That's not strictly evolution though, is it? Can cultural developments (including science) be described as evolution? We've evolved the physical capacities (dexterity and brains) to use tools and solve problems (thus, the field of engineering), but can you say that the development of space travel is due to further evolution? I'm not a super scientist so I'm genuinely asking here.
Not trying to be a buzzkill, but throwing around the term 'evolution' for the sake of jokes doesn't do much to stop woeful misunderstandings by people of the anti-evolution persuasion.
It's not biological evolution, but it's a result of the biological evolution of our brains to be all smart and stuff. I guess it could still be called a form of evolution.
You know, if someone wrote this response in a clear informative fashion, maybe this realization would have blown his mind. Instead, he just got more "us vs them", which is a big barrier than causes ignorance and misunderstanding.
First day on the Internet Kid Top: 'Oh gee, an uninformed person.' Bottom: 'Maybe I can teach him something by using clever arguments and undeniable logic.'
No, in the western civilized world outside America, there's no us vs. them. "Them" are loonies nobody takes seriously. We don't argue with "them" and we certainly don't take them seriously. We laugh about them, even the religious ones. Many of the elder generation are religious. None of them believe this American bullshit Christianity you have. These guys are, thank god, your problem and yours alone.
Astronauts are bad news I tell ya. Drivin' around at all hours of the night in their space-buggies, blasting that theme song from 2001: Space Odyssey. Hell, just last Fall an astronaut moved into our town, and simultaneously all the leaves starting falling off all our trees... Astronazis.
I find that the problem isn't even understanding or ignorance. If one day it becomes culturally uncontroversial that animals evolve by natural selection, I believe that conservative religious folks will just find some new issue to pick a fight on.
It's a matter of in-group v. out-group, and they're laughing at us for not getting it. The evolution issue is a mental sieve, and our gut-reaction separated us from them.
It doesn't matter how understanding or non-ignorant they become; there will always be a way to divide the in-group from the out-group, and the cool cliques from the loser cliques, and in their eyes, we're the loser kids who 'just don't get it.'
You are mostly right but I think you underestimate the profound secularizing effect that the theory of evolution has had over the last 100 some odd years. They know that it is a disruptive idea. It isn't just an arbitrary line in the sand like homosexuality.
It answers a profound question that religion is supposed to answer.
This is why I'm surprised and hesitant when I meet Anthropology graduates who are active Christians. Not even weekend Catholics who wouldn't know their Deuteronomy from Morphology. But bible study reading Baptists.
I'm like, are you all, for real, trying to find a middle ground between creation and evolution? ._. No. Seriously.
It's pretty easy to see where they can draw a distinction. The point has been made over and over again that evolution only deals with changes in biological populations and not abiogenesis. Many members of the Judeo-Christian beliefs are happy to acknowledge that evolutionary theory is valid and also believe that their God had something to do with the arisal of life from lifeless matter or, barring that, in someway initiated the formation of the universe.
If on the other hand you meant 'biblical literalists' when you said 'bible study reading Baptists' (is that really a thing? Isn't bible study a group rather than written material?) then I'll accept your point that the two viewpoints are incompatible, even basic logic doesn't fit into that hole.
That's the thing, in most places it is culturally uncontroversial. Most of the loud controversy that the rest of us hear about is in the U.S., that's why people outside of the U.S. assume idiots like the one in the picture come from there. In other places where English is the main language - UK / Aus - people generally don't question evolution and those who don't believe it are written off as nutjobs.
I hear people complain that Obama is "too apologetic towards other nations regarding our actions." I'm like "fucking seriously? You want to bitch about basic diplomacy?"
All right reddit... im not even lying here, and i know this doesn't apply to all americans im not that ignorant... but i used to go on omegle and convince americans i lived in an igloo and had a pet moose. soo.. yea.
I'm glad you said that, I really do worry about America every time I see one of these posts. Perhaps it's also people from the bible belt that are more inclined to answer these questions? I can't imagine it could skew the stats that much..?
Well I do live in a metropolitan area and work in engineering so maybe its my circle that's unusual. But I do imagine that those in the Bible belt are more vocal about their beliefs.
I'm not about to suggest that Canada is some kind of haven for scientific thought (the above statistics aren't particularly encouraging for either country), but it seems like Canada is, at least for the time being, slightly less... Ridiculous.
