I was feeling glum about my fellow Americans and how some seem so incredibly ignorant. And like most of us, where do you turn for comfort? Why, YouTube, of course! The place where you can forget your troubles and go on an endless stroll through a landscape of funny and amazing videos.
I found a Bill Maher monologue from about a year ago, in which he hits the nail on the head. America IS full of ignorant people.
It's funny, but frightening too...
A long time ago, the leaders of this country realized that a functioning democracy requires an educated public. Uneducated people are easy to manipulate and fool, and don't have the knowledge they need to make sensible choices when voting.
Unfortunately, we're still not there. Just listen to some of the statistics Bill Maher gives. Contemplate what those people might be thinking as they go to the polls to vote. How can someone who believes the Earth is 6,000 years old and the sun revolves around the earth be trusted to vote for presidents, senators and congresspersons who will set our science and environmental policies?
Statistics prove that the far right, Tea Baggers and especially the evangelical right, attract uninformed and undereducated people. These groups thrive on ignorance and foster misinformation. So it's no surprise that these are the same people who advocate cutting taxes that support education. They're the same ones trying to reduce our science curriculum to a pile of rubble by injecting anti-scientific creationist drivel into our schools. They're the ones trying to take Thomas Jefferson out of our history books and substitute Ronald Regan.
If we ever do manage to get our schools in order and actually teach our kids what they need to know to be good citizens, the Tea Baggers and radical right will whither and die. They know this.
The only way things are going to get better is if those of us who care keep pushing back. We need to foster education, fight ignorance, keep creationism out of our science, and fight revisionist history.
So, I'll stop whining and get back to work. You too.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
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3 comments:
Dear readers -- I am no longer blogging and after leaving these blogs open for two years have finally stopped accepting comments due to spammers. Thanks for your interest. If you'd like to write to me, click on the "Contact" link at the top. Thanks! -- CJ.
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We will know we are making progress when the themes in this book appear in the Wash Post religion section and not until. Keep up the good work. I put in an order for your book.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rich. If we all pull together, maybe we can build momentum.
ReplyDeleteFight stupidity by confronting it. It may not make you friends, but when someone is displaying ignorance call them out on it. A little shame and exposure goes a long way for everyone except the most stupid. Think back to grade school. Did the stupid kids take over the class room and dominate discussions? Hardly. For the most part they kept a low profile and did everything possible to avoid the teacher's attention. We need to get stupid people back to their K-12 roots - silent and overlooked.
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