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Eh, facts, schmacts, bring on the Baxley bill

By HOWARD TROXLER
Published April 7, 2005

I'm a college student myself, doing the grad-school thing. A couple of years ago I took a class on ancient Rome. It was clear that the professor, a wonderful old lion about to retire, didn't care much for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He compared it with the imperialist expansion of Rome.

For our final class project, I argued that the U.S. invasion was not akin to Rome's aggression. Admittedly, it crossed my mind that taking the opposite view from the professor might be a bad idea. But he praised the work, and I got the grade I wanted.

Never once, in undergraduate or graduate school, have I ever, ever, heard a college professor attack, ridicule or downgrade someone for their religious or political beliefs.

To be sure, plenty of professors have expressed opinions, and yes indeedy, some of those opinions were liberal. I also have heard professors require that students back up their own opinions with supporting evidence and intelligent argument. That's a professor's job.

Maybe that's the reason some people feel "attacked." We live in an age when nobody needs any facts. In this modern day, you can believe any old thing you want, and if the facts get in the way, ignore 'em.

This brings us to House Bill 837 in the current session of the Legislature, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala. His proposal would create a "bill of rights" for students and faculty alike.

Baxley says conservative students and faculty are persecuted. His bill says that students are entitled to hear a wide array of viewpoints, and that neither students nor professors should be punished for their beliefs. (I wonder if he means to protect Commies and atheists too.)

So, what evidence do supporters of this bill cite? One example was that the University of Florida spent student fees to hear the liberal filmmaker Michael Moore. The horror! But it turns out the students also got former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. Sounds like a good mix to me.

There was one other example cited. At a news conference in Tallahassee, one student said that on Sept. 12, 2001, a history professor at Tallahassee Community College declared that America deserved the terrorist attacks. The student said that when she objected - she was a former Marine wearing her uniform, by the way - the professor attacked her as a "baby killer." She says the other students then spat on her.

Okaaaaay. Sure. That happened.

Really, you know the big target here?

Evolution.

Evolution, as the Baxleys of the world like to say, is "just a theory," no more valid than the story of creation in Genesis. (Does anybody besides me believe they both pretty much describe the same thing?)

Just a theory! Of course, so is gravity. In fact, you might be surprised to know, they are still kinda working on that one.

A "theory" is a model of the universe, based on evidence. When the evidence contradicts the theory, we revise the theory - we don't deny the evidence.

Nobody would get a bigger kick out of it than me if geologists found a fossil tomorrow with the printed message: "Hey, I've just been sticking these old bones in the ground to fool you. The world is only 6,000 years old. Sorry. Signed, God."

Just a theory! Sheesh.

I have never understood the belief that the Lord God Almighty, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, all-powerful and all-knowing, could not have created the universe in any durned-tootin' manner that he wanted, dinosaurs and all.

The story in Genesis, after all, comes to us from Hebrew to Greek to Latin to English, rewritten by committees along the way. I doubt that God, even if he inspired man to write the book, ever declared to Moses: "By the way, Moishe, I mean six days of creation, 24 hours each, not ONE SECOND more, do you hear?"

But, as I once heard a state senator say, I digest. Back to this Baxley bill. I am all for it. College students should never have to hear anything they disagree with, and nobody should ever have to back up their opinions with facts and evidence. That way they can grow up and get elected to the Florida Legislature, where they will fit right in.

[Last modified April 7, 2005, 01:22:13]