General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAs America Grows More Polarized, Conservatives Increasingly Reject Science and Rational Thought
http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/155906/as_america_grows_more_polarized%2C_conservatives_increasingly_reject_science_and_rational_thought/_640x425_310x220
Public education and even modern science are relatively new developments in human history. So it makes sense that it would have taken the populace a while to catch up to understanding that evolution did happen, and that angels probably arent real.
But recent polling data suggests that gradual acceptance of the facts may not be the trend when it comes to the theory of evolution. In the 30 years since Gallup started asking people whether they believe humans evolved, evolved under the guidance of God, or were created fully formed by God, the percentage of people adhering to the creationist view has actually gone up slightly over time, and now stands at 46 percent of the population. This is just the tip of the iceberg of a growing problem of public rejection of science.
At the same time, theres been a steady rise in people who believe that humanity evolved without any supernatural guidance, and now stands at 15 percent. What this seeming conflict suggests is that the issue is getting more polarized, as people feel they either have to pick Team Evolution or Team Creationism.
It turns out that education isnt enough to fight ignorance, not when it comes to heavily politicized issues like evolutionary theory. As Chris Mooney argues in his book The Republican Brain, political identity generally trumps sober-minded assessment of the facts when it comes to convincing people of an argument or idea. The theory of evolution isnt being rejected on its merits by the people who don't buy it. It really cant be by someone who is honestly assessing the evidence.
The Tea Party has only intensified social pressure on conservative-leaning Americans to shun anything perceived as irreligious or academic. Science has always had a political edge to it, but the culture wars ramped up by the Tea Party have taken the problem to a whole new level.
greiner3
(5,214 posts)Should be a crime!
quaker bill
(8,225 posts)Many could pass or even score well on a test of the subject. They just prefer belief over science. It is not a matter of education or ignorance. It is a preference bordering on a psychological orientation. Facts, regardless of how well known or substantiated, are simply not relevant.
The curious thing is that their economic philosophy is based on the notion that people are rational...
Xipe Totec
(43,893 posts)PADemD
(4,482 posts)The reason that so many people distrust science is the uncertainty and downright fear.
One day coffee is declared bad for you; the next day its OK to drink coffee in moderation; then drink as much as you want.
There are scientists in companies trying to genetically modify our food. I want real old fashioned food, not Frankenfood that I may find in 10-20 years is harmful. I also want my food labeled.
Dont get me started on high-fructose corn syrup and all the chemicals in our foods.
Then science has brought us harmful medicines (Thalidomide), herbicides (Agent Orange), and insecticides (DDT).
Science has given us many good things, vaccines to combat childhood diseases, the Hubble Space Telescope, the remote control, and the cell phone; but science has also given us tasers and nuclear weapons which can kill us.
BadgerKid
(4,564 posts)Eggs. Butter. Fat. Cholesterol. Carbs. Coffee. etc., I believe, have had their phases of being good or bad.
As real science takes time, I self-impose a low-pass filter on "information," especially science, coming from the media.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)which I mean that the consensus about what we know and how we come to know it (epistemology) has started to break down. On one side are believers in the 'scientific method' and on the other side are believers in 'revealed knowledge'.
This reaches such absurd lengths as evangelical fundies rejecting radio-carbon dating as a plot by Satan to deceive us from faith in God. I have actually had 1-2 of them tell me this to my face without a trace of irony or doubt. Of course, these same people drive around in cars powered by the internal combustion engine and enjoy pasteurized milk cold from their refrigerators. So I"m not sure where that leaves us.
Blanks
(4,835 posts)is because with enough money a study can be performed that yields the results that the 'payer' is looking for.
No doubt this has an effect on how believable scientists are to some people. That's how coffee can be bad for you and good for you. The same thing with eggs, butter, high fructose corn syrup etc.
Some people (maybe most people) just don't know that this is what's going on, but if your livelihood depends on butter being a healthy food. You have to 'prove' that butter is good for you. Whether it is or not.
To some folks (let's call them conservatives) it looks like science is not... an absolute science.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)level of scientific illiteracy in this country combined with a lively strain of general anti-intellectualism. Makes for a fetid swamp in which the vestiges of superstition and magical thinking can regroup and gain a foothold on the popular discourse. Very sad to see it happen.
Lucky Luciano
(11,268 posts)Sincerely,
Well Educated Northeastern Elitist and damn proud of it.
ewagner
(18,964 posts)"...if trying not to be the dumbest son-of-a-bitch in the room makes me elitist, then I plead guilty..."
I'm all-in on that one.
