Some dumbass Republican public celebrations of their moron ignorance have to be responded to - this Son of an Actual Scientist can’t let this one pass undamaged.
I live in Memphis, TN. Along with others, I remain confounded about what those people in our General Assembly are about? Are they actual humans (excepting the Tennessee Three)? Or some sort of freaking mutants? Recently I read an article about how some states (like Tennessee) have such ignorant, malicious elected officials because in many counties, the R candidates run unopposed. So I'm looking forward to seeing the Democratic Party get around to seeding young, new Democrats to run against these ghastly, corrupt, ignorant, malicious, . . . did I say "ignorant?" creeps.
Soooo - frightened of water vapor (etc) but not of the pollutants put into the air from fossil fuels or the plastic pollution in our water AND our bodies?
Thank you TC, for attempting to explain science. In Tennessee and most of the deep South it's a lost cause. Their school systems there aren't quite up to par in science education. When I was a school teacher in California I taught Chemistry, Physics, and Astronomy to junior high students. I was also on the Board of directors for our Union and had occasion to contact some fellow teachers from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Missouri. They were surprised I was teaching astrology, they weren't allowed to teach that. When I corrected them and said no not astrology, astronomy they acted really confused.
Yes, it was at the time, very sad, I retired from education in mid 1989 and switched to Social Services, so I'm really not sure if that level of ignorance still exists. I should have said this in my original post.
When I was in the Navy, 1/3 of the guys in the company were from the South. I had never met people so factually STUPID and IGNORANT before in my life. When we took the Armed Forces Qualification Test - on which I scored 98 - not one of them scored higher than 25, and half of them were between 15-20. I didn't think people that stupid could exist.
The thing is, TC, they are not that stupid. They are taught to obey their elders, go to church, believe in Jesus and a smattering of the 3r's Reading, (W)riting, and (A)rithmetic and considered go. As I said they are not necessarily that stupid, just that uneducated. I hope those numbskulls in Florida are realizing this is DeSantis' plan for Floridian's future as well.
When you're a kid, your brain automatically absorbs whatever it thinks is normal. If you are unfortunate enough to grow up in an environment where people are suspicious of education, what you absorb is that learning something that isn't widely accepted could be dangerous, because learning it will make people suspicious of you. In a society like this, consistency is more important than standing out. Unless, of course, you stand out as a consistent exemplar of the community's values. This is a somewhat abstract agreement with what you've said, Fay, but I think the important thing for people to recognize is that the first three or four years of life are where the brain is actively learning what's normal. That's pretty much all it's doing as far as cognition is concerned. After that, it's simply adding knowledge about what it has decided normal is and ignoring most of everything else. That's one reason why it's so hard to get through to people whose idea of normal is tightly constrained, and who are fearful of anything outside that constraint. It isn't a stretch to posit that it's easier to inform people who are merely uninformed than it is to inform people who are fearful of being informed.
Excellent points Jim. And you are correct of course. That is why it is so sad that the DeSantis crowd has decided not to allow children the benefit of a complete - religion free education. I is also the reason the catholic church insists that children must learn the doctrine along with education - although I will say, from my experience as a science teacher, that children from church school background catholic or fundamentalist did at least know arithmetic, and history at least as well as those who came through the public schools and were more disciplined to learning.
I met an old man who had taught recruits for WW2. He had to start with Peter Private booklet to teach them to read. He was college educated but too old to join up but he was shocked that recruits from rural areas had no “learning.” Just had never been exposed I guess. Luckily, my parents were uneducated but made sure that we knew the value.
Contrails are the result of Trump and his MAGA minions secreting certain chemicals in the nation's jet fuel supply to make certain folks susceptible to all the cons he and his cronies continuously run to relieve them of their dough. I have it on good authority that many flights are carrying MAGA agents booking seats simply to help keep the planes airborne and spreading those contrails far and wide. Especially in the South. Or so it would seem. You heard it here first, Y'all.
Scientific facts and data mean nothing to these morons and the fact that these clods vote and influence legislation is worrisome. And isn’t Tennessee where the Scopes Monkey Trial took place where Clarence Darrow argued for evolution against another wonderful piece of moronic legislation outlawing the teaching of the theory evolution in state public schools? Ya think those idiots would have learned something from that, but no…
How do they feel about crop-spraying? Of pesticides or herbicides?
