Double Plus Ungood

Seems I wasn't the only commentator responding to the surge of American Ignorance as embodied in some of last week's headlines. A few daring revolutionaries even wrote letters to my local newspaper regarding the concession that WMDs may not have ever existed--and not one of them argued that they were buried deep in some Syrian bunker. So there actually was a little outrage, for all the good it will do. Then there was an article by Arianna Huffington citing the same "Left Behind" mentality that I referenced in earlier blog as a scary indication that the Bush administration's policies are geared to ignoring a future that probably won't happen because the End Days are upon us. So what if the National Debt piles up higher than Everest? The only worthwhile souls will be lolling on high after being transported through the Rapture, spooning ambrosia with J.C. and the Saints. The rest of us will be so besmitten by tribulations that no social security checks will be able to compensate, so fuck it.

Then there's "Nightline." I really shouldn't be watching "Nightline." Perhaps I should enable the Parental Block on my TV just for that program. Of course it's a terrific and often compelling news show, but there hasn't been any terrific news lately, to put it mildly. In fact, there hasn't been one iota of good news since that woman distributed the butterfly ballots in Broward County in 2000. So I know if I switch it on I will be fed some disturbing item that will feed into my insomnia. Still, Ted Koppel is an anchor of common sense amidst a sea of increasing cultural bedlam, so he's worth viewing.

Last week he hosted two shows about favorite culture war items, bending over backwards to give both sides, the Ignorant and the Intelligent, equal respect. Frankly, there is nothing about Ignorance that ever merits respect, but Ted and ABC must consider ratings lest they hand over the time slot to Craig Kilborn or Jon Stewart (though the latter would be acceptable). The first episode focused on a young gay teen in an Oklahoma burg whose story was documented in the Washington Post. This aroused the ire of the Village and he was harshly ostracized by friends and family--until the town was invaded by the Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Leviticus-inspired "I Hate Fags" ministry. The Rev and his Morlock adherents started picketing the church, demanding, I suppose, that the lad be drawn and quartered. Then the townspeople, deciding that picketing a church was even worse than admitting to one's sexual orientation, voiced their support of the sinner in their midst, and cast the protesters aside. Of course they still despise the pervert, but he's their pervert, and if anyone is going to devote their energies to making him feel subhuman, it's them. I suppose that pastime will keep the good townsfolk occupied until they get zapped to Heaven and he has to remain on Earth along with Elton John and Ellen DeGeneres.

This passes for a touching display of tolerance in Red State Nation. Not that I am deeply moved, but it's decidedly upbeat compared to the next evening's story, which visited a town in Pennsylvania--a Blue State, for Goodness sake--where the Evolution/Creationism debate has "divided" the populace. If my eyes rolled any more my pupils would be inside my brain. Then Koppel presented the following statistic: In America (not just the backwaters), 35% believe Evolution is a valid theory; 35% hold to "Intelligent Design" (an Orwellian phrase I would literally apply maybe to the Vietnam Memorial wall), and the rest were undecided.

Okay, I could blog on endlessly about the superiority of the Evolution theory, based on centuries of scientific study of concrete fossil evidence, versus a pretty but totally fanciful concept of a Supreme Being snapping his/her fingers and creating elephants and tarantulas and ragweed. Not worth protracting my point. What I cannot understand is that so many people who do respect the scientific method and modes of inquiry popular since the Renaissance can acknowledge the five billion years of Terran history and the skeletal evidence of Evolution but still hold fast to the Finger Snapping Creation. Yes, there are still some holes in Evolutionary theory, but we understand this process a hell of a lot better than we understand Dark Matter and Black Holes. And for those who hold dogmatically to Intelligent Design, I have a meaty question for them: What was God doing during the Jurassic period?

To hold to two contradictory thoughts at once and believe them both is what George Orwell, in "1984," labeled "Doublethink." That Faith can be so powerful that educated people are able to padlock their analytical resources is totally bewildering to me. How far have we advanced since the Church Fathers condemned Galileo for announcing that the Earth revolved around the sun? It took three hundred years to get a grudging apology from the Vatican, which didn't do the disgraced scientist very much good. But that's what he gets for thinking. Orwell was appallingly prescient about the manipulation of false ideas for public consumption. In his dystopic Oceania one of the Guiding Principles was "Ignorance is Strength." That must be very comforting to Lou Sheldon.

Next up: War is Peace (oh, we have that already, thanks Condy and Rumsfeld). Freedom is Slavery? Sounds catchy--look for that on the posters for when Newt Gingrich runs for Prez in 2008.