4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 27, 2005
OPINION
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SINCE 1890
JORDAN SCHRADER
Editor in Chief
JASON Z. PESICK
Editorial Page Editor
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QUOTABLE
I am convinced
that our helping Iraq
to get its freedom is
an important issue
because that will, in
the long run, affect
the entire world."
4 Y
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority
of the Daily's editorial board. All other pieces do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
COLIN DALY TIE MIC1iiAN DALY
FREom,
- President Bush,
in an interview with Al-Arabiya television,
as reported yesterday by The Associated Press.
___j
The evolution of creationism
JOEL HOARD OH YEAH?
've always valued never mind the centuries of research and ationists, because, after all, bad science is
science more than the preponderance of evidence we have for better than no science at all, right? Well,
any other field of evolution; the Bible says God created the actually, no, but that's beside the point.
study, because it pro- world, the animals and man in six days, so Anyway, now that they have a little bit of
gresses deliberately and that's the way its gonna be. poorly wrought evidence on their side, the
methodically and seeks But in this age of enlightenment we live creationists are ready to take intelligent
to explain the world and in, that just won't cut it anymore. Cre- design to our schools. The first attempt
the universe from its ationists need their own science, and sup- occurred in Georgia in 2002, when the
most basic to the infi- posedly they've found it in the theory of Cobb County Board of Education decided
nitely complex. intelligent design. According to the theory, to plaster science textbooks with stickers
While science should be free from out- life on Earth is so complex that there must reminding students that evolution was only
side political and social influences, there be some intelligent starting point for it all. one theory explaining the origin of spe-
are those who see science as a nuisance, They don't go so far as to give the start- cies. Fortunately, just last week a federal
something that must be overcome or else ing point a name, but we all know who that judge in Atlanta ruled thatthe stickers were
manipulated to fit their own beliefs. The is, right? At the same time, their research unconstitutional, because the board was
most egregious science-haters are, of seeks to poke holes in the theory of evo- motivated by a desire to promote a certain
course, the creationists, the largely conser- lution. They argue that evolution is bunk set of religious beliefs.
vative Christian camp that loathes the sci- because of a number of missing links in Only three days after that decision, how-
entific theory of evolution almost as much the evolutionary chain. Considering the ever, the Dover Area School District in
as the idea of homosexuals getting married. process took place over billions of years, Pennsylvania sent school administrators
And as we all saw last November, when the of course some evidence was lost along the to science classrooms to inform students
religious Right doesn't like something, it way. But to creationists, a few minor flaws that intelligent design exists as an alterna-
won't hesitate to ban it. are enough to discount the theory of evolu- tive to the theory of evolution after right-
Over the years, a number of pro-cre- tion in its entirety. thinking science teachers refused to do so.
ationism, anti-evolutionism laws have been Apparently the intelligent design com- Eight families in Dover have filed a lawsuit
enacted, most infamously a Tennessee state munity counts among its members dozens against the school district, which is being
ban on the teaching of evolution that culmi- of brilliant scientists who no doubt hold defended by Ann Arbor's own Thomas
nated in the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925. Ph.D.s from impressive universities. But any More Law Center.
Almost without fail, the U.S. Supreme fifth-grade science student can tell you that I thought that as a nation of enlight-
Court has shot them down as violations you should never go into your research with ened, rational individuals we were above
of the First Amendment's Establishment conclusions already drawn, which is exactly this kind of pathetic ploy. It's bad enough
Clause. The most recent example occurred what intelligent design scientists are doing. that conservative Christians are trying to
in 1999, when the Kansas Board of Educa- Its one thing to hypothesize an outcome, dictate the personal lives of free-thinking
tion removed evolution from the state sci- but to assume one is bad science. What if adults, but when they try to mislead and
ence curriculum, a decision a newly elected intelligent designers' research actually sup- pollute the minds of impressionable youths
board reversed two years later. ported evolution (which, if done right, it with bad science, they've dropped to a new
Since creationists have been unable to should) in the end? Would they call church low. Is nothing sacred anymore?
promote their beliefs through strictly legis- leaders around the nation and say, "Oh shit,
lative means, they've had to switch tactics. dude. Turns out Darwin was right." Hoard can be reached
In the old days, they would have just said None of that really matters to the cre- atj.ho@umich.edu.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Stadium renovation should diversity?
not reduce capacity I'll let you think about that.
