More on Persecutions... and on "Howler Monkeys"...

A recent comment at Rationalist Judaism states that

"... From my desultory look at various types of literature, the level of … good manners that exist in scientific works … is higher than what I have observed in the people alleged to be serious proponents of a "Chareidi" approach...."

I believe that the fine commenter is writing with due honesty and humility. But maybe if he reads my previous post he will see that there is more to the picture.

Now I wish to add a selection from Richard Milton's book from the same chapter as my previous citation which, I believe, shows the same. (It is not my concern to comment on the remainder of the book, written by an anti-evolution atheist/agnostic. Certainly none will complain that I not suppress his ideas [I hope!].)

(PAGE 267)

The taboo on debating Darwinism extends to the broadcast Media as well.... One rare and honorable exception was NBC'c decision in 1996 to broadcast the film "The Mysterious Origins of Man".... The program proved immensely popular with many viewers, attracting audiences of around 20 million on each of the two occasions when it was shown. The producers also received dozens of abusive responses, which included virtually no attempts to rebut the scientific issues but took the consensus position that students and the public should not be given access to such contradictory evidence. They included such terms as; "horrible," "atrocious," garbage," "anti-intellectual trash," "evil," deliberate, fraudulent information," "claptrap," "bxllshxt," "a piece of junk," "crxp," and "shame on you, liars and opportunists."

You might imagine that these remarks came from the keyboards of pharmaceutically challenged undergraduates or semiliterate teenagers. In fact they are the words of senior scientists and academics (including several professors) from the University of California at Berkely, State University of New York, and Wisconsin, New Mexico State, Colorado, Northwestern, and other Universities.

(PAGE 270)

Darwinism also remains a hot topic for discussion on the internet…. One group of Darwinist vigilantes who are found regularly on the internet are referred to and, indeed, proudly refer themselves, in internet jargon, as “howler monkeys.” Readers will recall that howler monkeys gather in large groups; have very loud voices that can carry as much as two or three miles; and enforce the boundaries of their territory by engaging in shouting matches with their enemies. Howlers also drive away their enemies by hurling handfuls of their own exxxxment at them.

The effects of the howler monkeys of the internet are profoundly damaging to academic freedom of expression…. In 1996, for instance, Dr. Peter Nyikos, professor of mathematics at the University of South Carolina… who is not a creationist, infuriated internet Darwinists by pointing out that the devotees of cladistics actually use a language with which creationists should be quite comfortable.

Despite his academic standing, Nyikos was not even accorded the civility of a hearing. He was immediately barraged with abuse and buried under tons of technical “objections” which kept him busy and unable to discuss publicly the flaws in Darwinism.

The fact that Nyikos is not a creationist but an evolutionist himself does not save him from such treatment. Indeed, Dr. Nyikos told me, “even fellow believers in evolution, like myself, get flamed without mercy if they aren’t good ‘team players’ for the ‘howler monkey’ side.”

Needless to say, if dissenting senior academics and scientists get this kind of treatment on the internet, outsiders like myself and other nonacademic critics are routinely howled down without a pretense of courtesy—an unexpected outcome of the information superhighway that many hoped would bring about global freedom of expression, led by the example of the academic community.

The reader is welcome to interpret the above, and the previous post, as they wish. For myself, the previous post showed that the Kanna’im aren’t all that ‘holier’ than the evolutionists they oppose; this post shows that evolutionists (and perhaps others) aren’t all that ‘holier’ than the Kanna’im.

(NOTE: I am considering closing the comments section. I don’t necessarily have the time to select comments for publishing, and for responding to them. Forewarned is forearmed; I will play it by ear. Thank you for visiting.)

P.S. You may come back for my next post "On Ralbag and the Creation Sequence"; should be ready in a few days.