The Stupid, it Burns in Canada too!

Earlier this week a friend messaged me with a story to tell about his trip to the Canadian Maritime provinces.  He was dismayed by a sign that he saw posted on a church billboard outside a New Brunswick area church, and felt that he had to vent by writing about it.

I too, am now dismayed and feel that I have to write about it.

I won't leave you in suspense for too long, but this blogpost isn't really about what the board said.  (nor is this board the actual board (it is merely the same message).  I wasn't able to obtain a picture, but I will get the name and post it in an update)

If this sign came from stupid, why is there still stupid?

Seriously?

Science denial? 

Here in Canada?

This is what bothers me more than the actual billboard. 

I was pretty confident in my "Not here" pride about Canada's attitude towards skepticism and freedom from religious science denial, and now that confidence has been shaken.  We live in a country that never raged over the "Teach the Controversy" nonsense, and although religion is allowed in our schools, it never really plays a significant part (even in science class). I am saddened to know that fellow Canadians have fallen to this depth of willful ignorance but am renewed in my dedication to speaking out about about these attitudes.

Why?

Because they are harmful to our children in the way that it steals opportunity for understanding the world around them.  It degrades our critical thinking skills, and what is most important to me, it sets a very low standard for accountability for determining what is true.

You see, what is true is important to me, and to a lot of people that I know.  Words hold an iron to them, and if we allow unsupported claims to be made publically we give silent consent to them being placed on equal status with evidence based opinions and claims. 

Imagine someone at a dinner party saying;

"Gravity is not real, but just a construct of our conciousness, and you too could escape it's oppressive force if you only had an open mind."

Would you nod politely and validate his "theory" by not opposing him?  Of course not!  Any claim so ridiculously made would be met by ill concealed laughter. 

And rightly so.

Isn't it?

What about someone who was convinced that Elvis lived next door to him, and that he was obsessed by exposing it?

Would you stay silent?

Unless that IS actually the King buying groceries.  Hmmmmm

Here is the issue. 

Bad ideas have their own societal filter.  People react when they hear them, and usually not well, especially when they are demonstrably false or exceptionally silly.

That is all bad ideas and opinions except for religious ones.  No one seems to question them.  They get a level of forgiveness from this societal peer review. 

They get a pass.

NO, sir, shhhh.  The Pope is allowed to do that...

As a matter of fact, people get offended when their religious ideas are challenged.

But I digress into ranting.

The point is that I am disappointed in you Canada.  I actually thought that I lived in a country that believed as I do.

That one mans ignorance does not hold equal standing with educated fact. 

Let's not allow the terrible practice of allowing it to hold such a position take hold in our, or any, land.


On a side note....ARGH!!!!!  (I am very frustrated by this)


My thanks to Craig White for frustrating me to such lengths.  You have him to thank for my undirected and ill written rant.

Thanks Craig!

PS- I will deal with the claim made in the billboard in my next "Rational Response" post