What Dawkins is doing here is trying to indoctrinate young minds, slipping his ideological message into a text which purports to be the facts and nothing but the facts, the trick worked by preachers throughout the ages.
In content Richard Dawkins’ The Magic of Reality is pretty much like any good illustrated Book of Knowledge, of which there are many. But to really get such a message over requires a charismatic messenger and so The Magic of Reality will reach further than any other Book of Knowledge. As such it is mostly fine – you can safely give it to any child, knowing that virtually everything in it, is as Dawkins says, is the truth about reality. But Dawkins has not escaped ideological bias. At times he insist on his own interpretation of the gospel: he belongs to the Olden Day Church of the “Modern Synthesis” or the Sect of the Selfish Gene (actually a declining minority amongst biologists). This doesn’t matter for most of the book except that, as with the preachers he reviles, there is a whiff of “putting the fear of Dawks” into them. On p74-5 he describes all animals as “survival machines[s]. for genes and then: “Next time you look in the mirror, just think that is what you are too.” It’s not much of a match for fire and brimstone but it left me feeling very queasy. I wouldn’t be telling young people that they’re nothing but survival machines for their genes. It’s not true, for a start. We are not merely puppets of the genes – they take orders too.
What Dawkins is doing here is trying to indoctrinate young minds, slipping his ideological message into a text which purports to be the facts and nothing but the facts, the trick worked by preachers throughout the ages.
John
11/4/2011 05:18:34 am
Bill O'Riley called him on exactly that point during a recent interview on his program.
Peter Forbes
11/4/2011 05:56:24 am
I didn't think I'd be the first to notice but I thought it worth drawing attention to. Thanks for letting me know. Comments are closed.
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AuthorI'm a writer whose interests include the biological revolution happening now, the relationship between art and science, jazz, and the state of the planet Archives
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