[lbo-talk] Americans & evolution

[ravi]

On 12 Jun, 2007, at 3:36 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
> On Jun 12, 2007, at 2:07 PM, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>
>> What I find really baffling is your and (others on this list)
>> willingness to discard this fundamental irrationality of the "plain
>> folks of
>> the land" (to quote HL Mencken) when it comes to jury duty or
>> elections.
>> What makes you think that the half of the population that earnestly
>> believes
>> in this kind of irrational superstition suddenly starts thinking in
>> the
>> matter-of-fact terms when it comes to evaluating facts pertaining to
>> criminal behavior or public policy?
>
> My experience of having been on a couple of juries, for one. People
> took the task very seriously and reviewed the evidence intelligently.
> I think juries are terrific. It's all about context and role.
> Ordinary folks are entrusted by the system to make very serious
> decisions, and they rise to the task. Most of the time, the system -
> I mean, The System - treats them like idiots, and they often live
> down to expectations.
>

I agree with the first part: context and role. I don't see the second  
part (live down to expectations). As I have written before, I think  
people treat these things with a complex set of factors. The reason  
for the correlation of belief in evolution with religiosity is not at  
all surprising to me: the religious (Christian religious) see them as  
the same question: do you like/believe/trust/etc Jesus and the bible  
or not? Unlike the issue of a person facing jail time, which requires  
their analytical consideration, this question is one which  
essentially appeals to other facets such as loyalty, etc.

If some pollster called me tomorrow and asked me if I believed in  
supply-side economics I will answer "No". Despite my ignorance on the  
matter. I associate the beast with a range of bad things (and more  
importantly bad people!) and I am happy to have the opportunity to  
express my general dissatisfaction.

Of course that may be because I may be one of the "plain folks" ;-).  
As long as that does not require me to watch the Sopranos, I am okay  
with that! ;-)

	--ravi