Changes at the Discovery Institute are likely a real policy shift

[RonO]

In a recent post I noted that the policy at the Discovery Institute had
apparently changed with regard to linking religion with IDiocy. The ID
perps are supporting religious web sites maintained by the Discovery
Institute, and have decided that their junk is useful for the curriculum
of home schoolers and private schools. They seem to be more openly
associating IDiocy with religion. Looking at Wayback internet archive
it looked like the changes to the Discovery Institute web pages had been
done in the later half of 2014, but none of the IDiots had mentioned the
changes, and the Discovery Institute isn't making a big deal about the
changes.

I've tried to look into if the Discovery Institute ever gave some reason
for the changes that essentially doom any denial they may make in the
future about IDiocy not being religious in nature. The Discovery
Institute web pages seem to all be down today.

It looks like the shift started earlier in 2014 than the changes to the
Discovery Institute's web site. There is a Blog note that the charade
was over and Discovery Institute fellows Meyer, Dembski and West were
participating in a conference openly linking essential Christian
doctrine with design in nature in March 2014.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-zimmerman/intelligent-designs-final_b_4957002.html

http://tfninsider.org/2014/02/12/intelligent-design-advocates-acknowledge-the-truth-it-really-is-about-religion/

So it looks like the ID perps are going to try to hide their failure
behind their religious convictions. Home schooling and private
religious schools will reap the rotten fruit of IDiocy, but ID is pretty
much dead as a scientific academic enterprise.

Beats me how they can sustain any forward momentum in any positive
direction after basically admitting that they have been lying all of
these years about what the issue really was about, but you can't
underestimate the stupidity of the ID/creationist movement. Really, the
bait and switch has been going down for over 13 years and no creationist
rube has ever gotten the promised ID science to teach in the public schools.

I will note that this conference was held in Texas and the Texas IDiots
had the bait and switch run on them a second time when the Discovery
Institute came out against the IDiot's efforts to use the switch scam to
put ID science into textbook supplements back in 2013. Since then the
Texas IDiots abandoned their web page. When even the switch scam is an
IDiot failure there probably wasn't anything left to do, but wrap
themselves in their religious beliefs and pretend that, that makes all
the lies and stupidity OK.

So this looks like it is the future for intelligent design. My guess is
that most of the IDiots will eventually revert to being Christian
creationists (like ex senator Santorum), and try to pretend that IDiocy
was never that important.

Ron Okimoto

[Richard Clayton]

On 25-Apr-15 12:22, RonO wrote:
> In a recent post I noted that the policy at the Discovery Institute had
> apparently changed with regard to linking religion with IDiocy. The ID
> perps are supporting religious web sites maintained by the Discovery
> Institute, and have decided that their junk is useful for the curriculum
> of home schoolers and private schools. They seem to be more openly
> associating IDiocy with religion. Looking at Wayback internet archive
> it looked like the changes to the Discovery Institute web pages had been
> done in the later half of 2014, but none of the IDiots had mentioned the
> changes, and the Discovery Institute isn't making a big deal about the
> changes.
>
> I've tried to look into if the Discovery Institute ever gave some reason
> for the changes that essentially doom any denial they may make in the
> future about IDiocy not being religious in nature. The Discovery
> Institute web pages seem to all be down today.

This has been inevitable since ID's Disastrous Defeat in Dover: Even a
Republican, Christian, Bush-appointed judge didn't buy the "We're
totally NOT about religion!" line, and the rank-and-file couldn't stop
mouthing off about their true intentions anyway.

> It looks like the shift started earlier in 2014 than the changes to the
> Discovery Institute's web site. There is a Blog note that the charade
> was over and Discovery Institute fellows Meyer, Dembski and West were
> participating in a conference openly linking essential Christian
> doctrine with design in nature in March 2014.
>
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-zimmerman/intelligent-designs-final_b_4957002.html
>
>
> http://tfninsider.org/2014/02/12/intelligent-design-advocates-acknowledge-the-truth-it-really-is-about-religion/

The shift started earlier than that, I think. In a 2006 panel
discussion, Dembski admitted that intelligent design was really all
about proving man really was created in God's image. Over the next few
years, several other DI clowns publicly dropped their pretenses as well.
Don't get me wrong, the Disco 'Tute's talking heads are still more than
willing to whine that they don't have a religious agenda, no sir, and
those hateful atheist scientists are so meeeaaan to them, but they're
just as happy to drop the posture again when it ceases to be immediately
useful.

> So it looks like the ID perps are going to try to hide their failure
> behind their religious convictions. Home schooling and private
> religious schools will reap the rotten fruit of IDiocy, but ID is pretty
> much dead as a scientific academic enterprise.
>
> Beats me how they can sustain any forward momentum in any positive
> direction after basically admitting that they have been lying all of
> these years about what the issue really was about, but you can't
> underestimate the stupidity of the ID/creationist movement. Really, the
> bait and switch has been going down for over 13 years and no creationist
> rube has ever gotten the promised ID science to teach in the public
> schools.

There's nobody easier to fool than a man who WANTS to be fooled. I
suspect DI propaganda, like Chick gospel tracts, are not actually aimed
at converting the heathens, but rather giving ego-massages to the True
Believers.

> I will note that this conference was held in Texas and the Texas IDiots
> had the bait and switch run on them a second time when the Discovery
> Institute came out against the IDiot's efforts to use the switch scam to
> put ID science into textbook supplements back in 2013. Since then the
> Texas IDiots abandoned their web page. When even the switch scam is an
> IDiot failure there probably wasn't anything left to do, but wrap
> themselves in their religious beliefs and pretend that, that makes all
> the lies and stupidity OK.
>
> So this looks like it is the future for intelligent design. My guess is
> that most of the IDiots will eventually revert to being Christian
> creationists (like ex senator Santorum), and try to pretend that IDiocy
> was never that important.

