Comments

[rg]

When did this happen? Well, it certainly didn't happen during the period in which Lysenko enjoyed powerful influence under Stalin in the former USSR.

Unfortunately for Lysenko's critics, they were not merely mockingly depicted in cartoons as hillbillies and half-wits. They were generally liquidated or sent to labour camps.

Soviets soon learned it didn't pay to question *The Scientists*. Much healthier to unquestioningly accept the orthodoxy, as your cartoon seems to suggest.

[RF]

Yes, it certainly smells like a Soviet-style conspiracy. I can see where you are coming from. In fact, I put you in the strip.

[rg]

In all fairness, I didn't mention anything about a conspiracy, Soviet or otherwise. Lysenkoism is an historical fact. I'm sorry if you are getting hung up on the fact that it happened to occur in the Soviet Union.

Believe it or not, I'm a fan of your work. But in this instance, I think you're a little off the mark. I'm curious to know what specific issue led you to draw this cartoon?

[RF]

Well, on some level you are equating some sort of iron-clad, dissent-proofed scientific policy cooked up by the Stalin regime with the issue of climate change, I'm gathering - a comparison that carries the implicit charge of, if not conspiracy, at least something incredibly shady involving cahoots between science and government.

My cartoon question was not inspired specifically about climate change, but the modern world in general. I feel as if I've slept through some major shift wherein creationism is bigger than ever and fist-shaking regular Joes pipe up all over the internet about the evils of science while remaining gullible about nearly everything else.

As for missing the mark - those are pretty much actual quotes that I've heard or read on more than one occasion, so it's really just an observation. (Okay, "balloon juice" is mine.)

If time and events prove that scientists are indeed evil and holding us all hostage with science, maybe I'll do a strip about it.

Thanks for being a fan, though - I appreciate it.

[rg]

Ah, that explains it. My mistake. Lately, I've been fooled into thinking that everything, at all times, had to refer to Global Warming -- no exceptions, ever.

But why be hatin' on the creationists? The internet isn't the real world. People believe in even crazier things, with less reason.

For what it's worth, I have a good friend who believes in creationism. He's an intelligent, well-read, nice guy, productive member of society, who pays his taxes. He was raised as a fundamentalist, and went to religious schools. That's just the way he is. He knows we don't agree on the subject. One thing we do agree on is that in the grand scheme of things, nobody really cares what either of us think about it. It's not my mission in life to brow-beat someone into enlightenment, nor is it his.

The Scopes Monkey Trial happened a long time ago, and Scopes lost. And what of it? It didn't really change anything in the long run for the average person.

Creationists may be crazier than sh!t-house rats for all I know, but when you get right down to it, they seem pretty benign in comparison to many other popular, widely-held irrational beliefs people have.

Keep up the good work.

[Lighten up, it's a party!]

Was this a cartoon about the Soviets? What did I miss?

[Ian Hanington]

Thanks for this, Rod. I hung it up at my workplace (the David Suzuki Foundation), where we are subjected to a lot of anti-science nonsense.

A great article about the way Americans think of science is here:

http://www.salon.com/env/feature/2009/07/13/science_illiteracy/

Ian Hanington

[Phil]

"... my workplace (the David Suzuki Foundation), where we are subjected to a lot of anti-science nonsense."

... where, apparently, complete lack of irony is a mandatory job qualification.