Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Prospering from the controversy — Denyse isn’t the only one . . .

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In her last post, Denyse O’Leary commented on how ID has been very, very good to her:

Speaking for myself, I was a completely obscure trade mag hack and textbook editor (though a reliable and accurate one) until I began to wonder whether the whole of the history of life can be explained by natural selection acting on random mutations and whether that Brit toff Darwin was really the greatest man in history. Now, all sorts of people have an opinion about me who aren’t even sure of my age, sex, or nationality.

She isn’t the only one. While I was still an expert witness in the Kitzmiller v. Dover case, I attended the deposition of Barbara Forrest, who, after Ken Miller, was the star witness for the other side. I decided to bring Forrest’s book (Creationism’s Trojan Horse, coauthored with Paul Gross) to the deposition and asked her to sign it just before I left. Here is the inscription:

Forrest Inscription to Dembski

Indeed, what is she thanking me for? If ID is such a vicious evil, a more appropriate inscription might have read:

To Bill,

You malignant subverter of science, you despiser of all that is wholesome and right. May you rot in hell, if there is such a place (which I doubt).

With all good wishes,
Barbara Forrest

But she didn’t. She thanked me. Why was that? Because, at a deep level, she realizes that her professional advancement (she is now an endowed professor — she was largely unknown, like O’Leary, before entering this debate) and, indeed, her reason for having any sort of intellectual career worth talking about is that she has become a principal opponent of ID. What’s more, my contributions to ID have been seminal in that regard, giving her an adequate foil against which to devote her energies (why else does she devote three pages of the index — over 100 references — to yours truly?). To make a career attacking something, the object attacked has to be sufficiently dangerous and threatening. My colleagues and I have provided her with precisely such an object.

When I was in second grade, I had a crush on Joan Gillespie. To show my affection, I was mean to her and kept thinking up ways to be mean to her. Fortunately, I outgrew that childishness. When it comes to ID, Darwinists have yet to do so.

Deep down, Darwinists love ID.

Comments
Salvador I do not compete. I enlighten or rather try to. It is a thankless task at best. "Men are most apt believe what they least understand." Montaigne "A past evolution is undeniable, a present evolution undemonstrable." John A. DavisonJohn A. Davison
August 10, 2006
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I thank you, John! Still, this place is only a weblog where we compete to promote our ideas before the public. To some extent these topics are of obscure interest to most. I heard reacently for example that people pay Paris Hilton $500,000 per appearance at parties. That's half a million bucks just to attend a party, and that's 1/3 the entire budget of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture! In other words, I share your regret that we are not more rich and famous than we are. That would be nice. Salvadorscordova
August 9, 2006
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Nobody ever thanks me. I have done my level best to expose the Darwinian fairy tale. Like my several sources, I too simply don't exist. Neither do Theodosius Dobzhanskiy and Julian Huxley, both confessed Darwinians. The establishment ignores anyone who dares question its dogma even when it has been exposed by some of their own. There are sins of omission as well as sins of commission. The Darwinians are masters of both. "I get no respect." Rodney Dangerfield "A past evolution is undeniable, a present evolution undemonstrable," John A. DavisonJohn A. Davison
August 9, 2006
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Deep down, Darwinists love only one another. No one else even exists. "Never in the history of mankind have so many owed so little to so many." after Winston Churchill It is hard to believe isn't it? "A past evolution is undeniable, a present evolution undemonstrable." John A. DavisonJohn A. Davison
August 8, 2006
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I always knew you liked me.. with love, Joan Gillespieajl
August 8, 2006
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Denyse and Barbara are not the only ones who benefited from this controversy. Take me, for example. I used to be an unknown, obscure, underpayed, over worked, baddly apreciated portuguese blogger before all this started, but now I am...............Well, nevermind.Mats
August 8, 2006
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The reminds me of the World-Wide Wrestling Federation (WWF). The fights are all staged and even the spectators know it. They don't care. It's all for the entertainment. :-) Response to Paul Gross
Response to Paul Gross, by William A. Dembski A few years back, well-known skeptic Michael Shermer and I were speakers at Baylor’s The Nature of Nature conference. During evening refreshments, we discussed how we could generate funds for our respective causes—he to promote skepticism and debunk people like me, and me to promote intelligent design and debunk Darwinism (which underwrites Shermer’s brand of skepticism). We agreed that we should start a highly visible campaign against each other in which we argue the dangers of the other’s position. Having escalated the conflict between us, we could then go to our natural constituencies and urge them to fund each of us against the other. Of course, nothing ever came of that conversation. But we had a chuckle. And both our causes have since done quite well financially.
I offer a toast to Barb Forrest, Niall Shanks, Robert Pennock, and Michael Shermer lining their pockets because of us IDers. And I offer a second toast to them helping IDers gain notice. I'd like to thank Barb also for all the press she generated for our IDEA clubs. Prior to her stirring up the issues, our GMU club had 2 members (that's right, just me and Christine Chenette) for almost 6 months in 2004! But because of people like Barb crying the sky is falling, our club got featured in a cover story in Nature, we had reporters calling every other week, had a CBS film crew taped us last fall with Robert Hazen, featured on NPR and various newspapers. I'm having 1/3 of chapter written about in in Lauren Sandler's book this fall, and I and Christine will be on international TV this coming sunday. I'm just an ordinary Joe expressing my skepticism and sharing personal thoughts! I claim no special insights or research breakthroughs! But Barb unwittingly has helped promote our clubs even more than I! So thank you Barb for helping advertise our teeny club of trouble makers. Thanks to her efforts, 37 college courses in secular and private institutions now have some ID content, and ID is mentioned passingly in many biology courses. Of course, thanks to her and her friends, this "national ill" has gotten worse, and Dr. Barb can expect to make some more money as people turn to her for cures.scordova
August 8, 2006
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