Publick Ignorance is not limited to Tennessee or southern states, but it has a stronghold there. In my opinion connected with Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954, which spawned segregated private schools for whites who didn’t want their little darlings to rub elbows with non-whites.
When I told someone that my husband and I worked at NASA in the 60’s, the moron said that it was all a hoax. People who worked there were just working on the fake plan that would fool the world. Such stupidity must have been handed down for generations. I’m still an old space junkie who is constantly in awe of our universe. How sad that some are chained to ignorance that has likely been buried in their DNA
I’m with you on that, Ally. It’s like they are all wearing “I’m dumb and I’m proud” buttons. There’s just so much of our present moment I don’t understand, but it’s definitely time to move on.
Old conspiracy, been around since the days of the great fluoride scare promulgated mainly within the "white tanks and black helicopters" contingent.
On a slightly different and related topic, so what shall we call cloud seeding and other methods of atmospheric geoengineering? And should they be allowed?
Can Tennessee become the next Michigan? I have to believe an increasing number of people are getting sick of the R's shenanegins in that state. Hope we have boots on the ground there.
I actually know a NYC doctor of many year’s experience who believes that there are “chemtrails”! She’s African-American and an evangelical Christian, the sister of a good friend . Go figure.
Your description of dumbass Republican morons as "Bronze Age sheep fuckers" is right up there at the top in the memorable quote column with your quip about MAGA Mike Johnson being "a rich pile of fundamentalist shit."
I live in Memphis, TN. Along with others, I remain confounded about what those people in our General Assembly are about? Are they actual humans (excepting the Tennessee Three)? Or some sort of freaking mutants? Recently I read an article about how some states (like Tennessee) have such ignorant, malicious elected officials because in many counties, the R candidates run unopposed. So I'm looking forward to seeing the Democratic Party get around to seeding young, new Democrats to run against these ghastly, corrupt, ignorant, malicious, . . . did I say "ignorant?" creeps.
Yeah, where is Howard Dean when we need him.....?
Lot of catching up to do
Soooo - frightened of water vapor (etc) but not of the pollutants put into the air from fossil fuels or the plastic pollution in our water AND our bodies?
My - just boggles the mind, doesnt it?
Thank you TC, for attempting to explain science. In Tennessee and most of the deep South it's a lost cause. Their school systems there aren't quite up to par in science education. When I was a school teacher in California I taught Chemistry, Physics, and Astronomy to junior high students. I was also on the Board of directors for our Union and had occasion to contact some fellow teachers from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Missouri. They were surprised I was teaching astrology, they weren't allowed to teach that. When I corrected them and said no not astrology, astronomy they acted really confused.
The comment re: Astronomy vs. Astrology is beyond sad.
Even Aristotle knew the
difference back in the day.
Yes, it was at the time, very sad, I retired from education in mid 1989 and switched to Social Services, so I'm really not sure if that level of ignorance still exists. I should have said this in my original post.
They're promoting it down there now for sure.
When I was in the Navy, 1/3 of the guys in the company were from the South. I had never met people so factually STUPID and IGNORANT before in my life. When we took the Armed Forces Qualification Test - on which I scored 98 - not one of them scored higher than 25, and half of them were between 15-20. I didn't think people that stupid could exist.
The thing is, TC, they are not that stupid. They are taught to obey their elders, go to church, believe in Jesus and a smattering of the 3r's Reading, (W)riting, and (A)rithmetic and considered go. As I said they are not necessarily that stupid, just that uneducated. I hope those numbskulls in Florida are realizing this is DeSantis' plan for Floridian's future as well.
I have known stupid, but many just never were exposed. Ignorance more common than stupid.
When you're a kid, your brain automatically absorbs whatever it thinks is normal. If you are unfortunate enough to grow up in an environment where people are suspicious of education, what you absorb is that learning something that isn't widely accepted could be dangerous, because learning it will make people suspicious of you. In a society like this, consistency is more important than standing out. Unless, of course, you stand out as a consistent exemplar of the community's values. This is a somewhat abstract agreement with what you've said, Fay, but I think the important thing for people to recognize is that the first three or four years of life are where the brain is actively learning what's normal. That's pretty much all it's doing as far as cognition is concerned. After that, it's simply adding knowledge about what it has decided normal is and ignoring most of everything else. That's one reason why it's so hard to get through to people whose idea of normal is tightly constrained, and who are fearful of anything outside that constraint. It isn't a stretch to posit that it's easier to inform people who are merely uninformed than it is to inform people who are fearful of being informed.
