As an aspiring parodist myself, I must admit I have no special immunity to the effects of Poe’s Law. The best parody of fundamentalism is difficult to distinguish from real apologetics. This video had me fooled for a bit. Sadly (and hilariously), some fundies will doubtless refer people to this video as proof of Creationism.
resident_aliensays
Damn,that was a tricky one!But at “lovely white skin” vs. “dirty brown skin”,I thought:This HAS to be satire!PLEASE!
DrFranksays
I knew it was parody when it showed that the guy had defaced his Bible by underlining a passage ;)
It is quite well designed, though, as the underlying pro-evolution sentiment starts off quite subtle and then gets stronger throughout the segment.
sailorsays
Bookmark this one, Then go on fundie sites, profess outrage at evilution and give links to it everywhere!
Flakysays
Boo! I thought that the DNA sequences were some clever joke, where they’d code the same protein sequences, but they don’t.
It’s kind of funny that he would use Angelina Jolie in the video because I have heard some Creationists using the bad behavior of celebrities as proof against evolution.
“I mean when you compare the perfection of the Virgin Mary to the antics of Elizabeth Taylor it’s obvious that people are de-evolving!”
Yep, they’re stupid.
holbschsays
How can you argue or reason with insanity? We will never
be rid of this irrational slime, and I feel the only way
to combat these brain-dead cretins is with caustic and
constant ridicule. Keep at it and make them aware that
they are insane and mock them to the point of frustration.
We will never convince them that they are insane, and since
they are will never extricate themselves from the depths
of unreason. They will have to come to their senses on
their own as most of us have. I will continue to hammer
away at them with undiminshed ridicule.
Benjamin Franzsays
Sadly, Morton’s Demon will make True Believers in Creationism completely fail to get the satire. They will see it as honestly supporting their beliefs. They won’t see the fact it is actually demonstrating that their beliefs are completely incompatible with physical reality.
OMG! i find it more sad than funny that people have to create this kind of satire as a wake up call for some people.
anyway, this parody is makes up for the sadness i feel :)
which would only make sense if you’ve seen this video:
which unfortunately, is not a parody.
~C
DrFranksays
Boo! I thought that the DNA sequences were some clever joke, where they’d code the same protein sequences, but they don’t.
I think the gag with the DNA sequences was that they’d just pulled two incredibly short lengths at random and compared them from the entire genome, and used that to disprove DNA similarity.
Also, the fact that not a single letter overlapped (rather than about a quarter, as you may expect) may be an oblique reference to Creationists distorting/carefully selecting `evidence’.
Of course, I may be reading too much into it. Probably still a lot less than your average English student could read into a single line knocked out by Shakespeare, but there you go.
pedlarsays
hmm. I followed up with a few more of his videos. ‘Checkmate’ is brilliant.
But… follow the comments. It’s kinda sad. About one in five don’t get it’s satire. And the really sad part. Most of those are atheists. Not Xians. Just dumb as shit arrogant athiests.
These are on our side? Sad. Sad. Sad.
Menasays
Is it wrong of me to find the high point of that video to be the deer-on-dog action? That would have qualified to be in the not so happy dog section too.
MartinMsays
These are on our side? Sad. Sad. Sad.
These are youtube comments we’re talkin about; stupidity is near-universal there.
pedlarsays
#16 “These are on our side? Sad. Sad. Sad.”
#18 “These are youtube comments we’re talkin about; stupidity is near-universal there.”
Fair point.
OTOH, which is more representative of society in general. Youtube or Pharyngula?
Like I said: Sad. Sad. Sad.
Fentwinsays
Dirty brown skin?
I’m at a loss for words (except for these).
smansays
I loved the shout out to us Ordovician Invertebrate geeks. We know where it really began.;)
Severiansays
YouTube breeds stupidity in a way that even makes the comments on Digg seem like a MENSA convention.
Severiansays
@ #19
If this country was more like the Pharyngula comments section and less like YouTube, “Meet The Spartans” would not have been the highest grossing movie this weekend.
