1 in 5 Americans are complete fucking idiots

[eauclaireliberal]

CHICAGO - When Jon D. Miller looks out across America, which he can almost do from his 18th-floor office at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, he sees a landscape of haves and have-nots - in terms not of money, but of knowledge.

Dr. Miller, 63, a political scientist who directs the Center for Biomedical Communications at the medical school, studies how much Americans know about science and what they think about it. His findings are not encouraging.

Over the last three decades, Dr. Miller has regularly surveyed his fellow citizens for clients as diverse as the National Science Foundation, European government agencies and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. People who track Americans' attitudes toward science routinely cite his deep knowledge and long track record.

Dr. Miller's data reveal some yawning gaps in basic knowledge. 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.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/science/30profile.html

[demnan]

1. You have to be kidding . . .

n/t

[eauclaireliberal]

6. Wish I was

This is going to get worse...that whole "faith-based" b.s. in the schools.

What an embarrassment these right-wingers are; They make us look like idiots to the world. Oh wait, I forgot: The whole world is "irrelevant"

[Bluesplayer]

2. hmmm

How did all of them get elected to public office?

[eauclaireliberal]

15. RE:"hmmm"

How did all of them get elected to public office?

Simple: Guns, goons and propaganda.

[howmad1]

53. Idiots elect idiots, dontcha know.

[Bonhomme Richard]

3. Lol, The bush base. That expains things.

[marbuc]

4. We don't need no fancy book lernin'

All the knowledge we need is in the bible!

[beyurslf]

5. More than 1 in 5 voted for Bush TWICE!

[uppityperson]

7. Had 1 person tell me gravity was caused by having NS poles on earth

I had this vision of when the poles switch, everyone 'bing!'s off the earth. Maybe this is what happened to the dinosaurs.

[Bluzmann57]

8. Thats kind of scary

I am not even close to being the smartest person around, but even a dumb so and so like me understands these basic things. Education should be priority one in this country. If the populace is well educated, good things will happen. It's been proven time and time again.

[SteppingRazor]

9. Let's give this 20 percent of the population a science crash course...

By having them colonize the moon. :evilgrin:

[glitch]

13. self-delete

[Bassic]

34. They're liable to try to eat it.

[wtmusic]

10. Proof of evolution

Intelligence has developed through eons as a critical survival trait. In a democracy it's no longer required (dumb people have nearly the same survival rate as smart people, and breed more).

We're doomed.

[Nihil]

16. Well, "fortunately" ...

... there is a major leveller just around the corner (in geological
terms anyway) with the combination of accelerating climate change,
food/water depletion and drug-resistant diseases.

Hopefully, this will thin out the herd a bit so that the sapient
element of homo sapiens will once more become dominant.

[mainegreen]

17. snicker

"sapient element of homo sapiens"

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[wtmusic]

19. That probably won't level anything

because smart/dumb people will be equally affected. If anarchy ensues, smart people may again have a chance.

[Nihil]

23. Equally affected at first ...

... but the response to the event(s) will tend to favour the smart over
the dumb.

In addition, I can't see any way (with the current mix of smart/dumb)
that such changes would not result in anarchy so this gives a second
opportunity to the smart subset.

[renie408]

39. Yeah, but the stupid ones drive big trucks and have guns...

and know how to hunt things and garden and weird shit like that. Which I would think would be of value in a world of rapidly depleting resources over which there will be increasing competition.

[jokerman93]

41. true but

The ones with big trucks and guns will eventually run out of gas and bullets and then like everyone else, they'll have to learn either to cooperate or perish. Anyway, folks like that usually need a fully stocked Walmart nearby in order to accessorize and maintain their rugged individualist made-for-television philosophy.

And...what makes you think there aren't a whole lot of skilled and educated - engineers, soldiers, farmers, doctors, nurses and teachers that will understand the civilized concept of "cooperation" from the get-go and keep life moving along as well as possible - if it came to surviving an economic tailspin in this country?

Cooperation will trump competition in any next stage of evolution.

But then again I could be wrong. I've been wrong before. :-)

[eauclaireliberal]

44. Yeah but

I know how to hunt, garden and other "weird shit." I know how my 9mm HK works, how to clean it and take care of it.

I also know the schematics of "String theory" (the Theory of Everything) that permeates the debate among today's physicists.

I know that a "Litmus test" is a test of pH (power of hydrogen in a solution), not some bullshit rhetoric to make a frat-boy moron sound smart to his moron constituents.

I know pathophysiology, what diseases are, what they do to the human body and how to treat or care for someone with disease. That being said, I am also well knowledgeable in human anatomy, physiology (esp. fluid and electrolytes, which requires a good understanding of mathematics and chemistry, which is pretty much one in the same). I know of and love studying microbiology.

Did I forget to mention that I went to Milwaukee Public schools? Yeah, that "disgraceful American socialism" at work!

My point? There is no excuse for all this stupidity.

[eauclaireliberal]

21. "Devolution is very real."

"Are we not men?"

[MsTryska]

49. if a problem comes along....

you must whip it.

[eauclaireliberal]

50. What's hysterical

is that when that song came out I was about 11, maybe 12, and Milwaukee area radio stations (actually, nationwide) played that song, oblivious to the fact that the song was about masturbation. Even at 11 in the early 80's I knew that. Whippit good.

[manic expression]

22. I'd disagree

In such an environment as present-day America (superficial, materialistic; anti-intellectual, ignorant), there is no NEED or ENCOURAGEMENT to have any knowledge, so people do not adapt and improve themselves. It's not an inherent trait, it's an acquired characteristic.

