As I said in my previous post, for some reason, I'm drawn to seemingly straightforward religious lyrics of ambiguously subversive intent. Case in point, this Youtube video I've posted here:
At first I thought this rap video had been put out by the creationist crowd satirizing scientists' arrogance for, well, having the facts and truth on their side. "Yeah, he's the Dick to the doc to the Ph.D. He's smarter than you; he's got a science degree."
But on a second listen, I realized that this couldn't be the case. Because the video is clever. And ironic. There are a couple things I've learned in the past couple years: Creationists are rarely clever; And they are never ironic.
The video was originally posted on the science blog Panda's Thumb, which discusses attacks on evolution by proponents of creationism and its bastard son, intelligent design. So, that's another clue.
The video is even funnier for anybody who's been following the recent dust up over the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which stars Ben Stein and purports to show that science academics who believe in intelligent design (the religious and very unscientific notion that life is so complex it needs the guiding hand of the Divine) are being unfairly censored and ostracized for their beliefs.
Last week, two scientists, PZ Myers and Richard Dawkins, properly registered on line and attended one of the limited screenings. Well, only Dawkins attended. Myers was spotted by a producer and was expelled from the theater. The producers are trying to limit the showing to friendly creationist audiences, no doubt in order to avoid having the movie's many misconceptions from being exposed before the official release.
The video is filled with inside references and mocks the atheism of Myers and Dawkins. But my favorite line is: "If I was dyslexic I’d even hate dog too."
Indie Music Reviews by
- Lauri Lebo
- Lauri Lebo spent many years as a newspaper reporter adhering to the rule of journalistic objectivity and, therefore, holding no opinions on anything. A year ago, she left newspaper reporting to complete her first book, The Devil in Dover, which will be released in May. Published by The New Press, it is an account of Kitzmiller v. Dover, the landmark First Amendment battle over intelligent design. Now that she has opinions, Lebo spends a lot of time mulling over the sorry state of country music and seeking out small rays of hope. She also remains firmly convinced that if Johnny Cash were here today, he'd straighten up the mess we're in. Lebo is married to songwriter Jefferson Pepper.
2 comments:
I agree that the presence of irony and sarcasm is the best evidence that the video wasn't produced by a creationist. They just don't do those things, in my experience.
myers expelled from Expelled, and fear that the films content would become known before the release....not very good advance press. writing this some ten years after your post,it's harder to laugh, knowing that approximately 1/4 of the electorate prefer to inhabit a worldview where science has no traction.
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