Mind-Boggling Ignorance: How Would You Respond?
On his way home from work last night, my significant-whosiwhatsit stopped by the local Walmart for a few necessities (like, say, food). As he walked out of the store (carrying bags of Fritos, bean dip and coffee) he encountered the usual gaggle of young Walmart employees who we’ve become accustomed to seeing taking their breaks just outside the main door.
As he stepped past the clean-cut group, one of them looked up at the sky, puzzled, and pondered.
"Why do you suppose only half of the moon is visible tonight?"
Mr. Tweak, amatuer astronomer that he is, stopped dead in his tracks, and took a deep breath. Having absorbed a wee bit of tact from me over the years, (and learned that calling someone a brain-dead moron is not the best way to get them to listen) he looked at the young man, and said:
"Because half of the moon is in its own shadow. The bright part you see is where the sun hits it."
Before the kid could respond, one of the others in the group piped up in an aggressive tone, "What kind of friggin nonsense is that?!"
My husband took another deep breath. This is a subject near and dear to his heart, and he’s not exactly the sort of person scrawny teenagers generally challenge (in fact he’s downright scary looking himself). But he held his temper, and spoke to the original questioner, describing the basics of how the moon goes around the earth, while the earth rotates around the sun, and how the shadow -
"Oh please," Kid-Ignorance exclaimed. " The sun revolves around US - and if the earth were spinning, we’d FLY OFF OF IT!"
Mr.Tweak stared blankly at the teen for a minute, then broke into a smile. "Ok, Ok, you got me! Good job!"
"What do you mean, I got you?! My PASTOR told me about cretins like you!Next you’ll be talking about how dinosaurs actually walked the earth!"
I’m not exactly sure how the kid avoided not being walloped up-side-of-the-head with a just purchase bag of Fritos, but he did.
I’d say I admire my husband’s restraint, but I think he was just too dumbfounded to do anything than stare open mouthed at a kid who was aggressively asserting everything except that the earth was flat, while his friends and co-workers sat quietly. A man who is never at a loss for angry and aggressive words himself, my husband just turned and walked away.
When he got home and told me the story, he declared it the most frightening thing he’d ever seen. I think was less the content (he’s heard the equivalent of this stuff before, where he works), more the ferociousness and anger of the teens response - and how effectively it shut down the curiosity of his moon-musing friend.
The more I think about it, the more disturbing it is.
So here’s my comment challenge to you.
What would YOU have said or done in this situation? What would you have liked Mr.Tweak to have said or done?
Be creative!
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
[...] exchange I wrote about on MindTweaks this morning, about a group of teenager’s total ignorance of basic Earth Science [...]
I’d love to be really mean, but I’ll opt for honest… I just laugh and walk away from those folks. There’s lots of idiots out there of every strioe - these days I am more amused than angry
If the person is truly off-putting, i might just go my way, but if there is the slightest bit of genuine curiosity, i would NOT try to TELL the person anything (since they are aggressive and not liable to be prone to take things in passively)… i would ask them questions until they could arrive at the logical, reality-based answer themselves.
Then i would congratulate them on their sagacity, point out other places they might go for further information, and walk on.
It’s time to go find the pastor and provide some Frito style refocus!
Of course I would not have shown the admirable restraint your husband did but aside from a plate size hand making rapid contact with a crewcut scalp, my answer to “Why do you suppose only half of the moon is visible tonight?” , would have been, “Because the other half is not!” and left it at that.
Bye!
As a teacher I am sooo saddened to hear that something as archaic as that is still touted as the truth.
But I would initially burst out laughing. Of course that wouldn’t have made the teen any less interested in the truth. But I would’ve commented that he/she was incredibly lucky to have a pastor that had both religious and scientific education.
Because it is so profoundly wrong that they even believe this I would’ve gone back into Walmart and bought a ball and flashlight . Then I would’ve asked them to explain to me using these items why only half was visible since the idea that SUN revolves around us makes it logistically impossible for half a moon to be visible.
I like Robert’s response and most probably the Dalai Lama would’ve done and said the same thing.
Do you think the kid was talking about a partial lunar eclipse? Isn’t that the only time the moon in fully in the shadow of Earth?
