Biblical Proportions

This is why things will only get worse:

PRINCETON, NJ -- Forty-six percent of Americans believe in the creationist view that God created humans in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years. The prevalence of this creationist view of the origin of humans is essentially unchanged from 30 years ago, when Gallup first asked the question.

Why care? Well, the problem is these are the same people voting for teabaggRs. And what's the problem with that? Well, only that to hold such beliefs one has to reject obvious fact, believe science is either corrupt or inherently fallacious (while selectively welcoming its manifold benefits into their lives), and have no curiosity or willingness to seek knowledge. Which makes for a pretty piss-poor electorate: the sort that accepts the propaganda of Fox "news" and the RWS™, and the lies of Mitt Romney with neither the desire nor the ability to question them. It's no coincidence that religious fundamentalism and today's Republican party are joined in the midline, just posterior to the hips.

Nearly half. Far more than any other developed country (it's fewer than Turkey, though). So much for the daydream of the founding fathers, the one involving a well-informed electorate.

I've said it a million times: I really wouldn't care what people believe if it hadn't come so negatively to affect our politics; and I accept the value of religious belief for most people. It's evident that some people can have religious faith and still be open minded to the world around them. But since by definition that kind of thinking describes people of varying points of view, it's being overwhelmed by the solidarity of astronomically narrow minds, people who wear their ignorance like a talisman. As the world gets increasingly complicated, the 46% seek increasingly to gather together to hide in not-knowing, while striking out at otherness with increasing fury. And, given the frailties of the human mind in the face of such difficulty, their numbers will only increase. (The 46%, according to the study, is statistically unchanged from last measure, two years ago. But it's up from 44%.)

It's a form of thought, if that's what it's called, that's so foreign to me that I can barely process the fact that nearly half of our country "thinks" that way. It makes me feel like I'm living in another universe. I'd sure as hell rather live in one where the numbers are the other way around. But, since we're in this one, and assuming there's a desire to hang around awhile, I'm working on not caring. If the election goes the way I think it will, it'll be a matter of self-preservation.