E-Mail Fun

In my recent column on Intelligent Design I mentioned that I received some sneering, contemptuous, and condescending e-mails in response to a previous column on ID, mostly from self-satisfied science elitist types. (This is not to paint all scientists with a broad brush, by the way. I received some incredibly respectful e-mails from scientists too.) In response to this second ID column I raked in plenty more zingers from scientists telling me to stick to subjects I know about, etc. I may share some of those later, but today I received one from a guy who e-mails me from time to time to remind me of my inferiority. I don’t think he’s a scientist, but from some reason I find his derision highly amusing, including his salutation: “Limbaugh.” The man, it seems, has an issue with the South. Here’s the e-mail:

Limbaugh,

My goodness, what an intelligent and educated individual you must be. You have opinions about everything. You write about politics, the judiciary, and now, “intelligent design.” Is there no field of knowledge where you confess ignorance? Seemingly not, although you could safely assign developmental biology to such a category.

So, now we are supposed to go to Mississippi to be informed about the origin of life on Earth? You mean the South has other things to teach than the art of blowing up Black churches, murdering Black school children, and lynching adults? In those areas the South is a clear and uncontroverted authority, having gained knowledge and experience through assiduous application. As for science of any kind, the Southern Christian influence has been, how shall I put it politely, less noticeable, but it’s these folks who come now to lay down the law on science. Throw out the “God” buzzword and everybody is expected to salute.

“Intelligent design” is an idea propagated by folks who simply can’t stand the thought of humans not being “special.” In fact, so “special” that whereas other animals die, humans are so significant and “made in God’s image,” thus qualifying for “salvation.” Yessir, other species may come and go, but humans are speyshal.

Luckily for my child, I was able to send him to a high-academic, thoroughly secular private school (where instruction is bilingual in English and French.) In the future, when my son competes for academic placement, it will stand him in good stead that the moron Christians forced their kids to study crap, consonant with the “Southern culture,” such as it is. Yech, imagine the American South as a dynamo of science! An amusing thought.