Excellent points Jim. And you are correct of course. That is why it is so sad that the DeSantis crowd has decided not to allow children the benefit of a complete - religion free education. I is also the reason the catholic church insists that children must learn the doctrine along with education - although I will say, from my experience as a science teacher, that children from church school background catholic or fundamentalist did at least know arithmetic, and history at least as well as those who came through the public schools and were more disciplined to learning.
I met an old man who had taught recruits for WW2. He had to start with Peter Private booklet to teach them to read. He was college educated but too old to join up but he was shocked that recruits from rural areas had no “learning.” Just had never been exposed I guess. Luckily, my parents were uneducated but made sure that we knew the value.
Laughed but not funny
True!
RE: The truth? The actual facts?
Contrails are the result of Trump and his MAGA minions secreting certain chemicals in the nation's jet fuel supply to make certain folks susceptible to all the cons he and his cronies continuously run to relieve them of their dough. I have it on good authority that many flights are carrying MAGA agents booking seats simply to help keep the planes airborne and spreading those contrails far and wide. Especially in the South. Or so it would seem. You heard it here first, Y'all.
Very good. I laughed out loud!
Sometimes I manage to slip a little laughing juice in a few fuel tanks myself.
You will hear it on Fox next…
I just don't even know what to say about this . . . do these people believe they're breathing out magical smoke on cold mornings too?
Probably.
Scientific facts and data mean nothing to these morons and the fact that these clods vote and influence legislation is worrisome. And isn’t Tennessee where the Scopes Monkey Trial took place where Clarence Darrow argued for evolution against another wonderful piece of moronic legislation outlawing the teaching of the theory evolution in state public schools? Ya think those idiots would have learned something from that, but no…
How do they feel about crop-spraying? Of pesticides or herbicides?
Publick Ignorance is not limited to Tennessee or southern states, but it has a stronghold there. In my opinion connected with Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954, which spawned segregated private schools for whites who didn’t want their little darlings to rub elbows with non-whites.
Still is spawning here in AR.
My kid will be dumber than your kid, competition headed to the bottom
When I told someone that my husband and I worked at NASA in the 60’s, the moron said that it was all a hoax. People who worked there were just working on the fake plan that would fool the world. Such stupidity must have been handed down for generations. I’m still an old space junkie who is constantly in awe of our universe. How sad that some are chained to ignorance that has likely been buried in their DNA
Yup. An old high school friend is convinced chemtrails are part of a vast conspiracy. Bye, Felicia.
Logic wasted on her…
Him, but yeah. He also sent a “his junk” picture to another former classmate. These people are bonkers.
Ugh!
🙄
Science teachers: 'Why the fuck did we bother'
It's one thing to be uneducated and quite another to flaunt it. The former is often a lack of opportunity, while the latter is a character flaw.
That’s a good one👍
I just can’t even comprehend the stupidity.
Qanon believers qualify. When that nonsense started up, I thought nobody is that stupid. Silly me.
I’m with you on that, Ally. It’s like they are all wearing “I’m dumb and I’m proud” buttons. There’s just so much of our present moment I don’t understand, but it’s definitely time to move on.
Old conspiracy, been around since the days of the great fluoride scare promulgated mainly within the "white tanks and black helicopters" contingent.
On a slightly different and related topic, so what shall we call cloud seeding and other methods of atmospheric geoengineering? And should they be allowed?
Can Tennessee become the next Michigan? I have to believe an increasing number of people are getting sick of the R's shenanegins in that state. Hope we have boots on the ground there.
I actually know a NYC doctor of many year’s experience who believes that there are “chemtrails”! She’s African-American and an evangelical Christian, the sister of a good friend . Go figure.
"Evangelical Christian" is the tell.
Exactly!
Your description of dumbass Republican morons as "Bronze Age sheep fuckers" is right up there at the top in the memorable quote column with your quip about MAGA Mike Johnson being "a rich pile of fundamentalist shit."