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The Ark Debacle
Aug. 15th, 2016 07:54 pmI took the day off from work today. I woke up and just ran out of energy. With all the vacation time I have built up, burning a day certainly wasn't hard to do. I worked out, ate lunch, ran some errands, and finished coloring the pages of my comic.
At lunch, I was reading an article on Facebook about how the Noah's Ark replica "theme park" in Kentucky is not having the desired attendance and outcome. I roll my eyes and think "I could have told you that."
It's a "Christian" theme park, with the supposedly accurate replica of the Ark. However, the truth in the place gets lost after that because the group that built it believe that the world is 6,000 years old, that Jesus rode the dinosaurs and they were saved on the Ark, and that fossils were placed on the Earth to trick us. They use "science" only to support what they want and try to ignore the rest.
After it was built, the attendance was low and continues to be so. Tourists are not flocking to it in droves, and the few who do are not hanging around to expand the economy of the surrounding area. All the incentives used to sell this idea to the idiots in KY government who bought into this plan have not come to pass.
However, I could have told you that this was a bad idea. If I were there when it was presented, I'd have told them all the things wrong with it.
The group who designed this place is also the folks who run the "Creation Museum" outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Aside from the animatronic dinosaurs, I cannot fathom any reason to go there as they also take a twisted view of science, using only the bits that support what they want to project and dismissing that which doesn't. For example, I have heard that they believe carbon dating is not reliable, because to them the Earth is only 6,000 years old, so how can something be carbon-dated to be older than that. The problem is that science is true whether you believe it or not.
I've not formally visited either place, nor do I plan to.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
guinnesscub and I went through the Creation "Museum" gift shop a few years back, which doesn't require a ticket, and the science-phobic attitude were pretty prevalent then. We did it as a lark before he flew back to his then home in Philadelphia. That's as close to it as I'm willing to get.
At lunch, I was reading an article on Facebook about how the Noah's Ark replica "theme park" in Kentucky is not having the desired attendance and outcome. I roll my eyes and think "I could have told you that."
It's a "Christian" theme park, with the supposedly accurate replica of the Ark. However, the truth in the place gets lost after that because the group that built it believe that the world is 6,000 years old, that Jesus rode the dinosaurs and they were saved on the Ark, and that fossils were placed on the Earth to trick us. They use "science" only to support what they want and try to ignore the rest.
After it was built, the attendance was low and continues to be so. Tourists are not flocking to it in droves, and the few who do are not hanging around to expand the economy of the surrounding area. All the incentives used to sell this idea to the idiots in KY government who bought into this plan have not come to pass.
However, I could have told you that this was a bad idea. If I were there when it was presented, I'd have told them all the things wrong with it.
- Such an attraction has a limited fan base. It really is only a draw for Christians, and mainly just those who are willing to suspend any scientific belief. The rest who go are probably only curious visitors.
- It's not really near a big city. It's about 45 minutes south of Cincinnati and about an hour north of Lexington, KY. To go there, you have to make a special trip. Most folks are only passing through that stretch of Interstate 75 on their way to somewhere else.
- In terms of exhibits, unlike a museum with rotating themes and articles of interest, it doesn't change. Once a person has gone, there isn't much of an incentive to go again.
- Because of separation of church and state, public schools should not be using this as a field trip. I suspect that some schools may try it, but realistically parents (and science teachers) should be vehemently against it.
The group who designed this place is also the folks who run the "Creation Museum" outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Aside from the animatronic dinosaurs, I cannot fathom any reason to go there as they also take a twisted view of science, using only the bits that support what they want to project and dismissing that which doesn't. For example, I have heard that they believe carbon dating is not reliable, because to them the Earth is only 6,000 years old, so how can something be carbon-dated to be older than that. The problem is that science is true whether you believe it or not.
I've not formally visited either place, nor do I plan to.
guinnesscub and I went through the Creation "Museum" gift shop a few years back, which doesn't require a ticket, and the science-phobic attitude were pretty prevalent then. We did it as a lark before he flew back to his then home in Philadelphia. That's as close to it as I'm willing to get.