Dude!

[shipperx]

Sometimes you read stuff and want to slam your head into a wall.

From Politico.com (edited to reduce political commentary, because I don't do politics in my LJ): 

"Large minorities of Americans consistently say they hold wildly out-of-the-mainstream views, often specifically discredited beliefs.

For instance:

22 percent believe the government knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance.
23 percent believe they've been in the presence of a ghost.
18 percent believe the sun revolves around the Earth.

***********************************************************

o.O
Never underestimate the number of stupid people inhabiting the planet.

Comments

[ww1614.livejournal.com]

Makes one worry less that 11% think Obama is a Muslim.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

There's that.

Still, the science geek in me is horrified that so many deny basic astronomy!

[nmissi.livejournal.com]

The first group: Anti-government conspiracy types. The third group: badly educated?

I fall into the middle group. Let me assure you, I'm not crazy and I'm not stupid. I just saw a woman behind me that was only visible in a mirror. I assume her to be a ghost, because the tenth floor was reputed to be haunted. I'd always thought that I would be open-minded, even curious, in such a situation. Seeing her was creepy enough, but the real surprise was how it affected me physically. The hair on my arms stood up, I became very cold, shaky, and sick to my stomach. The whole "fight or flight" thing- I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

I don't think that believing in something you personally experienced (ghosts) is in the same realm as holding odd beliefs about something you have no personal knowledge of (9/11 conspiracies, the sun revolve around the earth). The situations are not comparable.

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

There is nothing more terrifying than stupidity in motion,...

[kitmarlowescot2.livejournal.com]

For one and three they are stupid, as for number two. I wouldn't put off the supernatural, some places just have that history. I don't know if it is that some areas have higher electro magnetic fields, or if people are more sensitive to those fields. But strange things do happen.
I was very much into ghosts and haunting up untill I was 20. I still read about it, but am not much for going out to places to see if I could find anything. Never did take a picture of even a ghostly globe...sigh.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I tend to be very much in the vein of Scully in that I always search for scientific explanations... even if I have to stretch them. :)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It still boggles my mind that there are people who are ignorant of Copernicus. I mean, he figured out that the earth wasn't the center of the solar system in the 1500's. You'd think that was plenty of time for the truth to sink in. :)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It is pretty terrifying.

[kitmarlowescot2.livejournal.com]

Well, yes alot of it can be psyhogical. One can't help to feel anxious when hearing about the history of place. Wouldn't you feel nervous staying the night in a place where a murder took place and their have been reports of noises or figures vanishing ?
I was reading the article, thewoman from Hampton, VA who commented on living in a haunted house. (That is hwere I am from, and you can't take two steps in VA without hitting a historical site. And that house she talking about isn't located in VA but in Indiana.) Her daughter started talking to a invisible friend, and things were moving around by themselves. That can be freaky. Acourse I have also scared myself silly, visiting haunted places, and my mother just looks at me like I have gone nuts. So would you stay the night in a place that was haunted, might even have a demonic past ?

[kitmarlowescot2.livejournal.com]

Well, yes alot of it can be psychological. One can't help to feel anxious when hearing about the history of place. Wouldn't you feel nervous staying the night in a place where a murder took place and their have been reports of noises or figures vanishing ?
I was reading the article, the woman from Hampton, VA who commented on living in a haunted house. (That is where I am from, and you can't take two steps in VA without hitting a historical site. And that house she talking about isn't located in VA but in Indiana.) Her daughter started talking to a invisible friend, and things were moving around by themselves. That can be freaky. A course I have also scared myself silly, visiting haunted places, and my mother just looks at me like I have gone nuts. So would you stay the night in a place that was haunted, might even have a demonic past ?

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

In general, in life, I'm a chicken. But as an agnostic, I don't know that I actually believe in demonic anything. Evil? Yes. Demons? Not so much. Though, yeah, I think places like Auschwitz would have bad vibes.

[dreamkeeper77.livejournal.com]

Weeeelll...1 and 3 are stupid, I agree. But ghosts? I've never personally seen one but as to the actual exsistence of them--I personally don't think it is something people can ignore in this day and age. Too much evidence.

[wenchsenior.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I have to remind myself that half of the population is of below-average intelligence. LOL.

Then there's the educational system, or lack thereof.

:sigh:

[kitmarlowescot2.livejournal.com]

Have you read this article ? I can't believe a teacher would do this to a five year old, no matter how many problems they have.
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/24/30gtteacher-lets-students-vote-out-classmate-5/

[kassto.livejournal.com]

Unbelievable. The third item puts the other two in a bit more context.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid that I'm so science biased that there would have to be a scientific theory that could reasonably explain how such a phenomenon would function before I would really deal with the question. It's the old 'form follows function' cliche.

[rahirah]

Every now and then, when I was a kid, I'd wake up with the vivid impression that someone was sitting on my bed. (Usually I'd think it was one of my parents.) When I wakened completely, no one was there, and I generally dismissed it as a dream. My sister, apparently, had similar experiences, except she perceived these people as threatening strangers.

When I got a little older, I read about hypnogogic hallucinations, and said to myself, "Huh, that explains that." My sister, OTOH, grew up and got very much into ghosts and astrology and past lives and ghu knows what else.

I've also had the experience of working myself into a panic over something I KNOW was just a coat hanging on the wall. But in the dark, it looked like someone standing there, so much so that even though I knew for an absolute certain fact that it was a coat, I was so unnerved that I had to get up and shut the door so I couldn't see it anymore. I couldn't have gotten to sleep otherwise. I never underestimate the capacity of the human brain to convince itself of complete and utter bullshit.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

That's just so wrong on so many levels.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know that the brain can get utterly messed up. The thing which actually frightens me the most is that near the end of my grandfather's life he had gone somewhat senile. It reached the point where someone would have to stay with him overnight every night. One night, I was staying with him and he woke up in the middle of the night absolutely certain that someone had stolen his wallet and searching for it endlessly. (It reached the point that mother always kept one on hand). The reason I mention it, is that I've frequently had times when I wake up in the middle of the night and also feel like I've "lost" something that I then (a number of times) have then gotten out of bed and searched for the iten (sometimes to realize that the item doesn't even really exist). The fact that I have the same behavior in a half-sleeping state that my aged grandfather in dimentia exhibited, actually frightens me.

And, yes, there are lots of weird processes in the brain. Quite often in art/architecture classes we learned that the brain seeks order, and if there isn't order, we'll impose order of our own making on chaos... no matter what complete bullshit we come up with to do so.

And don't get me on astrology. I tend to rant against that one. :)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

The third item makes the whole thing seem frighteningly dumb.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I have to remind myself that half of the population is of below-average intelligence.

Heh. True.

[kassto.livejournal.com]

It makes you more forgiving of the ignorance of people in countries where they don't have an education system, so they actually have an excuse for being ignorant.

[wenchsenior.livejournal.com]

Yup. Right there with you. HOW would ghosts "work"? Until we can come up with a falsifiable hypothesis about the mechanism that would result in ghosts, I remain a comitted skeptic.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yep. And, quite frankly, I still find myself woefully confused trying to understand what in the hell light and gravity are, and we know those exist. I think my brain would explode over the quantum mechanics or laws of relativity required to make even a superficial stab at an explanation for how ghosts might function.

[goodbyebird]

well... I gotta go stand with the stupid people on that second one *shrug*

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I was wondering about the sun/earth one. :)

[goodbyebird]

bwhaha you noticed, huh? Damned. I'm so glad I caught on to that one from one of the comments above me. Yes, the sun does indeed circle around the earth *facepalm*