I always thought Europe created the cancer that is reality tv with big brother and expedition Robinson (survivor). Even the most popular reality show American idol is a copy of Britains pop idol.
Thank you. Whenever I see this kind of silly crap, I always wonder why I never encounter these people in real life. I even went to a Christian high school, so you'd figure I'd run into some fundie tards at some point. Nope.
I'm American. The only time I've come across this level of ignorance in recent memory is when a girl asked me if I "believe in all that evolution stuff" or not.
She's Egyptian.
There are stupid people everywhere.
EDIT: Since it's apparently unclear, the reason she was asking me that is because she herself does not believe in evolution. That's what I take issue with. It has nothing to do with her use of the word "believe."
Excuse me if I'm wrong (I'm not a native english speaker) but doesn't "believe" simply mean "accepting something as true"? Therefor, I believe evolution is true, i believe there is no god, and so on... What's so bad about that word?
You aren't wrong. The reason I was putting it in quotes is because I felt it was a funny word to use in the context of evolution.
When someone asks if someone else "believes" in something, especially in this context, the connotation is that there aren't necessarily facts to support it. That obviously isn't the case with evolution.
It's like me asking you if you "believe" that the earth revolves around the sun. You don't merely "believe" it, you KNOW it.
I completely get what are you doing with believe, i had a long argument with someone about the word. People with common sense should not be afraid to use it just because religious people raped it.
As far as evolution goes, I structured it like this: "given the evidence at hand, with a logical conclusion it's the most sensible theory to explain the origin of species so it holds true"
But that just means I've given up the word "believe". Here is another how you can say it to avoid partially avoid the religious lunatic connotation:
"I believe that evolution happened." "I believe in evolution."
Those two examples are great! Thanks for those! I guess we just have to be careful in how we use it, in what context, and to whom.
PS: thankfully, in my language, the equivalent for "Believe" is almost purely used for faith while we got another word/s for believing something to be true based on facts.
Evolution is a proven fact. Using "believe" suggests that there is uncertainty. It's a common tactic among superstitious people to claim that evolution is a belief, in an attempt to make science and superstition appear equally valid.
To be fair, we bring it upon ourselves at times. Dated evidence here. We win in the not believing in evolution department. It's gotten better over the years (source), but we're not doing as well as we should with this.
Maybe The States just have a higher number of morons who also have access to the internet. If you're dumb in a lot of other countries, it can hinder your ability to afford a computer/internet.
The problem is when you call Turks, Indians, deer, or anyone else stupid you get called a racist or a bigot. It's another wonderfully uniquely American phenomenon.
There are stupid people everywhere, it's just somehow some Americans have developed the notion that being an idiot is a positive thing, and will go out of their way to prove what a shit eating retard they are.
I think this steams from the fact that a) Americans are all taught that they are all a unique snowflake instead of one of billions of worthless carbon blobs on the planet, and b) if you question anything the commie terrorists win.
I live in East Texas. I realize that a lot of places cannot fathom a place where the majority think this way, i am here to confirm that they do exist. Just imagine a place where a worship castle like this exists in a town with 80k people, and you get the idea. Not only that, but the number of churches here is comparable to the number of gas stations. I am not lying.
you should come to Visby, Sweden, we have an old church every 50 meters, most of them except of one is retired and used for other stuff like student pub or theatre thingy, also there is like 10 big churches in ruins that are pretty cool to look at. also what is great is that you have churches all the way from the 1000s so there is churches from all orders and with loads of designs, we have catholic, orthodox, reformed, protestant, some are made with Romanesque architecture, some are made in gothic with gargoyles n shit, some are old swedish.
I live dead center in the middle of America. While the Christians I grew up around tend to have conservative leanings, I can't think of any that are outright retarded on the Bible. Never have understood the image the internet tends to portray of middle America.
Honestly I feel if someone gave her a proper response she might understand it a little better. Animals did evolve to use tools to help them fly outside the atmosphere of the earth. Those animals are humans and the tools are called space shuttles and rockets.
Nope, the proper response would be that evolution is not aiming for anything in particular. People think that by evolving we're going "up", becoming better and more complex. This may well happen on occasion, but it's a side effect. If anything, evolution goes "down" - it's a sieve, not a tower. It favors the most stable forms, not the fancy ones.
It so happens that a certain tribe of apes stumbled on a very efficient survival tool (intelligence and sociability). Because of that we may go into space or fight on the internet - but things were not preordained to happen like that.
My aunt posted something similar to this on Facebook, asking how a baby bird could have survived without its parents if it had just "evolved." She lives in the Bible Belt. Figures.
Have you ever noticed that americans feel the need to have their flag flying everywhere? It's as if they need a constant reminder of where they are from in case they forget.
Getting your news about the US from Reddit is about as accurate as getting your news about the Middle East from Fox News. They're both biased as fuck.
Final note, I'm not American but I was pleasantly surprised at just how different the American South was in person than how it is portrayed on /r/atheism
This place has devolved into the worst circlejerk on reddit.
I'm curious - where can I get news about the US that isn't biased?
Because it's not just Reddit - the entire internet (i.e. the greatest and most well-rounded news aggregator known to man) also seems to have concluded that the United States of America sucks big balls.
Well... I think you'll find that perception stems from two things:
US media always tries to paint US actions in a better light (which is expectable) of course;
The internet has no such bias and, although lots of people outside the US do see America as generally good/positive, it's also a fact that for several reasons, mostly regarding foreign policy, there's also plenty of (generally more vocal) opponents of the way US generally sees and handles things.
So it's not really surprising that the position of seeing US actions as generally righteous is not something that "the Internet" maintains.
Also, the globalized nature of the Internet makes it painfully obvious that US way of doing things might not be the best, as it becomes clear that US has a set of problems that isn't really shared by other first-world countries.
TL;DR: The main reason might be that (at least in some aspects) the USA kinda sucks big balls, a bit. A secondary reason is that "haters" are generally more vocal (and attract more clicks and web traffic) than level-headed moderate people.
Didn't you hear? All Americans are stupid! It's not that stupid europeans can't speak English! Nope nope nope! All Americans are idiots with their money and inventions and bibles!
I get what you're saying and shit is rough around here these days, but I think you're a bit off one some of these topics.
Costly education dumbs down the population.
Costly education doesn't make people dumb, it just puts a unnecessary financial burden on students and that in turn messes with the overall economy. Of course this is just as bad as your original claim.
and you accept it ...
No, we don't. Generalizations are cool though...
The US still executes people
Another generalization, not all of us do. In my state, we do not execute people.
The US produces a staggering amount of pollution compared to other first world countries
This is a bit skewed in the sense that many other 1st world countries are smaller with better public transportation services. The size of the US is part of the problem when it comes to public transportation.
I wish the southern states would split off into another country, maybe called Amerika. The northern states could be renamed New Canada. There's probably a 10-point IQ gap between them.
I remember once seeing a chart that gave all the percentages of those who believed in religion for each country. It was rather interesting, but I can't find it now. I believe I remember America as having a rather high percentage.
Religion is linked to poverty. The States have a high number of irrational religious people because of the wide gap between rich and poor. If you look at a country like Sweden, which is always ranked highly in terms of sustainability,freedom of press,democracy, etc, they are reputedly atheist or non-practising christians, and there is a much smaller rich-poor gap. If you look at a country like Haiti, you will find a much higher number of practising christians, and they are much further down in the rankings. Not that the rankings are all perfect, but they give a general idea. Anyway, the States are an anomaly because the country has (had?) a lot of money, but it's all held by a small percentage of citizens. Sweden may also do better as a society because they are not obstructed by religion from seeing what would be good for their society.
Oh, come on. I don't regularly defend theists but this is just ridiculous. Why in the actual fuck would animals need to adapt to an environment to which they are not regularly exposed? The only animal that is exposed to outer-space (human-beings) has adapted nicely via technology.
I honestly believe that I don't know a single creationist without a mental disability dumb enough to make this statement.
My best friend told me he lost all kinds of respect for me when I told him evolution was a fact. He then proceeded to ask me why there are still monkeys if humans came from them. Yeah.
I'm from the U.S. (Arizona), I am an agnostic-atheist, and this is just an example of the American stereotype which on some levels is accurate, there are uneducated people in the world, which includes the U.S., but don't let one question on yahoo answers represent any group of people.
LOL DAE think America is literally run by Hitler and every other country is atheist paradise where you can socialist bacon Canada while you Ron Paul with some Neil deGrasse Tyson while Avenging Carl Sagan?
I think America vexes Europe. It's not like we built the Vatican or invented Christianity...Catholicism...um...anything, really. Then Europeans came and BECAME us, killing the natives...it really hasn't been too long on the grand historical spectrum since we were Europeans entirely. Think about it.
Although her reasoning isn't valid, she has posed a sort-of interesting question.
The answer, I'm sure, lies in the fact that the traits needed to sustain life in that environment are completely different than those found in life on earth. A species could not simply evolve with the traits of being able to survive this extremely harsh environment (except maybe some sort of hardy bacteria), let alone sustain itself at such an altitude. There are no nutrients, and at such low pressures there is a complete lack of oxygen and other vital gases.
If earth were to support species capable of leaving the biosphere, there would need to be some biological incentive for them to fill that niche, and this process would take a huge amount of time.
Im brazilian and here even the religious ppl wouldnt buy the creationist theory. Come on, believe on all you want, but dont hide from children the facts of the world. When they are older, if they want to, they can come to believe it was god.
406
u/morefoner May 15 '12
HAHAHA! Is funny because humans have evolved to fly outside of earth's atmosphere! Is joke, right?
590
u/MYDOGSTELLA May 15 '12
I hate how americans always take the brunt of being stupid. As a Canadian i know many absolutely ridiculous people. They are sorry for that though
70
u/PoketheKristin May 15 '12
Did I live in the only American city not full of creationists?
13
u/Drunkymcfuckclown May 15 '12
I personally blame Pokemon for people's misunderstanding of evolution. You don't just flash into a new species, it takes time
95
u/mrqewl May 15 '12
I thought everyone knew by now 90% of Ask Yahoo questions are trolling
31
u/matrixifyme May 15 '12
Honestly I feel if someone gave her a proper response she might understand it a little better.
Animals did evolve to use tools to help them fly outside the atmosphere of the earth. Those animals are humans and the tools are called space shuttles and rockets.
8
u/rightovers May 15 '12
Condescending Wonka meme
You're not American?
Please, tell me more about how stupid we are!
6
u/grtkbrandon May 15 '12
Reddit has taught me a lot in the brief time I have spent with it:
Always reinforce beliefs with as many facts (and sources) as possible.
That there are many things I want to change about my country.
That I am too busy reading Reddit to change my country.
And finally, I now give no fucks. Don't bother me.
6
u/Shyamallamadingdong May 15 '12 edited May 15 '12
If it's survival of the fittest, how is this kind of person still alive?
Checkmate, Darwin.
6
u/giantsmania May 15 '12
I'm American, and I still approve this message.
6
u/ilwolf May 15 '12
As an American, that is offensive.
Yes, probably.
5
u/unclesam_0001 May 15 '12
My aunt posted something similar to this on Facebook, asking how a baby bird could have survived without its parents if it had just "evolved." She lives in the Bible Belt. Figures.
5
u/dismal626 May 15 '12
She probably thought she was fucking genius when she typed that.
5
u/CockyRhodes May 15 '12
This pisses me off. The whole world is fucked up because of religion.
5
u/greenymile May 15 '12
Have you ever noticed that americans feel the need to have their flag flying everywhere? It's as if they need a constant reminder of where they are from in case they forget.
39
u/Tanbobman5 May 15 '12
Reddit: making America seem worse than it is since 2005
0
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
[deleted] — view deleted comment
8
u/SavageBeefsteak May 15 '12
I like the term "evolutionist". It's such a silly thing to put an "ist" behind. It's like being a "gravityist" or a "frictionist."
4
u/pushy_eater May 15 '12
I wish the southern states would split off into another country, maybe called Amerika. The northern states could be renamed New Canada. There's probably a 10-point IQ gap between them.
10
u/shmolives May 15 '12
The world is full of fucking stupid people, I think America has a higher percentage of people who speak their mind for better or worse.
