Maclean's: America dumbs down
- Thread starter mentalfloss
- Start date
Your point?
Would that be that you quoted a stat was is a 5 year old joke and now you are back peddling furiously?
Is that your point?
Apologies on that... Apparently that faux pas is a result of my edumacation...
If you guys would like to ignore my post about the OP in your futile attempts to focus on a casual comment I made, then that's fine.
By all means, ignore the facts.
You guys are good at that.
By all means, ignore the facts.
You guys are good at that.
I've called the WHAAAmbulance. It'll be here directly.If you guys would like to ignore my post about the OP in your futile attempts to focus on a casual comment I made, then that's fine.
By all means, ignore the facts.
You guys are good at that.
If you guys would like to ignore my post about the OP in your futile attempts to focus on a casual comment I made, then that's fine.
By all means, ignore the facts.
You guys are good at that.
Your "casual comment" is all that's needed to see where your "slant" is. The Macleans article you posted is very thin on "facts" and heavy on innuendo and opinion.
Why don't you quote where you disagree with the OP instead of taking the cowardly route like the rest in here and making it about my 'slant'?
OK, let's start with two obvious ones, shall we?
1. Attributing the attitudes of South Carolina to "America" is deeply flawed. Even assuming what's going on is an accurate reflection of the attitudes of South Carolina.
2. What is the methodology of this poll? I can devise a poll to get any answer I want, and I'm not even a pro at it.
If you want your hit piece treated as "fact," you'll have to explain away the logical fallacy (#1) and provide some context to your alleged evidence (#2).
After survival is accomplished we then turn our attention to quality of life.
Now that our life is as simple and easy as they are. Intelligence is no longer needed.
We sit for hours on end enjoying our entertainments. Pleasuring ourselves none stop with games social interaction toys and sex.
So bottom line is we have replaced hard difficult challenging daily chores that pushed us to be smart intelligent strong disciplined efficient humans with.
Spending hours on end of self pleasuring ourselves with entertainments.
The end result is naturally the dumbing down of the whole population
Match & point
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Tecumseh, it was a national poll - says that right in the article.
Angstrom, I agree that we require intelligence to survive, but it is a naturalistic fallacy to assume that this is the determinant factor for intelligence. We invariably have a higher rate of intelligent beings now than when we did when fighting to survive.
And as a society we wouldn't be too smart if we were always fighting for our survival.
Angstrom, I agree that we require intelligence to survive, but it is a naturalistic fallacy to assume that this is the determinant factor for intelligence. We invariably have a higher rate of intelligent beings now than when we did when fighting to survive.
And as a society we wouldn't be too smart if we were always fighting for our survival.
Shall I take that as an admission from you that you know nothing about the methodology?
Or is this just a dodge away from your challenge to talk about "the facts?"
C'mon, floss, you wanted to get all rigourous over a magazine article.
Let's get down to business
I don't have no time to mess around
What is this?
Must be a circus in town
Gonna shut that sh*t down
On these clowns
Can I get a witness? (Hell, yeah!)
--Marshall Mathers
While we're on the subject of robust science education we might as well interject the well supported new science that disproves Darwins lunatic theory. The time frames are all wrong by factors in the millions of years, blanket mutations can and do occur in one generation. There is evidence of man and big lizards cohabitation of this planet. Various old maps warn of sea monsters etc.
#1 is only a logical fallacy if you didn't read the entire article. The introduction of the article with the story from South Carolina is called a hook. The article went on to talk about Americans' perception of the big bang, evolution, the age of the earth, vaccinations, climate change, belief in death panels, belief in DNA, acceptance of the link between smoking and cancer, the disconnect between government intrusion on privacy matters and counter-terrorism, results from the education system, and even the dumbed down language used by politicians. Among the numerous others.
To Colpy's point, yes America has some of the brightest minds and best schools, but that at the same time would be a non sequitur then to say that having the brightest minds and best schools means the country as a whole is accepting of scientific results and intellectuals in general, let alone even becoming more accepting.
As to the evidence, polls of opinion are always naked without the statistics. You're right that it would be nice to see more context. The journalist may have been getting pressed for words after expending so many on listing the many ways.