Via Friendly Atheist (and he is) comes the news that The View is spinning madly (more than the Earth does!) over Sherri Shepherd’s statement that she wasn’t sure if the Earth was round or flat. Why, she was only having "one of those senior brain poopy moments"! [Note: the video has been taken down after I originally posted this. If you know of another copy, please post a link in the comments!]
Sorry, but that’s so much fertilizer. Watch the first clip again– she was defending her ignorance, saying she had better things to worry about — that doesn’t sound like she was in a nervous panic to me. It’s possible, of course, but after watching the clip again I would say that that was no senior moment– but it certainly was a poopy-brained one. And lest we forget: she said she doesn’t "believe" in evolution. She gets no pardon from me. My original statement still stands: there is a level of ignorance that is unacceptable in society at all, but especially for someone on TV. Read my followup too.
And Elizabeth Hasselbeck makes a statement at the end which proves that together, she and Ms. Shepherd will be impeding our nation’s progress for some time to come. She actually defends ignorance. At least Ms. Shepherd (sorta) apologizes for her dumb statement. Ms. Hasselbeck revels in it.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:10 am
I’m allergic to stupidity.
Someone get me 100 cases of Benadryl!!!!!!
September 20th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Oh now I get it, apparently its because she’s a Mom. Any other moms want to take a different view?
Spin It Like a Top.
Bob
September 20th, 2007 at 10:19 am
As I’ve said in other (obvious) topics of converstion.
If you don’t know how a gun works, I don’t want you owning one.
If you don’t know how your car works, I don’t want you driving one.
…
If you don’t know how your planet works. I don’t want you living on it.
I agree with Phil that this level of ignorance is intolerable. People should be appalled by Ms. Shepherd ignorance instead of relating to it and not feeling so bad about being ignorant themselves.
“No, but I’ll tell you what I’ve thought about; how I’m going to feed my child”
Well Ms. Shepherd, maybe if your child somehow escapes the ignorance that he’s obviously being raised in he won’t have any trouble feeding his children later in life. Who knows, maybe her son will grow up and actually get a job because of his value instead of the political processes in place that decide who will host shows like The View.
And, lets not forget, Sherri Shepherd is a host on The View, I hardly think she’s she should be having any trouble feeding her son.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Gyaagh! Someone gave Barbara Walters a gun, and she’s proceeded to shoot herself in the foot with it several times, and it’s a miracle she doesn’t have a limp to match her speech impediment like Quasimodo.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:28 am
But at the end of the day, she’s the host of a bubblehead show. The audience of that show is probably a lost cause anyway.
I love ya, Phil, but I have some better targets for you:
The anti-animal-science crowd:
http://chronicle.com/news/article/2586/animal-rights-militants-say-they-put-bomb-under-ucla-scientists-car
The anti-GM crowd:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2006/dec/16/gm.uknews
And even if you are pro-AGW, you should take a stand against things like this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/11/ngreen211.xml
And here’s some causes to champion:
http://richarddawkinsfoundation.org/foundation,ourMission
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/08/AR2007090801654.html
And I even have a new host pick for The View: Kathy Griffin.
Her Emmy acceptance speech: “A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Can you believe this s***? Hell has frozen over. Suck it, Jesus. This award is my God now.”
September 20th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Wait, she got flustered over the question “Is the world flat?” Her brain clouded over THAT? Perhaps live television is not the career for you, Sherri.
And of course Lizzy played the “mom” card. It gives her the illusion of the high ground.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:36 am
A minor quibble, but the knowledge of the (approximate) shape of the earth didn’t arrive with the “Age of Enlightenment”, but actually goes back to Aristotle around 330 B.C.E.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Ha! So it says “this video is no longer available.” More spin…..
September 20th, 2007 at 10:59 am
They are not called “senior moments” any longer but “craft” moments.
As in
Can’t Remember A F***ing Thing
September 20th, 2007 at 11:16 am
So since the video is no longer available, what was the defense?
September 20th, 2007 at 11:25 am
Mike Huckabee, that second tier Republican candidate running for President behind Rudy McRomneyson, refuses even to say if he believes the world is 6,000 years old or 4 billion years old. And it’s conceivable he could win should the fundamentalist Christian right decide they’ve had enough of their less religious (or more Mormon) candidates and turn out to vote for him. He denied that there is enough evidence for him to know the answer.
