Comics Blog: So Many Lies, So Little Time

June 27th, 2011

Darryl Cunningham continues his comics crusade to untangle lies, myths, and misconceptions with a new comic defending the science that’s grown from Darwin’s theory of natural selection. As usual, he does so with wit, charm, and quiet persistence.

I’ve considered doing something similar, maybe even a book length project, but these days I have trouble even thinking about this issue without getting pissed off and just wanting to smash my head against a wall. The idea that there are so many millions of people in this country who still believe the Earth is less than 10,000 years old is a national disgrace.

But a book filled with that wouldn’t convince anyone.

So thank you, Darryl Cunningham, for suffering fools gladly. You’re a better man than I am.

[Edit to add: Scott Dubois in comments points to this recent comics explanation of Evolution by the capable team of Hosler, Cannon, and Cannon. Looks good!]

Posted in Cartoonists, Non-Fiction Comics, Webcomics
Discussion (11)¬

Box Brown says:June 27, 2011 at 7:37 am

Love Darryl!

John DePianto says:June 27, 2011 at 7:55 am

I’m going to show this to my family to prove that comics can be more than superheroes saving the day.

Thanks for the link!

Scott Dubois says:June 27, 2011 at 8:18 am

Cool comic. I recently read, Evolution: The Story of Life on Earth, which is a really nice explanation of the science in comic form:
http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Story-Earth-Jay-Hosler/dp/0809094762/

I recommend it to my students. Unfortunately, I don’t think any creationists are going to pick it up and be converted.

Tim says:June 27, 2011 at 8:27 am

Your mention of “so many millions” who believe in creationism got me wondering what the numbers really are. I mean out of 300 million people 3 million would only be one percent and hardly worth mentioning. However if it is 150 million then yeah, we have a problem. Do you have links to any studies. I’d be very interested to know all the break downs as far as parts of the country and socio-economic and religious backgrounds.

Veronica says:June 27, 2011 at 8:33 am

Pew has done some work on this: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1107/polling-evolution-creationism

Veronica says:June 27, 2011 at 8:35 am

Sorry, i realize the specific things you’re asking about (regional, socioeconomic breakdowns) aren’t really there in the link I just posted, but it is a starting point, at least…

JNgaio says:June 27, 2011 at 5:12 pm

I love this! Comics are such a perfect medium for explaining complex topics in a comfortable and understandable manner… I hope this gets through to the audience who needs it most.

And I’m definitely going to get my hands on that “Evolution” book by Jay Hostler and co. I absolutely adored Hostler’s story about bees, “Clan Apis”, it even made me cry!

minimus-minor says:June 27, 2011 at 8:01 pm

While I’m a Christian I think most of “us” are horrifically narrow-minded as to how science and religion fit together – most Christians believe they can say “f#ck you” to all science they don’t like because they’re friggin’ Christians. Anyway, this comic really got me thinking.

Kat says:June 27, 2011 at 11:22 pm

This is a great one here, it explains evolution in such an easy-to-understand manner I think it’d be great for students. I love the use of examples in it and the lack of ‘I’m better then you’ know-it-all tone that you sometimes get on both sides of this…debate I guess you’d call it? Perhaps war would be a better term ><