International I Hate Sports Club

HugeFanOfBadReligion wrote:

Fat Man wrote:As all good religious sports-loving American citizens know, the universe was created in 6 days and is only 7,000 years old and evolution did not occur, but that animals magically popped up out of the ground, therefore, all the nerds and geeks who study science are jerks and deserve to get beaten and bullied around.

Oh no Fat Man, a jock would never believe in that. They would believe that it is 6000 years old, 7000 years old is blasphemy to them. The Lenski experiments are also blasphemy to them, not just because it contradicts what they think, but also because our fellow nerds conducted those experiments. Both sports and fundamentalism have corrupted our educational system, I've only been taught evolution once in school, and it was only half a page about it (I have searced repeatedly in the index of science textbooks for words such as evolution, natural selection, Charles Darwin, and you just can't find them). And with sports teams that are funded by the school, we lose money for real education that doesn't support super-masculinity and a gang mentality of competition. It's sad that in a world with all this amazing technology, we don't use it for good reasons, when we could use technology to advance the educational system to a much better standard. But no, we have to waste our money on sports equipment.

Whoops!

I guess I stand corrected. Yeah, they believe it's 6000 years and not 7000 years.

They also think the earth is flat and that the sun revolves around the earth.

It's a fact! About 20% percent, one fifth of all Americans believe that the sun revolves around the earth!

I kid you not!!!

Embarrassingly Stupid Americans -- One in
Five Believes Sun Revolves Around Earth
Posted by Dr. Mercola March 11 2008

The title of this article, that an embarrassingly high number of Americans believe that the sun revolves around the Earth, is only one point argued by the Washington Postâ??s Susan Jacoby, in her attempt to prove that Americans are in serious intellectual trouble, facing a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations.



What else is signaling that Americans are becoming increasingly dumbed-down as a society?

* Reading -- of books, newspapers and magazines -- is on the decline. A 2007 study even found that 80 percent of American families did not buy or read a book in 2006.

* Attention spans are declining; Jacoby suggests this is due to television and videos. For instance, between 1968 and 1988, the average sound bite on the news for a presidential candidate dropped from 42.3 seconds to 9.8 seconds. By 2000, according to a Harvard study, the daily candidate bite was down to just 7.8 seconds.

* General knowledge is eroding. This is evidenced not only by the fact that one in five U.S. adults believe the sun revolves around the Earth, but also many others.

Yet, itâ??s not bad enough that knowledge is quickly declining in the United States. On top of that, there is an arrogance about this lack of knowledge, almost as if a good portion of the population is saying, â??We know weâ??re ignorant, but we donâ??t care!â?

Consider, for instance, that a 2006 survey by National Geographic-Roper found that nearly half of young Americans did not think it was necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news was being made. And another one-third felt it was â??not at all importantâ? to know a foreign language.

Why is this so concerning? Because â?¦

Fear and Ignorance Go Hand in Hand

These must all be sports fans!

Fat Man wrote: About 20% percent, one fifth of all Americans believe that the sun revolves around the earth!

Oh my god. I can't believe it. I mean, I couldn't believe it that half of Americans didn't believe in evolution, but I could understand why because of people who want Intelligent Design to be taught in schools, and because of the contradiction between evolution and religious text. But this takes it to a whole new level. Geocentricism was proven to be wrong centuries ago, and heliocentricism has been a fact for quite a while. There isn't a large contradiction between heliocentricism and religious text, so why does half of the American population believe in geocentricism? It's pathetic that geocentrists and Flat Earth societies exist to this day. Can you give me the link to where you found that article? Thanks.

HugeFanOfBadReligion wrote:

Fat Man wrote: About 20% percent, one fifth of all Americans believe that the sun revolves around the earth!

Oh my god. I can't believe it. I mean, I couldn't believe it that half of Americans didn't believe in evolution, but I could understand why because of people who want Intelligent Design to be taught in schools, and because of the contradiction between evolution and religious text. But this takes it to a whole new level. Geocentricism was proven to be wrong centuries ago, and heliocentricism has been a fact for quite a while. There isn't a large contradiction between heliocentricism and religious text, so why does half of the American population believe in geocentricism? It's pathetic that geocentrists and Flat Earth societies exist to this day. Can you give me the link to where you found that article? Thanks.

OK, here it is.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... earth.aspx

But you have to subscribe to the web site to view the article.

In the meantime just do a Google Search

Type in the following:

One In Five Believe Sun Revolves Around Earth

You will come up with a bunch of web site links.

Fat Man wrote:But you have to subscribe to the web site to view the article.

In the meantime just do a Google Search.

Indeed, I already have, and I'm shocked about it. Not just the geocentricism, but also the lack of knowledge about other scientific matters. Apparently, one fifth of the American population is made up of pathetic imbeciles, and I'm sure the rest of the world is sure to follow.

HugeFanOfBadReligion wrote:

Nick wrote:I have trouble feeling sorry for victims of verbal bullying, because in my experience most of them are jerks, themselves.
...Also, why did he have this kid friended on Facebook? No friend and he can't be bullied, bro...

