Why does everyone distort Darwin's Theory of Evolution?

Question

Darwin's Theory of Evolution actually says that man and ape evolved from the same ancestor with apes going in one genetic direction and humans going in another genetic direction. Why do people continually say "man evolved from ape"? Even the supposed intellectually superior atheists get this wrong.

Answer 1

Because candy people are stupid and choose to beleive what their church has told them and they refuse to look any further into something that they have been told rather than researching it themselfs.

and evolution is frowned apon by more than just a few people billions of people all say the same thing and if you dont agree then your wrong no matter what..

Answer 2

what or who is that same ancestor? well if darwin didnt know who the ancestor is then i guess his theory is as flawed as any ol idea. so man instead of seeking to be rich to eat the best foods, pleasure thyself day and night would rather spend their life wondering the orgins of life which isnt paid well or anything.

Answer 3

Because people haven't actually read The Origin of Species.

  Darwin clearly states in the beginning that his proposal is just a guess and really that life is far too complex for him to state for certain.  

  He says all he's discovered is just a small part of the "machinery" (I forget the metaphor he used) not the actual Maker or the way it works.  And, he gives major credit to lots of other people who think the way he did at the time.  So Darwin's theory is not so much authoritative as it is more of some interesting little thing in a scientific journal somewhere by his own admission.

  And, to answer the above "top contributor", if you've read anything about the history of science, you would know that people basically guess all the time (look at all the failed scientific endeavors: alchemy, phrenology if you even know what I'm talking about) and Darwin himself says he used his pure reasoning abilities as opposed to "evidence" that is only pertinent in the, as it were, human mind.

  Darwin's theories are well-supported in the "art" of science and mathematics and if you knew anything about the theory, you would know that trying to find "the missing link" would be like trying to find a needle in 30000 haystacks.  It's almost statistically impossible (even a recent Newsweek said that one).  

  Furthermore, just to throw it out there, I have yet to find a philosopher who doesn't believe in God or a Force in some way.  Not even Nietzsche (who merely said God is dead, not that God never existed).

Answer 4

Because a large number of people get all their views on evolution from a "doctor" of divinity.

Answer 5

I think part of the problem is that as a theory, Darwinism is not well supported by actual fossil evidence. However, many people (for various reasons) find its conclusions seductive and are willing to overlook its poor foundation in evidence.

Answer 6

Just because they never read him!!

Also Darwin was great, but he did not answer everything with his theory, he has missed something very important...

It is why we have neodarwinism emerging those days...

Answer 7

What you say is right if by apes you mean modern apes. But if our common ancestor was alive today, what would you call it? You might or might not call it an ape (eg. Orrorin tugenensis, Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Ardipithecus). But if you go back further, then our ancestors would be even more clearly "apes". Really, we are classified as apes anyway.

Answer 8

Fools Gold

Answer 9

Read a couple of the answers here and you will have your answer. I think much of it is willful and just plain lying. Nobody could be as stupid as these people sound, unless they are blinded by a lie, masquerading as truth.

Answer 10

Technically, they are correct, we did evolve from apes. But not modern apes. If you saw our common ancestor, then you would have to concede, it was an Ape. Considering humans are in fact apes, what else could they have been?

The distortion occurs when the Creationists try to squeeze history, and Evolutionary theory, into the 6000 year timeline allowed by the Bible, any scientist will tell you that it will not fit. This is clear proof, to a Creationist, that the entire theory can not  be true. Clearly Man could not have evolved from an ape in 6000 years.

The first hurdle is to make it clear to Creationists that the Earth is billions of years old. Then they may be able to see the reasoning behind Evolution.

Answer 11

Because people don't really want to learn about it, and just want to totally disregard it because they automatically think it is totally wrong.

Answer 12

I agree that the theory of evolution gets distorted often.  We evolved from apes as did chimps and gorillas.  We are the last in a long line of bipedal apes probably starting back as far as Sahelanthropus 7 million years ago.  I believe that chimps also had the same bipedal ancestor but would be in the minority of scientific opinion in that regard.

Answer 13

Because nobody reads.  They just watch TV.

Answer 14

I'm am sorry for those who defeat their own purpose by failing to do thorough research.

I feel anguish for them who make claims that trod upon other peoples theories and thesis's, rather then, find new evidence of their own to strengthen the known and shed light on the unknown.

New evidence that suggests the old theories are weak and the old thesis no longer hold the strength of the authors work against modern times.

So many people are struggling to find the missing jewels of mankind's existence that cannot get funding, because they have found nothing new to present those who would give them support.

Book stores are flooded with rambling guesses and wishful thinking.  Just as are the tabloids filled with fools gold of visitors from outer space, aliens from under the Bermuda triangle, and pigs with wings.

Scientific minds are more careful about exposing their exploits until they have sufficient evidence, and yet, they will be hounded by reporters, curiosity seekers, and grave robbers.  With all the people on earth, there just isn't a lot of them who will do the hard tedious work.  Instead they do little and hope for big rewards, and confuse the people who only hear about the latest finds or newest discoveries.

It is sad that we have so many adventurers and so few fully trained for the hunt for specimens to help glue together another piece of the past.

There will always be the people who hunt like wild animals shown a piece and pointed in the right direction by those who want to stay home and wait for them to add another important link to a private collection.

While the Indiana Jones in us all wants to know, we just hope a few more, like that, realistic fantasy, Archaeologist bring home the pieces first.

We can not stop anyone from playing the Archaeologist or Paleontologists, we just hope the play ones as well as those who have a degree and know how to do proper research get to the finds first and give them to the correct people for proper analysis.

Answer 15

They probably haven't read enough about it.  Incidentally, it is no longer just a theory -- I have proved it.  (Details on request; please provide an e-mail address.)  An excellent reference on the subject is:

Answer 16

I agree with you Candy, people are morons.  We did not evolve from modern day apes, but we did have a common ancestor.  We evolved down one path and they another.  But we are still very close in relation to them.  This is the reason why 98% of our DNA matches a chimpanzee.

As for the people above that write off Evolution by saying it is just a theory, you need to study more.  For one thing a scientific theory and a theory from your uncle George is two different things.  A scientific theory is one, which has not been disproved but is not easily viewed.  Since evolution takes hundreds of thousand of years it is rather hard for a person to see it in action.  Humans don’t live long enough to view human evolution.  This does not mean it doesn’t exist.  We do have many fossils that do point to the truth of evolution.  Just because they haven’t found a fossil for every single year of our evolution doesn’t discredit the whole theory.  If you want to watch evolution, check out viruses.  The common flu for example evolves every year.  

For those of you idiots who say, "it's just a theory", perhaps you should also stop believing in other scientific theories like The Theory of Electricity or The Theory of Gravity.  We cannot view these either but do you believe in them?

Answer 17

It was the first things the conservative Christians could comprehend when Darwin first expoused his theory..

And as always, people always distort facts for their own agendas.

Answer 18

I have to go along with KC and what he says. For one thing we have to forget this "Ape" business because there just is no such animal, it's a chimpanzee and we're , like KC says about 98% related to "it" in fact, not the blooming ape. So, forget the darn ape.

    We are in fact related along the line of a yet unknown species, that is yet to be found, and then we will I'm sure, be found to be, along some line, the chimpanzee will be a line that will be somewhere along these lines. We will not be related by any other means except by the same general lines, not with the ape, for Pete's sake.

    I wish people would forget this Ape business.

   People watch Discovery and see the lowly ape person running around and then point their finger and say" see I told you so, look at all the hair, it's climbing a tree, and howling like a monkey" they distort everything they see instead of looking at what isn't there, but what should be there.