Don’t read this…if you believe in the Loch Ness Monster!
www.flickr.com/photos/twm1340
I had to laugh at first, when I read about the media frenzy whipped up by a recent article in my local Sunday paper here in Scotland. It seemed like an April 1st joke which had got out of hand, just another story about those crazy Yanks. For those of you who missed it, the gist is that some schools in Louisiana have been given leave to teach children that the Loch Ness monster is real in an attempt to discredit Darwin’s theory of evolution. But then I stopped laughing…
www.flickr.com/photos/wilmo/
If you’re not worried about Creationism…
you should be
It’s happened many times before, of course. That old adage that whatever happens in America will eventually cross the pond to the UK.
- McDonalds
- 24hr supermarkets
- 200 TV channels
- Police on the street with guns
I can remember years ago returning from working in the US to regale my Scots friends with tales of the above ‘monsters’ which are now, of course, ubiquitous in Scotland and throughout the world, sadly.
Hence my concern.
For I was previously unaware that here in the UK, there are private Christian schools which in 2013 are to run Government approved qualifications which mirror the US based fundamentalist curriculum which includes the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) programme.
www.flickr.com/photos/brandnameartist
Let’s just get this straight.
The ACE programme includes such gems as the contention that dinosaurs have walked the earth alongside man and thus evolution can be disproved.
Their textbooks educate children that dinosaurs may still exist the earth and that the Loch Ness Monster is actually real.
There is a belief that man was placed, fully formed, upon the earth, which itself is far younger than science has proclaimed.
Back in the UK, The British Humanist Association has accused the government agency responsible for approving qualifications for failing in their duty to ensure all children receive an accurate science education. Other education bodies have warned that the creationist movement is sneaking in through the back door.
Having studied science at university and being fairly local to Loch Ness I have to take umbrage with all this primitive nonsense. My oldest friend and first true love has lived on the shores of Loch Ness all her life and in fact, perhaps, way back in the day, our antics may have given rise to many of the ‘possible sightings’ of the mythical beast, who knows…
www.flickr.com/photos/pescod
But thankfully, it seems that most people feel as I do.
Why I Hate Stereotypes about Americans
The furore surrounding the Sunday Herald article sparked off debate in social media sites and in a follow up piece in the paper some of the thousands of Americans who visit Loch Ness every year were allowed to add their disbelief.
One fellow from Texas said just after cruising the loch that it might be a good idea to try and ‘actually catch one’ before basing a theory around the existence of a monster.
A lady from Chicago said she ‘couldn’t believe people would be that stupid. It just seems utterly ridiculous to me.’
A student from Louisiana was refreshingly quoted as saying ‘not everyone living in Louisiana has fallen victim to these radical outcries and that some of us still prize logic and reason.’
So, perhaps there is hope for us all yet.
You are of course welcome to visit the exceptionally beautiful Loch Ness, just in case I’m wrong and Nessie does in fact exist. The Scottish Tourist Board owe me one for that!
Of course, as we locals on the West Coast of Scotland know only too well, there ARE monsters living amongst us…, from May until September anyway.
The dreaded Midgies.
Be afraid people, be very afraid…
Check out a parallel universe Loch Ness in my Ridge Walker novel, He Who Pays The Piper on Amazon Kindle.
You can see the original Sunday Herald article by Rachel Loxton at;
