Polls Reveal Massive Ignorance and Some Hope

Polls Reveal Massive Ignorance and Some Hope
by Michael E. Marotta

"That very large majorities of the American public believe in God, miracles, the survival of the soul after death, heaven, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Virgin birth will come as no great surprise. What may be more surprising is that significant minorities believe in ghosts, UFOs, witches, astrology, and in reincarnation – the belief that they were themselves reincarnated from other people. Six in ten believe in hell and the devil." -- Harris Poll

Overall, the Harris Polls (http://www.harrisinteractive.com) are good indicators of what "most" people claim to believe about important or trivial questions, from God and the Economy to the Emmy Awards and National Football League. The Harris Online website has polls from 2006 back to 1998.

From December 8 2005 -- Nation’s Alienation Index Up Significantly as More Feel Powerless and Isolated;

and from December 1, 2005 -- Large Majorities of U.S. Adults Continue to Think That Big Companies, PACs, and Lobbyists Have Too Much Power and Influence in Washington.

From April 25, 2006 -- Supermarkets, Banks, Computer Software Companies, and Packaged Goods Top the List of Industries Doing a Good Job for Their Consumers.

The Harris Poll® #90, December 14, 2005
The Religious and Other Beliefs of Americans 2005
The 82 percent of adults who believe in God include 86 percent of women and 93 percent of Republicans but only 78 percent of men, 69 percent of those with postgraduate degrees, and 75 percent of political independents.

For details, see
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=618

(You can find liberal atheists wringing their hands over this and other numerical measures of ignorance at http://www.alternet.org/story/23964/)

While it is interesting to see what "most" people believe, we Objectivists need to focus on what this means or does not. From September 9, 2004 -- Most People Think Health Care Costs Are "Unreasonably High" and Favor Price Controls. If you stop to reflect on the numbers, it is pretty clear that "most" Americans want federal regulation of something that is already heavily regulated. On the other hand, "most" Americans seem satisfied to laissez the markets faire in sectors where they obviously work well because they are minimally regulated: clothing and packaged foods. The bottom line seems to be that "most" people do not recognize a contradiction when they see one, but, that is to be understood from the fact that so many believe in God.

I do not see the value in fighting nationalized healthcare with letters and speeches. I am not sure that I see the value in advocating for the Law of Identity. I do know, however, that had others not done just that, I would not have benefited from Atlas Shrugged or Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. The limitations of intellectual activism today are perhaps best understood from this poll by the National Association of Scholars:

"Today's College Students Barely More Knowledgeable than High School Students of 50 Years Ago, Poll Shows."

PRINCETON, NJ -- 18 December 2002 -- Contemporary college seniors scored on average little or no higher than the high-school graduates of a half-century ago on a battery of 15 questions assessing general cultural knowledge. ... The questions, drawn from a survey originally done by the Gallup Organization in 1955, covered literature, music, science, geography, and history. They were asked again of a random sample of American college and university students by Zogby International in April 2002. ... The answers given by today's seniors were also compared to those provided to the Gallup questions by college graduates in 1955. Although the relatively small number of college graduates in the latter sample limits the degree of confidence one can have in the comparisons, the consistency and size of the knowledge superiority displayed by the 1950s college graduates strongly suggests that it is real. (http://www.nas.org/print/pressreleases/hqnas/releas_18dec02.htm)

Perhaps this only means that today's young people who discover Objectivism are statistically more significant than we were. If you care to amuse (or scare) yourself, you can put "polls education ignorance" into a search engine and follow the links. When you are ready for a reality check, try "poll Ayn Rand."

You cannot rationally argue someone out of a position that they were not rationally argued into. The value in intellectual activism may best be understood as "calling." When animals call, they inform each other of their inner states and therefore of their perceptions. Crows know when the hunters enter the woods -- and they call. Other animals likely understand that and know that danger approaches. Humans are more complicated and more subtle -- certainly the most complicated and subtle of all land animals. Objectivism was the personal philosophy of one writer. She called. Others said, "Of course." Convictions change as conclusions are re-examined against reason and experience -- but that comes later, as a secondary effect.

We may never defeat mysticism, altruism, and collectivism, but we can find other rational, egocentric individualists.

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