Friday, June 24, 2005

Smithsonian Compromised

I just got back from town where I had the priviledge of attending the premier of Priviledged Planet the controversial Discovery Institute film at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History. I'll post a review of the film and the entire event some time after sunrise, probably after noon.

For now, I just want to pass on an interesting tidbit (and scoop Post-Darwinist) about the Smithsonian's claim that it would return the $16,000 the Discovery Institute (DI) donated to show the film at the Museum.

Recall that Darwinian fundamentalists went hysterical on discovering that the Smithsonian Institution (SI) was permitting a DI event in the building (oh my!). The fundamentalists accused SI of compromising itself for a bribe. Smithsonian had to honor the contract to host the event, yet still wanted to salvage its politically correct reputation. The only reasonable course? Return the $16,000...

(Absurd? Yes. More here: Thank God for the Darwinian Inquisition!)

...or so they claimed. Now it turns out (according to Jay Richards) that Smithsonian is only returning $11,000 of the $16,000. In other words, Smithsonian has

  1. lied about returning the money, and
  2. compromised itself—not for $16,000 but for a mere $5,000.
We've already established what you are, ma'am. Now we're just haggling over the price.1

I'm waiting to see what Smithsonian does next to make itself look ridiculous. I get a feeling that the show is just beginning!


Note

1. Popularly attributed to George Bernard Shaw.


UPDATE: More details on the transaction at Post-Darwinist.

2 comments:

Lawrence Gage said...

The "Shaw" quotation might require some explanation. Phaedrus at Quotations Forum wrote:

It is a classic joke (probably apochryphal), attributed to George Bernard Shaw.

He addresses a lady of the realm at an official function, and says "Madam, if I gave you a million pounds, would you sleep with me?"
"Certainly", replies the woman.
"Well then", responds Shaw, "would you sleep with me if I gave you a single pound".
"Certainly not! How dare you offer that! What do you take me for?" replies the woman.
"We've already established that" says
Shaw. "We are merely quibbling about the price."

Anonymous said...

According to another version of the story, they were discussing the prevalence of prostitution among young women.

Also, thanks for the heads-up on the real amount of money returned by the Smithsonian.