Unrealpolitik

[imomus]

On 11th August Science magazine, under the low-key heading "Public Acceptance of Evolution", published research by Jon D. Miller, Eugenie C. Scott and Shinji Okamoto which showed that only 14% of adult Americans think the theory of evolution is "definitely true" (around 40% give more qualified consent to the idea). In Europe and Japan, in contrast, around 80% of the adult population believes that human beings developed from earlier species of animals. (There's a more accurate graph than the New York Times one I've used here.)

In the days that followed, the story got picked up by National Geographic Magazine ("Evolution Less Accepted in U.S. Than Other Western Countries, Study Finds") and the New York Times ("Did humans evolve? Not us, say Americans") before spreading waves of amusement, despair and disbelief through the blogosphere ("Americans not developed from earlier species of animals").

The researchers, who found that American anti-Darwinism is growing quite quickly (from 7% of skeptics to 21% in the past 20 years), blamed "widespread fundamentalism and the politicization of science in the United States" for the difference between the US and Europe and Japan. But by most measures the US differs quite radically from other advanced nations. Back in the early 90s Bantam Books published "Where We Stand", a comparison of the US with other wealthy nations. In table after table, the US ranked either at the top or the bottom, revealing its fundamental difference from European nations. Here's a brief summary (based on this page) of the factors on which the US was either the lowest or highest ranking (it's probable that most of these differences have only become more extreme in the intervening 15 years). The US has the:

Lowest overall tax rates as a percentage of GNP
Highest purchasing power
Highest individual worker productivity (but in both cases, other nations have been catching up)
Highest percentage of families earning two paychecks
Highest average household debt (double next nearest, UK)
Lowest average household savings
Biggest trade deficit
Biggest current account imbalance
Lowest investment levels as a percentage of GDP
Highest inequality of income (Gini)
Highest disparity between CEOs' pay and other workers' pay
Lowest percentage of unionized workers
Smallest middle class
Highest percentage of people below the poverty level
Highest percentage of below-poverty-level children
Most deaths from malnutrition per million
Highest healthcare expenditure as percentage of GDP
Highest doctor's incomes
Lowest percentage of population covered by public health care
Highest infant mortality rate
Highest toddler death rates
Highest rate of death in 15-24 year olds
Highest premature death rate
Highest number of people who think healthcare system needs fundamental change
Highest percentage of single-parent families
Lowest percentage of girls who are still virgins aged 20
Lowest percentage of sexually active single 15 to 19-year olds using birth control
Highest teen pregnancy rates
Highest teen abortion rates
Highest rates of reported police brutality
Biggest percentage of its population in prison
Largest number of death row inmates
Largest percentage of houses with a handgun
Largest number of handgun murders
Highest murder rate
Highest rape rate
Highest armed robbery rate
Lowest percentage of people using public transport
Highest annual air miles per person
Lowest average price of gallon of gas
Most oil energy used
Most carbon dioxide per person released
Most carbon monoxide per person released
Most CFCs emitted
Most major oil spills
Most forests cleared
Most coal burned
Most debris inhaled per person per year
Most municipal waste produced per person
Least glass recycled
Least paper and cardboard recycled
Shortest paid vacations
Least news as percentage of all TV
Most manufacturing employee turnover
Most employees fired
Lowest voter participation levels
Lowest number of referenda (zero)
Largest number of political scandals

A more up-to-date account of fundamental differences between the US and Europe appears in The Economist magazine. In an August 3rd story headed "To Israel With Love", the magazine reports a gulf between American and European perceptions of the current war in the Middle East.

"A USA Today/Gallup poll conducted on July 28th-30th," the Economist says, "showed that eight in ten Americans believed that Israel's action [in Lebanon] was justified... Americans are far more likely than Europeans to side with Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A Pew Global Attitudes survey taken between March and May found that 48% of Americans said that their sympathies lay with the Israelis; only 13% were sympathetic towards the Palestinians. By contrast, in Spain for example, 9% sympathised with the Israelis and 32% with the Palestinians."