Now, I suspect that he may be pandering, but either way its a terrible indictment of the status of American science education in the 21st century. There will always be some kooks who deny that the Earth is round, but its troubling that someone (an ex-governor, no less) can run for the highest office in the land on a platform that includes denies one of the most fundamental truths of science–that the Universe is more than just a few thousand years old.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:39 am
> So since the video is no longer available, what was the defense?
http://www.thedailybackground.com/2007/09/19/video-the-view-ladies-revist-round-vs-flat-earth-discussion/
Their partial transcript and commentary will have to do, as the video has been pulled and I can’t find it elsewhere.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:42 am
It’s hard to believe that people are really proud of their ignorance. Sigh.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Maybe Sherri is from Flatland and is new to Space. Have a little cultural sensitivity, guys.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:51 am
I’m impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.
Gack! I just had a vision of Keanu Reaves delivering those lines!!
the horror…
September 20th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Ian Davidson: Why does one need to know how something works to use it? I don’t really remember how the sear (sp?) pin works, nor how they sometimes break and turn a semi-auto into a full auto, but I could still shoot a guy trying to kill me. My knowledge of how an automatic transmission’s valve body works is hazy at best, but I can still drive a car. I don’t know exactly how a transistor switches high and low, but I can add this comment just fine. People constantly ride jet aircraft all over the world without knowing what a stator vane is, and they still don’t crash very often.
How it works and that it does work are two very different things. I find it hard to believe that anyone could have not picked up on the Earth being nearly spherical, or at least not even remotely flat, but there’s no particular reason why Mrs. Shepherd needs to know that; she has likely never had to navigate long distances by means of stars or compass or anything else that would throw her off-course if she assumed a flat planet.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Ian said, “If you don’t know how your planet works. I don’t want you living on it.”
OK.
1. How do current climate conditions effect the future of El Niño?
2. What causes the periodic reversals of the Earth’s magnetic field?
3. How do proteins find the correct partners?
4. Why do we dream?
5. What are the roots of human culture?
6. Will you need help packing?
I tease.
September 20th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
She was flustered with trying to defend her remark that she doesn’t believe in evolution, so when Whoopi threw her the flat Earth curveball, she didn’t think, she just spoke.
“Senior brain poopy moment” - yeah, that makes it better.
September 20th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
MichaelS:
There is a WORLD of difference (pun intended) between extremely technical nitty-gritty that are a small part of a larger mechanism, and extraordinarily simple matters of knowledge like “is the Earth flat?” I mean, seriously… She hasn’t been in a plane and looked at the horizon? She hasn’t seen a picture of the Earth from space? She doesn’t know that the seas are connected and you don’t have to flip a 180 when you get to the farthest edge?
Most people at the VERY least can take a stab at it, and if given a multiple choice question, will alight upon the right response on extremely simple matters like this. They may not know what a sear pin is for, but they can probably hash out the basic physics involved in “how a gun shoots.” They may not know how an automatic transmission functions, but they can tell you what “makes the car go.” They may not know what a stator vane is, but they can probably tell you at the very least that “air pressure” is involved in getting that plane to fly.
“Is the world flat?” is a question which requires even LESS scientific knowledge. It is a “duh.” We mock anything remotely resembling a “flat earth society” for good reason, so PLEASE don’t pretend that her bobbleheaded remark is in any way defensible. She simply didn’t want to connect it to the next step of “what science says about evolution.”
…and if a majority of the population seriously WOULD be stymied by such simple explanations, then I fear for out continued advancement as a technological society indeed.
September 20th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Great, use the “I’m a Mom” excuse. Thanks for providing fodder for conservatives who don’t think women should work outside of the house.
The only way I’d give her leeway on the “I’m a Mom” excuse is if she was just coming out of C-section surgery and she was pumped full of morphine.
I don’t see how being a mother is an excuse for not knowing some pretty basic things about our planet.
September 20th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Oooh. I’ll have to see if Joel McHale goes after them on “The Soup”!
September 20th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
The I’m-a-mom excuse is lame. I’m a dad, and I know the Earth spins. My wife is a mom and she knows it.
