Archive: PBS Evolution, Media Bias, Ant Feet, Comets, More
The week of CEH’s First Anniversary, we were debugging and debunking evolutionary stories presented on public television.
Note: some embedded links may no longer work.
Review: PBS TV Series Evolution 09/28/2001
by David F. Coppedge, Bible-Science Association
By now, the 7th and last episode of PBS’s week-long blitz on evolution has aired across the country. Rarely have I seen a more slick example of selective reporting designed to push a particular point of view. Having a viewpoint is fine, and making your case is good, but PBS, partially funded by tax dollars, presented this series as “science journalism” and said it wanted to clarify what evolution is and how it works, and to dispel misunderstandings about evolution, while staying away from the religious realm. It failed miserably. This was a propaganda campaign, with the ultimate aim of keeping any criticism of Darwinism out of schools and out of the law, as revealed in their own memo (see next headline). Will it be the last hurrah of a crumbling theory, destined for the unmarked grave of forgotten lies, or is it a charge leading to more Darwinist control over what is considered legitimate knowledge in our society? Now that the PBS series passes into the obligate re-runs, and the slick materials and website find their way into classrooms across America, you need to be knowledgeable about both sides, but you won’t find impartiality on Evolution.
From the past year of Creation-Evolution Headlines, it would not be hard to refute every evidence they presented for evolution– from scientists themselves. Their showcase included whale evolution, antibiotic resistance, Neandertal Man and other arguments we have been reporting on all year that are bluff when you look at the actual evidence, and in most cases are disputed, sometimes with hostility, by other researchers in the field. You would never know this from PBS; all the spokesmen for evolution are so nice and charming, but backstage they call each other impolite names.
Some of the evidences bordered on the ridiculous, and some were very sobering in their implications for society. Giving an uncritical platform to the highly controversial field of evolutionary psychology in Episode 5 Why Sex?, for instance, PBS essentially gave the green light, full-speed ahead license to any and all kinds of sexual vice, including violent abuse of females, homosexuality, adultery, promiscuity, and infanticide – all justified on the basis of sexual selection.
If that weren’t bad enough, it hypothesized that everything in civilization, culture and the arts, “no matter how sublime,” originated in the desire to have a mate. (The images for this pronouncement include an Apollo rocket liftoff and the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus.) Thus everything you do in life that has any nobility, purpose and intelligence they have just reduced to sex. A worse example of reductionism could hardly be found; in fact, if you read our Baloney Detector, you will find abundant examples of most of these tactics in PBS’s Evolution. And of course, the article of faith of evolution was clear: it’s a brave new world, and we can now take control of our future evolution.
The series is systematically characterized by dogmatic assertions with no support whatsoever, with the only criticism of evolution coming from religious viewpoints. They can do this because they control the editing room. Evolutionists know that when open debate is allowed, they lose; decades of debates with anti-evolutionists of all kinds have humiliated them repeatedly. (The record shows that it is the creationists who usually stick to the scientific evidence, and the evolutionists who retreat to philosophical and religious arguments.) They must close the schools to criticism of evolution, and they must control the presentation in museums and on TV, or else their alleged evidences will be challenged and shown to be without support. Moreover, the anti-evolutionists will bring up those uncomfortable topics that leave them stumped:
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- The origin of the universe out of nothing.
- The Anthropic Principle.
- The origin of life.
- The origin of single-handed proteins and DNA.
- Irreducible complexity of molecular machines in the simplest forms of life.
- Systematic gaps in the fossil record.
- Thermodynamics.
- The origin and increase of information.
- Great scientists who were and are creationists.
- The origin of the soul, and how a materialist epistemology refutes its own credibility.
Most of these points falsify evolution independently; collectively, they demolish it. Each of these was purposely ignored in the PBS series, so that they could stack the cards with seeming support for evolution. Most of it involved minor variations within types, a lot of it was inferred from fragmentary evidence, and the rest was conveniently filled in with computer graphics. Science is equated with evolution by definition, so Evolution does not refrain from presenting the most absurd just-so stories, even if evidence was totally lacking, as long as it was conceivably consistent with evolution. In fact, evolutionists can largely be understood as a society of storytellers, who entertain each other with who’s got the biggest whopper. Evolutionary theory is so versatile, it can explain opposite things equally well. One moment they are saying evolution produces choosy females, a few minutes later dominant males. One moment evolution produces showy peacocks, but it also produces camouflage. Any trick you ask for can be performed; it’s magic masquerading as science.
