Agreed on all points; I’ve found it interesting in my conversations with anti-evolutionists that even doing the work of dispelling the straw man argument—“monkeys turning into humans”, “why are there still monkeys”, etc. - doesn’t seem to change even their conception of the evolution argument; they STILL think all the science and reason in the world can be summarized as “monkeys turned into humans”. Their degree of investment in opposing that argument may be too great for additional rationality to crack. When/if that becomes apparent, I’ve found the more-effective-yet-less-satisfying counter to be something along the lines of: “America grew out of England, yet England’s still a country.”. Not the most accurate metaphor, granted… but it seems to back their confidence level down from outright absoluteness.
Plus, it’s kinda fun to see their faces turn red. Whoever coined “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” must not have been a rationalist amongst children.
Agreed on all points; I’ve found it interesting in my conversations with anti-evolutionists that even doing the work of dispelling the straw man argument—“monkeys turning into humans”, “why are there still monkeys”, etc. - doesn’t seem to change even their conception of the evolution argument; they STILL think all the science and reason in the world can be summarized as “monkeys turned into humans”. Their degree of investment in opposing that argument may be too great for additional rationality to crack. When/if that becomes apparent, I’ve found the more-effective-yet-less-satisfying counter to be something along the lines of: “America grew out of England, yet England’s still a country.”. Not the most accurate metaphor, granted… but it seems to back their confidence level down from outright absoluteness.
Plus, it’s kinda fun to see their faces turn red. Whoever coined “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” must not have been a rationalist amongst children.