Despite the sensationalist headline (which will work; I'm blogging about it), the lead graf has some key info.
During his eight days as a part-time high school biology teacher, Kris Helphinstine included Biblical references in material he provided to students and gave a PowerPoint presentation that made links between evolution, Nazi Germany and Planned Parenthood.Let's watch how this story spins through the reactionary right.
2 comments:
It's not like the links are completely unfounded - Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger, who was instrumental in making birth control available to millions of families, but was also a eugenicist (in a smiliar vein to the Nazis) which relies on some evolutionary principles. Of course, saying believing in evolution makes you a Nazi is like saying believing in gravity means you like pushing babies off of cliffs. People will always twist reality to suit their ideologies, but that doesn't mean we can ignore reality.
Fair point. I guess I'd have to see his PowerPoint presentation. A founder of PP who shares a philosophy with some Nazis is a tendous link. If you could find a Christian Nazi, you could say that any Christian is linked to Nazis.
The Nazi card is usually so odious and over the top that, per Godwin's Law, it ends the discussion. The guy could link PP, evolution and discredited eugenics without invoking Nazis.
But my main point was that such stories are sensationalized for media profit, and tend to become a shibboleth of the right without regard to the full picture.
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