Re: [Marxism] Kansas Prof Who Was to Teach "Creationism as Mythology" Class Beaten Up by Rightists

[nathaniel.thomas@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Delurking here...

Though I definitely need to educate myself about evolutionary theory beyond a
high school textbook (a normal one presenting evolution as an accepted
scientific theory, not a Kansas textbook) level, it seems the truest, especially
considering the alternatives.

A disclaimer, I suppose, because I must admit that Mirecki's assault story seems
highly suspect.  When I think about the reported incident, I can only see it
occurring if the two assailants had staked out Mirecki's home and were following
him on his early morning quest for breakfast.  In the dark between 6 and 7am it
seems unlikely that two violent and tailgating fundamentalists would recognize
the car of their hated foe.  I suppose they could have had a list of license
plate numbers attached to the dashboard with the title "People We Would Like to
Physically Harm" and thus spotted Mirecki (or perhaps Mirecki has a highly
identifiable vanity plate).  The sort of private citizens who stake out an
"enemy's" house to physically attack him after following his car down a country
road could be described as driven or, perhaps, insane.  I would expect far worse
than some bruising blows from such people.

It's possible it did occur as Mirecki describes, but it strikes me that if the
story turns out not to be true, the creationists will hold it up for a media
cycle as some kind of mini-Piltdown Man ("those duplicitous atheist
evolutionists!").

I'm feeling all sorts of reservations about accepting the veracity of this
attack, but what I have written above strikes me as having the most merit,
considering how little we know about the attack.

Nathaniel Thomas

________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism