by William A. Dembski
Note: The
Simpson's, television's popular prime-time cartoon known for its satirical
commentary on various social issues, recently took a shot at the
creation-evolution debate by featuring Stephen Jay Gould prominently in one of
its episodes. Here is Bill Dembski's review and observations of that episode.
For those of you who regularly watch the Simpsons, you'll know that to have
one's voice and character appear on a Simpsons episode is a mark of
accomplishment and fame. Over the years George Harrison, Bette Midler, Magic
Johnson, Danny DeVito, and a host of other entertainers and notables have
appeared on the program. I was therefore particularly impressed when S. J.
Gould appeared on tonight's episode. Gould was playing himself, a scientist at
the local natural history museum.
This episode was really a very clever cultural commentary. Lisa Simpson wants
to stop a huge mall development from proceeding at "Sabertooth
Ravine" because the ravine is a fossil site. As a compromise, the mall
developers decide to let Lisa dig for fossils while they continue to build the
mall. While digging, Lisa finds an almost human fossil. Almost, but not quite:
in place of arms the fossil has wings. "It's an angel" declare the
naive and religiously motivated townfolk. Lisa, who plays the scientific
naturalist, will have none of it. She therefore enlists Gould to prove that the
fossil is nothing of the sort. Gould claims that the DNA tests he performed proved
inconclusive.
Meanwhile, Lisa's father, Homer, takes the angel fossil, and charges admission
to his house for people to view it. Homer sets the angel fossil under some
fuzzy dice, and surrounds it with cheesy Christmas lights. He also sells
various angel paraphernalia (e.g., angel ashtrays). Lisa meanwhile is getting
exasperated that the entire town is believing in a supernatural origin of the
angel. She therefore sets out to destroy the angel, but on entering the garage
where Homer stores the angel finds it missing.
Upon discovering the angel missing and Lisa with a crowbar, the angry
townspeople accuse Lisa of destroying it (and that for the sake of science),
arrest Lisa, and put her on trial (a clear allusion to the Scopes trial). With
the angel missing and the "scientific naturalist" Lisa under arrest,
the religious fanatic Ned Flanders inveighs against science likening it to a
guy who tells you the end of a movie before you've finished seeing it. At this,
the townspeople run amock and destroy Gould's natural history museum and all
other symbols of science (as they destroy a robotics lab, a robot exits the
burning lab and screams "Why was I programmed to experience pain?").
Finally, Lisa is brought to trial. The judge says that the trial will decide
two things, Lisa's fate and the relation between science and religion. As for
the relation between science and religion, the judge decides to put a
"restraining order on religion" keeping it "500 yards away from
science" (note that it is religion that is expected to stay away from
science and not vice versa). Just as the trial gets under way, however, the
angel fossil is spotted on the top of a hill, though now it is inscribed with
the words "The End Will Be At Sundown." The mood in the town now
becomes that of a Jehovah's Witness gathering waiting for the Second Coming.
Finally, sundown arrives. At first nothing happens. Then suddenly the angel
fossil levitates, and a voice booms claiming the end has arrived. The end of
what? Why, the end of "high prices"! It turns out the angel fossil
was a fraud perpetrated by the mall developers who used the fossil as a
publicity stunt. Are the townspeople upset about the way this stunt flouted
their religious sensibilities? Not at all. For the publicity stunt marks the
grand opening of the mall, together with 20% savings on all items sold. Thus we
see the townspeople, who just moments ago were awaiting the end of the world,
rushing madly to a shopping frenzy.
In the closing scene, Lisa asks Gould why his test failed to detect that the
angel fossil was a fraud. Gould (and mind you, this was Gould's actual
voice--he is listed explicitly in the credits) admits that in fact he never did
perform the test--even though he claimed he did earlier. Gould comes off quite
badly in the episode. Indeed, I'm surprised he let himself be used this way. To
be sure, the religious fanatics and the simpleton townfolk come off worse. But
neither science nor religion triumph. Rather, it's CONSUMERISM writ large that
emerges as the clear winner.
All in all, a very clever episode.
Copyright © 1997 William Dembski. All rights
reserved. International copyright secured.
File Date: 11.29.97