http://www.eightballmagazine.com/dia...02/034/708.htm

A light bulb appears over my head.
I finally get it.
For the democratic process to run properly it necessitates the voter to have some knowledge of what he is voting on.
For it to work properly it requires voters to cast their votes based on an educated opinion.
If you are going to vote on something like stem cell research you should at least know what it is, correct?
Sadly, that isn’t how many American vote, as is obvious when during an election year people are talking about whether or not someone “looks presidential” and whether the person looks “likeable”.
Well the question is, how can Americans vote on such things as global warming, stem cell research, cloning and what have you when basic scientific fundamental concepts fly right over our heads.
"American adults in general do not understand what molecules are (other than that they are really small). Fewer than a third can identify DNA as a key to heredity. Only about 10 percent know what radiation is. One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth, an idea science had abandoned by the 17th century." Said Jon D. Miller, a political scientists who directs the Center for Biomedical Communications at the Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, he regularly surveys Americans for his clients which include the National Science Foundation on the public’s knowledge and attitudes towards science in general.
I mean, lets be honest, if you don’t know what a ****ing cell is how can you understand what stem cell research is enough to vote on it?
And according to this guy most Americans don’t know what a cell is.
Then it hit me.
There is a reason why people are fighting so hard to get creationism taught in the public schools along side evolution as a scientific alternative.
Like I said, it hit me. And it hit me hard.
Americans, on top of not having a clue what a cell is or what radiation is or even that the Earth revolves around the Sun are letting religious leaders dictate to them what to vote on issues that would take knowledge of basic scientific fundamentals, because I am assuming that they are assuming that since these religious leaders are supposedly moral and ethical “authorities” they should be qualified to figure out where we stand on these scientific issues, but who is to say that they even know these basic scientific concepts?
What a dangerous misstep.
Fact: Polls show that in general, people who adhere to fundamentalist views are not well educated.
Those things go hand in hand.
He says that every time he goes on the radio to talk about his findings he gets people from the listening area sending him cards in the mail saying that they will pray for him.
So I take it even though they don’t understand what he is talking about when he refers to “DNA” they know that people that use big words like that are most likely going to hell.

 

You know, I've always thought about this topic. I have always seen more educated people vote democrats or have an anti conservative/republican view. Most of my friends are well educated and I've notice non of them are republicans. They all stand for liberal views. I've also notice that in the town of Davis, where they have the highest or the 2nd highest rate of college graduates or something to that affect and there are a lot of democrats. I always ask myself why do so many people blindly follow their political party or religion , accepting what is told to them and never questioning the ideas. Just because a presidential canidate is in your party, a person basically has to vote for him. That's how I see it. Like that idiot Bush, just because he was a republican, those in his party voted for him. I've met a few people like this and they always answer "thats just the way I was raised". Especially in areas of racism and homophobia. In your post, I agree that there is a BIG problem but I bet you many of these people aren't from the more populated cities but in more isolated or rural towns. It's pretty sad hearing facts that conform what I've believed for a while. But you know what? America IS a great place to live, I would not want to live anywhere else. I've been to Hong Kong ..I was born there, but I would never want to live there. With all the problems we have, this place is still one of the best place to live, start a family, and do whatever else.

 

Thats a dangerous line there to follow. While I myself am a pretty staunch liberal, nearly all the conservatives I know (many would not ally themselves with the republican party, however) are wicked smart people, and very well educated. Granted, many of the bible-belt type republicans may not be well educated, and it wouldn't surprise me to believe that many of them believe the sun around the earth stuff.

 

Well it's a hard generalization to make. People who are more intelligent tend to be more ambivalent about matters, because they will acknowledge when they don't know all the facts. I like this quote:


"I have noticed that the more people know, the less certain they are about any particular bit of knowledge they have. If you go out with a bunch of serious botanists and casual plant lovers and ask for the name of a plant you see, the casual folks often insist it's X, because it resembles X, they're not looking at details, that's a name they are familiar with, and they don't realize how many possibilities there are. However, the botanist is likely to say "I'm not sure; I'd have to see it in bloom." People who know less are often more certain about things than people who know more, in my experience. I have also noticed that my smartest friends are less certain about their opinions than my simpler friends. They are more aware of how easy it is to be wrong and they're more willing to change their opinions."




Anyways that's my theory about how i-club works and why there's always so much drama about shops and tuners - because there are a lot of people in the world who find it uncomfortable to be unsure. Everyone wants to be sure of things.

 

Also, think about what it takes to construct a smart person in terms of being educated and informed (meaning not "street smart" since we usually use that to refer to innate intelligence).

It virtually mandates being highly educated b/c while anyone can read a billion books or understand what the issues are, for the most part only it's only through high education that critical thinking, doubting facts until you confirm them, examining perspectives in a methodical way is taught.