My daughter is 11, and she’s known it for years!
September 20th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
“Great, use the “I’m a Mom†excuse.”
I totally agree, Cindy. Can you imagine the uproar if her excuse were “I’m female” or “I’m African-American”? This is just as offensive! My smart blond friend hates “blond moment” comments just as much. What Sherri should have done was offer an honest explanation (not an excuse) as to why she believes this. Then we could maybe find out if there is a problem out there that needs fixing.
BTW, I just discovered this blog, even though I had the privilege of meeting Phil Plait way back at TAM4. I hope I get my all my work done today!
September 20th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
The mom excuse is beyond stupid; I’m a father and I know quite a bit about the shape of the earth and evolution, despite the fact I’m a computer scientist. There is no excuse in this society for stupid people. Why is it so cool to not be educated? Why are people actually defending this moron?
This is from MSNBC actually, and I particularly enjoy the comment in parenthesis (I tried to bold it, not sure if HTML tags work or not).
“After: Well before she officially got the “View” gig, Shepherd sat in as a guest, most notably getting trapped in the middle of May’s O’Donnell/Hasselbeck throwdown. While the incident did no one any favors, Shepherd seemed poised to come out of it as unscathed as anyone. Instead, she came on full time on September 10 — that’s last week, for those keeping track — and promptly stuck her foot in her mouth. In today’s political climate, her disbelief in evolution is one thing. (It shouldn’t be, but it is.) Refusing to commit one way or the other on the issue of whether the earth is round or flat? No wonder Tracy Jordan married her.”
September 20th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
That flat earth part… That was obviously just a strikingly clumsy and totally unthought attempt to worm out of Whoopy’s counterattack. The I’m a mom excuse was a weak, very lame attempt to try to snake out of her own “Well now I look like even more of an ignorant” mess. Not to mention that excuse was TOTALLY unrelated.
For a creationist biblehugger she’s sure a clumsy one…
September 20th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
I asked my 5 year old daughter last night and she said “it’s round daddy, just like the pictures we see from space right?!”
Yah….
September 20th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
RW said, “I’m a father and I know quite a bit about the shape of the earth and evolution, despite the fact I’m a computer scientist.”
Why “despite”?
LawMom said, “My smart blond friend hates “blond moment†comments just as much.”
Is she single?
Anyway, a blind guy walks into a small, neighborhood bar and sits on a stool. The bartender brings him his drink and the blind guy says, “Hey, I heard a great blond joke.”
A chill fills the air as the bar goes quiet. The bartender says, “Sir, I’m a blond, and I’m currently cutting limes with a really big knife. The woman next to you is blond and is a tough and very off-duty veteran police officer. The woman next to her is a blond and a martial arts instructor. The blond woman over there playing pool is a bounty hunter and our bouncer by the door is a blond woman who is also a competitive body builder. That’s five blond women who could cause you serious harm.”
The bartender leans in close and asks, “Now, do you *really* want to tell your little blond joke?”
The blind man leans back, considers this for a bit, and says:
“Naaah. Not if I have to explain it five times.”
September 20th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
@Cindy,
Even pumped up on morphine is no excuse, in my book. I didn’t have a C-section but I did have a rather lovely epidural when I gave birth nine years ago. Take it from me, being comfortably numb can be pleasant but it doesn’t protect you from scientific fact.
That Shepherd sees motherhood as the gateway to her true self is quite touching. It’s just a shame that we all had to be subjected to it in such an unrefined state.
Anyone have a copy of “Science for the Poopy Brained” we could send her?
September 20th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
I hate being the devil’s advocate here, but I do believe that she did know that the erath is round and that she in the heat of the argument stated that she didn’t. This is bad, for the reasons Phil has stated here. But on the other hand she was very heavily questioned after she stated that she did not believe in evolution, and this is good. It would have been worst if they all simply had accepted her statement and go on with the program.
The worst detriment for her is that she was not able to argue in a coherent form under a minimum pressure. She is on TV, communicating should be an area of expertise when you’re on the air.
Also I think that she do have the right to not believe in evolution, or even gravity for that matter. If she want to feed her children with fantasies about a super powered that likes to turn people into salt statues, good for her, I just hope that those people will have the same kindness and let you people teach what you think is right, that’s where the problem begins.