Chemistsays
“I knew it was parody when it showed that the guy had defaced his Bible by underlining a passage ;)”
Not only do the most rabid of creationist apologists underline passages, some even use different colored pencils for the purpose, marking the scriptures as the Spirit moves them. Mormons are especially big on this activity. (Some TV evangelists will sell you a pre-marked and colored version of holy writ.) Once your Bible gets all marked up, reverently place it on a shelf and go to a Christian bookstore and buy another one. Repeat the process…. No wonder the Bible is such a “best seller”. ;-)
Scrofulumsays
HAH! EVILOOSHUNISTS!! – SEE THE EVIDENCE OF THE BIBLE AND TREMBLE!!! TO FURTHER CONVINCE YOU OF YOUR WICKED WRONGNESS IN DENYING THE EXISTENCE OF GAWD, I AM TYPING IN UPPER CASE AND AT THE END OF THIS SENTENCE I WILL USE FOUR (COUNT THEM), YES, FOUR EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!
Case closed.
RamblinDudesays
It’s almost too subtle by half. I know too many people who would fail to appreciate the satire because the science presented is way over their heads, and much of what is shown is what they actually believe. (Proper Christians don’t do it doggy style.)
Here’s a Sunday-School video parody of intelligent design some friends and I made a few years back (right before The Onion made a similar point). It was also frequently confused as being genuinely anti-science.
Note: we would often respond to comments in character, as the producers of the religious video. Sarcasm is a lovely thing…
Laser Potatosays
[“lovely white skin” vs. “dirty brown skin”]
I’m sort of a bronzey in-between; does that make me only slightly soiled?
Hard to do or not, it was a pretty good satire. I loved the “moist full lips” bit (repressed sexuality–though only a satire would voice it), and all of the humping parts. The latter would surely tip off many creationists, though, since their “museums” really are marvels of sexual repression wrt to humans.
There’s the anti-homosexual message in the deer screwing the male dog, sort of the cross-sexuality=homosexuality claim–but none of the true believers would show such a “horror”.
It’s too obvious again at the end, as the anatomical, genetic, and temporal parallels of all life are mentioned, because to the “real creationist,” that’s all due to “the common designer,” or more sensibly, the common imitator. It’s perhaps the weakest portion anyhow, because it’s being done with a bunch of diagrams which do categorize information in the only meaningful way, but which your average fundy never did understand, whether through ignorance or through bigotry.
Boo! I thought that the DNA sequences were some clever joke, where they’d code the same protein sequences, but they don’t.
Me too! I went back and paused it while I checked if they were complements, or reverse complements. Nope. (That’s what I would have done. Except I might have used U’s instead of T’s in one of them just to drive the point home.)
FRANKIEMOUSEsays
it’s been removed :(
frankiemousesays
apparently it’s back. i feel like a mormon i mean moron now.
Dansays
“We’re sorry, this video is no longer available.”
Now I’m kind of disappointed. ;-)
Dansays
Hurray! It back. (My bad. Must be my link.)
W. Kevin Vicklundsays
I knew it was parody when it showed that the guy had defaced his Bible by underlining a passage ;)
No, they actually do this. The second time my fundie grandmother caught me reading books about dinosaurs, she made me sit down and highlight every place in the Bible where Jesus spoke. Because of her, I’ve been a foot-soldier in the evolution-creation wars since I was five. On the evolution side, of course.
armillarysays
On the same theme, I’ll refer you to today’s Sinfest:
Sorry, PZ, but it’s easy to satirize creationists. The folks at UD do it all the time.
Bob
Kimbitssays
Times like this when, in a YouTube video, I see, briefly, a paper I’ve read on venom system evolution in reptiles and I exclaim, loudly, “HOT!” I really know that I must be pursuing the right field.
I think I’ll go do some studying.
:D
CS Lewis Jr.says
That’s pretty funny, I didn’t think it was too subtle. Also, your YouTube experience will be improved if you use this Firefox script to kill comments.
Svensays
Be sure to check out another one of his videos called “God’s cool designs”.
At first I thought it was a satire, sat all the way through it and when I saw it was a Current piece, I knew he was serious. Delusional, stupid and foolish, but serious.
Ed Current is about the best argument against creationism we could ever hope for.
Jan Chansays
Hey, let’s be fair, it’s quite difficult to tell apart creationist satire from the real thing. Creationists’ arguments are well known for their ability to make your head spin while listening to them. (My first hint was the DNA part, but come on, creationists might screw things up so badly that you feel dumber listening to their arguments.)
