We live in a nation that is shockingly ignorant of basic science. Yet, at the same time, some of the most ignorant people on the planet act as if they can speak for science. Take, for example, Bill Nye. Many people view him as today’s spokesperson for science, despite the fact that he displays his scientific ignorance time and time again (see here, here, here, here, and here, for example). I just ran across another example of ignorant people claiming to speak for science. It comes from the Jimmy Kimmel Live show.
It’s one of those fake public service announcements (PSAs) which attempts to demonstrate the intelligence of the people making the announcement while at the same time displaying the stupidity of those who disagree with them. This is a form of what is now called virtue signaling – the attempt to show others how virtuous you are, often by making fun of people who disagree with you. A screenshot from the fake PSA is given above. The spokesperson, “actor, director, and two-time sexiest man alive George Clooney,” is promoting an organization that attempts to educate ignorant people to give up their foolish beliefs. In the segment from which the screenshot is taken, Mr. Clooney says that your donation of $200 will “…teach ten @*!x&^ knuckle-draggers that dinosaurs existed, but not at the same time as people.”
Now, of course, anyone with a modicum of scientific knowledge should immediately see what is wrong with the graphic being shown. Those who believe that dinosaurs and people did not live at the same time cannot use carbon dating as a way of supporting their claim. Because of the relatively “short” half-life of carbon-14, carbon dating can only be used on carbon-containing items that are less than 60,000 years old. Given that the generally-accepted timescale has dinosaurs going extinct 65 million years ago and the earliest humans appearing about 200,000 years ago, “Basic F**king Carbon Dating” cannot tell us anything about whether or not humans and dinosaurs existed at the same time.
In fact, if one truly believes carbon dating, one has to believe that people and dinosaurs did, indeed, coexist. That’s because multiple dinosaur fossils have been carbon dated to between 23,000 and 41,000 years old (see here, here, and here). All of those values are well within the timeframe that the scientific consensus tells us modern humans existed.
Now, of course, those who desperately want to believe in the generally-accepted timescale will make up excuses for why you can believe most carbon dates, but not the ones done on dinosaur bones. Interestingly enough, however, at least some of those people don’t want to do further tests to see if their excuses work. But that’s not my point. To some extent, all scientists make up “just so” stories to prop up their hypotheses, so it’s understandable that those who are committed to the scientific consensus do so as well.
My point is much simpler than that. The makers of this fake PSA wanted to show that they are well-educated and intelligent because they simply accept what the High Priests of Science proclaim without investigating the evidence in any way. At the same time, they wanted to show that those who believe dinosaurs and people lived at the same time are stupid. Instead, they ended up demonstrating their own ignorance of the scientific data related to the issue. Unfortunately, because the High Priests are doing such a great job at keeping the general public ignorant of science, most people will have no idea!
“I don’t know the man – never met him, never even spoken to him, but I feel sorry for George Clooney – one day he may get Alzheimer’s disease.
I served my country in World War II. I survived that – I guess I can survive some bad words from this fellow.” -Charlton Heston
I agree with your points in this article, and allow me to complement it: even if you are right about some thing, you can’t treat an opposite opinion with arrogance and unpoliteness(like the mister cited above).
We always need to try our best to don’t mistreat anyone. Let’s remember to reject and “attack” the ideas, but not the person.
God Enlighten you all!
Victor, I don’t think you understood the context of the quote.
Charlton Heston was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and revealed his diagnosis to the general public in 2003, and George Clooney made fun of him (he said “Charlton Heston announced AGAIN today that he is suffering from Alzheimer’s.”) and then refused to apologize.
The above quote was Heston’s reponse to Clooney… back in 2003. He wasn’t wishing Alzheimer’s upon Clooney, he was simply stating that Clooney doesn’t know his own future, so he shouldn’t make fun of people with Alzheimer’s, because one day he might have Alzheimer’s.
It wasn’t a response to the video being discussed; it couldn’t be, because Charlton Heston died in 2008.
My point with Heston’s quote was, like him, we also “Can survive some bad words from this fellow.”
Anyway, I completely agree with you, that we need to “Remember to reject and “attack” the ideas, but not the person.”
Unfortunetaly, that seems to be a concept Clooney and Kimmel may never be able to grasp.
Thanks for the clarification, Alaska. However, I think you failed to realize that I was talking about the article itself; the behavior that Mr. Clooney expressed at the video that Dr. Jay linked; not the quote you gave.
In any way I wished to down or to ashamed you.
God Enlighten you!
kkkk yes, I did fail to realize that.
Well, at least now anyone else who reads the quote will have the backstory.
Deus te abençoe irmão!
No problem at all(sister?) 😉
Definitely virtue signaling on a major level. I watched that YouTube video and saw that global warming is a part of that fake PSA!
George Clooney is hooked to carbon. Private jets, yachts, helicopters, multiple houses, multiple vehicles and motorcycles. New suits every blink of an eye. Not to mention he works in Hollywood – and speaking from personal experience I can say it is by far one of the most wasteful industries I’ve ever worked in. Every day on set amounts to TONS of waste. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with any of the above – I’m just pointing out that the man is throwing rocks from his enormous Glass House.
Sigh . . . I’m running out of words to express my frustration with these people – which is why there are blogs like yours, and people like you, Dr. Jay. Remember, the High Priests of Science have not fooled us all. Go homeschooling!
Cluny is, well, weird. One thing he isn’t is a genius, or even that great an actor or he wouldn’t do things like this to promote himself. That the evo blind faith crowd has to get actors to promote them is sign they’re desperate. Next, Santy Claus will present ‘reality’ of evolution to us 🙂 Maybe the tooth fairy, if they can manage it. Both are perfect and fit well into evolution, all being fairy tales… Niio!