If Charles Darwin was alive today, do you think he'd be disappointed that his legacy has been whittled down so low that he's now remembered more for bumper ornaments than for being one of the brightest minds of the 19th century?
Discuss.
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6 comments:
I never understood those Darwin bumper thingies, while we're on the subject. I think it's well within the realm of possibility to be a Christian and also subscribe to the theory of evolution. Why does it have to be one or the other?
That's something I'm fascinated with ... how people use phrases and symbols without any knowledge of the origin.
Which has nothing to do with Darwin, who I honestly do not know that much about. Anyways.
I'm with you there. I don't understand why people can't do both, too. Our old philosophy teacher would probably disagree, but he's probably busy somewhere being a world-class kick-boxer.
It all seems like a smug response to the Jesus fish on religious people's cars. Which confuses me because the people with the Jesus fish aren't trying to antagonize atheists or Jews or what have you. It's along the same lines as people protesting at a funeral or the Monticello protesters (not as intense or offensive, but just as misguided).
Allow me to be the annoying liberal in the room, but don't you think that Darwin would care more that groups are dedicating summer camps, videos, books in which they brainwash children into thinking that his teachings are false and evil.
Also: Is Jesus sad that his legacy is bogged down with millions upon millions of trite bumper stickers? (my favorite being one that I see in my apartment complex that simply declares JESUCRISTO!!) Is the Jesus fish really less defamotry to the memory of the son of God than the Darwin fish is to a scientist?
Seriously, what you choose to get angry at is baffling sometimes.
Let's for a second imagine that Darwin is reanimated out of the blue. Would he notice all of the camps, videos, and books before he notices the bumper ornaments? The bumper stickers and hood ornaments are ubiquitous, Alden. So after he gets over the shock of a grayer sky, air that's harder to breathe and the mechanical carriages, I think he'd look at a parked car and wonder why his name is everywhere and why it's in the middle of a plastic fish with legs. I'm sure he'd get it after a couple of minutes, but I also think that it's a misguided message to be sending.
And turnabout is fair play. I'd never put a Jesus fish on the back of my car, but I don't feel as though someone who does is making a statement against anything. That's what bugs me about the Darwin fish. It's making a statement, implicitly, that Christians are wrong. It's a mean-spirited jab to the ribs from people who don't agree with Christianity, which is fine if that's your thing. I think the people with the Jesus fish are just stating that they're believers in Christ. There is some fairly good documentation in the Bible that Christians should mark themselves. One of the major principles of the Protestant church is to "spread the good news" about their savior. I think it's trite, sure. It's not my method of choice for expressing my beliefs, nor is it yours: I think, in general, if you need a bumper sticker to express your beliefs, there's something slightly illegitimate about your opinions.
The big difference between the Darwin fish and the original Jesus fish is that one is meant (at least partially) as an attack while the other was meant as a form of expression, in the same way a cancer survivor wears a ribbon or people tie yellow ribbons around their trees. The original Jesus fish isn't an attack on anything, but the Darwin fish is. I think Jesus would take some comfort in seeing that he is still remembered and venerated. The Darwin fish isn't even about Darwin anymore.
The new Jesus fish that are eating the Darwin fish would certainly fall into the defamatory category. I think where you don't really get me is that the Jesus stickers and fish, in particular, are innocent. They may be lame, tacky and annoying, but they're still innocent.
It's presumptuous, too. The Darwin fish owner presumes that all Jesus fish owners believe in creationism. This simply isn't true: it can't be. If people were driving around with Intelligent Design fish on the backs of their cars, it would be completely accurate. Not all Christians believe in intelligent design.
I don't have any problems with beliefs. My problem is when people choose to express those beliefs in such a poor manner.
You assume the Darwin fish is a direct attack on the Jesus fish while I assume it's a response to the attempt to teach creationism in schools. It was most likely devised as and attack on the Jesus fish (created by an atheist society in 1983) but widely used because of the attemtps to teach creationism.
I grew up in Ft. Worth, and I can tell you that shows of faith like the Jesus fish (while innocently devised) can be used to repress dissenting views. There is a sense in the South that if you are not "Christian" then you will not be accepted in society. One way to drive this home is by loud and ubiquitous signs of faith that truly say no more than "I am a member of the ruling class". These people would also generally not consider Catholics to be "true" Christians.
The fact is the Darwin fish means something different to each owner and each viewer as does the Jesus Fish. They are no longer the property of the creators, they are a phenomena, employed for different reasons and illiciting different repsonses. Just as the owner of a Darwin fish might mistakenly believe that a Jesus fish owner doesn't believe in evolution, a Jesus fish owner can mistakenly assume that a Darwin fish owner doesn't believe in Jesus or even in God. The symbol makes no assumption, the reader does.
Certainly as your background colors your view of the innocence of the Jesus fish, so does mine.
I think we can both agree on that.
As for those people in Ft. Worth who do use signs of faith like the Jesus fish as a way to attack others (as I believe some people use the Darwin fish in the same manner in Montgomery County), I think we can both agree that they are fundamentally in the wrong and misusing Jesus, in the same (but in a much, much lesser way) that the Ayatollah used Sharia.
As for you being an annoying liberal, you're incorrect on both counts. You're not annoying because I was inviting discussion. As for your viewpoint, it has nothing to do with being a liberal or a conservative.
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