Dan Bertoni
LSA sophomore
TO THE DAILY:
The news of Michigan Stadium updates
piqued my interest. Especially the part
mentioning the possibility of reducing the
number of seats in the Big House. Perish
the thought!
I would suggest that the University look
at the design renovations that were done to
the University of Arizona's football stadi-
um back in the late 1980s. These renova-
tions included the addition of skyboxes on
the west side of the stadium.
This was accomplished without any
reduction in stadium seating. It is also
interesting to note that no part of the sky-
box structure touches the stadium.
While the University of Arizona's foot-
ball team is in no way comparable to our
beloved Wolverines, I think that Arizona's
skybox design idea is worth
Martha Retallick
Alum
'U' should encourage
diversity in social habits
TO THE DAILY:
While drifting off to sleep on Monday
night, a strange thought occurred to me:
students, faculty and administrators at
this university all throw around the word
"diversity" without really considering how
far the definition can be carried. Without
tritely calling in a dictionary's assistance,
I am sure that diversity simply means "dif-
ference."
Why is this such a strange thought?
I'll answer that: because difference goes
beyond skin color. It even goes beyond
political ideology; it goes right to the very
essence of what each person is as an indi-
vidual. You may not see where I am going
with this, so I'll give you a leading ques-
tion: What is perhaps the biggest stereotype
of the "college experience?"
Rice an unworthy choice
to replace Powell
TO THE DAILY:
One reader's corrupted ideas of what
diversity means, printed as a letter to the
editor (Daily should support Rice's nomina-
tion, 01/26/2005), typifies the majority of
attitudes here in Ann Arbor and at the Uni-
versity. Most people think that simply add-
ing more people of color to a student body,
a work place or the federal government is
something that can amend over 500 years of
Eurocentric/Christian hegemony. Diversi-
fying, for one particular reader and author,
is something he does because he has to
- certainly not because he wants to. Well,
it takes a lot more than that. Diversify-
ing also means expanding mental attitude.
Diversifying means to think and reason for
one's self, rather than mindlessly digesting
spoon-fed rhetoric. Condoleeza Rice is not
diversity. Yes, she may be a woman and
a woman of color, but her mindset is the
exact same as of those who are pulling her
strings. Rice is incapable of reasoning and
arriving at the truth. She is simply another
cog in the same machine. I applaud all of
those who think it is time for our govern-
ment to start holding itself accountable for
it atrocities they created.
Jose Maciel Lario
LSA senior
SAPAC should not include
Amaker in its publicity
TO THE DAILY:
We cannot help but feel uncomfort-
able with the inclusion of basketball coach
Tommy Amaker in the Sexual Assault Pre-
vention and Awareness Center's "Take a
of Michigan." How can Amaker lend his
face to this campaign and claim to "take. a
stand" while allowing Horton to play?
As an organization dedicated to the
interest of sexual assault survivors, SAPAC
should not include Amaker in its ad cam-
paigns.
Katharine Patterson
Rachael Horowitz
LSA seniors
Editor's Note: Amaker has since suspended
Horton from all games and practices pending
a resolution of the case against him.
A
The 'U'
diversity
should encourage
in social habits
TO THE DAILY:
I am perplexed as to the meaning of moral
values asserted by Americans during this
election. Is it possible to have moral values
without any moral principles? This is the
questions citizens concerned with morality
should ask themselves as Alberto Gonzales
is being sworn in as the country's attorney
general.
Any conventional, rational - not to
mention Christian - system of ethics will
tell us that torture is wrong, especially
when those tortured are proclaimed guilty
under extremely dubious circumstances
by a vicious party. Moreover, no person
deserves to be treated as those prisoners
in Abu Ghraib, as testified by the horrif-
ic images we have seen even in the main-
stream media.
For once we cannot claim ignorance! I
propose to any concerned citizen to write
to his state representatives, or, at least go
to the website www.humanrightsfirst.org and
send an electronic letter opposing and ada-
mantly protesting Gonzales's nomination.
Furthermore, as the U.S. involvement in
Iraq continues, democratic spirit and civil
responsibility require us to be vigilant of
the actions of our government and to hold
it accountable for the transgression of those
moral principles that not only destroy our
credibility in the world, but our moral
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