So much for honest government...

[onefixedstar]

Nothing spectacularly new here for those who pay attention to such things; just a lot of depressing, scary facts gathered into one tidy bundle providing further evidence that the current American government is run by people who lack a basic understanding of scientific principles and are thus unable to differentiate between those things that should be based on science and those that should be based on faith. (Of course, some of us would argue that nothing should be ever taken on faith--or at the very least that faith has no place in government--but that's a different entry.)

Comments

[a-just-society.livejournal.com]

Shudder. Unfortunately, none of this surprises me anymore. In a country where textbooks are routinely edited to remove references to evolution, homosexuality and other "wrong-thinking" beliefs, to be replaced by statements that "there is a debate" or "uncertainty", this is really par for the course.

Of course, I don't doubt that reports out of Health Canada and other local agencies are filtered for ideological purposes, or to cave to pressure groups, it just doesn't seem to have reached the same extent here yet (of our media are just too darned nice to report it).

[onefixedstar.livejournal.com]

Of course, I don't doubt that reports out of Health Canada and other local agencies are filtered for ideological purposes, or to cave to pressure groups, it just doesn't seem to have reached the same extent here yet (of our media are just too darned nice to report it).

I really hope it's the former.

[stillvisions.livejournal.com]

Sadly little surprise here. It's sad because it works; I've talked with american kids in high school who very very much of the mindset that "evolution has too many mistakes, so creation must be right".

That being said, I really don't care about that as much as environmental impact and AIDS prevention, but I guess it's one more link in the chain.

[onefixedstar.livejournal.com]

I've talked with american kids in high school who very very much of the mindset that "evolution has too many mistakes, so creation must be right".

Which might explain why only 28% of Americans believe in evolution, while 83% believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus. (I haven't examined the studies myself, but since Jayson Blair didn't write this column, I'm going to trust that it's accurate.)

That being said, I really don't care about that as much as environmental impact and AIDS prevention, but I guess it's one more link in the chain.

Precisely. I think that it's evidence of a particular mindset, one that declares science to be simply one more way of looking at the world, no more valid than any number of other approaches. While I think that a healthy respect for the limitations of science is important, placing it on par with religious texts in terms of providing information about how the world works (as opposed to how we ought to live in it) is both ridiculous and frightening.