Of Chickens and Monkeys and Textbooks (oh my!)

The anniversary of State v. John Scopes seems like an excellent time to apologize to the rest of the country for the absurdity that is the textbook industry.  The great state of Texas has undue influence on that industry nationally, and now we have word that the lunatic fringe has managed to cause all kinds of half-truths to be included, and whole-truths to be wholesale excluded from our history books.

We wonder two things about this controversy:  first, is anyone really surprised?  This is, after all, the state where a governor once famously exclaimed "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for Texas!"  We have a Tea Party favorite of a governor now, who brags about balancing the state budget (in contrast to the federal budget), but conveniently "forgets" the fact that only several billion dollars in federal assistance allowed us to balance said state budget....  And second, why is textbook revision a big deal, anyway?  It's not like these books are going to be read or comprehended, regardless of what they say.

In short, we are an ignorant state, and have been for a very, very long time.

We recently saw a bumper sticker for some Texas secessionists who quoted Sam Houston.  They forget that Sam Houston encountered a secession movement before; he told them to go to hell.  He'd say it again today.

So, as we savor the irony of the educational devolution taking place on the anniversary of a trial about evolution, just remember:  at least we aren't being eaten by saber-toothed tigers anymore.  Big Myrtle can tell you how scary cats can be; almost as scary as theological bigots in elected office.

Happy farming!