Monday, January 17, 2005

the myth of balanced treatment I guess I'm still thinking about the stupidity of last night's episode of "Boston Legal" (see previous posting) and its inane treatment of the evolution-creation controversy. Part of the problem, seems to me, is that Americans are very sensitive to "fair" or "equal" treatment of people and issues. While this attitude is generally commendable, and it should certainly be applied to people, the matter becomes more complicated when it comes to certain issues. Should we have a fair and balance treatment of the theory that the earth is flat? No. Why? Because it is downright stupid, given what we know about planets and the universe. Sometimes people are simply wrong about something, and it makes no sense to be "balanced" and to propose a middle ground: the earth isn't flat, and there is no viable middle position. The same is true for intelligent design: it isn't science, and there is no philosophically intermediate position between science and religion. 8:27:33 AM    comment []