Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

You're doing a heckuva job, Charlie (II)

by Aaron Wherry on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 4:50pm - 26 Comments

From today’s post-QP scrums.

Question: (Inaudible)

Hon. Peter MacKay: I mean obviously it’s a very significant event and his writings and his research were extremely important in the formation of people’s thoughts. The 200th anniversary would be a very significant celebration.

Moderator: Thanks very much.

Question: Are you one of his followers?

Hon. Peter MacKay: Well, I mean I remember reading about him and obviously studying him in school but I mean I haven’t kept up to date on everything that’s happened in evolution in the last 200 years.

Tags: Charles Darwin, Peter MacKay

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Ti-Guy

but I mean I haven’t kept up to date on everything that’s happened in evolution in the last 200 years.

Oh, the comedic possibilities, particularly when one thinks of how each new MacKay generation appears to be a manifestation of something quite different from evolution.

John.K

That would be devolution, I guess?

Ti-Guy

I don’t know. Certainly not intelligent design, in any case.

Ian

“Question: Are you one of his followers?”

What is it with the inane questions on this topic? “One of his followers” like all of evolutionary theory is the doctrine of one person?
madeyoulook

For crying out loud, is there some sort of evolutionary crisis going on?

Is this the same time-wasting ink-stained wretch asking questions from the Darwin file, or is there a contagious outbreak of irrelevant stupidity in the PPG?

Tom

My hunch is that the inkstained wretch in question is trying to figure out if there’s a contagious outbreak of stupidity in the Harper cabinet. Going after the Stock Days and Vic Toewses and so on would have predictable results. By interrogating Gary Lunn and Peter McKay, you can test whether science-denial can be passed along by protracted exposure to known carriers.
Wayne

my guess is irrelevant stupity combined with a slow news day : what with the only thing going on being a new trillion dollar deficit in the USA, Iggy explicitly ruling out any coaltion with the BQ, The americans using CIDA as an example of how to improve their development in Afghanistan etc etc
Ti-Guy

For crying out loud, is there some sort of evolutionary crisis going on?

I’d say so.

Andrew (not Potter or Coyne)

I don’t understand why they are ambushing people on this question. Why not come out and ask them whether they are creationists rather than trying to contrive opportunities to ferret it out?

“Are you one of his followers”? Sheesh.

Critical Reasoning

It does seem like an attempted ambush, doesn’t it? Either that or the press scrums have officially entered the theatre of the absurd. It’s too bad the transcript doesn’t reveal who keeps asking these questions.
Jarrid

Actually, for some people “the theory of evolution” is more an explanation of the whole universe as opposed to a scientific theory. When people think that science has the answers to the meaning of life, it is no longer science but ideology. In that sense, Darwin does have some followers, who extrapolate his scientific theory to explain things it was never meant to explain. So the question may not be some strange as it looks.

madeyoulook

Jarrid: So the question may not be some strange as it looks.

Really? In a post-QP scrum?

Jarrid

O.K. agreed not in a post-QP scrum.

Ti-Guy

Actually, for some people “the theory of evolution” is more an explanation of the whole universe as opposed to a scientific theory.

And which people are these?

In that sense, Darwin does have some followers, who extrapolate his scientific theory to explain things it was never meant to explain.

Who are these followers and what do they maintain Darwin’s ideas explain?

The last time I heard of this was in relation to the discredited concept known as social Darwinism supported at the beginning of the last century.

archangel

And anti-social Darwinism = the Reform Party?
Sisyphus

Obviously you haven’t kept up with myl’s comments.

http://macleans.ca kc

Why, are they evolving? I was away, did i miss something?

Jenn

Did this reporter ask as many questions on Einstein’s birthday? I seem to recall a mildly big celebration (for dead scientists, at least) a couple of years ago. Did this reporter glean insights from various MPs then?

Seriously, ask if McKay is a believer in evolution and move on. Or, better yet, ask only when it has relevance to pretty much anything at all.

And I say this as one who would view an MP differently depending on his response to that question. But, even if you have what I consider to be loony-tunes personal beliefs, it only matters if it matters. In this particular case, I don’t see how it matters.
http://gapingwhole.wordpress.com/ Em.

I live in McKay’s riding, these types of (oddly ambiguous) comments not entirely uncommon or unsurprising

Critical Reasoning

What’s so ambiguous about Mackay’s comments? It seems like he gave a fairly straightforward response to a profoundly stupid question.

Ti-Guy

Well, he could have chirped something enthusiastic, like “I’m Charles Darwin’s biggest fan!” like he did when he met Condoleeza Rice.

Austin So

Yeah but he couldn’t exactly sleep with him…

http://gapingwhole.wordpress.com/ Em.

“Question: Are you one of his followers?

Hon. Peter MacKay: Well, I mean I remember reading about him and obviously studying him in school but I mean I haven’t kept up to date on everything that’s happened in evolution in the last 200 years”

I suppose I’m just naive enough to hope for a simple yes/no answer. Or just any answer to the question.

Although, agreed that it is a rather useless question.

http://www.canadianrosebud.blogspot.com dan in van

I can’t wait to hear the line of questioning on Emmett Kelly’s birthday! Boy, they better get Jason Kenney on that one…
sf

I’d really like to know who is posing these inane questions. Followers? Frankly, I find it ridiculous that the ministers have to put up with such stupidity. Are the press coming straight out of kindergarten?
john g

What the hell is this?

Who is the journalist (other than Aaron, who has now posted about this topic twice) that has the fetish for Charles Darwin, when he could be asking much more substantial questions about, say, Alex Rodriguez.