Fair ... but, eventually, such graphics become too complex to be effective. It's gotta be something you can understand clearly in about two seconds. The original fish was good, as are a couple of the 'Darwin' and 'Evolve' variants.
Xtian Fish Badges 4777But the pro-lifers WILL ... a serious problem. Serious enough that they're getting the laws changed bit by bit until ends will be almost impossible to get. They'll probably never make them...
A while back, I was heading back north from south florida up I-95. Not too far south of the exit for someplace called 'Port Malabar Palm Bay' there's a full-sized billboard denouncing evolution as a fantasy - cartoonish entertainment for adults. Untold thousands of people see it - either directly or in a subliminal corner-of-the-eye fashion - each day.
Some local church collected its nickels and dimes and BOUGHT space on this billboard so all the world could see its message. I haven't seen ANY such displays from the evolution sector. Nada. Zip. Zero.
Now there aren't THAT many really ardent anti-evo fundies out there, yet THEY seem to have the energy, motivation and organization to effectively advertise their point-of-view.
And what of the pro-evo camp ? Maybe there needs to BE a 'camp' ... centralized organzations you can send money and ideas to in order to wage a counter-campaign in all the usual media. Anyone who thinks the evolution message is just gonna stand and propagate by its own merits against an organized and well-funded anti-evo propaganda blitz is WRONG - seriously wrong. Yea, it may be 'correct' - but most people don't have the depth and breadth of education to KNOW that. So, they'll side with whomever has the most persuasive ad campaign.
What does this mean ? Well, it means even LESS education in public schools and even colleges about evolution and related issues. Textbooks will be re-edited in an attempt to not upset the increasingly-powerful creationist-ID crowd. Public money headed towards education will start to come with more and more conditions requiring 'balance' between evolution and the most popular religious or crypto-religious theory.
In short, the 'Truth' of an idea in no way guarentees its survival. Evolution can be pushed back to the status of the funny old creation myths ... and enough gaps and bowlderizations can be introduced into curriculums to ensure that most people don't even have the tools to tell evolution from some story about Zeus being vomited-out by his father.
Propaganda MUST be met by counter-propaganda ... especially now in this media-intensive age. The fundies are DETERMINED to erase evolution from the dictionary. Everyone else must be EQUALLY DETERMINED to prevent that. Clever ad -vs- clever ad. Jesus TV -vs- Evo TV. Protest -vs- protest. Gotta get down and dirty with 'em.