This, says the magazine, is because Americans have strong cultural affinities with Israel; the average American is much more likely to find something in common with the attitudes of Israelis than the attitudes of Europeans:

"Americans are staunch nationalists, much readier to contemplate the use of force than Europeans. A German Marshall Fund survey in 2005 found 42% of Americans strongly agreeing that “under some conditions, war is necessary to obtain justice” compared with just 11% of Europeans. A Pew survey found that the same proportion of Americans and Israelis believe in the use of pre-emptive force: 66%. Continental European figures were far lower."

The article points to the power of the AIPAC (Israeli) and Christian fundamentalist lobbies on the American political system, and says:

"The Christian right is also solidly behind Israel. White evangelicals are significantly more pro-Israeli than Americans in general; more than half of them say they strongly sympathise with Israel. (A third of the Americans who claim sympathy with Israel say that this stems from their religious beliefs.) Two in five Americans believe that Israel was given to the Jewish people by God, and one in three say that the creation of the state of Israel was a step towards the Second Coming."

Which brings us back to the refusal to believe in Darwinian evolution. Isn't there something tremendously dangerous in this combination of stubborn irrationality and tremendous geo-political power? Unrealpolitik, we could call it.

Comments

[ex-newironsh15.livejournal.com]

Is this (http://www.ezrpm.com/momus/) something you're aware of?

I actually read this article on there first, thinking it was some zealous momus fan picking up on your themes, but then scrolled down to find the "bathos" post.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Mirroring is the sincerest form of flattery!

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

Isn't it the mark of more advanced thought to give "qualified" consent to the theory of evolution? I mean, last I checked that's what a theory was, something we're *not* sure is definitely true.

[33mhz.livejournal.com]

A common argument, and one that's flawed because it misunderstands what "theory" means in a scientific context.

From wikipedia:
"A theory is an attempt to identify and describe relationships between phenomena or things, and generates falsifiable predictions which can be tested through controlled experiments, or empirical observation. Speculative or conjectural explanations tend to be called hypotheses, and well tested explanations, theories."

[bricology.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

There you go again.

Honestly, Nick -- do you really think that anyone reading this is going to be surprised that there are is a large percentage of Americans that have wacky beliefs, or that ? And honestly -- I don't know how this data was gathered (Magic 8-ball?) but some of these "points" are patently absurd. The US has the "smallest middle class"? Can you even quantify "middle class"? And did you notice that this "study" was done in 1991 -- 17 frickin' years ago?

Has it not occurred to you that it's pointless to compare the US to northern European countries, Canada and Japan? I mean the fact that the US had the lowest income tax and also had the lowest percentage of the population covered by health care is kind of a heavy clue, but if you missed it, here you go: the US isn't a socialist state, as opposed to France, Sweden, et al, where health coverage is socialized. Stop comparing apples and oranges already.

The US is financially based upon the crazy notion that people should be responsible for their own success or failure. We don't tax people at 55% of their income like other nations on that list, so we can't spend that nonexistent tax revenue on healthcare, nursery school puppet shows or belly-button lint patrols. We're just fundamentally different than Europe, Canada and Japan, and we're also much bigger than any of those countries, and far younger than any except Canada.

You quote "Americans are staunch nationalists, much readier to contemplate the use of force than Europeans." Well, maybe at the moment, but surely your knowledge of history goes back far enough to know that just 60 years ago, 'tweren't so. Remember when Germany was clamoring to take over Europe, and the US wasn't interested in getting involved in a "regional dispute"? France, Britain, Italy, Germany/Austria -- European history is heavy with nations electing to use force against their neighbors. I don't think that a 60-year lull is enough to prove much of anything. And European football matches seem to produce a remarkable level of nationalism.

