Teaching the Controversy

 “Teaching the Controversy” is a phrase that is often used by opponents to global warming and evolution. “We need to teach the alternative view to the children so they can get all the facts to make an informed decision! (However, their side is just a theory with huge holes that many of their own kind don’t even believe. Our side is right and credible)”.

Taking away my editorial in the parentheses, you can’t always claim the other viewpoint is legit and that both sides are equal. You know for a fact these same people would be up in arms if we taught in schools that 9/11 was done by the government. That’s liberal revisionism! History has been written by conservatives for years. Hell, most of what we knew about the antebellum south was most likely created after the Civil War to give their fight more meaning. Oh and for the record, no, the government was not responsible for 9/11. I do not want people to think that is a legit argument.

Two sides are not always equal. One problem for Global Warming, evolution, and autism causing vaccines is that the news likes to put two people on the air with two viewpoints and treat them both seriously. Sorry but Mr. Paid-by-a-think-tank is not equal to Mr. 30-years-experience-on-the-topic-at-hand. When you see two “scientists” arguing on the 6 o’clock news, you will think there is a disagreement in the scientific community over evolution or something. There isn’t. 100% of real Biologists agree that evolution is pretty solid.

But, is it fair to completely shut out an opposing view? Science has evolved. I think scientists believed that we couldn’t go over 50 mph without damaging our internal organs. Doctors didn’t believe washing ones hands was a good idea. Didn’t most scientists believe the earth was the center of the solar system? (and by scientists I mean people who blindly believed a pagan that these Christians held in higher esteem than Jesus) The list can go on.

When theories surrounding the faking of the moon landing and holocaust surfaced, we should look at the argument and decide if they have a good idea or are just paranoid racists (they are paranoid racists).

We shouldn’t dismiss a new idea and hide it like it’s the most dangerous idea ever (clearly some ideas are dangerous but keep reading…) When we act that way, people will think there is some sort of conspiracy to hid the truth and want to know it and believe it even more. Is there ever a way to present both sides of an issue without both sides being equal (besides how creationists treat intelligent design)? Teaching both sides of the evolutionary debate, but putting intelligent design under the microscope for criticism compared to evolution will create more people dismissing intelligent design. The side with the real science will always be right if argued point by point with fake science. You will not convert die-hard creationists but you will win over the young and open-minded.

Science is rarely debatable, History is more so. It really bothers me when I can’t even argue whether or not the Atomic Bombs dropped on Japan ended the war sooner or saved more lives without being labeled a revisionist. I disagree with the whole morality of it (more people died from conventional bombings so why are the atomic bombs considered worse?) but agree that there is debate whether they ended the war sooner. People like Eisenhower, MacArthur (who would later suggest their use in the Korean War), Admiral Leahy, and Admiral Nimitz seriously questioned the usefulness of using the bombs. There is even debate with all the studies suggesting how high the body counts would be based upon who commissioned them. The Army, Navy, and Air Force, all had a reason to giver higher or lower estimates just to make themselves look better (Army claimed lower numbers to encourage an invasion to make them look good, the Navy gave higher numbers so they could force the Japanese to surrender with a blockade, and the Air Force wanted continued firebombings to force a surrender).

Point is, most things are debatable. Lets discuss them. If it’s crap, point it out.