Abundantly clear from the series was that the bogeymen are Bible-believing Christians–not Jews, not Muslims, not Hindus, and not any other belief system–even though Daniel Dennett believes that evolution is a “universal acid” that eats through all traditional beliefs – no, Christians who believe Genesis were the ones systematically targeted for scorn, even though the stated purpose was to consider scientific evidence, and to refrain from the religious realm. The last episode, What About God? was a masterpiece of selective reporting with an agenda. Christians were shown as straw men, indoctrinated by their Sunday School teachers, and never having any serious scientific arguments to answer the claims of evolutionists. The brave ones were always the ones willing to doubt their faith and open their minds to consider evolution; it was such a relief to them. Teachers (nominally Christian) were shown as victims of special-interest groups trying to push their religion in the science class in overt or sneaky ways. Christians are pictured as responsible for a decline in science education after the Scopes Trial.
A worse case of calling good evil and evil good could hardly be found. It is the evolutionists that have a virtual monopoly on the law, the media, the museums, the universities, the science journals and the federal funding. Sneak a little mild criticism of Darwin into a science classroom, and you are the target of the ACLU who will intimidate the school board and principal with an expensive lawsuit unless it is put to a stop, and the scientific elite rally to the cause like a lynch mob.
Evolution had millions to spend on this series, while Christian film companies like Discovery Media Productions [later, renamed Illustra Media] struggle to produce quality science films making the case for intelligent design from only private donations. For every student relieved by the discovery that they could compromise their Christianity with evolution, we can show you ones that were confused and misled or turned to harmful lifestyles by evolution. We have a retired PhD biochemist in our Bible-Science Association who is back to life from the dead, figuratively, after reading good books that give scientific evidence that supports creation and refutes evolution; he will tell you emphatically that he lost 20 years of his professional life when he was confronted with evolutionary claims in college, and his pastor told him, “Just have faith.” Well, he lost it to Darwinism, but now he looks like he has found a fountain of youth after studying the issues and finding out that the case for evolution is a sham. Every pastor should watch episodes 5 and 7 and wake up to what evolutionists, PBS, and compromising Christian colleges are doing to the young minds in their care.
The PBS Evolution series, coming unfortunately on the heels of a terrible American tragedy, with its subsequent renewal of patriotism and cries of God Bless America, is a call to arms. This is why we believe evidence, logical thinking, and knowledge is so important. Unlike PBS, we want you to hear both sides. We want you to know more about evolution than they do! Evolution prospers when isolated from dissent; it crumbles in the light of the evidence and critical examination. Now, more than ever, we need well-educated, informed, discerning minds who know what they believe, and why. For a year now, Creation-Evolution Headlines has been storming their own hideouts and bringing you current, front-line stories to equip you with the knowledge and logical thinking skills you will need to avoid falling prey to propaganda masterpieces like Evolution.
If you have not already, be sure to read the excellent refutations of PBS’s Evolution at the Discovery Institute and Answers in Genesis.
Silhouette looks uncannily like Eugenie Scott as Miss Information.
PBS Memo Reveals Political Agenda Behind “Evolution” Series 09/27/2001
A PBS internal memo written June 15 and posted on the Discovery Institute website shows that PBS intends to “co-opt existing local dialogue about teaching evolution in schools” and promote involvement in local school boards, newspapers and government with “guerilla/viral marketing.” The memo, entitled The Evolution Controversy – Use It or Lose It, Evolution Project/WGBH Boston” was leaked by a source within PBS.
Click on the links and see for yourself. PBS’s Evolution is not just boring TV, it is part of a larger campaign to “influence Congress and school boards and to promote political action regarding how evolution is taught in public schools,” says Discovery Institute President Bruce Chapman. This is as unconscionable for a publicly-funded media resource as it would be for Planned Parenthood to use PBS to co-opt public policy on abortion and present a one-sided TV series with educational materials for schools to promote abortion and counter pro-life arguments.
Bugs’ Sticky Feet Are Complex Structures 09/27/2001
Researchers at University of Massachusetts have videotaped ants and bees walking on smooth glass to uncover the tricks of their travel: the sticky feet that allow them to walk vertically and upside down on smooth surfaces. They found that the footpads are “are surprisingly complex structures” with retractable claws and inflatable adhesive pads. The system, “a combination of mechanics and hydraulics,” also works swiftly, allowing the parts to operate in tenths or hundredths of a second as the little critters scurry along. The news release contains a microphotograph of one of the structures.
All God’s creatures, great and small, are wonderfully designed, and have features that could never evolve by slow, gradual processes.
100 Scientists Sign Statement Challenging Darwinism 09/26/2001
The Discovery Institute has gotten 100 scientists to sign a statement to declare that they “are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life” and that “Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.” In addition, a national Zogby Poll shows 81% of Americans believe that “When public broadcasting networks discuss Darwin’s theory of evolution, they should present the scientific evidence for it, but also the scientific evidence against it.”