[wtmusic]

37. I agree with your disagreement

that's the major component :thumbsup:

[renie408]

40. It's creepily like The Matrix

Only instead of turning people into batteries, they are being turned into mindless consumers whose role is to buy-buy-buy to support the upper class. "Don't think, don't question...get out to the WalMart and BUY something!!"

[Mr. McD]

11. It is not 1 out of 5, it is more like 4 out of 5

While scientific literacy has doubled over the past two decades, only 20 to 25 percent of Americans are "scientifically savvy and alert,"

[0007]

28. Nine out of ten probably don't know who Carl Sagan was. My neighbor

told me that Carl Sagan was an atheist commie, and he didn't have time to read any of his propaganda.

[eauclaireliberal]

29. Probably too busy waxing his carrot

...oops...I mean his shotgun.

[grumpy old fart]

12. Your basic citizen will always be an idiot, and always has been....

I mean, have you talked to the 50% who allegedly voted for Dimson? How about the throngs who pack the mega churches? This is a nation drowning in entertainment, and they don't really care that they're so f***ing dumb.....IMHO.

[political_invader]

55. Seems to be..

that most people live in a comfort zone, as long as you don't impose on there comfort they could care less what there neighbor is doing.

I agree with you post. n/t

[zbdent]

14. That's funny, the four people I talked to today were

quite intelligent . . .

[mainegreen]

18. But do you talk to anybody

or do you tend to talk to like minds, hence people with similar knowledge quotients?

[zbdent]

32. They were people who normally don't associate with me

;)

[arewenotdemo]

20. ...smug blue-stater...

;)

[Bluesplayer]

35. that's ok

I got it....

[tom_paine]

24. That has always been the case...maybe higher

But the Founding Fathers gave us the System of Checks and Balances to protect us, not from them, but from them being misued by religious and political demogogues as they were in the Dark Ages that was so fresh in the minds of the Founding Dads.

Now that System of Checks and Balances has been effectively nullified, and we stand nearly as defenseless as the European Jews of the 30s against "the idiots".

[jokerman93]

42. so glad to see you posting again n/t

[Niccolo_Macchiavelli]

25. i thought it to be a prejudice about americans

although i heard such gems of a friend who spent some time in an american college.

i kidded he swam over with on his luggage and they believed him etc.

My condolences to the american part of dumbfuckistan. Thruth can be stranger than fiction...

[maxsolomon]

26. these same people have lots of other valuable knowledge:

NFL stats
NBA stats
MLB stats
enclyclopedic knowledge of WWF characters going back to rowdy roddy piper & the iron sheik

[eauclaireliberal]

27. You forgot Poland...

...um...I meant NASCAR.

[Bluesplayer]

36. you forgot Nascar!

[bribri16]

30. more like 1 in 3. n/t

[magnetism]

31. wow

nothing else need be said.

:banghead:

[Maraya1969]

33. Check out what he says about the Creationists

"Lately, people who advocate the teaching of evolution have been citing Dr. Miller's ideas on what factors are correlated with adherence to creationism and rejection of Darwinian theories. In general, he says, these fundamentalist views are most common among people who are not well educated and who "work in jobs that are evaporating fast with competition around the world."

But not everyone is happy when he says things like that. Every time he goes on the radio to talk about his findings, he said, "I get people sending me cards saying they will pray for me a lot."



If wasn't so sad it would be funny.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

38. I blame the intellectual CLIMATE in this country

Average Americans are encouraged to care very deeply about sports and celebrities, not about much else.

Teachers teach basic facts, but the fashionable thing among students is to remember such things just long enough to pass the test and then forget them as useless clutter that gets in the way of their memorizing all the lyrics of Britney Spears' songs or the batting averages of all the MLB players.

Ever since the 1950s, the mass media have portrayed intellectuals as figures of either menace or ridicule. Over time, that has an effect.

[Idioteque]

43. I am a high school senior taking AP Physics

Tommorow, I plan on telling my teacher that I don't believe in that gravity junk. God's love makes objects fall!!

We must teach Intelligent Falling in schools before our moral fabric is gone!

[Ishoutandscream2]

45. LOL. Let us know how your teacher responds

I'm not kidding. I believe your teacher will have good laugh.

[political_invader]

51. I would love to be there >>

with a tape measure just to measure the jaw drop. lmao

[Zuni]

46. Ahh, the fruits of Republican "Homeskooling"

basically, anyone who still trusts Bush is either stupid, gullible or fanatical or probably all three

[txaslftist]

47. What in Hell is this "Earth revolves around the sun" crap?

That don't make no damn sense. If you watch the sun in the morning, it rises. That means it MOVES. It moves across the sky and then it SETS.

That is the sun moving, not the Earth. If the earth was moving like that, we'd all get blown off by the wind.

Think about it.

[baron j]

48. I would prefer they remain ignorant.

Right now, they possess, stupidity, superstition, and bad judgement. I think intelligence + superstion + bad judgement = diabolical evil.

[Fire Walk With Me]

52. "If people aren't stupid, why does so much stuff suck?"

Butthead, of Beavis and Butthead.

[political_invader]

54. # 1 problem>>

from the article Dr. Miller "This country cannot finance good school systems on property taxes," he said. "We don't get the best people for teaching because we pay so little. For people in the sciences particularly, if you have some skill, the job market is so good that teaching is not competitive."

Now where I live, in California, we have a lottery which was to help support the school system. This is fine with me until former Gov.Wilson realized that theres lot of money here and took the school budget put it back into the general fund, now has the state lottery money ONLY SUPPORT the school system.

I agree whole heartily schools should be like CATHEDRALS and Teachers should make more than professional athletes.

[SW FL Dem]

56. Unfrigging believable

and we are the world's superpower. This is truly scary