the athiestic kiddie killers have quit?

steve · 13 January 2005

I hope the TMLC has enough money to fund the whole Dover lawsuit. This is really a good one for science supporters.

steve · 13 January 2005

In fact, if I were rich, I might have anonymously donated Dover $50k to help defray the expenses. It's obvious this was done to assist evangelical christianity. It would make a better precedent than a situation where the DI helped hide that aspect from the beginning.

jpf · 13 January 2005

Even if they change it, the report will be repeated by these sorts of people for years to come as if it were the truth, much like the report itself repeats this bit:

The policy accords with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which encourages Congress to present a full range of scientific views when teaching controversial topics, explicitly citing biological evolution as one example.

Every loss is a victory in Bizarro World!

mark · 13 January 2005

This news was not unexpected, considering the imminent demise of evolution as more and more scientists have abandoned materialism and turned to theistic science.

Bayesian Bouffant · 13 January 2005

This news was not unexpected, considering the imminent demise of evolution as more and more scientists have abandoned materialism and turned to theistic science.
— mark

I'm sure it will be reported that way in the Christian Post.

Great White Wonder · 18 January 2005

Speaking of Dover, this is a choice tidbit from a recent York Daily Record article http://ydr.com/story/doverbiology/55668/

Despite board members' assertions that intelligent design is not about religion, in court depositions, Bonsell, Buckingham and Harkins struggled to define it. "It's a scientific theory because a lot of scientists back it," Buckingham said.

Heh. Or is it an evangelical Christian creation story because ...

Pastor Edward Rowand, who joined the board in December, would not talk to a reporter because the reporter declined to discuss her religious beliefs. "If you won't talk to me, I'm not going to talk to you," he said.

Nothing like a preacher with something to hide. Right out of Laughton's "Night of the Hunter".

He [Buckingham] also said in the WPMT-TV (Ch. 43) interview that he opposed the biology textbook because "the book that was presented to me was laced with Darwinism from beginning to end." In his deposition, Buckingham said he didn't recall uttering the phrase "laced with Darwinism," although he admitted to having concerns with the mention of evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin in the textbook.

That's because "Charles" means "tight buttocks" in ancient Hebrew.