I am not one for politics. I grew up in Northern Virginia, about 15 miles away from Capitol Hill. Politics permeate that area, staying at the front of the collective conscience. Everyone from the dentist to the grocery checkout clerk will try to engage you in a political debate. I overdosed on politics at an early age and made it a point to stay far away from the whole mess. I have had a fair bit of success in keeping politics out of my life.
Unfortunately, the walls of my politic-free kingdom (nay, Queendom) are beginning to shake and shudder. I can’t hold out any more. Politics are starting to step on my scientific toes. As I thoroughly ranted before, I am not a fan of mixing science with, well, anything at all other than data. However, lots and lots of people do like to mix. They like to mix and then tell everyone about it. And sometimes, they even run for President of the U.S.
A recent issue of Nature had a handy breakdown of the presidential candidates’ stances on key scientific issues such as stem cells, the environment, space exploration, and of course, one of the hottest topics of current debate on Nature Network and country-wide, evolution. Mike Huckabee’s quote regarding his views on evolution caught my eye… and then my jaw, as it dropped.
“If you want to believe that you and your family came from apes, I’ll accept that.”
I am appalled at the accusatory, condescending, and derisive tone of that statement. There are more problems with it than I care to enumerate here and so will list only the ones I can summarize in a few sentences… and without the use of expletives.
1) His family is obviously not descended from apes, unlike your family. His family is way better than your family.
2) And I know this isn’t what he was getting at.
What is so awful about being descended from apes? I would far rather be related to apes than say, crocodiles, or snakes. Apes are fairly inoffensive as far as members of the animal kingdom are concerned.
3) And this is where I risk the aforementioned expletives. I don’t believe that my family and I came from apes. I know that we did. Big diff.
Rant over. I feel better now, and will safely retreat to my politic-free existence. If I can find it again.
Politics has no place whatsoever in science in my view.
On the science, ape, evolution front, here is a superb Stein Institute talk entitled “Humans, Apes and the Spread of Cancer” by Prof Ajit Varki.
This is sheer science with not even a hint of the dreaded “P” word. I first watched this about a year ago.
I can’t see how P has any relevance to this at all.
The dreaded P word! That is how I shall refer to it from now on. Will try to watch the video sometime today.
Science Debate 2008