“Maybe A New Name”

Quick, go have a look at Tom Toles’ editorial cartoon.

Two primates consider a drawing upon which three identical quadrupeds are drawn. From left to right, they bear the names, “Creationism”, “Creation Science”, and “Intelligent Design”. One of the figures is making the comment, “We’re not making a lot of progress.” In the corner is a closing mini-panel, a frequent feature of Toles’ artwork, where the other figure suggests, “Maybe a new name…”

And that is precisely what the antievolution movement has offered, time and again, when rebuffed by the courts. There is no consideration that perhaps the content is at issue, you know, that collection of classic antievolution arguments. Rather, new strategies simply take up how best to sell what we all know to be pressed sawdust as if it were cornflakes, and the answer has always been, “Change the name. They’ll never guess it’s the same thing we were selling last week.”