Clearly We Do Not Have Enough To Do

It's not like there's an economic crisis or two wars going on or anything. State legislatures must be really trying to earn their paychecks this year--or maybe they're trying to distract themselves and their constituents from the misery of the rest of the world by coming up with new ways to fuck us over socially while reality does so fiscally and physically. I have several posts forthcoming on this, but let me start with good, old Oklahoma.

Because this is the 200th anniversary of Darwin's death, many universities are celebrating "Darwinfest." My university, like others, plans to hold a series of lectures by leading thinkers in the field to show how Darwin's ideas have been dealt with in the past two hundred years. The University of Oklahoma was lucky enough to get Richard Dawkins to come and speak--for FREE--at their university. This did not sit well with the Oklahoma state legislature, who drafted up a response to it. Here is the link to both proposals in the legislation: OK has freakout about Richard Dawkins. And here are some snippets from those proposals:

A Resolution expressing disapproval of the actions of the University of
Oklahoma to indoctrinate students in the theory of evolution; opposing the
invitation to Richard Dawkins to speak on campus; and directing
distribution

WHEREAS, not only has the Department of Zoology at the University of
Oklahoma been engaged in one-sided indoctrination of an unproven and unpopular theory but has made an effort to brand all thinking in dissent of this theory as anti-intellectual and backward rather than nurturing such free thinking and allowing a free discussion of all ideas which is the primary purpose of a university

WHEREAS, the invitation for Richard Dawkins to speak on the campus of the
University of Oklahoma on Friday, March 6, 2009, will only serve to further the indoctrination engaged in by the Department of Zoology at the University of Oklahoma by presenting a biased philosophy on the theory of evolution to the exclusion of all other divergent considerations rather than teaching a scientific concept.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 1ST SESSION OF THE 52ND OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE: THAT the Oklahoma House of Representatives hereby expresses its disapproval of the current indoctrination of the Darwinian theory of evolution at the University of Oklahoma and further requests that an open, dignified, and fair discussion of this idea and all other ideas be engaged in on campus which is the approach that a public institution should be engaged in and which represents the desire and interest of the citizens of Oklahoma.

So many problems, so little time. What happened in addition to the legislative act is that OK Representative Rebecca Hamilton then demanded that U of O submit to her and the OK legislature copies of everything showing how much Dawkins was paid and all receipts showing compensation he may have gotten from this event, including where the money came from, costs to the University for hosting him, including things like "security" and "faculty time", as well as all correspondence between Dawkins and the University--emails, letters, etc. Here is the "smoking gun" PDF about it: Hamilton wastes OK taxpayer's salary money.

The resolution is disturbing for a number of reasons, most notably it's stupidity and hypocrisy, and the request is equally disturbing for its intimidation tactics. Here's a thought: free exchange of ideas is NOT best determined by people sitting in governmental power. The OK legislature is an exercise in why that is very true. By trying to pass a resolution, which is really just a way of saying "We really don't like what you did, Nyah!", the State is trying to frighten the university into selecting speakers that won't conflict with the ethics of the legislators; it's at least an attempt at intimidation by irritation and mindless paperwork. By requesting things like emails and correspondence as well as the names of people (private citizens included) who may have donated to help bring Dawkins, one of the most famous scientists in the world) to Oklahoma, Rep. Hamilton is trying to scare the university into only choosing those speakers which fit the legislator's agenda. Free and open exchange of ideas indeed! Asking for email is usually only done when you assume that you are going to find something damning in the correspondence. I suppose Hamilton thinks that she is going to see an exchange saying "Please, Richard, come and indoctrinate our gullible students with your atheistic biology." RD replies, "Certainly, I'd be glad to." Asking for proof of where the money came from insinuates that the money has been spent improperly and it intimidates private citizens from donating to intellectual causes that may happen to cross the government.

I'm not sure where the OK state legislature got their degrees, but if they set foot anywhere near a biology classroom in the past century they would have discovered that evolution is far from an "unproven and unpopular theory." It's not some newfangled political and social conspiracy foisted upon the sciences. There are NO other valid theories to replace evolution, the debate has long since shifted to how the details work. I assume they're thinking about Intelligent Design, although you'll note the chickens chose not to call it out by name. The free exchange of ideas includes those which the legislature may not personally want to hear about--it cuts both ways. The primary goal of a university is NOT to let everyone have a say, no matter how ridiculous. It's to teach a person knowledge--we are all still waiting for someone to prove ID. This concept of "indoctrinating" students assumes they are so infantile as to not be able to tell the difference.

Honestly, Oklahoma, don't you have better things to waste taxpayer money on? I think Oklahomans should demand proof of how much time and money was spent investigating this silliness by the legislature. In triplicate. Seriously, if the "desire and interest of the citizens of Oklahoma" is to remain in the Stone Age, they have their state legislature to thank for it.

Go, Dawkins.


-- DV

link to Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education