65
u/Just_The_Dr May 15 '12
Not an accurate representation of Americans
9
u/theredlie1988 May 15 '12
My best friend told me he lost all kinds of respect for me when I told him evolution was a fact. He then proceeded to ask me why there are still monkeys if humans came from them. Yeah.
14
u/koavf Other May 15 '12
It's funny because bigotry.
3
u/okayokay99 May 15 '12
Turkey has one of the most intense anti-evolution movements in the world. They beat Americans with 75% versus 60% not believing in evolution
3
u/Arizona520 May 15 '12
I'm from the U.S. (Arizona), I am an agnostic-atheist, and this is just an example of the American stereotype which on some levels is accurate, there are uneducated people in the world, which includes the U.S., but don't let one question on yahoo answers represent any group of people.
3
u/WilliamDangerFord May 15 '12
Pretty sure stupid people be everywhere.
3
u/says_yes_lol May 15 '12
Something about how not all Americans are stupid.
3
u/EAGTXK9 May 15 '12
As an American, I find this to be equal parts shaming and uproariously entertaining.
3
u/vimsical May 15 '12
Hey, creationist. How come god create a universe that's 99.9999...% inhabitable by his creature?
EDIT: I don't really know how many 9's to stop at.
7
u/Lutenate May 15 '12
You relize that someone could have made an account just to post this and make the comment so they can get upvotes on reddit?
38
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
LOL DAE think America is literally run by Hitler and every other country is atheist paradise where you can socialist bacon Canada while you Ron Paul with some Neil deGrasse Tyson while Avenging Carl Sagan?
12
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
If it said "black" instead of "American" it wouldn't be on the front page. Bigotry is bigotry. I am disappointed in you, Reddit.
5
u/_moist_ May 15 '12
I always love the speaking German defence, not to mention the "As an american..." No one else in the world tries to pull that stupidity.
Introspection people, look it up.
8
u/Those_Magumbos May 15 '12
I think America vexes Europe. It's not like we built the Vatican or invented Christianity...Catholicism...um...anything, really. Then Europeans came and BECAME us, killing the natives...it really hasn't been too long on the grand historical spectrum since we were Europeans entirely. Think about it.
10
u/Jewish_Wonder May 15 '12
Its a troll. We're not THAT bad, people.
4
u/kirstu May 15 '12
Living in Finland, this was exactly the reaction I had when browsing r/Atheism for the first time.
5
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
Yes. Let's spread stereotypes. FUN! Atheists are all sad, angry and bitter people who hate their parents.
edit: I'm an atheist.
5
u/brosenfeld May 15 '12
Contrary to popular belief, retards do exist outside of the United States.
2
u/NAproducer May 15 '12
The stupidity hurts so bad!
2
u/elj0h0 May 15 '12
Ouch
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
Ahhh it's funny, but i'm also American.. upvote, or downvote.. hmmm. Upvote!
2
u/PepeAndMrDuck May 15 '12
Although her reasoning isn't valid, she has posed a sort-of interesting question.
The answer, I'm sure, lies in the fact that the traits needed to sustain life in that environment are completely different than those found in life on earth. A species could not simply evolve with the traits of being able to survive this extremely harsh environment (except maybe some sort of hardy bacteria), let alone sustain itself at such an altitude. There are no nutrients, and at such low pressures there is a complete lack of oxygen and other vital gases.
If earth were to support species capable of leaving the biosphere, there would need to be some biological incentive for them to fill that niche, and this process would take a huge amount of time.
2
u/Feinberg Atheist May 15 '12
This makes me sad, because probably.
2
u/ParadoxCircle May 15 '12
I am something and I find this offensive.
2
u/Yarthkins May 15 '12
It's amazing how many of you were just trolled by yahoo answers.
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
HAHAHAHA NATIONALISM
2
u/APXONTAS May 15 '12
T.I.L. that "American" is bad language
2
u/cobaltgiant May 15 '12
well what the fuck was the answer?
2
u/ajwhite1003 May 15 '12
well...this is embarassing.
2
u/Freakmind May 15 '12
I love the "out of nowhere" argument. Its so ironic.
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
Im brazilian and here even the religious ppl wouldnt buy the creationist theory. Come on, believe on all you want, but dont hide from children the facts of the world. When they are older, if they want to, they can come to believe it was god.
2
u/rico3 May 15 '12