More misinformation and ignorance. . .

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anna09
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More misinformation and ignorance. . .

Post by anna09 » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:00 am

The following was taken from facebook. A friend had posted a status update and then the following idiocy ensued. . .

The status:
Ashley's tailbone hurts a lot which is strange and is not sure if its a result of the flu or something more useless like an uncomfy chair. But damn...

The Comments:
Idiot number one: ever wonder y we have tail bones it not like we have a tail lol

Ashley: Exactly whichc is why our spines stop where they do. A tailbone is simply the place our tail would go if we had one. That would be creepy.

Moron: We used to have a tail didn't we? We don't need it anymore so we got rid of it...am I correct?

Ashley: I have no idea but unless gorillas which we supposedly derived from had tails at some point then no. But I don't believe in that anyway.

Me: We did not derive from gorillas or chimpanzees, that's a common misconception. We share a common ancestor with chimps, the common ancestor looked more like a chimp but their decsendants split to give rise to modern-day chimps and the other descendant would give rise to humans. Also, gorillas and chimps don't have tails. The great apes (which includes us) do not have tails. The lesser apes which include monkeys and lemurs have tails.


No more comments were made.


Don't you just love how people reject evolution while having no basic concept of it whatsoever? :nono:
Last edited by anna09 on Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: More misinformation and ignorance. . .

Post by Animavore » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:03 am

Yeah. I do.

Actually I think its because of their misconceptions they don't believe in it. I know that creationist I used to live with's conception of what evolution was is impossible for anyone to believe.
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Re: More misinformation and ignorance. . .

Post by anna09 » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:07 am

Yea, but it's not like anybody's asking them to go become a biologist so then you'll understand evolution. It's really not all that hard to grasp, unless you're a christian like her and you'll deny anything that goes against your book. (which most of them have never even bothered to read).

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Re: More misinformation and ignorance. . .

Post by Animavore » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:17 am

Yeah that creationist guy I was living with only had one book and he never even read that either (the Bible).
He doesn't even want to know what evolution is. He kept repeating of some Hovind bollox and trying to tell me what evolution was. At least he doesn't bring it up any more because the last time we spoke I listed off a list of practical applications for evolution and a whole host of other sciences and asked him what the practical applications for creation science were. He tried wriggle out but I would not let him. He was told to either answer with an example or conceit. He broke away from the conversation without answering. Now if he tries to bring it up again I tell him that until he answers the question I will not continue (It was really getting tedious after a while. I realised in the end I didn't even care if he believed it and it was fruitless trying to explain because he kept making the same mistakes every time no matter how much he was corrected).
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Re: More misinformation and ignorance. . .

Post by anna09 » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:36 am

Animavore wrote:Yeah that creationist guy I was living with only had one book and he never even read that either (the Bible).
He doesn't even want to know what evolution is. He kept repeating of some Hovind bollox and trying to tell me what evolution was. At least he doesn't bring it up any more because the last time we spoke I listed off a list of practical applications for evolution and a whole host of other sciences and asked him what the practical applications for creation science were. He tried wriggle out but I would not let him. He was told to either answer with an example or conceit. He broke away from the conversation without answering. Now if he tries to bring it up again I tell him that until he answers the question I will not continue (It was really getting tedious after a while. I realised in the end I didn't even care if he believed it and it was fruitless trying to explain because he kept making the same mistakes every time no matter how much he was corrected).
I agree, it can get pretty exhausting, especially when you know that nothing you say will make any difference.

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Re: More misinformation and ignorance. . .

Post by Ian » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:43 am

It doesn't sound like the guy was denying evolution, just not grasping it very well. He seems to accept that we share some common ancestor with chimps, but doesn't get that something (probably with a tail) came before that.

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Re: More misinformation and ignorance. . .

Post by Animavore » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:44 am

You could point out that Manx cats have no tails and neither do bulldogs but their ancestors and contemporaries have.
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Re: More misinformation and ignorance. . .

Post by Horwood Beer-Master » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:47 am

anna09 wrote:...The great apes (which includes us) do not have tails. The lesser apes which include monkeys and lemurs have tails...
You seem to have got confused here. Monkeys and lemurs are not 'lesser apes' - the lesser apes are the gibbons.

The great apes (Bonobos, Chimps, Humans, Gorillas and Orangutans) together with the gibbons make up the apes. No ape has a tail.
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Re: More misinformation and ignorance. . .

Post by Animavore » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:52 am

Horwood Beer-Master wrote:No ape has a tail.

Are you sure about that?
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Re: More misinformation and ignorance. . .

Post by Horwood Beer-Master » Wed Oct 21, 2009 1:08 am

Animavore wrote:
Horwood Beer-Master wrote:No ape has a tail.

Are you sure about that?
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Correction. No ape typically has a tail, although developmental anomalies can sometimes allow re-expression of earlier phenotypic traits.

Or alternatively, a half-giant wizard could point his umbrella at you and...




...oh wait, that may have been a kid's book.
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Re: More misinformation and ignorance. . .

Post by anna09 » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:48 pm

Sorry, mistake on my part, I'll look into that.

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Re: More misinformation and ignorance. . .

Post by Trolldor » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:55 pm

Animavore wrote:You could point out that Manx cats have no tails and neither do bulldogs but their ancestors and contemporaries have.
I've seen a bulldog with a tail. Most bulldogs get their tails clipped, afaik.
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Re: More misinformation and ignorance. . .

Post by Horwood Beer-Master » Wed Oct 21, 2009 1:59 pm

anna09 wrote:Sorry, mistake on my part, I'll look into that.
Needless to say, your main point (that we had ancestors with tails) obviously remains unaffected. The concestor of Apes and Old World Monkeys would have had a tail.
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