When I Run Out of Ideas

I do on occasion run out of ideas for my column writing. I do this after finishing a huge writing project like a book. I am just plain "written out" and am fresh out of things to say. When this happens, I turn to the news and am rarely disappointed.

This morning, I read a story by Associated Press writer, Carl Hartman, entitled, Smithsonian Finds Scopes Trial Photos. This seemed innocuous. The story, as well as the photos, were... interesting.

What got my "Snit-O-Meter" going was how this reporter, like probably everyone on the face of the earth would report, reported the Scopes Trial as a genuine and bona fide criminal trial that took place.

Would it surprise you to learn that it was not so?

Let me first site two sources you simply must read. The first is an article by Carol Iannone.[1] The second is small book by Phillip E. Johnson, a law graduate of Harvard and The University of Chicago. He was also a law clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren and taught law for thirty years at University of California at Berkley.

In Johnson's book, Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds[2], he says:

"The Scopes Trial was not a serious prosecution but a symbolic confrontation engineered to put the town of Dayton, Tennessee on the map. The Tennessee legislature had funded a new science education program and, to reassure the public that science would not be used to discredit religion, had included as a symbolic measure a clause forbidding the teaching of evolution. The governor, who signed the bill, realizing that any prosecution would be an embarrassment, predicted that the law would not be enforced. The American Civil Liberties Union wanted a test case, however, and advertised for a teacher willing to be a nominal defendant in a staged prosecution."[3]

This man never had a chance in hell of going to jail or paying a fine for anything. The Scopes Trial was a hoax.

Now I encourage you to seek out these sources and read them. The small book by Johnson can be purchased cheaply at most bookstores and at Amazon.com. Get it and read it!

But my point in writing about this is NOT to unravel the hoax of the Scopes Trial but to pose an issue that I often bring up in my writings and in my newest, yet-to-be-released book, America's Anti-Mexican Xenophobia (I apologize for that shameless plug for my book-not really! BUY IT!).

It is just beyond the pale that this Associated Press writer would accept, minus the application of a finely tuned "Phony-Baloney Detector", without question that the Scope's Trial was a genuine criminal prosecution. I might add the American public as a whole and most scientists as well to that list.

How is it the Scope's Trial, as well as any other number of ideologically motivated hoaxes (The Gay Agenda movement?) has been accepted and ingrained into the minds of the American people as incontrovertible fact?

Harvard Genetics Professor Richard Lewontin writes of a possible reason (one which I accept as valid):

"We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a priori commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door. The eminent Kant scholar Lewis Beck used to say that anyone who could believe in God could believe in anything. To appeal to an omnipotent deity is to allow that at any moment the regularities of nature may be ruptured, that miracles may happen."[4]

Professor Lewontin's quote is probably the most salient explanation for why the Evolution hypothesis or the "I was born that way" Gay Agenda hypothesis seems so certain to elitist insiders and so uncertain to those outside the elite groups. It is the a priori commitment to an ideology first, then to setting about to "prove" their ideology with evidence. These groups are compelled by their ideological a priori commitment to go about creating methodologies of investigation, to produce their desired outcomes, based not on Critical Thinking Skills (Phony-Baloney Detection) but on ideology.

This is why it is so important NOT to live your life according to untested assumptions! You have to develop a finely tuned and razor sharp Phony-Baloney Detection kit that you will pull out to evaluate everything you hear and read-including this author's writings!

Thinking critically is hard work. It takes time and it takes commitment. Nevertheless, please do not doom yourself to living an "a priori" commitment to an ideology first kind of life. Test! Test! Test!

Get busy developing that phony-baloney detection kit today!

In addition, make sure you buy all my books!

[1] http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9702/articles/iannone.html

[2] Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds; by Phillip E. Johnson; Intervarsity Press; copyright @1997

[3] Ibid

[4] The Unraveling of Scientific Materialism; by Phillip E. Johnson; http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9711/articles/johnson.html

Freelance writer, Syndicated Columnist, and book author, Doug Bower, has written a compelling new book titled, AMERICA'S ANTI-MEXICAN XENOPHOBIA. Have you wondered if the Minuteman Project is really on the "up and up"? Have you wondered if they represent all that is good and right with America-paragons of patriotic virtue? Doug Bower may have the answers you've been looking for.

Check out his new book: http://www.lulu.com/mexicanliving

---

Zany Ideas That Increase Writing Productivity And Quality

Welcome to the zany ideas of a productive writer. My... Read More

Journaling

How many of you take the time to really write... Read More

Be A Savvy Writer: Go Where The Business Is

If you're a writer, you're in business. It doesn't matter... Read More

Write For Yourself First

It would be very selfless or noble of me to... Read More

Top Seven Ways to Select a Book Topic That Sells

Authors need to write their book according to their target... Read More

Vary Your Writing Style and Win Readers

First drafts are for getting down the ideas. Anna Jacobs... Read More

5 Ways to Break the Story Spell

You sink back into your favourite chair with a new... Read More

Writing Made Them Rich #4: Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho was born on August 24th 1947 in Rio... Read More

New Year Resolutions for Writers - The Best Kind to Make and How to Keep Them

On the first day of a bright and shiny new... Read More

How to Write Headlines for How-to Articles

Want to write a how-to article but can't come up... Read More

Be Concise

Concision. (Sounds like I made up another word.) It's the... Read More

Generating Nonfiction Book Titles Without a Hassle

The process of developing a working title for your nonfiction... Read More

Publisher Ethics For Reprint-able Articles

Let's Discuss Publisher Ethics:If you are an ezine publisher or... Read More

The Work Flow Cycle of the Editorial Industry

As an editorial professional, I'm sure you're aware of the... Read More

Self-Examination

Self-examination sheds light on a writers motives, goals, and aspirations,... Read More

Idea-Mining for Writers, 102

As many authors are fond of stating, "Ideas are all... Read More

Have You Plotted Your Story Before Writing It?

Creative Writing Tips ?The writer, who doesn't have the time... Read More

14 Tips On Writing The Short-Short Story

The short-short story has been likened by some as being... Read More

Put a Spin on Your Idea!

Eight or nine times out of ten, picking up and... Read More

Beginnings

Just about everyone is familiar with this beginning: "In the... Read More

How to Come Up with Fresh Story Ideas

How to Come Up with Fresh Story Ideas When Your... Read More

The Untold Secrets of Writing Best Selling Childrens Books

Ever wondered how the most successful children's book writers get... Read More

Five EASY Ways to Improve Your Business Writing

Have you ever wondered why some people can make millions... Read More

Editing

EditingExpect, allow, and accept that every first draft will represent... Read More

Italics Part 1 - Do You Need to Use Italics?

Next time you're tempted to use italics for emphasis... STOP!"Why?"... Read More

7 Journaling Tips

Set your journal or diary where you will see it... Read More

Writing Your Best-Selling Non-Fiction Book Title

Your struggling to sell just a few copies of your... Read More

Reasons for Recording Your Life Story

1. No one else will do it for you.2. No... Read More

Getting To Know Your Characters

Interesting characters that readers care about are the most important... Read More

Turbo Charge Your Career! Write And Produce Your Own Stage Play!

Have you ever wondered how you can adapt your screenplay... Read More

Writing IS a Business

Why is it that so many people don't take writing-as-a-job... Read More

How Are You Plotting?

Creative Writing Tips ?Writing is a creative process and how... Read More

Screenwriting ? The Value of Structure

Structure in the form of frameworks, work processes and goals... Read More