You say "Isn't there something tremendously dangerous in this combination of stubborn irrationality and tremendous geo-political power?" And, no doubt, you wait for the loyal readers to echo back in the affirmative. America = bad. Ho hum. Yesterday's post of originality and substance was nice while it lasted.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

We're just fundamentally different than Europe, Canada and Japan

Exactly the point I'm making here.

and we're also much bigger than any of those countries

If you're counting the EU as a "country", it outstrips the US both economically and demographically.

Back to "substance" as soon as I have some more pop records to review, Bricology!

[georgesdelatour.livejournal.com]

Hmm, you should read this:

http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,1844264,00.html

Richard Dawkins notes, however, that 93% of the scientists elected to the US National Academy of Sciences are Atheists.

I remember Gorbachev saying he'd feel safer if the only people with nuclear bombs were people who believed that this world was the only one we had - that there was no "next world". But soon a man of "stubborn irrationality", Ahmadinejad, will be enjoying precisely such "tremendous geo-political power".

[kineticfactory.livejournal.com]

I just read a book titled "Right Nation: Why America is Different", which made similar points. Its claim is that for a number of reasons (cultural, historical and geographic), America is greatly culturally different from Europe (and typically more "right-wing"). The authors (two Britons who work for the Economist) came to the conclusion that, the forces of conservatism being as deeply bedded in American culture as they are, there is no chance of America coming around to the European way of thinking on, say, work-life balance, capital punishment or secularism any time soon.

Btw, I wonder how many Israelis believe in evolution.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

America is greatly culturally different from Europe (and typically more "right-wing").

Yes. I don't often spell it out, but it's glaringly obvious. The US and Israel are extremely right wing in the sense in which I'd understand the term. (I see you put it in scare quotes!) But what's interesting is that people who defend the US and Israel don't often want to say they're right wing. They use leftish arguments to justify "the democratization of the Middle East" or "the spread of universal human rights", and they tell me I'm right wing on cultural issues, for instance my defense of traditional societies.

[georgesdelatour.livejournal.com]

European countries are in transition, and we could see Darwinism decline there too. Large-scale Muslim immigration will probably stop well short of the Eurabian scenario anticipated in certain paranoid right-wing blogs. All the same, it's now highly likely Europe will have several Muslim majority cities within ten years. We don't know whether the new Europeans in these cities will get their facts from the Koran or the Origin Of Species. But if their preferred badge of identity is religion rather than race, I can imagine pressure to "tone down" biology teaching in the name of multiculturalism.

I would like the UK to adopt the 100% anti-multicultural stance taken by France in education: forbid parents from imposing religious dress on their children, strict Laicité at all times, no creationism in the classroom. But it may become politically impossible to do that once virtually the entire school intake is of Muslim background, as it already is in much of Malmo and Bradford. Needless to say, I agree with Sarfraz Manzoor that faith schools are a very bad idea.

[(Anonymous)]

If evolution is a fact, why does one have to "believe" in it?

Small observation: the Holy Scripture has remained unchanged for thousands of years. science textbooks are always changing. What can we induce from that?

Eamonn

[mcgazz.livejournal.com]

[pastes in the JK Galbraith quote about changing one's mind when the facts change]

[mcgazz.livejournal.com]

That list of stats about the USA sounds like a neo-liberal wet dream. God Bless America. And people wonder why socialists often seem to be 'anti-American'?

[ex-newironsh15.livejournal.com]

I think the neo-liberals are happy to let citizens from more neo-liberalized countries (like Mexico) into more socialized countries (like the US, which compared to Mexico is probably quite pinko in terms of workers rights).

It takes care of the opposition in Mexico (active people leave), and can be held up as proof in the US that "medicare doesn't work" or social security needs to be gutted, etc.

[qscrisp.livejournal.com]

"in contrast, around 80% of the adult population believes that human beings developed from earlier species of animals"

This is not the same as believing in evolution. In that sense, the survey is flawed.

