{"id":10194,"date":"2006-08-14T15:22:18","date_gmt":"2006-08-14T22:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/08\/14\/ignorance-is-ignorant.html"},"modified":"2006-08-14T15:22:18","modified_gmt":"2006-08-14T22:22:18","slug":"ignorance_is_ig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/08\/14\/ignorance_is_ig.html","title":{"rendered":"Ignorance is … ignorant"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know this will come as no huge shock to some, but I still find it appalling<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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Surveys by a Michigan State University researcher find that about one-third of the American population does not believe in evolution, a figure which is much higher than those found in similar surveys in European nations and Japan. The research of Jon D. Miller, MSU Hannah Professor of Integrative Studies, is published in the Aug. 11 issue of the journal Science. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne in three American adults firmly rejects the concept of evolution, a significantly higher proportion than found in any western European country,\u201d Miller said. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Far be it from me to assert something about people, especially when it comes to beliefs — but one in three American adults are blithering idiots. Or so I assert. <\/p>\n

Folks, this is not rocket science<\/em>. This is not obscure branches of astrophysics or understanding General Relativity or the Unified Theory. This is just plain, outright observed fact. Claiming that it’s just a “theory” (and thus patently false) because there remains debate about the precise mechanisms of evolution is like claiming that the stars must really be pinpricks shining through from Heaven because scientists aren’t precisely sure about dark matter and black holes. <\/p>\n

That people are using magical thinking to disbelieve something they find aesthetically or theologically unpalatable is irksome. That some demagogues use it as a means of dividing folks is more than irksome. <\/p>\n

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The researchers combined data from public surveys on evolution collected from 32 European countries, the United States and Japan between 1985 and 2005. Adults in each country were asked whether they thought the statement \u201cHuman beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals<\/strong>,\u201d was true, false, or if they were unsure. <\/p>\n

The study found that over the past 20 years: <\/p>\n