Flock of Dodos

I normally like to save "off-topic" content (i.e. items which are not research into the BCSE) for Saturdays, but this particular item has a shelf life.

On another website, I read the following paragraph:

The first documentary film to take an even-handed look at the intelligent design versus evolution clash [Randy Olson's "Flock of Dodos"] will have its UK premiere at University College London (UCL) on Friday 9 February 2007.

http://www.scenta.co.uk/scenta/news.cfm?cit...ets.content_view_1

The only problem with this description is... it's not true.

There's plenty of documentation - even a YouTube video - demonstrating that film-maker Randy Olson had a clear agenda to produce a piece of anti-intelligent design propaganda. If you want to look into that, here are some links:

1. http://www.hoaxofdodos.com - "In Flock of Dodos oceanographer Randy Olson makes a number of false assertions about Discovery Institute and scientists and scholars associated with the Institute. Here we expose two of the most egregious false facts in the film."
   
   
2. http://www.evolutionnews.org/2007/02/hoax_of_dodos_pt_1_flock_of_do.html - "Flock of Dodos Filmmaker Wrongly Claims Haeckel’s Embryo Drawings Weren’t in Modern Textbooks"
   
   
3. http://www.evolutionnews.org/2007/02/hoax_of_dodos_pt_2_flock_of_do.html - "Filmmaker Uses Fuzzy Math and Falsehoods to Distort the Truth about Discovery Institute"

I have to say that I like www.evolutionnews.org - I am continually impressed by its careful, measured, fact-based analysis, avoiding over-blown rhetoric. It's a model to aspire to for investigative bloggers.

Here's the YouTube video:



If you haven't heard the hilarious Dawkins interview yet, then it's heading for 7,000 views in its first 5 days... here's the link again.

David Anderson