I wonder how many people who "don't understand" actually have "understood" at some point, but choose not to "understand" publicly due to political or other reasons. People who choose to to ignore facts and information are easily confused with those who are truly ignorant of those same facts and information.
Malcolm McCallum On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 6:19 PM, Jason Hernandez <[email protected]> wrote: > Re: the question: "Is the fact that a "huge percentage of our population > don't understand (or at least can't articulate) the basic mechanisms of > evolution" their fault or the fault of the scientific establishment?" I would > say neither. As was pointed out earlier in the thread, in the U.S., over > half the population does not believe there ARE mechanisms of evolution. I > would say this is due mostly to the fact that certain faith-based agendas > actually get a hearing in school boards, so that religious dogmas dressed up > as science get presented as though they were actual science. Children in > those school districts are thus preconditioned to hear the pseudoscience and > accept it as fact. And because actual science disagrees with said religious > dogmas, the people who believe in them are turned off to listening to actual > science, which they already see as godless and the enemy of their deeply-held > faith. The scientific establishment does its best to > break through this wall of dogma, but if people are brought up from > childhood not to accept science, the best efforts of the scientific community > are bound to meet with limited success at best. > > > Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 21:21:22 -0700 > From: Wayne Tyson <[email protected]> > Subject: Science Communication to the nonscience population Re: [ECOLOG-L] > Plant roots matter Re: [ECOLOG-L] Communication Science to Public Plant Roots > > PS: Is the fact that a "huge percentage of our population don't = > understand (or at least can't articulate) the basic mechanisms of = > evolution" their fault or the fault of the scientific establishment?=20 > -- Malcolm L. McCallum Managing Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology "Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" - Allan Nation 1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution. 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction MAY help restore populations. 2022: Soylent Green is People! The Seven Blunders of the World (Mohandas Gandhi) Wealth w/o work Pleasure w/o conscience Knowledge w/o character Commerce w/o morality Science w/o humanity Worship w/o sacrifice Politics w/o principle Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.
