Re: [Phys-L] Conservapedia (was HD 140283)

[Richard Tarara <rtarara@saintmarys.edu>]

OK--here's the scientific lesson in all of this--HOW TO CHERRY-PICK THE 
DATA.

The survey has 46% of all Americans believing in the 10,000 year human 
creation with 41% of Democrats and 39% of Independents along with the 
58% of Republicans (no mention of 'conservative'.)  If you want to 
define humans as homo-sapiens that time line is wrong, but not 
ridiculously wrong.  It is still a sad commentary especially the 
postgraduate and college graduate figures, but JCs post is a distorted 
(biased?) view of the very article referenced.

rwt

On 6/6/2013 8:22 PM, John Clement wrote:
> But the anti-scientific view is held generally by conservative Republicans.
> 58% of Republicans believe that humans were created in their present form in
> the past 10,000 years.
> http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/hold-creationist-view-human-origins.aspx
>
> This percentage is not 100%, but still embaressingly large.  So the
> conservapedia apparently does represent the majority conservative view.
> This wasn't true in the time of Eisenhower, Goldwater, Nixon...  It is a
> recent phenomenon.  The chair of the house science committee is very
> anti-science.  It is disgraceful, but is a fact.  It used to be that
> anti-science attitudes were distributed between both parties, but no more.
> For example William Jennings Bryant, a progressive Democrat, was an
> anti-evolutionist.  But now the presidents who scoff at evolution or an old
> universe are all Republicans.
>
> These are facts that we must face up to, just as students must face up to
> Newton's third law means what it says with no exceptions.  Fortunately most
> physics teaching in non-controversial, but when you get to astronomy watch
> out.  Some states even allow students to opt out of things they don't want
> to be taught!
>
> John M. Clement
> Houston, TX

--
Richard Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College

free Physics educational software
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html