September 20th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Perhaps Ms. Shepherd was confused from watching Tiny Planets with her kid(s)? For those of you who don’t get this, be glad.
September 20th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
I’d hate to see her concept of embryology. Apparently the mother’s brain splits and migrates to the kid, allowing for an excuse of getting dumb(er) with the birth of children? She didn’t say that it was because she is a woman. What a maroon.
September 20th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Don’t pin her idiocy on being religious or conservative. I know some left wing folks that couldn’t figure out how to pour water out of their boots even if the instructions on how to do so were printed on the bottom. I also know some right wing folks that are very intellegent, and happen to know that the earth is round. But there’s no convincing anyone in these things, so have at it.
September 20th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Obviously not everyone on this comment board believe what I wrote above, and I wasn’t speaking at you. But there are some that post here that do… I was speaking to them.
September 20th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
>>> Don’t pin her idiocy on being religious or conservative.
It’s the current punditry du jour that conservative = blithering idiot and liberal = infallible supergenius. It get used at varying intensities, but it’s there a lot. It’s the whole red/blue thing.
That’s why you’ll see things like: “You’re over simplifying things, you neocon Repug idiot!” said with no sense of irony whatsoever.
Personally, I avoid such things because I’m one of the two dozen or so *true* skeptics in this world.
For me, any human being = utter singularity of stupidium until demonstrated otherwise.
Wait… maybe that’s because I’m a complete misanthrope, too. Hmm…
September 20th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Victor,
C’mon, even if you’re playing the devil’s advocate you can’t really defend “her right to ignorance.” This wasn’t a hot button issue item like evolution or even abortion. Watch the original clip - she wasn’t being hounded by Whoppi, she didn’t just blurt it out, she was asked politely “Do you believe the world is flat,” twice and responded with “I don’t know” and “I’ve never really thought about it.” Every child I’ve asked today (10) has instantly answered that question. And her next day comment was not an apology, but a repeat of “I didn’t think.” And she’s on television, espousing that approach and falling back on the “my kids are my only priority” defense.
Oddly enough, my card-carrying feminist wife was watching the original discussion live, hoping to see if Hasselbeck was going to respond to Barry Manilow announcing that he would never go on a show with Hasselbeck. BARRY. MANILOW. IS. BOYCOTTING. THIS. SHOW. Whatever you think of the man, he ain’t no Michael Moore/Jane Fonda “kook”. When I heard my wife scream from the other room about this, I was suddenly glad her politics prevent her from owning a gun, ’cause she woulda pulled an Elvis on the TV…
September 20th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
The video is on onegoodmove:
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2007/09/the_earth_is_fl.html
September 20th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Cindy:
>>Great, use the “I’m a Mom†excuse. Thanks for providing fodder for conservatives who don’t think women should work outside of the house.
September 20th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
@Ian Davidsonon
If you don’t know how a gun works, I don’t want you owning one.
If you don’t know how your car works, I don’t want you driving one.
…
If you don’t know how your planet works. I don’t want you living on it.
What level of precision are you looking for? I can lay out the basics of those for you, but I’m sure that they’d leave a lot out. After all, I’m not a geologist, biologist, or a mechanical engineer (to name just a few specialties that could give better explanations of the above than I could).
September 21st, 2007 at 1:39 am
To put the best face possible on it, perhaps she was simply imitating Sherlock Holmes:
“My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to me to be such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.
“You appear to be astonished,” he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. “Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it….If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.” “
September 21st, 2007 at 3:36 am
Actually, I’m with Ian Davidson about the car-driving thing. If you don’t know enough to check your car’s fluid levels, tyre pressures, tyre tread depth and brake pad thickness on a regular basis, you shouldn’t be behind the wheel. In the UK, the roadworthiness of the car is the driver’s responsibility.
September 21st, 2007 at 3:57 am
“The I’m-a-mom excuse is lame. I’m a dad, and I know the Earth spins. My wife is a mom and she knows it.
My daughter is 11, and she’s known it for years!”
Gee, Dr. Plait… your daughter must be wasting away to nothing!
September 21st, 2007 at 8:32 am
Gee, if raising her child is taking up so much time that she can’t even figure out which way is up, maybe she should give up the day job until she’s learned enough basic knowledge to no longer be a danger to her child?
