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Hi Martin,

On Fri 25 May 2007 11:57:26 Martin Weiss wrote:

> Subject: Kentucky Creation Museum
>
> 	Well, it is going to happen. A bit depressing but inevitable.
>
>
> Compare these perspectives on the new Creation Museum.
>
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/ 
> 20070326_a_world_where_lies_are_true/
>
> An interesting cultural experiment is taking place in Petersburg
> Kentucky, near the Ohio border. The experiment will shed light on the
> following question: How much money and glitz does it take to
> institutionalize a scientific lie? Of course, 'buying' reality is not
> a new idea, especially in politics. And institutionalized attacks on
> science are also not new, from the Nazi campaign against 'Jewish
> Physics', to the postwar Soviet effort against Genetics. But the
> Kentucky experiment differs from these by borrowing a recipe from
> sideshows throughout the ages, reminiscent of the film, 'The Wizard
> of Oz', namely: smoke, mirrors, and high-tech gimmicks. A lot will be
> riding, in this case, on how effective the man behind the curtain
> will be. Great media fanfare is already beginning to surround the
> official opening later this month of the $27 Million Creation Museum,
> close to the Cincinnati airport. Designed to oddly resemble natural
> history museums throughout the world, this will be a supernatural
> history museum, denying most, if not all, of natural history on this
> planet as centuries of careful study and experimentation have
> revealed it.
>
> For more . . . .
>
> http://www.scitizen.com/screens/blogPage/viewBlog/sw_viewBlog.php? 
> idTheme=31&idContribution=617
>
> And this review from the NY Times
>
> http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/05/24/arts/24crea.html
>
> Comments anyone? Yes, the exhibits seem well done and the science is
> probably OK but the narrative?
>
> Martin
>
> -- 
> Martin Weiss, Ph.D
> Vice President, Science
> New York Hall of Science
> 47-01 111 th Street
> Corona, New York 11368
> 718 699 0005 x 356


"Depressing"  doesn't even begin to capture this endeavor.  "Mind- 
boggling and incredible"  is what i felt upon reading your post.  I  
cannot get my mind around this: how can one of the scientifically  
most advanced countries in the world offer the breeding grounds,  
literally and figuratively, for such a "museum"  in the 21st century?  
Having asked that, however, here is a comforting thought. Natural  
selection, sooner or later, will do the inevitable thing it does  
best:  eradicate this nonsensical and disadvantageous trait in the  
population of our species.

Diana

– –
Dr. Diana C. Issidorides
Senior Scientist & Exhibition Developer
Science Center NEMO
P.O. Box 421
1000 AK Amsterdam
The Netherlands
T: +31205313201
[log in to unmask] / [log in to unmask]
www.e-nemo.nl

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