What's on your mind today?

[Tank]

Is the story of the teacher real or a fiction to highlight the issue?

The story of the teacher is painfully real.  One can use Google search to find the lovely little town of Baconton. It can also find the names and specialties of the Baconton Community Charter school., their football team, their grade averages as compared to the state averages, the names and specialties of the teachers,and pictures of the disproportionate number of  well manicured hard shell Baptist churches in such a tiny town.

When observing the many pictures of the homes and other buildings and landscapes of the community, it would be easy to entertain the possibility for living there. 

I expect that some of our members, like Dragonia among others, is  more than familiar with the desirable climate, landscape, and other positive features of that area.  She lives not very far away from Baconton.  Both she and I are also aware that there are an incredible number of otherwise intelligent people who are so far out in spiritual left field as to be dangerous to our hopes for survival. 

As a long term admirer of teachers, I am hurting for Ms Howell and all the other beleaguered science teachers in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, The Dakotas, and elsewhere.

Not to worry I will get over my emotional episode.  I will remind myself that one must take the bitter with the sweet

This makes me sad and angry that such wilful ignorance can persist in our world.

[Dave]

^

I also find it incredible that people in a nation that has such a high opinion of itself can be so primitive in their thoughts at the same time. A total lack of both insight and the ability to see beyond their own noses without imposing their narrow prejudices as their measure.

No, on second thoughts the self-aggrandisement and the narrow outlook are entirely compatible.

[Tank]

^

I also find it incredible that people in a nation that has such a high opinion of itself can be so primitive in their thoughts at the same time. A total lack of both insight and the ability to see beyond their own noses without imposing their narrow prejudices as their measure.

No, on second thoughts the self-aggrandisement and the narrow outlook are entirely compatible.

Think about it. They have such a high opinion of themselves because they are self-centred and egocentric. Exactly the same traits that make them deny evolution. I am always grateful that I know so many Americans that are not like that.

[Dave]

Think about it. They have such a high opinion of themselves because they are self-centred and egocentric. Exactly the same traits that make them deny evolution.

Yup

I am always grateful that I know so many Americans that are not like that.

And, yup, again

Sorry that my comment could be taken it imply the whole population. And, of course, we have our share of primitive thinkers - just not so many and we, mostly, keep them contained.

[Velma]

Is the story of the teacher real or a fiction to highlight the issue?

The story of the teacher is painfully real.  One can use Google search to find the lovely little town of Baconton. It can also find the names and specialties of the Baconton Community Charter school., their football team, their grade averages as compared to the state averages, the names and specialties of the teachers,and pictures of the disproportionate number of  well manicured hard shell Baptist churches in such a tiny town.

When observing the many pictures of the homes and other buildings and landscapes of the community, it would be easy to entertain the possibility for living there. 

I expect that some of our members, like Dragonia among others, is  more than familiar with the desirable climate, landscape, and other positive features of that area.  She lives not very far away from Baconton.  Both she and I are also aware that there are an incredible number of otherwise intelligent people who are so far out in spiritual left field as to be dangerous to our hopes for survival. 

As a long term admirer of teachers, I am hurting for Ms Howell and all the other beleaguered science teachers in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, The Dakotas, and elsewhere.

Not to worry I will get over my emotional episode.  I will remind myself that one must take the bitter with the sweet

This makes me sad and angry that such wilful ignorance can persist in our world.

Once upon a time, many years ago, someone explained it to me. The less you know, the less you think there is to know, so you overestimate how much you actually know in the grand scheme of things. The more you know, the more likely it is that you understand just how much knowledge there is out there and how little of it you will ever know. It also accounts for why people who know so little are so confident and loud about their "knowledge" while those who really do know a lot have so little confidence and tend to keep quiet. It is easy to be loud and brash when you think you know so much. It is a bit more difficult to be loud and brash when you realize that you could spend two hundred years learning and still have more to know.

[Dave]

The less you know, the less you think there is to know, so you overestimate how much you actually know in the grand scheme of things. The more you know, the more likely it is that you understand just how much knowledge there is out there and how little of it you will ever know.

I don't think it is perfect logic (it makes no allowance for the part IQ has to play in perception) but I like it, Velma!

I will print it out, frame it and hang it on my wall, maybe in a more generalised form. There could be a philosophy thread in that . . .

[Velma]

The less you know, the less you think there is to know, so you overestimate how much you actually know in the grand scheme of things. The more you know, the more likely it is that you understand just how much knowledge there is out there and how little of it you will ever know.

I don't think it is perfect logic (it makes no allowance for the part IQ has to play in perception) but I like it, Velma!

I will print it out, frame it and hang it on my wall, maybe in a more generalised form. There could be a philosophy thread in that . . .

Thank you...and no, it doesn't really make allowance for IQ, but that is more of a view of a forest rather than an examination of individual trees. I think it can be a useful idea if you keep in mind that it is a generalization.

[xSilverPhinx]

The less you know, the less you think there is to know, so you overestimate how much you actually know in the grand scheme of things. The more you know, the more likely it is that you understand just how much knowledge there is out there and how little of it you will ever know.

That's the Dunning-Kruger Effect in a nutshell! 

[Icarus]

We have a national leader who demonstrates the thrust of Velma's post.  That individual behaves, reasons, and speaks as if dumb as a basket of rocks but he claims to be a "stable genius". 

[Dave]

We have a national leader who demonstrates the thrust of Velma's post.  That individual behaves, reasons, and speaks as if dumb as a basket of rocks but he claims to be a "stable genius".

Does that mean he is full of horse shit, with a similar IQ?

[Essie Mae]

Today I went to church with my son and family. A boy was baptised by his grandmother, a pastor. A filmed interview was shown in which the grandmother asked him about his love for Jesus and asked him why he wanted to be baptised. 'Because I want to live for Jesus for all my life,' he said. He was five years old.

[Dave]

Today I went to church with my son and family. A boy was baptised by his grandmother, a pastor. A filmed interview was shown in which the grandmother asked him about his love for Jesus and asked him why he wanted to be baptised. 'Because I want to live for Jesus for all my life,' he said. He was five years old.

Brainwashing at its best worst!

[Essie Mae]

Today I went to church with my son and family. A boy was baptised by his grandmother, a pastor. A filmed interview was shown in which the grandmother asked him about his love for Jesus and asked him why he wanted to be baptised. 'Because I want to live for Jesus for all my life,' he said. He was five years old.

Brainwashing at its best worst!

He was such a bright sparky kid who appeared highly intelligent. I wonder when/if he'll realise what a crock of excrement it all is.

[Dave]

Today I went to church with my son and family. A boy was baptised by his grandmother, a pastor. A filmed interview was shown in which the grandmother asked him about his love for Jesus and asked him why he wanted to be baptised. 'Because I want to live for Jesus for all my life,' he said. He was five years old.

Brainwashing at its best worst!

He was such a bright sparky kid who appeared highly intelligent. I wonder when/if he'll realise what a crock of excrement it all is.

We can only hope.

[xSilverPhinx]

Today I went to church with my son and family. A boy was baptised by his grandmother, a pastor. A filmed interview was shown in which the grandmother asked him about his love for Jesus and asked him why he wanted to be baptised. 'Because I want to live for Jesus for all my life,' he said. He was five years old.

Brainwashing at its best worst!

He was such a bright sparky kid who appeared highly intelligent. I wonder when/if he'll realise what a crock of excrement it all is.

We can only hope.

It's a scenario that's becoming increasingly likely. Upcoming generations are less and less religious.