Palintology

I could live with most aspects of Sarah Palin. I could live with her having only having run a small state for two years—quality is better than quantity. I could live with her not having a passport until 2006 —you don’t need a passport to hear briefings about countries, and with the economic meltdown, we have enough issues at home. I could live with her strong anti-abortion stance—even if Roe v. Wade falls, plenty of states will still keep abortion legal. I could even live with the fact that she inspires strange Oedipal-like feelings in me because of her resemblance to the teacher/stripper in Varsity Blues—it’s just the consequence of some childhood trauma that I’ve repressed. But what I can’t live with is not knowing what Sarah Palin thinks about dinosaurs.

My concern probably would not have manifested itself had it not been vocalized by political pundit Matt Damon, who in an interview with Air America said, “I want to know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago.” Upon hearing about the interview, I was first struck by the question of what ever happened to Ben Affleck. After deciding that Reindeer Games was probably the cause of Affleck’s downfall, I then began to ponder about dinosaurs. To be an informed voter, do we really need to know about Sarah Palin’s opinion on dinosaurs?

The beginning of the dinosaur question seems to be a viral email with preposterous fake quotes attributed to Sarah Palin that stated that “God made dinosaurs 4,000 years ago” as “lizards of Satan” with the manifest destiny that they would die and become “petroleum products.” Bloggers and pundits quickly picked up on this and continued the buzz. The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd, in a September 9 column asked, “Does she really think Adams, Eve, Satan, and the dinosaurs mingled on the earth 5,000 years ago?” Matt Damon added to the debate, and an Internet rumor was off and running.

However, this rumor is much different than some previous rumors such as Barack Obama being a Muslim or Palin banning books, which the USA Today determined to be false. Unlike book banning or religion which you can verify with library and church records, there is no way to find out what Palin’s beliefs on dinosaurs are unless she states them, which to date she hasn’t. Moreover, there is reason to believe the rumors are true.

During the 2006 Alaska governor’s race, Palin stated that creationism and evolution should both be taught in the classroom, but that her opinion was not to prohibit debate and that creationism “doesn’t have to be part of the curriculum.”

Therefore, she is undoubtedly in the league of people who believe that there can be a religious explanation for the creation of the universe. However, this is a large group, which can include everyone from Intelligent Designers, to young-earth creationists, to people who believe that God worked through the tool of evolution. The dinosaur question is important to figure out which one she is.

While George Bush and John McCain support creationism, their beliefs are much different from those espoused by young-earth creationism. Bush argues for Intelligent Design, which while flawed, concedes much to science and would never make the outrageous claim that dinosaurs and man lived together. McCain’s relationship with creationism is more ambiguous. He’s alternated between saying that “all points of view should be presented” to saying that creationism probably shouldn’t be taught in science class. This mixed record gives the impression that McCain doesn’t drink the Kool-Aid but wants the votes of those who do. But the question remains, where does Palin stand?

Rev. Howard Bess, who used to be a Baptist minister in Palmer, a small town near Wasilla, argued that she is a young-earth creationist. According to Salon.com, Bess recalled a conversation where he pushed her on whether the earth “was really less than 7,000 years old and whether dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time.” According to Bess, Palin said yes to both questions.

But should we care? People believe in crazy things. In a 2004 poll, 34 percent of Americans stated that they believed in ghosts and 24 percent in witches. Dennis Kucinich, in the 2007 Democratic debate, stated that he saw a UFO , which makes him a possible interstellar Manchurian Candidate. So why do dinosaurs matter?

Dinosaurs matter because to believe that dinosaurs walked with man, an individual must stubbornly cling to a belief despite all available evidence against it. The young-earth creationist mindset is dogmatic and anti-empirical—which is a very dangerous thing to have in a leader. The current President has already demonstrated an incredible ability to at times disavow the reality that all evidence points to. At this time, when the United States is engaged in two wars and a financial crisis, to have a Vice President—or President—who is detached from reality is the last thing we need.

The dinosaur question is an important issue that needs to be addressed by Palin, hopefully before the election. It turns out after all that Matt Damon did make a decent pundit. By the way, whatever happened to Ben Affleck?



Steven T. Cupps ’09, a crimson editorial writer, is a human evolutionary biology concentrator in Lowell House. His column appears on alternate Thursdays.