Sunday, February 25, 2007
Willful Myopia
Even among the holocaust deniers, Darwin doubters, global warming conspiracy theorists, quack medicine purveyors, and HIV denialistas who populate the intelligent design movement, Jack Cashill stands out.
Like John Calvert, Cashill is a local product who stars in Randy Olson's film "Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus."
Cashill also writes a regular column on World Net Daily, the far-right religious website whose readership is thought to be the natural market for Zion Oil & Gas stock offerings. Zion is a company that "explores deep targets in Israel on the Biblical lands of Asher and Manasseh" based on a reading of Genesis 12:1-3.
In his Feb. 22nd column, Cashill reports that he sat on a post-film panel at the D.C. premiere of Randy Olson's "Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus." Cashill's been a regular at these events, RSR last heard him speak on the panel following the world premiere of "Flock of Dodos" here in Kansas.
Now however, Cashill wants us know that he only appeared on the Washington D.C. panel to "defray my expenses for the on-site research I wanted to do."
The Discovery Institute, you see, has now officially labeled Olson's film a hoax, and Cashill is at pains to let us know that -- despite being treated fairly in "Olson's congenial, if partisan, film" -- he only did it for the money.
The Dodos screening Cashill took part in was sponsored, he writes, by the "D.C. branch of an international outfit called the Center For Inquiry... many of those in attendance were CFI members. According to its mission statement, CFI 'advances critical thinking, freedom of inquiry and humanist values.'"
(For the uninitiated, that bit about "international outfit" is right-wing code speak for black helicopters and such.)
Despite all the talk about being for critical thinking and freedom of inquiry, Cashill believes CFI members "tend to reserve that freedom for people who inquire among the same murky chambers they do. In this world of shadows, the very search for clarity is verboten."
So let's see if we have this right:
Like John Calvert, Cashill is a local product who stars in Randy Olson's film "Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus."
Cashill also writes a regular column on World Net Daily, the far-right religious website whose readership is thought to be the natural market for Zion Oil & Gas stock offerings. Zion is a company that "explores deep targets in Israel on the Biblical lands of Asher and Manasseh" based on a reading of Genesis 12:1-3.
In his Feb. 22nd column, Cashill reports that he sat on a post-film panel at the D.C. premiere of Randy Olson's "Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus." Cashill's been a regular at these events, RSR last heard him speak on the panel following the world premiere of "Flock of Dodos" here in Kansas.
Now however, Cashill wants us know that he only appeared on the Washington D.C. panel to "defray my expenses for the on-site research I wanted to do."
The Discovery Institute, you see, has now officially labeled Olson's film a hoax, and Cashill is at pains to let us know that -- despite being treated fairly in "Olson's congenial, if partisan, film" -- he only did it for the money.
The Dodos screening Cashill took part in was sponsored, he writes, by the "D.C. branch of an international outfit called the Center For Inquiry... many of those in attendance were CFI members. According to its mission statement, CFI 'advances critical thinking, freedom of inquiry and humanist values.'"
(For the uninitiated, that bit about "international outfit" is right-wing code speak for black helicopters and such.)
Despite all the talk about being for critical thinking and freedom of inquiry, Cashill believes CFI members "tend to reserve that freedom for people who inquire among the same murky chambers they do. In this world of shadows, the very search for clarity is verboten."
So let's see if we have this right:
- The group invited Cashill, a well-known intelligent design movement guru to speak at one of its events.
- He was featured in the film screened at the event.
- He was treated fairly and his expenses paid.
- He spoke to the group and participated in both formal and informal discussions afterward.
- But, because no one present dropped to their knees to embrace the radiant vision that is intelligent design, the group is closed-minded, or as Cashill puts it, they "do a great job of screening out the uncomfortable."
Here's a modest proposal Jack: next time one of your churches invites somebody to defend evolution in front of the congregation, we'll talk about "willful myopia."
Let us know.