This shows how out of touch PBS is with their “Evolution” series, and unmasks the fallacy of the claim that all scientists accept evolution. The Discovery Institute says that “Despite repeated requests, the series’ producers refused to cover scientific objections to Darwinism. Instead, the producers offered only to let scientific dissenters go on camera to tell their ‘personal faith stories’ in the last program of the series, ‘What About God?’” in an attempt to portray the only arguments against Darwinism as religious arguments.
See also Jonathan Wells’ new essay Evolution for the Masses.
PBS Evolution TV Series Spreads Misinformation 09/24/2001
According to the Discovery Institute website, the PBS Evolution series slated to air tonight is presenting falsehoods as fact:
- It claims the genetic code is universal among all living things; this is based on outdated information and is not true.
- It claims a Swedish researcher has published a computer model on the evolution of the eye. He has not, according to his own admission.
- It presents a picture of human evolution, that is highly debated by paleoanthropologists, as fact.
- It gives credibility to evolutionary psychology, a field that is labeled pseudo-science by many scientists.
- It rewrites history to portray the only opponents of evolutionism as religious fundamentalists.
The site also describes how Eugenie Scott, director of the anti-creation National Center for Science Education, and an appointed spokesperson for the series, dismisses all opposition to it as creationism (used as a pejorative term to describe those with religious motivations for their criticism). The Discovery Center has a 150-page Viewer’s Guide documenting the falsehoods in each episode, entitled Getting the Facts Straight.
PBS’s Evolution series is an in-your-face propaganda smear campaign against anyone who disagrees with Darwinism. Worse, it’s part of a larger advocacy campaign to increase the teaching of Darwinism in public schools and co-opt the perception of the creation-evolution controversy in the media, to present it as a debate between objective scientists and emotional religionists. In the process the producers commit numerous sins of bias and misinformation.
It is highly insensitive for PBS to air this materialist viewpoint at a time when millions of Americans are at prayer for our country, thousands are hurting from their losses over the terrorist attack this month, and God Bless America is being echoing throughout the land.
This is more than just educational TV that will be boring to some who’d rather watch football; it is affecting millions of children in schools, and generating a false perception of who we are, where we came from, and what we should be doing. It is part of a larger push to shape public policy on the important struggle in our society on how science will be taught (follow the [category Issues/Education]).
In 1980, the openly atheistic Cosmos was one of the most-watched public broadcasts around the world. This new series will seem tolerant of “religion” except for anyone who disagrees with Darwinism. It gives wide berth to anti-creationist Ken Miller, whose schizophrenic mixing of Catholicism with Darwinism proves he understands neither: Darwinism, as consistently held, makes God irrelevant and reduces theology to pantheism or deism.
PBS Evolution masquerades as science but is built on flimsy reasoning and outright falsehoods. Get informed, get involved, and speak up for integrity in science and in public television. Read Discovery Media’s excellent Viewer’s Guide before each episode, and follow up the next morning with Dr. Jonathan Sarfati’s rebuttal on Answers in Genesis. And stay tuned to Creation-Evolution Headlines for the latest scientific discoveries that contradict Darwinism.
Conference Announcement RNA Based Life Conference at Indiana University, November 15-18, 2001. “Biology is humbling to those of us who would model its origins or its inner workings, or who would seek to re-engineer how the pieces are put together.”
Review: National Geographic October 2001
“For more than 40 years the National Geographic Society has helped fund the Leakey family” . . . so it’s not a surprise that Meave Leakey’s Kenyanthropus gets big press in the October issue, even though it throws the human family tree into disarray (again – see our April 17 headline). Nevertheless, they find a way to put a good face on flat-faced Kenya man, declaring authoritatively, “K. platyops shows that humans evolved through the same process as other animals.”
Other examples of liberal bias in this issue:
- Complaints about trafficking in wild animal parts in Africa, but never a word about American trafficking in human fetal body parts.
- Ads for a TV special on “Noah’s Flood” but don’t think for a minute this is a Biblical apologetic. By arguing Ballard’s theory of a Black Sea local flood, NG portrays Genesis 6-9 as only an exaggerated legend.
- New Age gets good press in this issue. In the article on Light, a phony crystal healer on p. 24 is pictured with his sucker client; without rebuttal, it amounts to granting his pseudoscience a backhanded legitimacy. The article on Northern California gives almost as much coverage to local New Agers as it does to scientists, in non-judgmental, almost admiring, prose.
DS1 Rendezvous With Comet Borrelly 09/23/2001
Deep Space 1 successfully executed a risky flyby of Comet Borrelly on Saturday Sept 22. This was only the second time a spacecraft has flown close to a comet and taken pictures (the other was Giotto’s flyby of Halley’s comet in 1986). A news conference at JPL will be held Tuesday Sept. 25 at 10:00 a.m. PDT.
Way to go, DS1 team. The more we learn about comets the better. Evolutionists use them as evidence of the primordial solar nebula. Creationists say they demonstrate the solar system cannot be as old as claimed.