The Evolution/ID Debate

Yahoo News has a story about the recent evolution/creation/Intelligent Design issues coming out of Texas and Louisiana. It does a pretty good job of laying down the basics for those who haven’t been paying attention.

I want to say this: I’m not a Darwinist. I presume that “Darwinist” means “one who follows Darwin,” similar to Christian or Marxist being one who follows Christ or Marx, respectively. I know thay groups like The Discovery Institute would like everyone to believe that those who accept evolution have the dogmatic faith of Christianity or the idological singlemindedness of a Marxist. No, I’m not a Darwinist because Darwin lived a long time ago, and did not have the scientific knowledge that would come later to validate his theory.

I’m a psychology student. Darwin wrote before the advent of psychotherapy.

The fact is, I don’t believe in Natural Selection because I choose to, I believe it because the evidence supports it. And quite frankly, it is irresponsible for any of these groups to try to push this whole “teach the controversy” campaign. With science scores in the US somewhere south of Latvia, the ID people and the creationists want to put their stamp on the education system by wasting teachers’ and students’ time. You want to talk about gaps in the evolutionary theory, how about the gaps in ID and creationism (like the complete lack of any scientific validation whatsoever?) 

They invent the word “Darwinist” to disparage us, why don’t we come up with a word to disparage them? I’m in favor of “wizard.” Or “child.” They are the first two groups of people who come to mind that believe in magic.

A New Take on Bullying

A new program has been found to decrease bullying by making the whole community involved. The CAPSLE program (Creating a Peaceful School Learning Environment, and the award for most creative acronym of any behavior program) focuses not just on the bully and his victim, but on the bystanders as well. The program was found to foster stronger bystander behaviors, and generate empathy for victams and less positivity for aggression. My favorite part:

Nevertheless, over time the study found that bullies came to be disempowered, initially complaining that the programme was boring and should be stopped until gradually the social system tended to recruit them into more helpful roles. For example, a fifth grade bully who was “humping” the school trophy case to display his sexual prowess to much younger children became a helper of kindergarteners who were upset and helped them with tasks like tying shoelaces.

The study found that, while bullying did increase in the school district where the program was applied, it increased less than in two control districts.

If I remember correctly, one of the bits of research that came out of the bystander effect, which found that people in groups were less likely to assist someone in need than individuals, is that knowledge of the bystander effect can partially alleviate the effect. I wonder if the same thing may be going on here.

Link to ScienceDaily.