The Family Sideways: How to get my goat.

How to get my goat. 8/31/2005 12:38:00 PM (See what I'm talking about)

So I'm reading our paper this morning (OK, it was this morning's paper, but I was reading it this afternoon. Stop picking nits.) and the headline: Poll: 64% favor teaching both creationism, evolution caught my eye.

So I go on to read the article. There's a handy little graph accompanying the article that you can see here (along with some other images that came up on my google search for something appropriate), that kind of caught me by surprise (less so than the headline, admittedly).

OK, I can accept that 42% of the people that The Pew Research Center called for this survey responded by saying that humans and other living things have "existed in present form only." If they called me, I wouldn't have answered (our listed number doesn't even ring a phone).

EDIT: OK truthfully, I can't accept this. I think it's udderly ridiculous. I think people who believe that God put dinosaur skeletons in the rocks to fool us, or test us, or WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY THINK have their heads up their asses. And should, for the benefit of us all, keep them there. Don't worry. You can safely remove them after the Rapture. Go sell crazy somewhere else.*

I can accept that 18% of respondents think that we've "evolved over time", while "guided by a supreme being". I think it's a sensible, reasonable way for people to find common ground between science and their faith. Personally, I would have been a part of the 26% that said we "evolved over time...through natural selection." And I can absolutely respect the people who believe we evolved over time but "don't know how life evolved", and those who just straight up answered that they "don't know".

But for the Chronicle to report,

In all, 64 percent said they were open to the idea of teaching creationism in addition to evolution

And somehow come up with a headline saying that 64% of people are in FAVOR of teaching it? Umm.. No.

I probably would have said I'm "open to the idea" of teaching creationism in addition to evolution; I think that people - even (especially!) children - have a right to make up their minds for themselves. But that doesn't mean that I FAVOR it. I may be "open to the idea" of having oriental food or pizza for dinner, but it doesn't mean I want them. I'd rather have a fucking cheeseburger. But I'm not the only person who eats around here.

These polls are ridiculous. Especially when you consider that any poll these days is going to be fundamentally flawed. How many people you know don't even have landlines?

And for the 38% of people who favor "replacing evolution with creationism" - you probably think I'm a godless wank, but at the very least it'll mean something when I tell you to go to hell.

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1 Comments:

Dana said...

I hope we can still order pizza after the Rapture.

posted at 8:31 PM