Saturday, April 03, 2010

Ignoramus of the Month: Denyse O'Leary

Not all intelligent design advocates are dishonest. Some of them are merely ignorant, abysmally ignorant, pig-stupefyingly-ignorant of the theory they criticize.

Example: here is Canadian "journalist" Denyse O'Leary describing her understanding of evolution:

So the claim is, "changed shape, changed size, changed metabolism and changed food source. How much more MACRO do you expect an organism to evolve?"

Hmmmm. Kittens do this all the time.

Change size? You bet. Goes from a couple of ounces to five lbs in half a year.


Confusing development of an individual with evolution in a population? That's a misconception about evolution that is usually ironed out in high school. Looks like Denyse was absent that day. I'd blame Pokemon, but I think Denyse is far too ancient for that.

Denyse O'Leary: our ignoramus of the month.


Update: O'Leary's posting was apparently too stupid even for her. It now seems to have disappeared from her website.

Further update: it's now back here.

20 comments:

Gingerbaker said...

By her standards, she just confirmed the existence of Ray Comfort's nightmare, an E. Cholicat.

Unknown said...

Ah, but Denyse is a master at employing good old fashion folksy common sense to trump science. Here she is discussing the genetic similarity between humans and chimps:

"If both [man and chimp] are more than 30 years old, and are normal specimens, how many people will believe that they are 98% identical?

What woman, otherwise consigned to being a spinster, would marry the chimp if she didn’t get the man? After all, the chimp is supposedly 98% of a man."


Bam! Take that you scientists, with your fancy test tubes, and pocket protectors and ... so forth.

Anonymous said...

Wasn’t Denyse your ignoramus a couple of months ago, Jeffrey?

She seems to be something of a recurrent theme on your blog.

Boom, boom.

MSP

Anonymous said...

Sanctimonious Toronto Sun columnist Michael Coren must be a close second.

Dan Eastwood said...

Have no fear, she will no doubt be back with new lows of ignorant design.

Anonymous said...

It has struck me that many of the arguments supposedly against evolution turn out to be confused with regard the distinction between the individual and the class - the fallacies of composition and division.

TomS

Phil said...

"changed shape, changed size, changed metabolism and changed food source. How much more MACRO do you expect an organism to evolve?"

In fact REALLY common in insects that are subject to complete metamorphosis (butterflies, moths, .......). Many adult moth species don't even eat and they are evidently wildly different in shape, sometimes size, often metabolism.

carlsonjok said...

This is the same Denyse O'Leary who, when asked if she had read any Dawkins, once said:

I wouldn’t be bothered reading about the selfish gene because it has never been identified.

crf said...

She's not even close to title of Ignoramus of the Decade (Canada region):

"That's a fact, whether it's to the intensity of the sun, whether it's to … walking on cement versus anything else, whether it's running shoes or high heels, of course we are evolving to our environment"

So Sayeth The Canadian Minister of State for Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear.

Cris Waller said...

"What woman, otherwise consigned to being a spinster, would marry the chimp if she didn’t get the man? After all, the chimp is supposedly 98% of a man."

Well, by this argument, then evolution is false because she might not want to marry a woman, either. After all, a man is just a woman with a pesky, teeny little Y chromosome instead of one of the Xs!

Anonymous said...

Google cache of her post:

http://google.com/search?q=cache:http://post-darwinist.blogspot.com/2010/04/coffee-evolution-in-action-check-with.html

truth machine said...

Not all intelligent design advocates are dishonest. Some of them are merely ignorant, abysmally ignorant, pig-stupefyingly-ignorant of the theory they criticize. Example:


False dichotomy. While Denyse is indeed pig-stupefyingly-ignorant, as you demonstrate, she is also a proven liar.

Beyond that, I have never encountered an ID advocate who did not employ a stable of intellectually dishonest methods to maintain their ignorance. While it's theoretically possible for someone to be an ID advocate and not be dishonest, you have failed to show that such people exist.

truth machine said...

"That's a fact, whether it's to the intensity of the sun, whether it's to … walking on cement versus anything else, whether it's running shoes or high heels, of course we are evolving to our environment"

That's not necessarily stupid, as it describes cultural evolution, an idea that Dennett has written on at length, after Dawkins' idea of memes.

Phil said...

So the articles back, and I see that they actually use animal development and call it evolution.

Maybe someone should hit them with a stick and remind them that there are no genetic changes in a developing animal?

Anonymous said...

Come on, guys. You're being mean to Denyse. It's cute watching someone who is clearly mentally retarded try to discuss matters of which they have absolutely no understanding whatsoever.

Eamon Knight said...

truth machine wrote: That's not necessarily stupid....

Are you aware of the context and history of that quote? Goodyear spent several days demonstrating he either didn't understand the difference, or was deliberately obfuscating about it (my money is on the former).

Back to Denyse: is there any chance her post was intended as an April Fools joke? (No, I don't really think so)

Diogenes said...

O'Leary blasts us with the hot air of stupidity like a blow dryer set to "Moron."

I thank Lord Frith for this woman. She makes DI look sooo stupid. Seriously, she's a goldmine for the cause of science. Let us be thankful.

Anonymous said...

And Goodyear isn't alone in our current cabinet, as Stockwell Day is an out and out YEC.

Diogenes said...

Denyse O'Leary also did a morally revolting interview of the Islamic creationist and sex-cult leader Harun Yahya (aka Adnan Oktar), who copied his antiscience from American creationists, and added huge doses of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. O'Leary, in her interview with the sex-slaving rapist school dropout cult leader, treats him like a big-shot scientific authority.

Harun Yahya's sex slavery religious cult, blackmailing, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, etc., and the moral stupidity of O'Leary and American creationists, are detailed in my new blog post: Creationists Gone Wild! Sex Slavery and Cocaine Cult Leads Fight Against Darwin! The story is hard to believe, but I source everything to reliable sources.

Anonymous said...

Diogenes, your points may be backed up by reliable sources, but I find them difficult to reach through the tone of your writing. I find it equivalent to listening to an angry speaker spraying spit.