Quote Mining
To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree. – Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species.
To those of you who have not read Darwin’s The Origin of Species, the above quotation of him seemingly saying that the eye could never be formed under Natural Selection would, I presume, seem extremely weird. This is exactly the same quotation used by some people in justifying Darwin himself was not certain of this theory of Natural Selection. What they usually leave out is the following line:
Yet reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a perfect and complex eye to one very imperfect and simple, each grade being useful to its possessor, can be shown to exist; if further, the eye does vary ever so slightly, and the variations be inherited, which is certainly the case; and if any variation or modification in the organ be ever useful to an animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, can hardly be considered real.
Such practice, as seem from above, is called Quote Mining. Wikipedia defines Quote Mining as “practice of purposely compiling frequently misleading quotes from large volumes of literature or speech”. In essense, it is to pick and choose certain quotations so as to make one seems like one is saying something one is not. Now, let’s “prove” that Darwin was a racist, from The Voyage of the Beagles:
I could not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and civilized man: it is greater than between a wild and domesticated animal…
What I have actually left out is “inasmuch as in man there is a greater power of improvement”. To put the whole sentence together,
I could not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and civilized man: it is greater than between a wild and domesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a greater power of improvement.
A lot of creationist likes to use the term “Social Darwinism”, when they are actually referring to social clensing, which an extreme and twisted kind of eugenics. To differentiate between those two terms, as defined in Wikipedia, Social Darwinism is a theory that competition among all individuals, groups, nations or ideas drives social evolution in human societies; while Eugenics is a social philosophy which advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits through various forms of intervention. Throughout history, eugenics has been regarded by its various advocates as a social responsibility, an altruistic stance of a society, meant to create healthier and more intelligent people, to save resources, and lessen human suffering.
These creationists seem to think that by discrediting Natural Selection, through linking it to racism and Nazism, they can debunk the validity of the theory. What has that anything to do with the validity of the Theory of Natural Selection, I cannot imagine. Arguing that a theory leads to adverse (albeit untrue) consequences does not in anyway discredit the validity of a scientific theory. What it does show is the immaturity in thinking, and the shallow understanding of scientific method of the persons arguing in such a baseless manner.
Now, I came across this article, Calvin’s Dragon, today. The author, Bodie Hodge, thinks that because an artwork from 1578, which is prior to the coining of the word dinosaur, depicted (or resembled) dragons, hence humans must have co-existed with dinosaur, at one point during the history of Earth. The author claimed that “the extinction of dinosaurs and other creatures reminds us of the presence of death in the world: the result of our sin.”
My comment is that the author has really done a great job in excelling in his quote mining ability, such that he or she can argue for the co-existance of men and dinosaur based on artwork! The author really brought the meaning of quote mining to a whole new level. Perhaps such phenomenon can be called Image Mining, with the definition, “practice of purposely compiling frequently misleading images from large volumes of images.” Job well done, Bodie Hodge.
Now, for your enjoyment, Man Is But A Worm:
