User:Bootmii/Conservapedia:Thomas Schlafly

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Thomas Schlafly is the black sheep President of Saint Louis Brewery, producers of Schlafly Beer, a purveyor of microbrews in St. Louis, Missouri. Formed in 1989 with VP Dan Kopman, it produces many varieties of beer, from Pale Ale, to Oatmeal Stout, to Hefeweizen, as well as seasonal beers like Summer Kölsch, Oktoberfest, and Christmas Ale.

Schlafly's InaugurAle, celebrating Obama's presidency, early 2009.

Family tree[edit]

You guessed it. Tom is a member of that Schlafly family. Phyllis Schlafly is Tom's aunt, thus making Andy his cousin.

As well as being a brewer, he is also a lawyer, like his cousins Andy Schlafly and John Schlafly.

Politics[edit]

Thomas Schlafly has identified himself as a Democrat[1]. Schlafly Beers produced brews for both sides in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, one being Baracktoberfest and the other being Palin Ale.

Views on evolution[edit]

As seen in the June 2008 edition of his editorial column, Top Fermentation, in the brewery's monthly newsletter, The Schlafly Growler:

"Nearly 200 years after his birth, Charles Darwin is still controversial because of his theory of evolution. While most alert readers (Ars) are already acquainted with this theory, I would guess that most are not aware of the scientific theory that we as beer drinkers are more highly evolved than members of our species who never drank beer, at least according to The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson, a fascinating book that was brought to my attention by an AR named Craig Ingraham.

Johnson’s book deals primarily with cholera, outbreaks of which were usually caused by unsanitary drinking water. By the time Darwin and (Abraham) Lincoln were hitting their strides professionally, it was commonly known that people who drank beer instead of water were less likely to contract cholera. The reasons were twofold. First, the alcohol in beer possessed antibacterial properties. Second, brewing involved boiling water, thereby killing bacteria.

The problem was that many of our ancestors lacked the ability to produce alcohol dehydrogenases, the enzymes needed to digest alcohol. (Likewise, many of them were also lactose intolerant, meaning they couldn’t digest dairy products.) Over the years, the genetic ability to tolerate alcohol became more dominant in society because those who lacked it were more likely to die from cholera. As a result, the beer drinkers of today are probably the descendants of survivors of cholera epidemics from whom we inherited the ability to produce alcohol dehydrogenases.

However compelling the scientific evidence might be of the evolutionary benefits of being able to digest alcohol, it’s safe to assume that some neo-prohibitionists will reject the science and try to prevent its being publicized." [2]

See also[edit]

  • Schlafly; our fork page for Schlafly and eponymous articles.

External links[edit]

Footnotes[edit]