Ham And Nye: A Case Study

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This case study will discuss propaganda techniques and general persuasiveness of two debaters, Ken Ham and Bill Nye. Both men are evenly matched for their views on natural sciences and scientific observations. Ken Ham (b. 1951) a high school teacher and co-founder of Creation Science Ministries, debates Bill Nye (b. 1955) who made training videos for Boeing, and then appeared in numerous television shows, as The Science Guy. Their debate aired on February 4, 2014 at the Creationist Museum. It was a continuation of the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, except the high school teacher, Ham prosecuted a case for Creationism to be included in classroom text books, instead of the high school teacher, Scopes being prosecuted for teaching evolution in classrooms. Although the times have changed, the creation/evolution debate has the …show more content…

He promotes an idea that belief in evolution can lead to better predictions. He claims scientists observe the natural world; document sequences from fish to amphibians to reptiles and mammals, and the observation of evolution allowed scientists to predict an intermediary species, such as a fish lizard called Tiktaalik that was found in marsh swamps of Ellsmere Island, Canada. Nye uses propaganda to explain how germs and parasites are the enemy of any species, but sex within a species provides more varied genes and thereby more genetic diversity, which can provide better protection against germs and parasites. Nye also explains how The Big Bang theory of stars—moving apart was concocted from observations by the astronomer, Edwin Hubble. Lastly, Nye describes how Rubidium (Rb-37) quickly changes into Strontium (Sr-38) except when lava covers fossils, and because Rubidium and Strontium are frozen within ancient lava flows, scientists are able to carefully assay pieces of fossils to calculate more accurate dates within the fossil

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