Personally, I see the battle in America between Darwinism and Creationism as a battle between two groups of fundamentalists. I've got into trouble for saying that before to people I know who support the theory of evolution, and that tends to prove my point that they believe themselves to be absolutely right in the way that Creationists also do. What my avatar - Burroughs - described as the Right Virus applies to scientists as well as religious types.

Evolution is a way of interpreting what is already there, like any other theory. When you look at it this way, you have to ask what the values behind such an interpretation are. What has Darwin projected onto the world and is it something we want to live with?

The strange thing is, for a country whose citizens claim to be anti-Darwin in such large numbers, America, according to the statistics posted, shows signs of a strong trend of social Darwinism. Was that what Darwin intended? Hard to say. If we assume a historical Jesus similar to the figure depicted in the Bible, we could ask the same question. Did he intend to inspire rabid armies of evangelists? You could say it seems unlikely, and yet, for some reason, Christianity attracts people with evangelistic values where some other modes of religion do not.

As to why social Darwinism should be so strong in America, well, perhaps it's for similar reasons that, apparently, abortion and anti-abortion (pro-life) 'campaigning' are both such prominent parts of American life; they are, to coin a coin-like phrase, two sides of the same item of currency. Darwinism and Creationism, too - which brings me back to the idea that they are both fundamentalist groups, battling twins.

Or, anyway, that's how I tend to see it.

[(Anonymous)]

Truth is NOT an opinion that is held by the majority - it is a fact.
Galileo was RIGHT as opposed to the majority who were WRONG.
Darwinism is based in the logic of fact. Creationism is based on a set of beliefs.

I prefer to listen to people from educated scientific backgrounds rather than edcucated theological backgrounds.

Call me narrow minded!

[la-aquarius.livejournal.com]

As someone raised in an evangelical church, I can say that rabbit hole is much deeper (and scarier) than all that:

many evangelicals believe that we're currently living in the "End Days", which is why they are all for stirring up the pot in the Middle East. Bring on a war between Christians and Muslims, they seem to say: bring on the nukes, and to hell with civilization (literally) as we know it.

Many evangelicals and conservative Jews believe that Israel is the Second Coming: that the state of Israel is the Messiah itself.

What's worse is that the particular political calculus which has brought the GOP to power at this historical moment requires its leaders (Rove, Bush, Cheney) to bow heavily to these quacks on the Right.

[(Anonymous)]

Yawn!

[(Anonymous)]

The American christian right wing has come to exploit a very simple version of epistemological relativism. To what extent is a kind of political "turn of the screw"?.

Also, art people: please stop arguing over what is a 'theory', 'theorum', and 'law'. It is very upsetting to me. :)

clay t

[(Anonymous)]

I thought America was much 'nicer' when it sold the America dream of Levi jeans, COKE and California, and the American dream.

All we get are the nightmares of Christian right. Passion of the Christ anyone. CNN et al.

To a European this is all sooo Medieval. The middle east knows when it sees Crusaders and it doesn't have much time for it either.

Give it a rest!

[mini-snape.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I can't believe how low on the chart Holland is. But then we do have a huge amount of fundies hidden away somewhere in the country. Thank God they have absolutely no influence on anything whatsoever. Stupid Calvinists.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, cos Amstedam is a wonderful advert for Holland...

Statistics

[constructionism.livejournal.com]

Those are a lot of disturbing statistics, but many of those things can be drastically mitigated by improving the "safety nets" for the middle-class on down. That would mean, first and foremost, making health care more affordable for all citizens. This is the biggest factor in undercutting Americans' economic security - even middle-class people are driven into debt with medical bills.

Some of the abuses in the industry are atrocious.

[mini-snape.livejournal.com]

Although it is rather distressing someone made the fundies fill in polls like this, like we take them seriously, or like they have an opinion we'd like to hear about anything.

[sparkligbeatnic.livejournal.com]

Those who enjoy statistical country comparisons will probably like the NationMaster (http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php) site.

