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May. 7th, 2007 12:53 am
Today's strangeness
On my way back to the Ham from home, I stopped to get gas. I was followed off the exit by an aging Taurus. Not unusual. What was unusual is that it followed me into the gas station and then parked in front of me. Crosswise.
A 40something, balding white guy stepped out leaving his (I assume) wife and two kids in the car. He proceeded to grill me--in a saccharinely polite manner--about my FSM decal.
Being, quite frankly, a little scared of this guy, I kind of blew it off as "an online in joke." Which it sort of is. But he wouldn't let it go. He wanted to know whether it was intended to be like the "Christian or Darwin fish" and whether it was "pro or con"--on the Christian fish.
I told him it was a joke on intelligent design. He nodded, and said, "Oh, OK." He got back in his car and left--his kids staring out the back window at the Crazy Anti-Kristian Lady trying to pump her gas in peace.
I realize that the decal in question is somewhat confrontational--that's the point--but I didn't exactly expect to be accosted by a guy with his kids in the car. He wasn't hostile about it, but just... creepy. I expected him to launch into a proselytizing tirade, but he didn't--at least not at me.
I've had plenty of comments on the things that festoon my car. I always have some bumper sticker or other, and there's usually some sort of political bent. For a while, I had an SLGC sticker on my old car, and had a rather scary experience with a truck full of nasty high school boys hurling insults at me at a stoplight. Usually--let's face it, this is a blue state--I just get the whole "hell yeah" and thumbs up stuff. It's strange to have someone actually get in my face about it, especially when the decal in question isn't particularly rude or mean-spirited it itself.
The FSM campaign, though it's a bit out of fashion now, does have some elements of mockery--oh, those silly Kristians and their 6,000-year-old Earth!--but there's a serious side to it, too. There's a good, solid argument behind the giggles: If they're going to insist that creationism be taught in science classes, they need to give equal time to ALL creation myths, however far-fetched they may seem, because none of them have any more scientific merit than the others.
Putting this decal on my car and supporting the FSM campaign isn't just about mocking. It's about pointing out that science classes need a foundation in empiricism. Without the scientific method in place as the foundation for all scientific education, we're screwed, because people will start arguing that gravity was just Newton's opinion, and their opinion that the earth actually sucks is equally valid.
I honestly don't care what beliefs people have about the origin of matter. Xenu, FSM, The Valar, whatever. If it makes you happy, go for it. What I have a problem with is people who try to teach those beliefs as if they were scientific fact, and people who try to teach beliefs that actually CONTRADICT established scientific fact. We may not know from whence the first hydrogen atom came, but we do know how humans developed on planet Earth. Declaring that we were made--separately from all other species--out of dust and bones by the hand of a deity goes against that. It's a quaint and interesting mythology, but it's not scientific fact and should never be taught as such.
I probably shouldn't have been such a wimp when this guy confronted me, but I didn't want to get into it right then and there in the rain. I hope he looks up the FSM thing (I told him what it stands for) and gets the message. Those wide-eyed, curious kids of his need to know.
A 40something, balding white guy stepped out leaving his (I assume) wife and two kids in the car. He proceeded to grill me--in a saccharinely polite manner--about my FSM decal.
Being, quite frankly, a little scared of this guy, I kind of blew it off as "an online in joke." Which it sort of is. But he wouldn't let it go. He wanted to know whether it was intended to be like the "Christian or Darwin fish" and whether it was "pro or con"--on the Christian fish.
I told him it was a joke on intelligent design. He nodded, and said, "Oh, OK." He got back in his car and left--his kids staring out the back window at the Crazy Anti-Kristian Lady trying to pump her gas in peace.
I realize that the decal in question is somewhat confrontational--that's the point--but I didn't exactly expect to be accosted by a guy with his kids in the car. He wasn't hostile about it, but just... creepy. I expected him to launch into a proselytizing tirade, but he didn't--at least not at me.
I've had plenty of comments on the things that festoon my car. I always have some bumper sticker or other, and there's usually some sort of political bent. For a while, I had an SLGC sticker on my old car, and had a rather scary experience with a truck full of nasty high school boys hurling insults at me at a stoplight. Usually--let's face it, this is a blue state--I just get the whole "hell yeah" and thumbs up stuff. It's strange to have someone actually get in my face about it, especially when the decal in question isn't particularly rude or mean-spirited it itself.
The FSM campaign, though it's a bit out of fashion now, does have some elements of mockery--oh, those silly Kristians and their 6,000-year-old Earth!--but there's a serious side to it, too. There's a good, solid argument behind the giggles: If they're going to insist that creationism be taught in science classes, they need to give equal time to ALL creation myths, however far-fetched they may seem, because none of them have any more scientific merit than the others.
Putting this decal on my car and supporting the FSM campaign isn't just about mocking. It's about pointing out that science classes need a foundation in empiricism. Without the scientific method in place as the foundation for all scientific education, we're screwed, because people will start arguing that gravity was just Newton's opinion, and their opinion that the earth actually sucks is equally valid.
I honestly don't care what beliefs people have about the origin of matter. Xenu, FSM, The Valar, whatever. If it makes you happy, go for it. What I have a problem with is people who try to teach those beliefs as if they were scientific fact, and people who try to teach beliefs that actually CONTRADICT established scientific fact. We may not know from whence the first hydrogen atom came, but we do know how humans developed on planet Earth. Declaring that we were made--separately from all other species--out of dust and bones by the hand of a deity goes against that. It's a quaint and interesting mythology, but it's not scientific fact and should never be taught as such.
I probably shouldn't have been such a wimp when this guy confronted me, but I didn't want to get into it right then and there in the rain. I hope he looks up the FSM thing (I told him what it stands for) and gets the message. Those wide-eyed, curious kids of his need to know.
