Don McLeroy on Stephen Jay Gould and stasis

Texas Board of Education chairman Don McLeroy uses Stephen Jay Gould's writings about stasis and punctuated equilibrium, to argue for the lack of evolution in species. Quoting Gould, McLeroy notes "stasis is data".

Category:

Education

Tags:

• NCSE
• Don McLeroy
• Texas
• board of education
• TEKS
• education
• science standards
• evolution
• creationism
• intelligent design
• Stephen Jay Gould
• stasis
• punctuated equilibrium
• Darwin
• macro evolution

[JosephKnight93]

I can't express how furious this makes me. This is an example of crass idiocy at its worst—in our school systems.

[thawkeye24]

This is also a classic example of quote mining by creationists! To even use Gould's work to criticize evolution is ludicrous!

[heathdwatts]

Here is a great quote:

1. "Since we proposed punctuated equilibria to explain trends, it is infuriating to be quoted again and again by creationists--whether through design or stupidity, I do not know--as admitting that the fossil record includes no transitional forms. Transitional forms are generally lacking at the species level, but they are abundant between larger groups." Stephen Jay Gould, "Evolution as Fact and Theory. Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes," 1983, Norton, New York.

[Ematched]

@FiverBeyond The banana man did the same thing in his fraudulent edition of Origin of the Species for the 150th anniversary. I was lucky enough to snag a free copy of that despicably-corrupted text. There was even an entire chapter excised. It's detestable how low opponents of evolution will stoop.

[tehKap0w]

ironic that a medical professional can say something SO wrong.

If he wasnt a zealot he'd be embarrassed to expouse such crap AT A SCHOOL BOARD MEETING.

"somebody's gotta stand up to these experts!"

/facepalm

[FiverBeyond]

No, you're spot on. Stephen Jay Gould was especially dissapointed and by his own words saddened that creationists would use his words as evidence of any kind of weakness in the Theory of Evolution. He specifically testified in court against creationists, and said several times that transitional forms were rife in the fossil record.

[aUsernameAvailable]

SJG must be turning in his grave.

SJG's beef was with the "oxford" stance on the mechanism on evolution - constant gradual change.

SJG believed species evolution slowed/stopped until some imbalance happened - a new mutation, maybe environmental factors which triggered another "spurt" of change.

Hence SJG suggested PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM is the mechanism for evolution.

Other youtubers plz correct me if I'm a bit off.

[benthemiester]

The only one who is bringing up religion are the atheist, go figure.

[hslch]

This is akin to quote mining from Einstein's special relativity and using it to argue against general relativity.

[a0eoj]

Is this a joke? What the hell is wrong with Texas? Are they trying pretend they're living in the 12th century? Is this guy really trying to argue against the overwhelmingly established fact of biological evolution? Some people, like the dipshit in this video, must not even consider the negative impact they're having on their own kids. What a f*ing idiot!

[mrose59]

i did and that guy is a quack with a religious agenda

[mrose59]

no it is a theory, that means it is more valuable than fact