[armoredbaby.livejournal.com]

Well - I looked up land area - and thought Vatican City would be at the bottom - but no! Now - how do the citizens of Bassas da India (http://www.nationmaster.com/country/bs-bassas-da-india/geo-geography) feel about Darwinism?

[armoredbaby.livejournal.com]

Damn I wanted to see how the chart represented Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Mongolia! Silly truncated chart!

"White areas represent an answer of not sure." Hurry - new t-shirt!

[mini-snape.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Mongolia, good one! Yes, I would be interested in what Mongolians think about yaoi. I mean, Darwinian theory.

[(Anonymous)]

Holy %&*$ing moley! The world is in DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP sh!t!

These are the people who have colonised the planet!

Man. I'm glad I live on the southern tip of Africa. We're kinda safe here. (Yeah, sure.)

At least one thing South Africa trumps America on is the rape and murder rates. We completely dominate on those scores.

Sigh.

Let's all think short term. Let's just think, 'What can I enjoy in MY OWN lifetime? Cos there ain't gonna BE a lifetime for our descendants.'

Blue skies
love
Roy

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[(Anonymous)]

Another interesting statistic - oil consumption. See which slackers in third place...

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_con-energy-oil-consumption

[(Anonymous)]

"Ouch!" said the dead horse.

-henryperri

[(Anonymous)]

HP always hits the comment nail on the post head.

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lif_und_nei_hom-lifestyle-undesirable-neighbours-homosexuals

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_abo-health-abortions

[wingedwhale.livejournal.com]

Norway would be with its siblings if it weren't for those darn "Satanic" black metal bands!

[desant012.livejournal.com]

I can't add too much to the above arguments, but I think it's hard to understand American culture as a single entity. This nation was settled by different groups everywhere, and those regions reflect the culture of the founders - New Jersey, NYC by the Netherlands, New England by English Puritans, etc. There really aren't too many things that define and tie America together, beyond the belief in work and energetic optimism.

When people talk about America as overly religious, it's hard to believe from daily experience. Nobody where I live goes to church - the culture here is probably more secular than anywhere in Europe, completely areligious and non-spiritual - there are so many religions that it can't be a factor in society at large. Yet, when you go to the South, the Baptist church rules life; in some states, if you're caught looking at pornography, you become a complete *outcast* from society. For straight-up vanilla porno.

I just don't think it's easy to talk about the culture -inside- America as some single, unified entity, which might be hard to understand from the outside. Since the start of this country people have tried to unify the people here through a cult of national identity, but everyone's a foreigner in a different part of the country here.

[qscrisp.livejournal.com]

This is vry much the impression that I - as an Englishman - had during my time in America. In comparison, England, or Britain, was much more tribal and unified.

Reminds me of the 'this England' (http://www.users.waitrose.com/~uk1/shakespeare/sceptred.htm) bit from Shakespeare

[(Anonymous)]

I like how you went and twisted this thing back to Israel. No real logic to the segue, but I guess when you do these daily anti-American rants, it gets harder and harder to come up with new buttons to push. You know what, Momus: we GET it. You hate the United States, you hate Israel, you hate Evangelical Christians, and you tend to sympathize with everyone else who hates them... including those people who spend their lives trying to blow them up. Seriously, WE GET IT.

There are enough ham-fisted political crank blogs on the internet. Don't you think your intellect is a little too strong to go the same route as them?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

[zdover.livejournal.com]

Isn't there something tremendously dangerous in this combination of stubborn irrationality and tremendous geo-political power?

I don't know how dangerous it is, but it is irritating as hell to live in the middle of it. Which is one reason I'm moving from Alabama to Berlin in a month!

Imagine what it is like to walk into theme restaurants (like Chili's or TGIF or whatever) or gas stations or even fucking bars (!!!) and see Sean Hannity's screaming head on Fox News on a television in the corner.