#2682: Mickey Cleveland

Louisiana is not known as a bastion of reason and science, and they are, together with Tennessee, the only place where creationists have made real inroads into the public school curriculum. Louisiana has also generally allowed the public – mostly local dingbats – to scrutinize the science textbooks to be used in Louisiana school, though we are admittedly not entirely clear on the procedural significance of this sort of event. But yeah, it means that local fundie denialists, like Monroe resident Mickey Cleveland, can have their say. And Cleveland’s got opinions. Cleveland wants to make sure the way evolution is taught reflects the most current knowledge, which according to him means that “we want the fallacies in the theory taught as well”. And what would said fallacies be? As Cleveland sees it “as technology improves, more scientists and mathematicians are questioning Darwin’s theories of evolution” – he doesn’t provide any reference or names, of course, but he does have an explanation of why he (falsely) thinks things are going this way: “Darwin didn’t have the microelectronic microscope. We are able to see inside of atoms. The DNA is so complex that mathematicians are saying that there is no way that macro evolution occurred. Science is proving creation.” Yeah, he doesn’t really have the faintest clue about any of this, does he?

But here’s the thing. Mickey Cleveland is an Ouachita Parish teacher. And Louisiana laws do allow him to teach his views on science in public schools.

Diagnosis: Ok, so our information here is a number of years old, and we have no idea what Cleveland is presently doing, but his ability to express his hilariously confused views with complete confidence is too good to pass on, and rather illustrative of a disconcertingly familiar tendency. And he might, of course, still be trying to pass his fundie-fuelled, denialist cognitive fog on to Louisiana students, which is a tragedy.