Louisiana boycott is paper tiger; Darwinists bite hand that feeds them

I previously noted that two Darwinist societies have announced or threatened boycott action against Louisiana because of the new Louisiana "academic freedom" law which allows the state's public-school teachers to teach the scientific evidence both for and against the theory of evolution [1] [2]. Richard Satterlie, executive committee president of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, wrote a letter to the Louisiana governor stating that the SICB had chosen Utah instead of Louisiana as a convention site as a protest against the academic freedom law. Michael Egnor of the Discovery Institute responded to Satterlie's letter by noting that the SICB members -- by snubbing taxpayers who fund scientific research -- were biting the hand that feeds them. Sleazy PZ Myers and the Panda's Thumb blog responded to Egnor
[3] [4] [5]. The Darwinist scientists are playing with fire -- their contempt for the public's opinions about science could very well result in a backlash that would reduce public funding for scientific research, particularly research that promotes evolution theory. Darwinists have contempt for the public's opinions on scientific issues even where scientific expertise is not required, e.g., the question or whether to teach both the scientific strengths and weaknesses (or criticisms) of evolution theory in public schools.
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Also, the whole idea of the boycott is a paper tiger, for the following reasons:

(1) The SICB's absence from Louisiana will hardly be noticed -- of the Society's past annual meetings since 1960, only three were held in Louisiana (New Orleans) -- in 1976, 1987, and 2004. The SICB might as well also announce that it will avoid states that failed to get an "A" grade in the Fordham Foundation's ratings of state evolution-education standards. The SICB letter was nothing more than a potshot at Louisiana.

(2) Darwinist organizations constitute a small fraction of all the organizations that have held national conventions in Louisiana.

(3) Some organizations might actually prefer Louisiana as a convention site because of the academic freedom law.
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