Evolution and Americans

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Whilst the question asked only confirms ones belief or non belief in the theory of evolution I find it a major concern that so many Americans do not hold with the theory. It would have been interesting to find out the beliefs of those that disagree with the theory.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/114544/Darwin-Birthday-Believe-Evolution.aspx

Most Americans are TRAILER TRASH. Its a sad fact but its nonetheless accurate, I wee for our future.

This is pretty disturbing, but I'm not at all surprised. Anyone who has been to and observed non-urban America probably wouldn't be surprised. This is a country that still uses a ridiculous system of measurement, something that is not likely to change in the near future.

Too bad there wasn't a relationship shown between location and understanding of Evolution.

I weep for our future, but trailer park people are undoubtedly going to wee for our future.

Happy Birthday, Charles!!

Yes, very saddening.

I am not sure what to think of this one. I could say, this is information generally learned in school and not many Americans learn enough in school. I could also say, Christianity has deep roots in American culture and belief, and evolutionary theory is conflicting. Maybe it could be both.

80 percent of U.S. residents live in urban areas. Over 80 percent of the people live on under 10 percent of the land area.

ruveyn

18% of college graduates in that study failed to correctly identify Darwin with the theory of evolution.

That's pretty f*****g sad.

But anyways, Dent, why is it a big deal if a bunch of hicks don't believe in evolution? I know this next statement doesn't jive with your Marxism, but really, the common people are mostly irrelevant. The educated classes know better, especially those educated in relevant subjects. Anyways, it doesn't matter what people believe. Evolutionary theory is the most coherent explanation we currently have.

Yes, contrary to popular opinion the idiots don't all live in Pennsyltucky. They could be your next door neighbor. They could be the poor people living in ghettos that no one dares call ignorant out loud. They could be your boss, or that guy who works at the 7 11.

They could even be you.

If you see something: say something.

How dare you!! !!

Just because I happen to live in a trailer, does not make me trailer trash!! !

America is the only nation on earth where ENTIRE TOWNS are made up of mobile homes (aka trailers) and a handful of buildings crudely built out of cinderblock that function as businesses. If you don't believe me, you need to visit Silver Springs, Nevada, where 98% of the buildings are manufactured or prefab housing, 1% are cinderblock houses built when the town was founded after WW2, and 1% are cinderblock businesses. In addition, there's a building constructed completely of desert rock that served as the town's sales office in the 1950s (now a real estate office). Interesting effect, but it screams redneck. About 75% of residents are on welfare and use drugs, mainly methamphetamine. The others work in Fernley or Carson City. And over 90% are white. It's the third world, US style. For all of you people in England and Oz, I'll have to take some pix next time I'm there and post them. At least rednecks in Mexico build their own houses. Americans can't be bothered, not when you can buy a house for $50k, land not included (usually).

That is if you can actually afford to build or buy a house........

Never mind afford, who the heck actually *can* build a house?

I mean, not to derail this thread too much, but what would be the point in buying or building a house when satisfactory shelter can be had at a dramatically lower price? Our culture just loves houses for the sake of houses; I wonder what troubles *that* might have caused recently?

On top of that, I get kinda sick of listening to people make redneck comments. I mean, when anybody else lives a poor and vacuous life, it's a tragedy, but if white people do it it's suddenly hilarious, because white people are supposed to know better and magically have employable skills?

^True, I get sick of people laughing in the face of poverty black or white.

I've seen so much of that in some of the down town schools I've volunteered and worked in. The arrogance some of these corporations have...as if it's the exclusively the community's fault. The stereotypes are pretty embarassing considering how hard I've seen people work. Not to mention the unemployment rate being up as it is right now and the cost of transportation just to get to a job.

You're either lazy or a drug addict if you can't afford a nice home, car, or good education. That's at least half the crap I hear among those who have a good paying job. It's never been that case for me or with families I've seen.

Continuing the populist note here, adding injury to insult, it should also be pointed out that in times of economic hardship the unemployment rates in the working and lower classes tend to be quite a bit higher than those among the middle class.

In fact, while it is often made fun of that Americans are dumb, it is interesting to see how this breaks down along class lines. I can't find more recent data of this sort, but let's take a look at 1991 polls in regards to this stuff.
Source:http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_publi.htm
Creationism is markedly more common among those who make less than $20K- than it is among those who make $50K+ (60% vs. 30%). We see likewise a small but significant increase in belief in creationism among African Americans vs Whites (53% v 46%), and a surprisingly large lead for women over men (53% v 39%). I mean, the education based gap should have sent up some flags to begin with. Given the United States' highly unequal class structure and diversity, it isn't too much to say that making a big generalization is going to be prone to be less representative. You might argue that even among those who should know better (educated affluent white males) the rates of belief in creationism are still disturbingly high, but I think the full data obscure the whole picture here.

Actually, you don't need to be a Creationist to believe that the universe was intelligently designed--but it helps (rimshot). In fact, as this blog post reveals, belief in ID actually predates Christianity, and not all ID believers are even religious:

Darwin Believers Hide Fears of Intelligent Design Behind a Wall of Denial and Ridicule - Room for Debate (usnews.com)

I particularly enjoyed the comments that followed, and would direct them to this website:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_Hominem