Are you kidding me? Most victims of bullying are jerks? Most victims of bullying I have known have been some of the smartest and kindest people I've ever known. A good example of this is one of my friends whose Mom died when he was in grade 4. He was born with several mental and physical conditions such as anger issues, but he escaped many of these conditions, even after the death of his mom. People would make fun of him because his mom was dead, and when he was younger, he would cry about it, but even though he was one of the biggest kids I've known, he wouldn't even try to harm them, he wouldn't even say a word back. I can't possibly imagine how you made this observation that victims of bullying are jerks. I don't think I've seen any of your posts, so I don't know if you're a troll or something, but how can you possibly call a large group of victims of a problem that occurs everywhere jerks?

And I don't know why he had him as a friend on Facebook.

No, considering the kids who get insulted are:

Ben T - Jewish, hates Christians, drew a cross covered in human excrement as a joke.
Josh T, or something - Kid called me fat, I said it's funny he got a bad grade so he cried.
John M - Bipolar/ADHD combo (true story) and admittedly bisexual, overreacts to offhand comments explosively.

Also, they're WORDS. Come on people. Kids insult me every day and I don't complain. What happened to this generation?

Nick wrote:

HugeFanOfBadReligion wrote:

Nick wrote:I have trouble feeling sorry for victims of verbal bullying, because in my experience most of them are jerks, themselves.
...Also, why did he have this kid friended on Facebook? No friend and he can't be bullied, bro...

Are you kidding me? Most victims of bullying are jerks? Most victims of bullying I have known have been some of the smartest and kindest people I've ever known. A good example of this is one of my friends whose Mom died when he was in grade 4. He was born with several mental and physical conditions such as anger issues, but he escaped many of these conditions, even after the death of his mom. People would make fun of him because his mom was dead, and when he was younger, he would cry about it, but even though he was one of the biggest kids I've known, he wouldn't even try to harm them, he wouldn't even say a word back. I can't possibly imagine how you made this observation that victims of bullying are jerks. I don't think I've seen any of your posts, so I don't know if you're a troll or something, but how can you possibly call a large group of victims of a problem that occurs everywhere jerks?

And I don't know why he had him as a friend on Facebook.

No, considering the kids who get insulted are:

Ben T - Jewish, hates Christians, drew a cross covered in human excrement as a joke.
Josh T, or something - Kid called me fat, I said it's funny he got a bad grade so he cried.
John M - Bipolar/ADHD combo (true story) and admittedly bisexual, overreacts to offhand comments explosively.

Also, they're WORDS. Come on people. Kids insult me every day and I don't complain. What happened to this generation?

Excuse me Prick!

But when I was in school, the bullying went way beyond verbal teasing.

It was often accompanied with physical violence and beatings!

No, considering the kids who get insulted are:

Ben T - Jewish, hates Christians, drew a cross covered in human excrement as a joke.
Josh T, or something - Kid called me fat, I said it's funny he got a bad grade so he cried.
John M - Bipolar/ADHD combo (true story) and admittedly bisexual, overreacts to offhand comments explosively.

Also, they're WORDS. Come on people. Kids insult me every day and I don't complain. What happened to this generation?

Excuse me Prick!

But when I was in school, the bullying went way beyond verbal teasing.

It was often accompanied with physical violence and beatings!

Excuse me, rather large gentleman. I believe the point at which we are disagreeing is based upon pure misunderstanding. There is no need to get rude, my good sir. I shall explain myself. You seem not to have noticed I specifically took notice of verbal bullying, and not physical bullying. I in no way condone such actions.

Nick wrote: Ben T - Jewish, hates Christians, drew a cross covered in human excrement as a joke.
Josh T, or something - Kid called me fat, I said it's funny he got a bad grade so he cried.
John M - Bipolar/ADHD combo (true story) and admittedly bisexual, overreacts to offhand comments explosively.

Also, they're WORDS. Come on people. Kids insult me every day and I don't complain. What happened to this generation?

Who cares if he hates Christians? Don't tell me you're going to get offended by that. I have many problems with religion, many of those problems including those started by Christians. Religion has been the cause of violence and ignorance for millennia. I don't hate Christians, however I do have a problem with many Christians who advocate violence because of Christianity, and I have that same problem with every religion. Every religion has it's problems, even the ones that are considered to be peaceful, such as Buddhism. People have a problem with religions, suck it up. In fact, I listen to a band called Bad Religion. Why don't you go take a look at their logo? It's a cross in a prohibition sign. They are not Satanists or Anti-Christs, it's just a logo. I also drew a picture of the Pope inside of a Ghostbusters logo, titled Popebusters on my binder. I don't hate him just because he's a Pope, there have been many Pope's who have done good in the world. I dislike him because he is partly responsible for overpopulation and the prevelance of disease in Africa because he says that condoms are sinful and that it is better to die slowly and painfully from HIV than to be condemned to eternal damnation.
And seriously, you think that John kid is a jerk because he is bipolar and has ADHD? That is a mental disability. Would you call someone a jerk because they have down syndrome? And who cares if he is bisexual. Are you a homophobe? Judging by the fact that you are angered by a person disliking Christianity and the fact that you think a kid is a jerk because he is a bisexual, you are a person who believes that homosexuals will be sent to Hell, and you likely condemn other sinful acts. Again, I have no problem with religion or religious people, but if you use that to justify hate, violence, and ignorance, then I have a problem.