#ark encounter

David Badash at NCRM:

Recent visitors to Ark Encounter, a Christian theme park that has drawn controversy over the years, are facing a new challenge. Kentucky health officials are warning of possible exposure to measles, after an unvaccinated individual reportedly visited the museum and a local hotel earlier this week. “Measles is a highly contagious disease,” Northern Kentucky Health District Director for Health Jennifer Mooney, PhD, MPH, said in a press release, according to NBC affiliate WLWT. “Being around so many people at a place such as the Ark Encounter creates the potential for wide exposure. We want to make sure everyone who visited during that time is aware they may have been exposed to the measles, and they should monitor themselves for symptoms.” “We also want to remind people that measles is preventable through the highly effective MMR (Measles, Mumps & Rubella) vaccine,” Dr. Mooney added. “The vaccine has been administered to millions of people over several decades and has a proven health and safety record.”

"I mean, if you're lying to people in a dangerous way, and you're charging them $60 a ticket to do it plus parking, and I'm out here trying to tell them the truth for free, in the rain, who's being mean?"

As that release suggests, the fact that this person visited Ark Encounter is especially problematic because the virus spreads among unvaccinated people, and you can almost guarantee that the sort of people who visit that place include plenty of vaccine deniers. What is Ark Encounter if not a meet-up spot for the scientifically illiterate

And since Ark Encounter offers free tickets for children, practically encouraging parents to indoctrinate their entire family, there’s also the possibility that unvaccinated kids will pay the price because of one irresponsible person’s ignorance. It’s already happened in South Carolina, where one particular church is now the epicenter of a measles outbreak.

If you don't get your kids vaccinated against measles, you are stupid as well as a bad parent.

2,000-plus measles cases reported in US in 2025; ongoing outbreaks threaten elimination status

Where vaccination rates declined the most, by county

This is very MAGA creationist. Apparently somebody visiting that fake Noah's Ark attraction in Kentucky was a measles carrier.

Here’s a pic I took of a little bi-coded diorama I saw:

My anxious closeted queer heart stopped when I saw this and how it implies (to my eyes) that the guy in the middle likes both guys and girls. I guess that’s queer rep but it’s also in the exhibit of the pre-food world, meaning they were all evil and died, and I didn’t see any queer rep in after-the-flood exhibits so they’re probably definitely condemning gayness. which kinda hurt but I think it’s really funny because of their mascots:

Their mascots are literally giraffes, and it’s been a while since I checked my facts but I think I read that 60% of all giraffe...love...is gay? So I was kinda hopeful at first that they wouldn’t be homophobic what with that and the rainbow gateway:

If I end up with a girl or a nonbinary person someday I want to get a pic of us kissing under this rainbow right here.

[The photo above isn’t mine, I snatched it off google and I think it’s on the official site. I did take my own pics but the ones without my family in them are too blurry because I tried to take them in secret.]

But then there was “taking back the rainbow” stuff in the gift shop. I’ve seen queerphobic internet trolls use that phrase a bunch. So I felt sad and kinda panicky but I’ll get over it. (Also my dad was looking at a vaguely homophobic rainbow shirt and I would have d i e d if he had bought one but luckily he chickened out.)

Overall, I’d say the whole concept is neat, but the lack of details given in the Genesis flood story meant that most of the Ark Encounter’s exhibits were “educated guesses” and some was entirely fabricated, like the names of all the female characters onboard. That didn’t stop me from appreciating the artistry that went into it though. Honestly the way they did it was a lot like fictional wordbuilding, which is right up my ally so I really enjoyed it. So little is known about the pre-flood civilizations and their technology, or even how the ark was supposedly built, and it was neat to see prevalent hypotheses demonstrated.

Was watching a documentary on a stupid creationist noah's ark theme park in kentucky, anyway, they have this model of a carnotaurus with gilded horns fighting in a gladitorial arena and ngl it's fucking rad. Might use it in a dnd campaign.