John West's Talk at the University of Minnesota
Reverend Barking Nonsequitur and I attended the talk of Discovery Institute Fellow John West at the University of Minnesota tonight. The talk drew a large crowd of skeptics and fellow scientists, including PZ Myers and Mark Borrello, who delivered a rebuttal to West's talk. Rev. Barky taped almost the whole thing on my new digital camera, and hopefully soon it will be posted at YouTube (as soon as we work out the technical difficulties - isn't intelligent design wonderful?).
Labels: Charles Darwin, eugenics, intelligent design, logical fallacies
posted by Kristine | Friday, November 30, 2007
22 Comments:
Youtube link?
When we get the thing uploaded, I'll post it - my file is too large, and I don't have a splitter. Rev. Barky is on it.
Gotcha. Didn't mean to rush you guys, but considering Dembski's fiasco in OK (and the ensuing hilarity), I was curious how West was received. Thanks!
Crap. He doesn't have the right software, either. Pardon us. (And the irony is, I maintain a digital library at work and have been having beaucoup de problems with technological incompatability there this week also.) ;-)
I'm afraid that, being that John West was sponsored by an adoring group of young people and their leader, he received the requisite applause, and an obvious "plant" led off the Q&A.
"We should keep doing what we're doing" is what he said to me about AIDS. ?? Withholding condoms?
I'm afraid that, being that John West was sponsored by an adoring group of young people and their leader, he received the requisite applause, and an obvious "plant" led off the Q&A.
I saw Phillip Johnson at the University of Washington in 2001 as an undergrad, not knowing the DI. The reception was similar.
"We should keep doing what we're doing" is what he said to me about AIDS. ?? Withholding condoms?
Bleh, that leaves the same bad taste in my mouth as:
President Bush: Faith key to international AIDS fight
Mark Borrello and West really got into it. :-)
Mark Borrello and West really got into it. :-)
That should make for suitably awkward entertainment (or the average day on UD, before DS cleans up).
I am so excited to hear that you might be posting videos of the affair! Having been through this bafflegab-fests myself, I'm eager to see and hear whatever you're able to share!
Sic 'em!
Just got home, I was gone last night so I missed all the fun. What format do you have the video in now? I'm sure I could come up with whatever tools might be required to convert it.
It's an .MOV, which would work fine - what I need to do is split it, because it's too large.
I dont suppose you have a Mac (or access to a Mac)? I forget whether its iMovie, or iDVD, or some free program it comes with has a really easy splitter feature.
Thats what I used to cut out Dembskis 'animation' :P
But I would say, if youre going to do that-- give us links bit-by-bit, and add your own commentary/critique. That might stave off you having to take them down, if DI throws a tantrum.
I have a PC. *Ducks*
Thanks, I'll check it out, and see what I come up with.
And let the DI throw a tantrum. They're going to get another Heathens' Greetings card this year. So they better be good. ;-)
How big is it (file size)? Do you have access to high speed? I can set up a place for you to upload it to and do the splitting.
Thanks, Cat's Staff. Barky thinks he's got it, but if it doesn't work we'll do that. I'm working on one of my finals (17 pages and counting), while he's writing up his description now.
Rev. Barky was astonished at what he saw last night. He hasn't gotten as deep into this stuff as me. Since Behe speech I've been immersed in teasing out their little double-speak nuances, but he told me, "I'm used to people who say what the hell they mean as simply and directly as possible, and this guy doesn't do that!" He saw through it more quickly than I initially did, though - the preachy style, the "Jesus film" voice-overs. Former Catholic - you can't pitch one past him!
It's good that historians are speaking out against that sort of history revisionism. If only more historians would speak out against the whole "Christian Nation" thing and stuff like George Washington saying "...so help me God" after the oath...
omg the suspense...
Sorry. Barky is still working on it.
I've written up my reaction to John West's "answer" to my question.
Thanks. I know it can be a lot of work trying to get long videos up for youtube. We appreciate that. Many thanks.
Mark Borrello is my hero. He presented an eloquent smack down in 10 minutes, which was unfortunately followed by a tag team effort to get West back into the ring. I thought West had a technically good presentation, but using animal noises during quotes about treating humans as animals, and the wild applause after Margaret Sanger's quote was unnecessary trickery. If you point is strong enough to stand on its own, you don't need to resort to these childish tactics. He can present a topic which many people have little knowledge of, the eugenics movement of the early 20th century, and look back on history, to revise it as he sees fit. Scientists were running the world from their ivory towers of PRINCETON and HARVARD killing off the poor and mentally handicapped, while the POPE had to stand in and save the world from those socialist, atheist, Nazi scientists who view Darwin as their God.
Yeah, don't let those scientists get too powerful, boy. Then maybe people would learn how to manage their money instead of tithing it. Oh, and people would be asking for the proper citations every time someone condemned someone else to hell.
Be in suspense no more, the lecture is up!
(Q&A to follow.)
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