Laugh At Creationists

I’ve spent a large part of today watching videos on YouTube, and not cat ones. I happened across a set of videos created by a guy known as Thunderf00t called Why Do People Laugh At Creationists?. There are 42 videos (the link goes to the master playlist), mostly about 5 to 10 minutes long, uploaded from September 2007 to the present. By and large, each video deals with the daft assertions of creationists. Thunderf00t explains the science that invalidates the creationists’ claims: Science, bitches. It works!

This is one of my favourites: Thunderf00t beats on Banana Man Ray Comfort who once asserted that the banana was proof of the existence of God.

Not all the videos are concerned entirely with science. He devotes an entire episode to dissing Sarah Palin at the time she was John McCain’s running mate, urging US YouTubers not to vote for someone so stupid.

I was curious who Thunderf00t was. Turns out he’s Phil Mason, a British scientist (chemistry), atheist and blogger. Both Wikipedia and RationalWiki claim that he recently been upsetting people with criticisms of Islam and Feminism. There’s the occasional mention of Islam in the laugh at creationist videos—atheism is inclusive—but not so forthright as to detract from his scientific arguments (though I still have a few more to watch).

The videos are educational and sometimes quite funny. Some of the creationists’ arguments are staggering in the sheer blinkered stupidity they exhibit. There are some worrying scenes, like the group of young kids being urged to “believe God not scientists”.