Earlier Nearlysilentbob posted a diary about the common misconceptions of evolution and gave some what sarcastic answers and were a little bit short on facts. Ill go through all of the ones he mentioned and explain them correctly. I will also add some of my own that I think many people believe but are simply not correct
10. Evolution happened in the incredibly distant past....
Evolution is constant process that has been going on as long as life has been on earth.
9. Evolution takes millions of years to happen.
Sometimes it does, but things can happen in much smaller timescales. An example of this is rapidly multiplying microbial life such as staphylococcus. 20 years after the introduction of penicillin a antibiotic resistant strain developed called MRSA. This shows that evolution can happen within ones lifetime.
8. "I didn't come from no ape..."
This seems to be an arrogant argument. While the fossil record is not 100% complete there is significant evidence that humans have a common ancestor with many modern apes. Also, humans are 99% similar in DNAwith many primates and many of our skeletal features are very similar. While many feel too good to have evolved from a primate they are just ignoring scientific evidence for ignorance and arrogance.
7. Evolution is a boring subject.
This is an opinion not a misconception but still not everyone will find it interesting or want to study it. Everyone is their own person and can do what they want with their life.
6. Evolution disproves the notion of God as a Creator...
Many argue that evolution and God can coexist. I however, believe the opposite. Since evolution requires a timeline of at least 4 billion years and the universe is 12 billion years old +- 1.2 billion, it simply disproves everything the Bible asserts. I am no biblical scholar but the Bible is supposed to be the word of God so shouldn't it be right? This is what has religious fundamentalists so scared because if the Bible is wrong it basically disproves their religion.
5. It affects only living organisms...right?
This is a bit of tricky one. While evolution only does affect living organisms because of natural selection and many other evolutionary mechanisms, evolution also affects virus' which by today's standards are not considered living organisms.
4. The biggest, strongest, most aggressive male always dominates in a group.
This depends on what species you are looking at. Many mammals tend to follow this structure. This changes from specie to specie. Ants for example are ruled by a single female while the rest of the colony are male workers. In this example the biggest strongest male would only help bring in more food and not dominate the group.
3. Evolution is only a theory...
Many people throw the word theory as if it is just an assumption that is thrown out there without any real thought behind it. While it is true that it is in a sense a theory there is much evidence behind it. One can look at the fossil records and see animals as they evolve through time. We can also use it to make predictions about experiments related to evolution.
2. Individuals can't evolve.
Evolution can take place generationally albeit in very small ways. It takes 100's or thousands of generations to build up enough changes to start seeing different species.
1. Mankind cannot direct or control evolution.
On the long term we cannot control evolution because we have only been on this earth in our current form for about a few hundred thousand years. We have domesticated animals though. Cows, sheep, dogs, cats are just a few of the animals that man has bred and domesticated to fit our needs.
I have seen some idiotic things by people like Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains) have said. One of my personal favorites is how he claims that since birds are derived from reptiles that there is no such thing as a crocoduck in the fossil record. This is the dumbest argument I have ever heard. Like I have previously said evolution is not an overnight process. Ducks evolved from other birds which evolved from jurassic period reptiles. Crocodiles are no where even close to ducks on the evolutionary tree.
This goes to show the ignorance that is on display that can easily be disputed with a quick explanation.