{"id":10842,"date":"2007-06-18T20:38:03","date_gmt":"2007-06-19T03:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2007\/06\/18\/there-are-times-i-despair.html"},"modified":"2007-06-18T20:38:03","modified_gmt":"2007-06-19T03:38:03","slug":"there_are_times_i_despair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/06\/18\/there_are_times_i_despair.html","title":{"rendered":"There are times I despair"},"content":{"rendered":"

I really do think that most people are sensible and level-headed and … well … willing and able to use their brains, when it seems important.<\/p>\n

Then I read stuff like this<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Evolution, that is, the idea that human beings developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life<\/strong><\/p>\n

Definitely or probably true:  53%
Definitely or probably false: 44%<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Okay, well at least a narrow majority believe in evolution.  On the other hand.<\/p>\n

\n

Creationism, that is, the idea that God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years<\/strong><\/p>\n

Definitely or probably true:  66%
Definitely or probably false: 31%<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I’m not sure about the folks who seem to have agreed with both statements.  Regardless — yeesh.<\/p>\n

On the bright side, 70% indicated that a presidential candidate’s views on evolution are not really relevant to whether they are qualified to be president.  Which is disturbing in and of itself, but also means, one hopes, that the hefty pro-Creationist bent of the public will not have a substantial effect.<\/p>\n

Again, yeesh.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(via Les<\/a>)<\/p>\n

<\/small><\/p>\n

UPDATE:   Aha.  I feel better. It’s skewed because of Republicans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

A Gallup poll released Monday said that while the country is about evenly split over whether the theory of evolution is true, Republicans disbelieve it by more than 2-to-1.<\/p>\n

Republicans saying they don\u2019t believe in evolution outnumbered those who do by 68 percent to 30 percent in the survey. Democrats believe in evolution by 57 percent to 40 percent, as do independents by a 61 percent to 37 percent margin.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Though, to be fair — neither the Dems nor the Indies have much to crow about here.<\/p>\n

Again, with the yeesh.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(via SEB<\/a>)<\/p>\n

<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I really do think that most people are sensible and level-headed and … well … willing and able to use their brains, when it seems important. Then I read stuff…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[54,27,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elections-2008","category-religion","category-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10194,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/08\/14\/ignorance_is_ig.html","url_meta":{"origin":10842,"position":0},"title":"Ignorance is … ignorant","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 14-Aug-06 3:22pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I know this will come as no huge shock to some, but I still find it appalling. Surveys by a Michigan State University researcher find that about one-third of the...","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":134527,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/03\/game-day-4.html","url_meta":{"origin":10842,"position":1},"title":"Game Day!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 3-Sep-17 9:09am","format":false,"excerpt":"Had a great get-together yesterday, a bit over a dozen people, usual array of games (e.g., Betrayal at House on the Hill, Forbidden Island) ... ... except for two new ones: Evolution -- Create new species! Give them attributes that help them feed better, breed easier, defend themselves well ...\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/f785a894bdaf60327083b16908bff3f55B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/f785a894bdaf60327083b16908bff3f55B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/f785a894bdaf60327083b16908bff3f55B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":128149,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/24\/when-the-scientific-candidate-most-definitely-isnt.html","url_meta":{"origin":10842,"position":2},"title":"When the "scientific" candidate most definitely isn't","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 24-Sep-15 11:09am","format":false,"excerpt":"Ben Carson demonstrates how a deep knowledge of the small scale (as a neurosurgeon) doesn't necessarily reflect much knowledge or judgment about the large scale (e.g., astrophysics and evolutionary biology).I'm still trying to figure out why he's doing so well in the GOP polls, and what, eventually, will trip him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11188,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/03\/21\/fortunately_some_of_us_de.html","url_meta":{"origin":10842,"position":3},"title":"Fortunately, some of us develop our fur coat later in life","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 21-Mar-07 9:29am","format":false,"excerpt":"Why are human beings \"hairless apes\"? Perhaps because prehistoric mothers thought hairiness was unattractive in offspring. Harris' paper describes Stone Age societies in which the mother of a newborn had...","rel":"","context":"In "Parenting"","block_context":{"text":"Parenting","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/parenting"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":136027,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/04\/01\/stage-review-sense-sensibility.html","url_meta":{"origin":10842,"position":4},"title":"Stage Review: “Sense and Sensibility”","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 1-Apr-18 1:50pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Went to a fabulous production of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility up at the Arvada Center Saturday night. Very clever, very funny, very whimsical, people playing multiple roles, roles being played by multiple people, furniture whizzing on and off and around to represent different sets, people wearing different hats representing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sense-and-sensibility.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":40241,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/12\/30\/human-evolution-survey-says.html","url_meta":{"origin":10842,"position":5},"title":"Human Evolution — Survey says …?","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 30-Dec-13 3:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Most of the sites I've seen pointing at news stories about this note that \"Republican\" belief in evolution is down from a similar poll in 2009 (54% dropping to 43%). \u00a0I have to wonder if that's in part because of changing demographics in the GOP (folks self-identifying as \"Republicans\" have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10842\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}