Deep Darwinist "Faith"

"[T]he institution of science makes skepticism a virtue"? Robert King Merton never met today's Darwinists! The agnostic Fred Reed (http://www.lewrockwell.com/reed/reed59) has a hilarious take on these freethinkers' "unqualified faith": 

"My favorite example, which does not reach the level of plausibility, is such artifacts as the tail of a peacock, which obviously make the bird easier to see and eat. So help me, I have several times seen the assertion that females figure that any male who can survive such a horrendous disadvantage must really be tough, and therefore good mating material. The tail increases fitness by decreasing fitness. A Boy Named Sue."

The Darwinists caricature opponents as religious fanatics, even as they shoehorn empirical data to fit their preconceived theory. Let's hear it for the Age of Science!

Tony Pivetta

Royal Oak, Michigan 

-----Original Message-----

From: Wordsmith <wsmith@wordsmith.org>
To: ******************
Sent: Thu, Aug 8, 2013 12:17 am
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Potemkin village

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Aug 8, 2013

This week's theme
Words coined after baddies

This week's words
Ponzi scheme
quisling
burke
Potemkin village

Prince Potemkin

Image: Wikimedia

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Potemkin village

PRONUNCIATION:

(po-TEM-kin VIL-ij) 

MEANING:

noun: An impressive showy facade designed to mask undesirable facts.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Prince Grigory Potemkin, who erected cardboard villages to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Ukraine and Crimea in 1787. Earliest documented use: 1904.

USAGE:

"In Berlin, Lindbergh's wife, Anne, was blinded by the glittering façade of a Potemkin village."
Susan Dunn; The Debate Behind U.S. Intervention in World War II; The Atlantic (Boston); Jul 8, 2013.

Explore "Potemkin village" in the Visual Thesaurus. 

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue. -Robert King Merton, sociologist (1910-2003)