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Parody at UD

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When Botnik approached me about whether it would be all right to post his parody of what President John Lilley of Baylor might be thinking in trying to justify his expulsion of Prof. Robert Marks’s Evolutionary Informatics Lab from Baylor, I thought it mirrored what motivates many academics in wanting to stamp out ID. Besides, it seemed to me so over-the-top that I didn’t think the parody would be lost on anyone. And UD has had its humorous side (witness Galapagos Finch).

Clearly, readers of UD fell for it, but so did many people on the other side, judging by all the many emails they sent President Lilley to confirm whether Botnik’s parody actually represented Lilley’s words. In retrospect, it’s clear that this piece of tomfoolery went too far. I’m therefore removing the thread. I hope Baylor and President Lilley take its removal as a gesture of goodwill on the part of UD as they reconsider what to do about Robert Marks and his Evolutionary Informatics Lab.

Comments
The name Botnik itself was enough to clue me in that it was a joke. And I didn't know about the plans for the parody or that it would be under the name "botnik".Patrick
September 3, 2007
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Oops - I meant "Dear Mr. Botnik"Jack Krebs
September 3, 2007
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The letter did start with Dr. Mr. Botnik.Jack Krebs
September 3, 2007
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It was an obvious parady from the first line (the salutation). Who really believes that a university president would address a letter to "Dear Botnick?" At the very least one would expect him to say "Dear Mr. Botnick."BarryA
September 3, 2007
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The people who sent letters to Lilley must be descended from the people who panicked during the radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds".Joseph
September 3, 2007
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To accuse anyone of falling for Judge Jones' claptrap is extremely libelous.Larry Fafarman
September 2, 2007
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The parody assumed a high level of sophistication from UD readers, and I don’t mind the compliment. I just wish I had been more alert. Humor is a great thing, and I hope we don’t get gun shy to the point where we can’t continue to poke fun at our adversaries and ourselves. . The problem is that this episode interrupted a substantive discussion some of us were having with Baylor apologists on a related post. We had been arguing that Baylor was not being true to its mission over objections that we were “dragging the school’s name through the mud.” Obviously, such was not the case, and we had pretty much proven the point. So much so, that our critics had run out of excuses and had apparently been silenced. The news that this new post was a parody changed the dynamic completely. Having been vanquished, our detractors found new life. Suddenly the claim was “see I told you were mean-spirited and this proves it. All those reasoned arguments you presented earlier mean nothing now.” In any other context, this kind of creativity would have been a welcome diversion. But the difference between a diversion and a distraction is timing. Perhaps if we hadn’t already been psychologically invested in the argument, we would have been alert enough to pick up on the joke.StephenB
September 2, 2007
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On the contrary, I was surprised by the tone and content of the letter. Also, was the letter posted under humor? I have a difficult time seeing the tags because of their color.ex-xian
September 2, 2007
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I agree, as preposterous as the letter is in retrospect it still underlines the typical type of unsubstantiated rebuttals we face constantly from Darwinists. In other words, The only reason it was taken seriously is that that is exactly what we have to face from our opponents. It is a shame that our opponents could use such lame rebuttals and claim that they are defending "science, when is truth, as the letter indicates, they have nothing but fluff to argue with!bornagain77
September 2, 2007
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Clearly, readers of UD fell for it, but so did many people on the other side, judging by all the many emails they sent President Lilley to confirm whether Botnik’s parody actually represented Lilley’s words
Botnik thought he had ventured beyond "The Edge of Anti-ID", but apparently didn't go far enough, since people on both sides believed that a university president might actually pen such a letter.russ
September 2, 2007
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