Civilization2
(649 posts)the 'tree of knowledge' is forbidden by 'god',. why is that? this is from the very first book of the bible and yet no answer is ever given in the rest of the hate filled fairy-tails in the old book written by men. Why do all faiths battle with knowledge? The two concepts are simply non-compatible, one is about seeking truth through effort, and the other is about seeking control over populations through (fear-based) story telling. pick your poison.
mmonk
(52,589 posts)have decided to accept and are familiar with.
ladjf
(17,320 posts)Stargazer09
(2,132 posts)Damn, it's scary that 46% of Americans completely reject evolution.
d_r
(6,907 posts)I've read some comments on news stories about education the last few months, and I've realized that many people simply don't understand evolution ("If we evolved from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys today?" . I think that a big part of that is that schools do not teach evolution on purpose or that the teachers simply do not teach evolution and they shy away from it because they are afraid of the "controversy" or the teacher themselves do not understand it. We have a wasted a whole generation of people who simply don't understand what they are talking about.
In this day and age, with computers and internet access so readily available, why are people still so ignorant?
I am so thankful for my parents, since they encouraged us to go to the library and research the answers to our questions, rather than just giving us the answers. I'm realizing that not all parents were so enlightened.
KharmaTrain
(31,706 posts)Hate radio reinforces the right wing memes 24/7. The theme of being anti-science and anti-intellectual has been a cornerstone of the right wing elite's need to dumb down the populace with easily digested talking points that would be echoed to the point where millions now not only accept the lies but embrace them. The elites have pandered to the "angry white man"...telling him he's been disenfranchised (by his own puppetmasters, but he's too far gone to ever realize it) and that all things "librul" are the cause. It creates a one-size fits-all template where whatever "evil" the elite feel should be demonized it's spread over the airwaves and cables and it become the latest mantra. Never mind how irrational or if their new position is 180 different from where it once was, it's the talking points that matter and once you hear them you must believe.
Everything in our world has a political edge to it. Those who ignore that will always be the defensive...
Larry Ogg
(1,474 posts)And the number one weapon of choice the rulers use, in their Class warfare against the industrialized worlds working class, is psychological warfare, which is not limited to faux news and propaganda.
It is no accident that the natural ignorance of people be exploited, and used against them. Predators do not only recognize this ignorance, they use it to their advantage. They premeditatedly disseminate it, praise it, and reward it, in-order to gain, and hold onto financial and political power.
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on". Gorge W. Bush
"What luck for rulers that men do not think". Adolph Hitler
And thanks to things like the "1st amendment", predators - along with the blessings of unscrupulous right wing clergy - rise to positions of authority and leadership, at which time, in order to hold onto, and gain even more power. They spread lies, hysteria, and even more ignorance like a plague.
America, as most have come to know it, is like a snowball headed for hell, and how many people will do what is natural; role their eyes, and read this post as being pure lunacy?
bhikkhu
(10,728 posts)...where officially a fairly strict koran-based and science-free education is the rule for the populace. As here, evolution is just one example of what you are not supposed to learn.
This has had the result that much of the real work of running the country there, whether engineering or medicine or environmental management or many other fields - has to be done by imported foreigners, as the Saudis are officially science-ignorant and incapable themselves.
ed for typo.
SaB2012
(101 posts)While those groups (with some overlapping between them, obviously) are overwhelmingly Creationist, that 15 percent figure could not be that low without lots of Democrats/liberals being Creationists, too.
Marr
(20,317 posts)Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)Comrade_McKenzie
(2,526 posts)Lucky Luciano
(11,268 posts)Even if they believe in creationism, but say they believe in evolution for the sake of voting, that would be ok. The super duper crazy fundamentalists probably could not lie and this would disqualify the most steadfastly ignorant. If that is only 2% of voters, that is a win.
Spike89
(1,569 posts)It is real easy to tabulate the results of a poll, but even those are fraught with survey error (asking "do you believe people were once monkeys?" is vastly different than asking "do you believe that organisms genetically adapt to changing conditions?" Putting aside the potential bias in how the question was framed you still have the perhaps bigger error factor--people lie.
My MIL is a classic example and although purely anecdotal, she is a common type. She is intellegent, educated, and a strict republican. She delights in baiting my wife with the latest Teaparty/Rush-inspired trope just to stir up my wife. She knows for instance that Obama is an American, but thinks it is hilarious to claim otherwise and finds it amusing that opinion polls show a huge number of people "believe" the birther nonsense.
It really isn't only the tea party types. If there had been a poll asking if Dick Cheney was actually the spawn of Darth Vader and Cruella DeVille, I'm sure many of us would have answered in the affirmative. Playing the polls has become just what you do.
That said, there are some ignorant people on the right. It is truly dangerous that their silly denials and games will be taken seriously and the faux-ignorance will become true ignorance.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)What a crock of arrogant shite.
Also rather odd that seemingly both "science" and "rational thought" mean the same thing as "evolution".
"The culture wars ramped up by the Tea Party"
Well it seems to me that the culture wars are also ramped up by stupid articles like this one.
If you don't mind my saying so, I am attempting to alleviate poverty and income inequality, not attempting to stamp out Christianity or religion, even though that doubtless makes me a bad liberal.