"WHEN FASCISM COMES TO AMERICA IT WILL BE WRAPPED IN THE FLAG
AND CARRYING A CROSS." -SINCLAIR LEWIS

Friday, July 10, 2009

Scientists Are Smart. Americans, Not So Much...

Gee, I wonder why we're consistently lagging behind other industrialized nations in science education:

"Nearly all scientists (97%) say humans and other living things have evolved over time," while only 61% of the public agrees, according to a new report (PDF, p. 37) from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Asked which comes closer to their view, "Humans and other living things have evolved over time" or "Humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time," 97% of scientists responding chose the former option, as opposed to only 2% choosing the latter option; 61% of the public responding chose the former option, as opposed to 31% choosing the latter option.
We see the same denial on the issue of global climate change. Evolutionary biologists and climatologists spend their entire professional lives studying these very subjects yet a solid proportion of Americans continually refuse to listen to them because the scientific data disagrees with their preconceived notions and is something they just don't want to hear. And do you think that it's a coincidence that no matter what he said or did as president that George W. Bush's approval rating never really sank below 30% either?

1 comment:

Leslie Parsley said...

Interesting, isn't it. I saw that report and was also going to do a piece on it. ; )