Meh, at this point I suspect the most significant goal of the Discovery
Institute is to provide a cushy sinecure for its fellows, for as long as
the donor gravy train lasts.

--
[The address listed is a spam trap. To reply, take off every zig.]
Richard Clayton
"I keep six honest serving men (they taught me all I knew); their names
are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who." — Rudyard Kipling

[RonO]

On 4/25/2015 4:07 PM, Richard Clayton wrote:
>
>
> On 25-Apr-15 12:22, RonO wrote:
>> In a recent post I noted that the policy at the Discovery Institute had
>> apparently changed with regard to linking religion with IDiocy. The ID
>> perps are supporting religious web sites maintained by the Discovery
>> Institute, and have decided that their junk is useful for the curriculum
>> of home schoolers and private schools. They seem to be more openly
>> associating IDiocy with religion. Looking at Wayback internet archive
>> it looked like the changes to the Discovery Institute web pages had been
>> done in the later half of 2014, but none of the IDiots had mentioned the
>> changes, and the Discovery Institute isn't making a big deal about the
>> changes.
>>
>> I've tried to look into if the Discovery Institute ever gave some reason
>> for the changes that essentially doom any denial they may make in the
>> future about IDiocy not being religious in nature. The Discovery
>> Institute web pages seem to all be down today.
>
> This has been inevitable since ID's Disastrous Defeat in Dover: Even a
> Republican, Christian, Bush-appointed judge didn't buy the "We're
> totally NOT about religion!" line, and the rank-and-file couldn't stop
> mouthing off about their true intentions anyway.

Yes, they did not fool the Bush-appointed ex Scoutmaster. The ID perps
have tried to continue to lie about the issue for a decade.

>
>> It looks like the shift started earlier in 2014 than the changes to the
>> Discovery Institute's web site. There is a Blog note that the charade
>> was over and Discovery Institute fellows Meyer, Dembski and West were
>> participating in a conference openly linking essential Christian
>> doctrine with design in nature in March 2014.
>>
>> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-zimmerman/intelligent-designs-final_b_4957002.html
>>
>>
>>
>> http://tfninsider.org/2014/02/12/intelligent-design-advocates-acknowledge-the-truth-it-really-is-about-religion/
>>
>
> The shift started earlier than that, I think. In a 2006 panel
> discussion, Dembski admitted that intelligent design was really all
> about proving man really was created in God's image. Over the next few
> years, several other DI clowns publicly dropped their pretenses as well.
> Don't get me wrong, the Disco 'Tute's talking heads are still more than
> willing to whine that they don't have a religious agenda, no sir, and
> those hateful atheist scientists are so meeeaaan to them, but they're
> just as happy to drop the posture again when it ceases to be immediately
> useful.

They were messing up before Dover. The quote from Johnson about the
goal of the ID movement was to get ID into the public schools was on a
Christian radio program. They held their IDiot meetings in churches.
Their original mission statement didn't leave much doubt that their
objectives were to elevate their religious notions to the position that
they believed that those religious notions merited.

>
>> So it looks like the ID perps are going to try to hide their failure
>> behind their religious convictions. Home schooling and private
>> religious schools will reap the rotten fruit of IDiocy, but ID is pretty
>> much dead as a scientific academic enterprise.
>>
>> Beats me how they can sustain any forward momentum in any positive
>> direction after basically admitting that they have been lying all of
>> these years about what the issue really was about, but you can't
>> underestimate the stupidity of the ID/creationist movement. Really, the
>> bait and switch has been going down for over 13 years and no creationist
>> rube has ever gotten the promised ID science to teach in the public
>> schools.
>
> There's nobody easier to fool than a man who WANTS to be fooled. I
> suspect DI propaganda, like Chick gospel tracts, are not actually aimed
> at converting the heathens, but rather giving ego-massages to the True
> Believers.

I haven't seen any defections, yet, from the Discovery Institute, so
most of the fellows must be OK with the changes. You have to wonder how
long a "Jewish agnostic" like Berlinski will stay on board.

>
>> I will note that this conference was held in Texas and the Texas IDiots
>> had the bait and switch run on them a second time when the Discovery
>> Institute came out against the IDiot's efforts to use the switch scam to
>> put ID science into textbook supplements back in 2013. Since then the
>> Texas IDiots abandoned their web page. When even the switch scam is an
>> IDiot failure there probably wasn't anything left to do, but wrap
>> themselves in their religious beliefs and pretend that, that makes all
>> the lies and stupidity OK.
>>
>> So this looks like it is the future for intelligent design. My guess is
>> that most of the IDiots will eventually revert to being Christian
>> creationists (like ex senator Santorum), and try to pretend that IDiocy
>> was never that important.
>
> Meh, at this point I suspect the most significant goal of the Discovery
> Institute is to provide a cushy sinecure for its fellows, for as long as
> the donor gravy train lasts.
>

ARN (the sales arm of the Discovery Institute) is about the only IDiot
organization that is still viable besides the center for science and
culture. The IDEA updated their web site a year ago, but they haven't
had a student group since the Dover fiasco, and their last event was a
talk at a church by Casey Luskin in 2011. Before that you have to go
back to 2007 for the next event. They are still asking for donations,
but they don't seem to be doing anything. The various ID networks seem
to have given up half a decade ago along with the ISCID.

ID may be the biggest cash cow for the Discovery Institute. They don't
seem to have much else.

Ron Okimoto