whose intelligence?

Boing Boing comments on a NY Times article regarding Intelligent Design. I'm not sure what to make of their comment - "A fantastic editorial...". I really think articles like this are missing the point. Look I'm the first person to rail against the idiocies of ID but these types of approaches remind of the futile lockjaw debates that inundate articles on things like abortion or islamic fundamentalism based terrorism. Unless you understand the other side and why they believe what they believe then you are simply preaching to the converted.

Is any person who believes in ID going to read a bunch of facts regarding evolutionary theory and realize, 'oh I guess I was wrong.' I'm sorry but their motivations preclude that from happening. And it happens over and over again. The number of times the complexity of the human eye is served up as an appetizer for why evolution is bunk never ceases to amaze me. And 'my' side constantly dishes up the same old reason for why a human eye is so obviously attainable with basic evolutionary processes.

I don't profess to understand why people find evolution abhorrent but that is exactly what they think of it. I could chalk it up to an inferiority complex about them being 'equal' to primates and maybe that is right. Or perhaps they hold religious beliefs so dearly that anything that suggests a deviation from the religious manifesto in question must be blasphemy. Who knows? But facts alone clearly are not going to solve this just like facts are not going to solve the abortion debate. Something else is needed to stop these people fucking around with science class. What that is can only be discovered if we more adequately understand why people believe in ID and engage in a discussion about solutions.

I know from my perspective I don't care what people believe in. Think we evolved from monkeys or were put here by a higher power. Whatever. I don't give a crap. My only, and I think other's only demand is keep your damn hands off the science curriculum. Surely there is a workable solution that keeps that demand whole.

But my bigger point is why is there so much 'fingers in the ears screaming i can't hear you' going on. Take the terrorism issue. Do we honestly have any God damn idea why people want to blow up buildings and kill innocent people? Bush would chalk it up to them hating our way of life but is that true? I have no idea. And I've never heard anyone else say why these people want to do this. Shouldn't that be priority one. I don't know who said it, probably Sun Tzu, but know your enemy has got to be the first step in getting anything done on these polar debates. Anything else is just dumb by design.