Everyone dislikes being proven wrong. Especially in a manner that makes you look and feel like a fool. Normal people worry about this problem for only a little while, and even then they usually accept it and adopt a new point of view on the subject. Not so with creationists. Despite being figuratively beaten over and over and OVER again, they just keep coming back with the same stupid arguments that were disproved and debunked decades ago. Some, however, are a little more devious. When they see their comrades being defeated, they search out alternative arguments, less seen to the average atheist. These are the more nefarious in nature, and generally drawn from unscrupulous websites and books. This is the domain of the hoaxer.
Whether or not it is intentional, there are many websites out there that are dedicated to hoaxing. My most recent encounter was in the form of an e-mail, sending a few pictures and directing me here:
http://hheartbeat.com/?p=1527
It seems pretty convincing, yes? Look again. The first picture has nothing really to do with anything, so I'll just ignore it. The second is a fake. There are a few things that lead me to this conclusion. First, the teeth and the head wound are very highlighted for a colour photo. Usually, there would be a slight colour variance, allowing for the change. The second thing is the quality of the photo around the skeleton when compared to the rest. It seems to have little bits of white floating about, an effect mostly seen in early photographs, you know, black and white or sepia tone. The rest of the photo doesn't have these. From these two problems, it seems to be a black and white photo, spliced onto a photo of an archiological dig.
The third is a little harder to prove, but easier to see. The skull itself looks flat, and seem to fade at the left hand side. After a little research I discovered that this photo was in fact the unearthing of bones. Dinosaur bones. The skull was merely photoshopped in. Hell, one of the workers is standing on it. And not that well, might I add.
At this point I would like to point out that I saw a few of the photos and discontinued my examination of the page. Looking at it again today has made me notice the large statement in red after the photos, which points out that they are all fake. Seems kind of pointless to continue my debunking, huh.
I would next like to touch on a subject I have little to no knowledge in: hoaxes for evolution.
Apparently, some people decided that evolution didn't have quite enough evidence to support it, who knows why, and came up with these lies, which hinder more then help it.
I've seen only 1 website like this, which I believe has since been removed. I don't remember the name, just the barest details. Please update me if I'm mistaken.
Effectively the hoax is as follows: "Fossil of an unknown creature found. Looks like a cross between shark and snake. Must be common ancestor. Evolution is proven."
This really annoys me. Despite it's attempt at being helpful, it is still an argument from ignorance AND obviously not real. If such a fossil were discovered, it would be all over the news. I don't remember if there was a photo or not, but it doesn't matter. If there was, it can be used as another piece of evidence against the hoax's credability, if not, what evidence is there this discovery occured.
The major problem with this is that creationists can take it and use it to put credence to their insults. Like "Evolution needs to lie to be taken seriously" or even worse "That creature is described in the bible as x in Yyy:zz,zz, therefore this proves evolution wrong and the bible right." For this last quote I've used the hoax as a broad idea, scoping many different animals.
These hoaxes aren't difficult to debunk, given the time for a few minutes research, however, they are annoying, as when they are presented in a debate, "callin hoax" won't cut it, and disproving them on the spot will be nearly impossible, without forewarning. I don't have any other hoaxes to present aat this time, though if I'm presented with any more, I'll post them here, with appropriate rebuttals.
Like most athiests, I've debated on occation with hard-headed creationists. Where I'm from, it's harder to find them, but they're around. I've been acccused of calling hoax, right after they've done the same thing. I am not an expert at these things, but my advice is to calmly, but firmly dismiss hoaxes in a friendly manner, lest you open yourself up to ad hominem attacks.
Sorry if I have any spelling mistakes, I'm very tired. I'll be posting my next topic in the next few days. Until next time,
Fui fides tantum in testimonium.
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