The regressive politicians are still playing this same stupid game: they hate evolution, but they can’t just switch to stuffing creationism into science curricula (yet), so they instead water down and weaken the science, replacing “evolution” with fuzzy pseudonyms. Gutsick Gibbon explains what’s going on in Iowa right now.
They tried this same stunt in Minnesota almost 20 years ago. Science educators in this state got mad and confronted them at every turn. It worked then, and their efforts were foiled, and that’s what Iowans need to do now.
Also relevant: Milo Rossi dissects pseudoscience. We all need to get fired up.
I was a “tech” in my high school’s production of “The Music Man” many moons ago. Lots of mild ribbing about how set-in-their-ways the people of Iowa are; the lyric “You really ought to give Iowa a try/Provided you are contrary…” is one that I have never forgotten, in all that time. Still seems applicable.
Everyone should checkout fastdemocracy.com you chose topics and bills to track, on the federal level and by states. I found this after learning Iowa banned DEI last year. I am currently watching: Abortion, Birth Control, Contraceptives,
Gender and Gender Identity, and Immigration.
Waiting for some class reductionist to swoop in and tell us that Creationism is a “culture war distraction” created by the 1% that we shouldn’t care about.
Creationism is a pre-existing phenomena that just happens to be a useful tool, just like so many other dysfunctional belief systems.
In any case, these kooks serve as canaries in a coal mine. They thrive in stupid times.