PZ Myers at Pharyngula just published a post that jolted me a bit because it involved my zoo.
The Cincinnati Zoo and the (shudder) Creation Museum have apparently teamed up to sell tickets to both “attractions” under a package deal. This poses a problem because the Cincinnati Zoo is a leader in education, biology, and science, while the Creationist Museum is a leader in ignorance and extremist christianity. The two ideas don’t mix.
The very existence of the Creation Museum is a slap in the face to science and an insult to education. They teach children that humans rode on dinosaurs, among many other bible-based lies. How can the zoo be so stupid to lower themselves into such a shameful merger between science and anti-science? In addition, this could pose a constitutional problem, since the Cincinnati Zoo claims to be a partner with Cincinnati Public Schools.
I’m a member of the zoo, and I’m pretty damn pissed about this promotion they’re offering. I voiced my concern in an e-mail, one of many from Pharyngula readers, and I will post an update if they offer me an explanation of the rumors.
*UPDATE: THEY HAVE PULLED THE PROMOTION WITH NO EXPLANATION OTHER THAN ‘IT WAS A DISTRACTION’. HEY ZOO, HOW ABOUT ‘IT WAS A MISTAKE’?
December 1, 2008 at 12:14 pm
I was simply astounded when I read about this. How is it even possible that a zoo, ostensibly a science-based organization, would even consider a partnership with these peddlers of outright whackaloonery? I mean, partnering with the Creation Museum? Seriously?
*sigh* Welcome back to the dark ages.
December 1, 2008 at 4:14 pm
It was certainly a mistake.
I suspect that they received an offer and signed up for it without reading who actually offered it.
Hell, there is even a good chance that the Creation Museum has a more innocuous official name, one that does not reflect its mission of disinformation. Cretintionists are quite clever at lying and covering their tracks, in fact, that the only thing they really are good at.
December 2, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Yeah, those pesky dinosaurs were just a distraction to the shepherds who attended Baby Jesus’s birth. They should’ve gotten a lift with T-rex, not those slow-poke donkeys.
January 9, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Hmm, I always thought it was MY zoo.
May 18, 2009 at 10:35 am
[...] my hometown… and neighboring town to the dreaded Creation Museum. Even our local zoo almost joined forces with the creationists until people protested. But then, a ray of light appeared on the horizon. I [...]