Anyway, Mr. MT did the right thing. What’s the old saying, “a man convinced against his will is unconvinced.”
I used to be an evangelical, so I’ve heard a lot of unscientific bs, but seriously, I’ve never heard of someone who actually thought the sun revolved around the earth. I wouldn’t have anything clever to say, I think I would just pick my jaw up off the ground, shake my head, and go home feeling very scared for the future of reason in America.
I was thinking I might have pointed out that even the Catholic Church considered apologizing to the memory of Copernicus centuries later, but then I realized the teens wouldn’t have the first clue as to who he was.
I sincerely hope this was an extraordinarily successful joke played on your hubby, and that the teens had a tremendous laugh about it after he went on his way. I have no doubt there are religious “leaders” preaching such nonsense… but unless the kid has had zero exposure to the real world (school, books, friends, TV, Internet), I can’t believe he’d accept such preachings as fact. Unless he has brain damage.
.. and finally, your intrepid blog author makes time to respond to comments!
@Bonnie, Unfortunately I doubt it was a joke. Though it’s the first time he’d heard the Earth-centric Creationist view openly espoused by someone, he’s heard lots of similar statements, including one woman at work who believed his telescopes had pictures of stars and planets *painted* inside of them - all of astronomy is part of a vast conspiracy to support evolution and the illusion of science.
The one kid was no doubt either home or privately schooled - (Texas has almost no standards for that) and anything that doesn’t fit their particular brand of Creationism is considered tainted by The Great Darwinist Conspiracy (or whatever they call it these days.) But remind me to tell you the Flat-Earth story from when my brother and I were in Earth Science class - it’s way funnier than this kid’s version!
@Pun,you’re right, they wouldn’t know who Copericus was. But more importantly, most of the fundamentalists in these parts still believe the Pope is the Anti-Christ. Mentioning the Catholic Church only winds them up more.
@Tara,you summed up my reaction to hearing about it. Jaw on the floor, and scared for the future.
@Reg, A lunar eclipse would have been a good question! But Mr.Tweak says the kid was looking directly at the very visible half moon that night, and that it was pretty clear that’s what he meant.
@Maureen, I love the idea of going back in the store, buying a couple of balls and a flashlight! I’ll suggest it to Mr.Tweak. He’ll likely add the setup to his astronomy kit in the car, so he’ll be prepared next time!
@Robert “Because the other half is not! Auuuum. ” You win “Most amusing response”.
@Anan Asking THEM questions is a great approach! I’d love to combine yours and Maureens, and ask them to show ME how it works…
Of course, this approach wouldn’t work for Mr.Tweak; he sounds confrontational when he asks someone to pass the salt.
@Soulhuntre I just can’t bring myself to be amused by this particular view anymore, I guess. It’s too widespread, and it’s getting too much momentum. I want it to be funnier again, dammit!
I would not have interrupted them in the first place. As soon as I heard the scientific question posed, I would have quickly walked away before being subjected to some stupid response from the peers. Similar scenarios have occurred in the past and I find it’s best to let the morons babble amongst themselves. Usually people aren’t truly interested in learning anything in casual conversation.
And once I found out the kid was religulous, I definitely would have removed myself from the area. He’s a lost cause. Brain dial is permanently set to moron.
@granz When I was in sixth grade, we had this awesome English literature teacher. The entire year, she’d rant about “igner’ce” and how it was, in fact, a curable disease (and very rarely fatal. )
I suppose I tend to see curing “igner’ce” as a societal responsibility; my experience with it has apparently been quite different than yours! I find that people are eager to learn new things in casual conversations - it’s certainly a lot more fun that way than in a boring lecture hall.
So sure… a quick science lecture on a Walmart sidewalk might be a waste of time.. then again, some of the kids in that group probably *did* listen - and most of them probably noted just how foolish their raving friend sounded. I’d bet more than a few of them looked the topic up on the internet that night.
In hindsight, I could have answered by quoting from the post….
“Having absorbed a wee bit of tact from me over the years, (and learned that calling someone a brain-dead moron is not the best way to get them to listen) he looked at the young man, and said…. ”