September 21st, 2007 at 8:57 am
Argh!
Were she a mother in who had to spend a lot of effort to give her children a chance of making it to adulthood, maybe, just maybe, I could see not knowing and understanding that the world isn’t flat.
But it sounds like she’s never been that kind of mother. Feeding her kids isn’t enough, she should be feeding their minds, and that takes a tiny bit of knowledge.
September 21st, 2007 at 10:04 am
Well my wife’s a mom, and I’m almost certain she’s not an idiot so I don’t get how that’s an excuse anyway.
September 21st, 2007 at 12:28 pm
The Bad Astronomer said:
> The I’m-a-mom excuse is lame. I’m a dad, and I know the Earth spins. My wife is a mom and she knows it.
Fine, fine, but does she know the world is round?
Quiet_Desperation said:
> RW said, “I’m a father and I know quite a bit about the shape of the earth and evolution, despite the fact I’m a computer scientist.â€
> Why “despite�
I think he was stating that he is a computer scientist, not an astronomer like Phil, who presumably would have more work related insight into things like the shape of the Earth. You know, that special technical knowledge astronomers need to be able to look up correctly.
Victor Bogado said:
> Also I think that she do have the right to not believe in evolution, or even gravity for that matter. If she want to feed her children with fantasies about a super powered that likes to turn people into salt statues, good for her, I just hope that those people will have the same kindness and let you people teach what you think is right, that’s where the problem begins.
You are correct, she has the right to believe whatever fool nonsense she wants. However, we have the right to call her a moron for expressing disbelief of an evidenciary claim that is as solidly supported as the shape of the Earth. We have the right to examine the basis for her rejection of Evolution, and to point out the scientific position regardless of her belief. She has the right to raise her children with whatever fool notions she wants, as long as she isn’t actively physically harming or neglecting their well-being. Somehow intellectual well-being is a different animal than emotional, psychological, or physical. But we have the right to lament whatever nonsense she will be teaching her son, and hope that he has more sources of knowledge than just her, and actually learns reality despite her influence.
Curtboy said:
> Don’t pin her idiocy on being religious or conservative.
I think this particular example, the statement about Earth’s shape, is not a feature of her religion or conservativeness. However, her rejection of Evolution is tied to her religious beliefs, and not just being religious in general, but the specific conservative (fundamentalist) version of religion that she holds.
I think her unstated thought process was that scientists don’t know everything, clearly they are wrong about Evolution, so maybe they are wrong about that, too. So the “mommy defense” was that she is busy with her life and doesn’t have time to scrutinize every scientific declaration and position. She just holds her religious faith, and won’t accept scientists who tell her that her faith is an error. So rather when presented with another “scientific position”, she fell back on “I don’t know” rather than have to accept scientists’ word on the shape of the Earth and then be caught in a self-contradiction. Instead of saying, “Of course the Earth is round, you don’t have to be a scientist to understand that,” she went with “I don’t know if I accept scientists as being right about that either, but if I had to explain it to my kid then I guess I would investigate the matter for myself and learn why it is thought to be round.” But she was not a rapid thinker and did not adequately express her thought process, or probably think to step outside it and analyze it to see where it was going. Instead she comes off as an idiot who doesn’t know the shape of the Earth, and then a bigger idiot for defending her idiocy by the “mommy defense”. The “mommy defense” is a valid defense for not understanding the exact nature of electricity or how to measure the magnetic field coming from the power lines in her house, but it’s a very poor defense for not knowing the Earth is round. Her subsequent statement was an acknowledgment that her thought process was muddied and that she was caught off guard, but she didn’t attempt to analyze or explain her thought process, just blow off the mistake and move on. Thus, she looks like an ever bigger moron because she can’t even admit a mistake very well. “Senior brain poopy moment”. How about “I wasn’t expressing myself clearly or arguing the point it sounded like I was.”
But maybe I’m giving her too much credit.
Quiet_Desperation said:
> It’s the current punditry du jour that conservative = blithering idiot and liberal = infallible supergenius.
