Ignorance is a state of being uninformed or lacking knowledge, and is often used as an insult to describe individuals who deliberately ignore or disregard facts, whereas stupidity is a lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, or sense and may be innate, assumed, or reactive. It is a sad fact in 21st Century America the world leader in technology and scientifically-based advancements is also home to a substantial number of citizens who suffer from ignorance and reactive stupidity and, tragically, are having deleterious effects on the entire population. One very intelligent and educated man took stock of this nation’s people and said, “I know of no time in human history where ignorance was better than knowledge,” and that “the good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.”
The intelligent man assessing the segment of America’s population deliberately embracing ignorance is world-renowned astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson, and his remark about science’s veracity was in response to attacks from the religious right over the 21st Century version of Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos.” One seriously believed the science program would have been embraced by all but the most cognitively-challenged members of the religious right, but the reaction from the religiously-inclined was revealing in their complete lack of understanding of what science is on a very basic level and their dependence on unsubstantiated mythos they highly regard as facts. There is a monumental disconnect among the religious right and reality for failing to comprehend that the explanations in their religious text was man’s attempt to explain the world without having access to information that could be readily verified or refuted, and unfortunately they are controlling large swathes of America to the detriment of the whole country.
Tyson said that “One of the biggest problems with the world today is that we have large groups of people who will accept whatever they hear just because it suits their worldview—not because it is actually true or because they have evidence to support it; people prefer reassurance to research.” Now, no-one denies people accepting false information as fact are free to live their lives steeped in ignorance, but Republicans are perpetuating and making good use of ignorance to benefit the dirty energy industry, decimate education, punish women, and abridge equal rights of other Americans because they know ignorant people vote against their own best interests and elect Republicans who adversely affect the entire population.
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The kind of person that eschews science, or any fact-based information, for blind faith in archaic mythology is self-centered with an incredibly restricted worldview and it is not because they lack intellect and cognitive abilities to think, explore, and learn, it is because they are frightened and inherently lazy. It is much easier to read one verse in the bible explaining the origin of the world than a one page scientific description of evolutionary theory, or why the universe is more than a 6,000 year old planet full of beings blinked into existence in six literal days. In fact, the type of person that bases their entire worldview on late Stone Age mythology are willing prisoners to their blind faith and unfortunately they reside in great numbers not in some remote location untouched by modern civilization, but in the Southern region of the United States.
For example, in the third most Christian state (56% of residents) and second most religious state according to the Pew Research Center, Alabama Republicans recently proposed a state constitutional amendment to put the Ten Commandments in public buildings. According to Republican Representative DuWayne Bridges, school shootings and violent crimes are “due to the Ten Commandments not being displayed.” Bridges and all Republicans know that Alabamans have more faith in god than man and it prevents any attempt to address the real cause of school shootings and violent crime; the proliferation of guns, poverty, lack of jobs, and drug abuse among many others. To exacerbate the situation, Republicans have successfully convince ignorant Americans that Democrats and President Obama are coming for their guns, robbing them of their religious liberty, and supplanting god by attempting to assuage the environmental devastation of global climate change. People clinging to ignorance due to religion welcome Republicans’ message because it fits their limited worldview and they reward the GOP by voting against their own, and all Americans, best interests; not out of ignorance, but out of religious fervor.
That religious fervor was on display as attacks on de Grasse Tyson, liberals, atheists, President Obama, and science in general exploded directly after “Cosmos” aired last week. What was telling in the rants against the show was the abject rejection of scientific facts and history that every seventh and eighth grade student learns before they advance and enroll in high school. Some of the comments by adherents of the Christian religion equated scientific facts as lies perpetrated by President Obama they claim were blatant attacks on Christianity and “a propaganda piece for militant Anti-Creator Evolutionists.” They also asserted that “Cosmos is re-writing history for an anti-Christian agenda,” and that the entire program was “another Obama lie and anti-Christian propaganda.” President Obama simply pre-recorded a 33-second introduction and said “America has always been a nation of fearless explorers who dreamed bigger and reached farther than others imagined. Today we’re doing everything we can to bring that same sense of possibility to a new generation because there are new frontiers to explore and we need Americans eager to explore them; there are no limits.”
To any American not steeped in ignorance or suffering from a religious persecution complex, it is impossible to see how the President lied or attacked Christians, but that is precisely what Republicans have convinced the religious right President Obama has spent the past five years doing. Although there is not a shred of truth, or evidence, that the President is attacking fundamentalists, they will show up at the polls to support GOP and teabagger candidates who promise to battle Obama and restore religious liberty for beleaguered Christians to dominate other Americans.
There is a saying that “ignorance is bliss,” but fundamentalist Christians are not blissful and, in fact, are always angry and more dangerous than most Americans are willing to admit. However, when Americans finally realize those angry fundamentalists elected the Republicans that took everything they had, perhaps then they will see the inherent danger in the religious right’s willful ignorance, but by then it will be too late. It leads one to wonder how many Americans shrugging off warnings the religious right is dangerous and an existential threat to democracy are themselves willfully ignorant.
Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
