Theories

A friend of mine, this morning, posted a link to another one of Michele Bachmann's crazy-ass ideas. Michele Bachmann is one of many who thinks we should be teaching "intelligent design" in our schools, because the government shouldn't teach one side of an uncertain issue without touching the other side. She is another of those "evolution is just a theory" nutjobs. I wish that news coverage of these people would first and foremost explain what a scientific theory is. Relativity is a theory. Gravity is a theory. These theories are developed based on observable facts and logic, especially logic. How can anybody make an assertion that something that has not been peer-reviewed, something that can never be peer reviewed because there is absolutely nothing to support it, belongs in schools?

I am taking a class next semester called "the evolution-creationism controversy." This is something about which I am passionate. Science education is necessary, not only for the US to be competitive in the future, but also because the development of critical thinking helps people analyze the world around them, and make better decisions in life. Critical thinking from science education has helped me in every aspect of my life from work to judging the reliability of a narrator in a work of fiction. Creationism, "intelligent design," whatever you want to call it, does not develop any of these skills, aside from being nowhere near anything that could be considered a valid or testable theory. Creationism breeds zombies. I know that sometimes I am exasperated with the state of our country, but I know also that I was privileged to grow up here in freedom and have the opportunity to learn about science without an intrusive government agenda. Should people like the Tea Party and Michele Bachmann gain any sort of real power and disassemble our educational system, we would be headed towards a religious state. To me, this is like the concept in social psychology where once you get your foot in the door, you can pretty much do anything. When people agreed to display a tiny "drive safely" sign in their car window, these people were far more likely to agree to put a giant billboard in their front lawn than somebody who hadn't been asked the original request. We can't let the crazies get their feet in our doors.

Science is science. Science is not religion. Science is observable. Science changes and improves. Science is not out to get people, it is out to help us understand the world in which we live. When Michele Bachmann gets sick, I'm sure she goes to a doctor and takes medicine, which has been tested. Just because we haven't observed that taking that pill doesn't cause your head to explode doesn't mean that it isn't a possibility that it could happen. It's a theory, based on extensive trials, that taking it will make you better.

Michele Bachmann is a racist and a homophobe. I'm sure that if she were president and some local schools decided that it was in their best interest to teach that being homosexual is a-okay, she would find a way to stop that from happening at the federal level. She's trying her damndest to control peoples' ability to marry the ones they love. Maybe she should get her goddamn nose out of everybody's business and go learn the definition of scientific theory.