Move over Jon Stewart: The Discovery Institute issues own "fake news"

Well, it had to happen at some point. With the vast experience accumulated in their now decade-long attempts to pass fake science for real, and probably inspired by Bill Dembski’s recent appearance on the Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show”, it seems that the Discovery Institute has now decided to issue their very own “fake news”.

Rather incredibly, in fact, a completely fake, rather unfunny parody of a radio interview with Barbara Forrest appears today on the DI’s own web site under their “News” headline (see right column here), without any indication it is fiction. Obviously, Dr. Forrest’s work truly has hit a nerve with the DI, since as reported on PT yesterday, they have already issued an utterly dishonest attack on her testimony at the Kitzmiller trial, based on selective quotation and misrepresentation of the court’s proceedings. What’s worse, the DI’s own Evolution News blog, already known for its cavalier disregard for truth and even basic, trivially verifiable facts, has picked up the interview and also reported it as if it were real in an “update” to their previous item on Forrest.

Now, there are two, non mutually exclusive possibilities to explain this. One is that the DI operatives are so accustomed to any fiction that fits their prejudice, they are unable to distinguish it from reality. The second is that this is just a prank, and they believe the parody interview is so crude and obvious, it doesn’t need any disclaimer.

Personally, I tend to agree with the latter, more generous interpretation, which also conveniently explains why the various DI sites also don’t attach disclaimers to all their other preposterous claims, such that ID is actual science, that evidence for it is published in the peer-reviewed literature, and that it is accepted by an ever-increasing number of “scientists”.

So, thanks for making your standards clear, folks.

Acknowledgments Thanks to Jack Krebs for bringing the DI ‘s fake news to my attention.