Hello Russ.

With all due respect I think that's taking it a bit far. You can't understand why anyone, anyone at all, would accept the ToE? Is every geologist, archaeologist, anthropologist, etc., etc. (who believes in the ToE) silly and stupid? There are some rather brilliant minds writing on the topic of the ToE and I'd have a hard time calling them silly and stupid while keeping a straight face.

If we were to argue for the moment that the ToE is indeed entirely false, the whole shabang is a bunch of malarkey and it's all wrong. Even then is it hard to at least see why people would accept it?

I think the ToE is fairly obvious and I accept it as factual and as the best current model explaining our origins. But I want to put that aside for a moment just to point out the idea of saying something is so silly that you cannot comprehend how anyone would believe it.

Centuries ago people believed the earth was flat. I don't think they were silly and I don't think what they believed was stupid. They were ignorant. People once belived that blood-letting helped rid the body of toxins. There actually is some logic which would lead them to believe this (even if it's not exactly true -- or, let's say, not a suitable treatment for (most) ailments). I don't think they were silly and I don't think what they believed was stupid. Scientists once classified bats as birds. Now, to my eye they are so clearly not in many ways. But I can see the reasoning which led them to classify bats as birds (well, they do fly after all!). I don't think they were silly and I don't think that what they believed was stupid.

There are few beliefs in this world which I think silly and/or stupid. For just about every one I can see a path of reasoning which led them to their conclusion. I don't think the idea of the ToE is stupid any more than I think a belief in God is (and I don't believe in one; I only accept the possibility). We as debaters need to be careful how we word things. Even when we're correct about certain matters the methods used can discredit ourselves, thus destroying the observation we wish to make in the first place. Labelling people or beliefs as silly, stupid or laughable and embarrassing is known as argumentum ad hominem and even when I see people arguing for what I believe in, I disapprove of anyone using this method of arguing.

I'm sure you agree with me on this last point

I don't even think the fact that people once believed leprechauns sat at the end of a rainbow as absurd and ridiculous (I just think they were wrong, heh).