Someone with more brains than me will respond!
Not sure that I have more smarts then you Shamus, but I probably do have a bigger mouth, which is good because I also have big feet too.
Panda,
Evolution is a fact, you know it, I know it, and unfortunately she does not realize that even the ?evolution professor? at some level knows it too.
When I was practicing dub I knew evolution was true but somehow I was able to hold contradictory thoughts in my mind at the same time. I?m not going to get into the Orwell psychobabble about why one does this but it?s suffice to say it?s a little trick we do with our minds. Put simply we play this mind games with ourselves because to admit the reality of evolution could open up the floodgates of doubt, and that could cause great harm to our current worldview.
Panda I know it?s frustrating but right now it?s her crutch. If you want to bring enlightenment to her as a friend you just can?t attack her worldview, it is after all her security blanket. That aside, if you decide this poor soul does indeed need saving from the clutches of ignorance, I would suggest you do it incrementally.
You might just happen to somehow mention something about the antibiotic you are taking and how you will finish the prescription even though you are now fully cured. You were warned by your doctor of what could happen if you did not finish the bottle. And what could happen??? If you do not completely kill off the germs infecting you, the ones that survive may evolve into a new strain, a strain resistant to the once lethal antibiotics.
To put it in perspective, you are now confronting your friend with not only evolutionary facts, but facts supported by medical realities. Now if she does the least bit of checking on her own she will soon discover that the medical profession actually believes in evolution and proscribes medicine based on that reality. Wow doctors believe in evolution! Quite a bombshell wouldn?t you say?
Fortunately and/or unfortunately the visible and tangible effects of evolution on simple organisms such as germs requires much less time then one would require on higher organisms such as humans. It?s bad from a medical perspective because some of our once best medicines are no longer working, but at least such occurrences clearly and demonstratively illustrate the reality, the FACT of evolution. I?m not saying this will change her worldview overnight to one more closely resembling reality, but perhaps it could be a start.
Queue Mission Impossible music ? DUM DUM DA DA DUM DUM DA DA ...
Your mission Ms. Panda is to save this poor soul from the clutches of ignorance and put her on a path to reality if you can.
As usual, if you or any member of you IMF team are killed or captured, the secretary will disavow and knowledge of your actions.
This message will self-destruct in five seconds.
Good luck.
Freeman