This bothers me. If I am created in God’s image, then God is somewhat like me, right? Then why doesn’t God put down lightning strikes on people who lie and do other bad things in his name? I think I would do so if I could.
As an aspiring parodist myself, I must admit I have no special immunity to the effects of Poe’s Law. The best parody of fundamentalism is difficult to distinguish from real apologetics. This video had me fooled for a bit. Sadly (and hilariously), some fundies will doubtless refer people to this video as proof of Creationism.
Damn,that was a tricky one!But at “lovely white skin” vs. “dirty brown skin”,I thought:This HAS to be satire!PLEASE!
I knew it was parody when it showed that the guy had defaced his Bible by underlining a passage ;)
It is quite well designed, though, as the underlying pro-evolution sentiment starts off quite subtle and then gets stronger throughout the segment.
Bookmark this one, Then go on fundie sites, profess outrage at evilution and give links to it everywhere!
Boo! I thought that the DNA sequences were some clever joke, where they’d code the same protein sequences, but they don’t.
It’s kind of funny that he would use Angelina Jolie in the video because I have heard some Creationists using the bad behavior of celebrities as proof against evolution.
“I mean when you compare the perfection of the Virgin Mary to the antics of Elizabeth Taylor it’s obvious that people are de-evolving!”
Yep, they’re stupid.
How can you argue or reason with insanity? We will never
be rid of this irrational slime, and I feel the only way
to combat these brain-dead cretins is with caustic and
constant ridicule. Keep at it and make them aware that
they are insane and mock them to the point of frustration.
We will never convince them that they are insane, and since
they are will never extricate themselves from the depths
of unreason. They will have to come to their senses on
their own as most of us have. I will continue to hammer
away at them with undiminshed ridicule.
Sadly, Morton’s Demon will make True Believers in Creationism completely fail to get the satire. They will see it as honestly supporting their beliefs. They won’t see the fact it is actually demonstrating that their beliefs are completely incompatible with physical reality.
I give the creator of the video full props for effort and subtlety, but the hit them in the head with a two by four approach is more effective in practice.
You should check out all of his videos; he is one of my favorites on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/EdwardCurrent
awesome!
anybody who doesn’t see the satire needs a humor transplant.
Checkmate, Atheists!
Another moron ….
Darn, I posted too fast and made me look dumb … It’s really a great satire :)
OMG! i find it more sad than funny that people have to create this kind of satire as a wake up call for some people.
anyway, this parody is makes up for the sadness i feel :)
which would only make sense if you’ve seen this video:
which unfortunately, is not a parody.
~C
Boo! I thought that the DNA sequences were some clever joke, where they’d code the same protein sequences, but they don’t.
I think the gag with the DNA sequences was that they’d just pulled two incredibly short lengths at random and compared them from the entire genome, and used that to disprove DNA similarity.
Also, the fact that not a single letter overlapped (rather than about a quarter, as you may expect) may be an oblique reference to Creationists distorting/carefully selecting `evidence’.
Of course, I may be reading too much into it. Probably still a lot less than your average English student could read into a single line knocked out by Shakespeare, but there you go.
hmm. I followed up with a few more of his videos. ‘Checkmate’ is brilliant.
But… follow the comments. It’s kinda sad. About one in five don’t get it’s satire. And the really sad part. Most of those are atheists. Not Xians. Just dumb as shit arrogant athiests.
These are on our side? Sad. Sad. Sad.
Is it wrong of me to find the high point of that video to be the deer-on-dog action? That would have qualified to be in the not so happy dog section too.
These are youtube comments we’re talkin about; stupidity is near-universal there.
#16 “These are on our side? Sad. Sad. Sad.”
#18 “These are youtube comments we’re talkin about; stupidity is near-universal there.”
Fair point.
OTOH, which is more representative of society in general. Youtube or Pharyngula?
Like I said: Sad. Sad. Sad.
Dirty brown skin?
I’m at a loss for words (except for these).
I loved the shout out to us Ordovician Invertebrate geeks. We know where it really began.;)
YouTube breeds stupidity in a way that even makes the comments on Digg seem like a MENSA convention.
@ #19
If this country was more like the Pharyngula comments section and less like YouTube, “Meet The Spartans” would not have been the highest grossing movie this weekend.