I think the connection is that rural = redneck = conservative, and redneck = uninformed = ignorant = blithering idiot. I’ve not so much made the connection liberal = infallible supergenius, but perhaps the connection runs liberal = concerned = informed = educated = intelligent. But perhaps I’m wrong. Note that those equals signs are perceptions, not necessarily realities.
Bruce G. said:
> To put the best face possible on it, perhaps she was simply imitating Sherlock Holmes:
> “You appear to be astonished,†he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. “Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it….If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.†“
Holmes was a bit of a caricature, even of himself. Doyle was making a point, but didn’t grasp that sometimes esoteric knowledge can be the clue that solves a particular mystery. Suppose Holmes were investigating a case involving the tides, or perhaps a murder of an astronomer and was looking for a connection or motivation. Knowing that there exists a Flat Earth Society that is annoyed by the astronomer declaring the world round, or fighting geocentrists, or having the ability of the murderer escape the crime scene becauseof the particular geometry of a certain bay inlet in response to tidal conditions could be the detail that solves the case. Holmes would have to invest a certain amount of time in whatever topic is relevant to the case at hand in order to know those details. Any number of Holmsian cases were solved by exactly that type of esoteric knowledge.
September 21st, 2007 at 1:49 pm
On the point of using the “Mom” excuse, what everyone seems to be missing is that she probably was not a Mom for the first 20, 25 or 30+ years of her life. So even accepting the fact that one can be so busy parenting that they cannot pursue intellectual questions does not excuse the ignorance or absolute lack of intellectual curiosity about such a basic question.
Presuming we give her the benefit of the doubt as to whether she did know that the earth was not flat (after all, how can anyone in this century not have seen a globe, or a photo of the Earth from space), it was her next line in the context of the Evolution discussion that was more troubling.
She said “I have never thought about it”.
If she has never in her entire life been so curious as to ponder such an elementary question, what on earth (no pun intended) makes her think that she has the qualifications to hold (let alone espouse) a position of certainty on the far more complex question of Evolution.
I am quite certain that she hasn’t thought about Evolution either (I’d be shocked if she could explain the first thing about it ). Does the relationship between the effort spent thinking about a topic and the level of certainty regarding one’s conclusions about that topic not even occur to her?
Lastly, the entire panel was steeped in ignorance. Even Barbara Walters, celebrated venerated journalist, sounded like a moron. Why are these people on TV?
September 21st, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Hasn’t she ever seen a globe? I have one, so I know the world is round.
Oh, wait a minute. I have a wall map of the earth, too. OKay, now I’m really confused.
September 21st, 2007 at 8:49 pm
As I said earlier: “Oooh. I’ll have to see if Joel McHale goes after them on ‘The Soup’!”
And they did! Watch the first 2 minutes of this week’s episode on E!
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:07 pm
You know what happened here…. someone in her church told her that believing in evolution will cause you to go to hell. So she, as well as quite a few folks I know, will never ever admit they believe in evolution, whether they do or not.
When the flat earth question was thrown in, she was totally unprepared. What does the Bible say about the earth being flat? She didn’t know, so was afraid of giving any answer whatsoever. Sure, she’s seen globes and photos from space, but didn’t want to go against the fundamentalist dogma.
September 24th, 2007 at 10:45 am
jfatz: Yes, there’s a difference between knowing the “nitty-gritty” of something and the basics of something. But what is “basic”? 20 KY ago, the basics would have been “good deer hunting over in that valley, good boar hunting in this valley, good fishing in the big river, home in the caves”. Sure, we’ve discovered many things they hadn’t discovered yet, and much knowledge that would have made you a god back then is commonplace now. That the Earth is generally round is one such example; hence why I said “I find it hard to believe that anyone could have not picked up on. . .”. But things like the Earth being a few billion years old, people sharing common ancestry with every living thing on Earth, the planet being round, stars being big balls of glowing gas and thunder being caused by the rapid heating of air in the path of a lightning bolt are still extraneous to the every-day lives of the average person in the average profession.
My response wasn’t to defend her seeming ignorance; is was to attack the lame idea that someone needs to know how something works to use it. That the Earth is round may be basic in an elementary geography class, but it falls into the category of useless knowledge for most people’s lives.
October 1st, 2007 at 4:01 am
[…] Bad Astronomy Blog » The View spins the Earth […]