Same Evidence: Different Interpretation
Creationists make the claim that the interpretation of evidence depends upon the 'framework'. The following excellent tale illustrates the folly of this argument:
Once
upon a time there were two women, Mrs. Morris and Mrs. Field, who were next-door
neighbors and best friends. Each had a teenage son, and these boys were also
best friends. The boys always went to church, got good grades, were well-behaved
towards others, and were obedient and helpful around the house (at least as much
as one could reasonably hope for, when it comes to teenage boys). The two women
were justifiably happy that their sons were such good
boys.
One day when Mrs. Field was visiting Mrs. Morris, some policemen stopped by with
bad news. Their boys had been arrested for shoplifting in the mall. A shop
security guard had clearly seen the boys sneak several items into their pockets.
"Oh no, I'm sure they didn't mean to steal," the women said.
"Maybe it was a joke or a dare, but they would have given it back before
leaving the store. They don't steal. They're good boys."
The police explained that the security guard had called the
police. When the police searched the boys, they found merchandise from several
other stores hidden in their pockets. "There must be some mistake,"
said Mrs. Field. "Are you sure they didn't pay for that merchandise?"
"My boy wouldn't steal," said Mrs. Morris. "He's a good
boy."
The police explained that they had already watched video
surveillance tape from the other stores -- tapes made in the hours preceding the
boys' arrests. Several of the tapes clearly showed one boy pocketing merchandise
while the other boy created a distraction, and then both of them walking out of
the stores without paying.
"Oh dear," said Mrs. Field. "That does sound
serious. I can't understand why my boy would steal. I need to talk to him to
find out more."
"No no no," said Mrs. Morris. "My son is a
good boy. Good boys don't steal. There must be another way to explain all of
this. Maybe it was part of a school project or something. Even if he did walk
out of stores without paying for merchandise, which I'm not convinced that he
did, he was surely planning to give it back before leaving the mall."
The police explained that they had already questioned each
boy separately. Each boy got scared and tried to shift blame onto the other boy
in order to get some leniency. Each boy said that the other boy was the leader
and had shop-lifted before. Each boy said that the other boy had bragged about
having a stash of stolen merchandise hidden under a pile of spare lumber in his
garage. The police asked for permission to search both garages.
"Oh yes, we'd better search," said Mrs. Field. "I want to
know if it's true that my son has shoplifted." She and one police officer
went next door to search the Fields' garage. But Mrs. Morris refused to let the
police into her garage, and continued to argue with them.
A
few minutes later Mrs. Field came back, with a police officer holding a bag of
merchandise (price tags still on) from various local stores. "It's
true," she cried to Mrs. Morris. "I've seen it with my own eyes. You
should look in your garage, to find out for sure if your son has been stealing,
too."
"Of course he hasn't," said Mrs. Morris. "My
son is a good boy, and good boys don't steal." But Mrs. Field was
no-nonsense. She grabbed Mrs. Morris by the
wrist and dragged her to the Morris' garage. "This is for your own good and
the good of your son," she said as she pushed the spare lumber aside and
revealed another stash of merchandise. "There. You see with your own eyes
the evidence that your son has been stealing."
"This doesn't prove anything. It could have been planted
by someone else," said Mrs. Morris. "Or he could have paid for it and
was hiding it because he was going to give it to me as a gift. My son is a good
boy, and good boys don't steal. Only bad boys steal.
"I'm not saying that our boys are bad," said Mrs.
Field. "A son can be basically good, but still do something wrong once in a
while. I still think they're good boys, but it's obvious that they've been doing
a little shoplifting, so we've got some serious work to do with them! You're
only harming your son by denying the truth."
"There are only two kinds of boys," said Mrs.
Morris. "Bad boys, and good boys. Bad boys steal. Good boys don't. I know
my son is a good boy. Ask his pastor. Ask his teachers. Ask all around the
neighborhood. He's always been good around me and everyone else. You've said it
yourself many times. I've got lots of evidence that my son is a good boy.
Therefore, he didn't steal anything."
"But look at the evidence," said Mrs. Field.
"The security guard saw them. They had merchandise in their pockets. They
were caught on video tape. Each has obviously hidden stolen merchandise in our
garages. The evidence is clear."
"You don't understand the nature of 'evidence,'"
said Mrs. Morris. "All evidence is interpreted by presuppositions. There
are two frameworks for interpreting this evidence: a 'bad boy' framework and a
'good boy' framework. The police assume a 'bad boy' framework. They first assume
that my boy is bad, and interpret all the evidence within that framework, and so
it's no surprise that they conclude that my son has stolen. But I know that the
'bad boy' framework is false. I've got lots of reasons to believe that my son is
a good boy. All of this so-called evidence can be interpreted within a 'good
boy' framework, just as well as in a 'bad boy'
framework. Since you've concluded that our boys have stolen, you've obviously
adopted the police's 'bad boy' framework. But that framework is wrong. Instead,
you should do what I do. I can explain all of the evidence with my 'good boy'
framework just fine. My son is a good boy. So he didn't steal anything."
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Loren Haarsma