“I knew it was parody when it showed that the guy had defaced his Bible by underlining a passage ;)”
Not only do the most rabid of creationist apologists underline passages, some even use different colored pencils for the purpose, marking the scriptures as the Spirit moves them. Mormons are especially big on this activity. (Some TV evangelists will sell you a pre-marked and colored version of holy writ.) Once your Bible gets all marked up, reverently place it on a shelf and go to a Christian bookstore and buy another one. Repeat the process…. No wonder the Bible is such a “best seller”. ;-)
HAH! EVILOOSHUNISTS!! – SEE THE EVIDENCE OF THE BIBLE AND TREMBLE!!! TO FURTHER CONVINCE YOU OF YOUR WICKED WRONGNESS IN DENYING THE EXISTENCE OF GAWD, I AM TYPING IN UPPER CASE AND AT THE END OF THIS SENTENCE I WILL USE FOUR (COUNT THEM), YES, FOUR EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!
Case closed.
It’s almost too subtle by half. I know too many people who would fail to appreciate the satire because the science presented is way over their heads, and much of what is shown is what they actually believe. (Proper Christians don’t do it doggy style.)
Here’s a Sunday-School video parody of intelligent design some friends and I made a few years back (right before The Onion made a similar point). It was also frequently confused as being genuinely anti-science.
Note: we would often respond to comments in character, as the producers of the religious video. Sarcasm is a lovely thing…
[“lovely white skin” vs. “dirty brown skin”]
I’m sort of a bronzey in-between; does that make me only slightly soiled?
This is a beautiful thing.
Hard to do or not, it was a pretty good satire. I loved the “moist full lips” bit (repressed sexuality–though only a satire would voice it), and all of the humping parts. The latter would surely tip off many creationists, though, since their “museums” really are marvels of sexual repression wrt to humans.
There’s the anti-homosexual message in the deer screwing the male dog, sort of the cross-sexuality=homosexuality claim–but none of the true believers would show such a “horror”.
It’s too obvious again at the end, as the anatomical, genetic, and temporal parallels of all life are mentioned, because to the “real creationist,” that’s all due to “the common designer,” or more sensibly, the common imitator. It’s perhaps the weakest portion anyhow, because it’s being done with a bunch of diagrams which do categorize information in the only meaningful way, but which your average fundy never did understand, whether through ignorance or through bigotry.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
Me too! I went back and paused it while I checked if they were complements, or reverse complements. Nope. (That’s what I would have done. Except I might have used U’s instead of T’s in one of them just to drive the point home.)
it’s been removed :(
apparently it’s back. i feel like a mormon i mean moron now.
“We’re sorry, this video is no longer available.”
Now I’m kind of disappointed. ;-)
Hurray! It back. (My bad. Must be my link.)
No, they actually do this. The second time my fundie grandmother caught me reading books about dinosaurs, she made me sit down and highlight every place in the Bible where Jesus spoke. Because of her, I’ve been a foot-soldier in the evolution-creation wars since I was five. On the evolution side, of course.
On the same theme, I’ll refer you to today’s Sinfest:
http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2701
Sorry, PZ, but it’s easy to satirize creationists. The folks at UD do it all the time.
Bob
Times like this when, in a YouTube video, I see, briefly, a paper I’ve read on venom system evolution in reptiles and I exclaim, loudly, “HOT!” I really know that I must be pursuing the right field.
I think I’ll go do some studying.
:D
That’s pretty funny, I didn’t think it was too subtle. Also, your YouTube experience will be improved if you use this Firefox script to kill comments.
Be sure to check out another one of his videos called “God’s cool designs”.
At first I thought it was a satire, sat all the way through it and when I saw it was a Current piece, I knew he was serious. Delusional, stupid and foolish, but serious.
Ed Current is about the best argument against creationism we could ever hope for.
Hey, let’s be fair, it’s quite difficult to tell apart creationist satire from the real thing. Creationists’ arguments are well known for their ability to make your head spin while listening to them. (My first hint was the DNA part, but come on, creationists might screw things up so badly that you feel dumber listening to their arguments.)
I just watched diseases are cause by sin by Ed Current. He’s definitely on our side.
This bothers me. If I am created in God’s image, then God is somewhat like me, right? Then why doesn’t God put down lightning strikes on people who lie and do other bad things in his name? I think I would do so if I could.