Re: Folding Ideas video on the Paluxy "Man tracks"

On 11-Jan-25 23:56, Arkalen wrote:

Here's a 1h25mn video on the Paluxy river fossils by Dan Olson (of various videos fame, but most relevantly here maybe he had a high- profile one on Flat Earth theory).
 I'm only halfway through it so far but I'm really enjoying it, it's full of rich historical context I hadn't really learned about from basic "promoting vs debunking the Paluxy tracks" resources.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UDXdqqJQPE

Thank you for this. I finally got around to watching it. I loved the subtle shout-out to Nick Matzke, BTW. Don't know what he's up to these days, but I hope he's well.
The creationist embrace of the "Paluxy man-tracks" is a fascinating demonstration of the right's evaluation of scientific claims based not on the evidence, but on the conclusion. The footprints proclaimed to overturn the theory of evolution are obvious fakes, but they still have True Believers because it means (in their eyes) the Earth is young, all of it was created for our exclusive use, and there's a benevolent God watching out for you. It abjures the terrifyingly vast and impersonal universe pitched by those dumb egghead scientists, who are all gay atheist liberals anyway.
 From this point of view, the scientific insistence on the primacy of evidence is perverse and spiteful — why would you "want" bad things to be true? Isn't it NICER if global warming is a myth, if the existing power structure is a true meritocracy, if people do not suffer disprivilege rooted in ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, or religion? Why must those smug ivory-tower geeks bring us all down?
It's a lovely way to live... right up until the point you find you can't shut out or shout down reality.
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Kestrel Clayton
"Every normal woman must be tempted, at times, to stoke the fire,
host the black mass, and begin eating hearts." — Rose Bailey