Dance With the One Who Brung Ya

This past fall has been an interesting one for those standing on the sidelines of the attempts to have school curriculum call Darwinism what it really is -- a theory. Of course, no one is truly on the sidelines on this one.

It is fascinating to watch "true believers" in Darwinism engage in behavior that one would typically ascribe to theists. This includes everything from revival-preacher fury in support of this (oxymoronically) absolutely true theory to dreamy-eyed platitudes about the wonderfulness of this lovely mechanism that has, in the mind of the beholder, made us what we are.

Several good, level-headed reads in this regard... from Bob Murphy, PhD in Economics from NYU and Eric Rauch. Murphy discusses reasons why arguments for Darwinism are not necessarily the slam dunk they are made out to be. Rauch discusses recent articles that portray a philosophical "love fest" for natural selection.

I'm biased, I admit it. Like I said, no one is really on the sidelines in this one. However, to bring this into line with the title... If natural selection is a good thing (the one who brung us) -- that means the strong conquering the weak is a good thing. That means being a predator is better than being a servant. Glamorizing natural selection won't undo this fact. Saying that we have evolved to a point where, now -- taking care of the weak, being servants instead of predators, being others-oriented, caring for our fellow man is the natural law -- this flies in the face of that cold emotionless process that supposedly brought us here.

We can't have it both ways. Ya gotta dance with the one who brung ya -- and in time, the real "bringer" will be evident.

The "Absolutization" of the Individual

Reading an article on Dutch polyamory, I reminisce of the days shortly after one of the major sodomy rulings -- perhaps the Lawrence vs. Texas ruling in 2003 -- or maybe another one. Regardless, only days after the ruling I recall an news blurb about a small group of men engaging in sodomy at a public beach. I recall thinking that the whole undercurrent of modern moral revisionism -- the debunking of shared societal absolutes -- boils down to one issue:

Nobody can tell me what to do.

Franky Schaeffer said essentially the same thing at a talk I attended back in the eighties. His statement about the "me" generation -- even more evident twenty years later -- was that modern man operates by the 11th Commandment:

Thou shalt not get in my way.

When Jesus was on trial before his countrymen, Pilate asked if they wanted him to be released. Their common cry was, "We do not want this man to rule over us." AD70 was the near term result.