Fruit Fly Research

In the comments, there’s been some discussion of Sarah’s Palin’s ignorant dissing of “fruit fly research,” which she apparently does not know has been a mainstay of genetic research for decades, including work on autism. PZMyers has the background and, of course, his trademark denunciation.

I’ll go a step further, further than Myers and other commentary I’ve read.

Palin’s dissing of “fruit fly” research was a deliberate dogwhistle to the creationists. Anyone who’s ever gotten into any kind of evo-creo debate has encountered the following: “So the evilutionists claim to have seen new species of fruit flies evolve? Big deal. They’re still just fruit flies.” It’s like a reference to the Dred Scott decision, vis a vis the abortion debate. Fruit flies are one of the creationists favorite “nyuk nyuk nyuk … you got nothing, ya egghead evilutionist” tag lines.

As for “Paris,” that’s just a little more Axis of Weasel icing on the creationist cake.