Mano quotes a study that shows that creationism is in decline.
The public acceptance of evolution in the United States is a long-standing problem. Using data from a series of national surveys collected over the last 35 years, we find that the level of public acceptance of evolution has increased in the last decade after at least two decades in which the public was nearly evenly divided on the issue. A structural equation model indicates that increasing enrollment in baccalaureate-level programs, exposure to college-level science courses, a declining level of religious fundamentalism, and a rising level of civic scientific literacy are responsible for the increased level of public acceptance.
I believe it. I’ve been seeing the same phenomenon — there’s a declining overall interest in creationism. It’s also creatively dead. I rarely see any new arguments, and even the recent books, like the crap from Nathaniel Jeanson, are not original at all, just rewarmed Genesis Flood nonsense spiced up with science buzzwords, poorly explained. It’s a dying cult…just, unfortunately, a slowly dying nonsense.
However, the quantitative decline is made up for with increasing fanaticism among a shrinking minority. The ignorance is being distilled into ever more toxic forms. For instance, Tucker Carlson might once have fit into a model of semi-secular conservativism, is now finding common cause with Ken Ham and QAnon, and accusing the Left of being Satanic. Meanwhile, Ken Ham thinks the movie Cats is some kind of evilutionist plot.
It’s all converging on anti-vax/anti-immigration/anti-climatology/transphobic/anti-science BS. So while the absolute numbers of these dangerous loons are declining, they are becoming increasingly nasty and stupid. We’re not going to be rid of this poison for some time to come.
The Republicans have inadvertedly created a strong selection pressure for “people who pay attention to experts”. A couple of more virus mutations down the line, this subset of loons will become much depleted.
Ken Ham:
THERE’S NO JUST! No just! We’re animals! It’s who we are!
We’re a species of animal! We’re animals!
(Sorry – this self(and other-animal, and nature)-hating “just animals” and “mere matter” sort of nonsense really ticks me off.)
SC @ 2
As we are not winged entities with a multitude of eyes and limbs all over, we can certainly not self-identity as “angels” (check out the bible, angels look weird).
Anti-history and social reality, too. Christopher Rufo and the Discovery Institute have that whole campaign about (their profound misunderstanding of) CRT.
‘Profound misunderstanding’ is a feature, not a bug. This is why Tucker Carlson has so many viewers. It is irrelevant wether they believe in their own garbage as long as it sells.
Some of the garbage kills, but the cash keeps coming in.
There might be a law about Conservation of Stupidity.
Right now in the USA, tens of thousands of people are dying from pure stupidity. Caleb Wallace was an antivaxxer and antimasker, now dead from the Covid-19 virus. It’s a common story.
Strangely enough, a lot of the time their family, friends, and neighbors watch them die and learn…nothing. They still don’t believe in the Covid-19 virus, won’t wear masks, and won’t get the free vaccine.
What we have here is a failure to learn or “play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
“So while the absolute numbers of these dangerous loons are declining, they are becoming increasingly nasty and stupid.”
And they still continue to hold sway over more than 50% of the governments, because the Republican party continues to treat them as essential parts of their vote.
The Federalist system has finally failed for good. The system was built to maintain a minority rule…for a time after a few changes and a few court decisions (and a civil war and a great depression), we actually had something approaching a majority rule.
Nowe we are back to a minority rule, only not the same minority.
IMHO, the fanatics are driving the acceptance of evolution. Normal Christians are repelled by their craziness. So instead of defaulting to believing them, they default in rejecting them.
And the more they associate themselves with a political power, the more they will be disregarded when we choose a different power. That’s what happened in Europe, when they reject the king, the king’s bishop goes with him.
And here I thought Cats was a conspiracy to foist T. S. Elliot on us.
he’s blaming furries on evilution too?
@ 10
How much you wanna bet that old Ham has a catboy body pillow hidden away somewhere (double if it Schrödinger from Hellsing Ultimate),
Sadly, I have to admit that — just like a stopped clock is right once a day (hey, my clocks are 24 hour, it’s now 20:11) — Mr. Ham has a point about the movie Cats. Heck, he has a point about cats (I’m a dog person): “Evilution” is the only. Possible. Explanation. Especially once one delves into Mr. Eliot’s antisemitism and other blind spots, although frankly I’d expect Mr. Ham to be more accepting of that.
Well the original news source is from the Babylon Bee – but the non-satire version of the site – which is to say it’s a bunch of Conservative Christians having a shitfit about furries. Furries are a bit weird, ultimately harmless, and actually trying their damndest to excise the worst parts out of their fandom (Nazi-furs, pedos, animal abusers.) They also tend to be queer more often than not, kind towards one another and strangers, and charitable.
So naturally Christian Conservatives are scared of people glomming onto the furry fandom.
It is disturbing to see that all these people are lining up together. Some people I’ve known to be anti-vax but otherwise very liberal and progressive for years are now fundraising for Trump because baby eating Satanists or something. Originally they were anti-vax only and that lead them to fall for politics that are the complete opposite of what they ever stood for.
The message of Cats is that “a cat is not a dog”. You’d think that Ken Ham would approve. (Cats is 100 minutes of mostly whimsy with the occasional fragments of plot or pathos, followed by 10 minutes of Judy Dench solemnly intoning “facts” about cats to the camera concluding with “a cat is not a dog”. I rather enjoyed it but it is not a serious film.)
Notthebee.com? Ken’s posting BS from Not the Bee WHICH HAS TO OUTRIGHT SAY IT’S A NEWS SITE BECAUSE IT’S PART OF THE F***ING BABYLON BEE AND THEIR SATIRE IS SO AWFUL THAT FACEBOOK HAS TO CONSTANTLY LABEL IT AS UNTRUSTWORTHY BECAUSE DIPSHIDIOTS BELIEVE IT’S TRUE. JFC
Sorry. But anything Babylon Bee related is just straight up trash. Their satire consists of the same two tired conservative jokes that weren’t funny the first time they were uttered. Their “news” site is about as trustworthy as LifeSiteNews. Nothing but cringe all around but they have a rabid fanbase of edgelords and shitbags who find them funny. The asteroid or the robot apocalypse can’t come soon enough.
More stupidity.
This is the equivalent of a ship hitting an iceberg. The passengers destroy the lifeboats, throw the lifejackets over the side, and scream insults at anyone who tries to rescue them.
Cthulhu, what a strange world we live in.
Public health officials are harassed and threatened for trying to keep people alive and healthy.
This also happens often in the hospitals. Covid-19 virus deniers sick with the Covid-19 virus often start screaming at the staff and sometimes attack them.
Akira MacKenzie @ 11
If Schrödinger from Hellsing Ultimate was involved, you could at least hope there was some evil genius behind it all. Now it is morons “all the way down”
.
OT ‘Hellsing Ultimate Abridged’ has played a big role in staving off depression for me the last f@cking year.
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