There is, and has been, a strain of "my stupid is just as good as your smarts" in this country." And to be honest it's killing us. It got a boost with the Palin candidacy back in '08. It really reared its ugly head last year with the candidates who went on and on and on about whether or not a woman could get pregnant if she was "really" raped for example.
We also saw it during the shut down with the congressman from I forget where (and I'm not wasting my time looking him up) who wasn't really sure what it was all about but he knew that he and his fellows wanted to get some respect. For what? Breathing? Existing? Waking up in the morning?
And if you don't mind feeling like you took a dip in the moat during high summer you can find sterling examples in the comments section of just about any story about science (especially if evolution is involved), gay rights or religion.
My best example this week is this story on HP earlier this week. It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. One commenter claimed that he was studying anthropology (admired Louis Leakey) but ran across information that made him question what he was being taught and he dropped the field. I FINALLY got him to provide some links. What shook his faith in Anthropology? The Piltdown Maa and a story about how early modern humans aren't being called Cro Magnon anymore. I really didn't want to pursue that line any further. Hell I've known Piltdown was hoax for like forever. As for changing the names give me a freakin' break.
Now we come to the really fun exchange. I guess it was fun. Again I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The fundies were out in force and for folks who demand we respect them? Well, you gotta give it to get it and calling people names while you prove you don't understand what in the H E double tooth picks you're talking about is a strange way to go about it.
What follows is a prime example. And if anyone is feeling like taking a trip down wacky lane for a few minutes more "gems" from this particular example of meticulous scholarship can be found here. And yes, I'm being extremely sarcastic. When you find yourself on the north side of sixty you start losing the incentive to play nice in the play ground. Anyway the other guy's comments are bolded. Mine are in italics.
"Our belief is a lot solid compared to the "might have come, possibly, maybe,
could haves, probably, possibly gibberish theories you people keep holding on
to. At least our faith is unshakable and rooted firmly in God. You people
believe and trust uncertainty. Now that's funny. No wonder science always comes
up short of answers and falls flat when proving the source of life. To believe
in evolution is saying, you're one big accident. A BIG MISTAKE. I regret wasting
my time talking to you fools because you're just one big mistake in your own
hearts. From now on, live a meaningless life without purpose, without a plan,
without desires without creation and without dreams because your source has none
of that. Living any other way would be going away and contradicting the source
which you came from." Notice that there's a whole paragraph that doesn't say a whole heck of a lot actually.
Me "Depends on your vision of God/Creator/Singer/harp player - however you see
Him/Her. If your vision is closer to that of the old Irish, the German
mystics;Hildegard or Eckhart, the early Quakers then the Creator and the
universe are one and the same. The question becomes how you treat the universe.
If the Creator is continually singing the universe into being then you are
walking on sacred ground no matter where you are. Best to step softly and
carefully."
"You're either insane, a monkey or out of this world. Are you still evolving into
something we don't know about. If being a monkey is not good enough for you, let
me know, I'll wait till you become an octopus with legs." Now I ask you, what the heck is going on here? Anyway I thought of and discarded at least a half dozen possible responses and settled for this.
“Don't spend all those nickels in one place. Curious. How did you get from my
comment, which reflects a perfectly good view of the universe, to yours? Check
out half the Irish monks that made their way down to the heel of Italy's boot,
Saint Francis, Meister Eckhart and Hildegard of Bingen. That'll do for
starters.” And that was the end of that thread.
What's scary is that I believe this is the real deal not just a troll. The threads go on for too long and the entries are too consistent. And a prime example of the folks that don't know how evolution by natural selection works but spend a heck of a lot of time saying it's wrong. Unh guys? Individuals adapt. Species evolve. And even if I could pull it off I have absolutely no desire to become an octopus with legs. Too damn much trouble.
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