HOW FUNDAMENTALISM FAILS AMERICA
James A. Chamblee
HOW FUNDAMENTALISM FAILS AMERICA
by Randolph T. Holhut
American Reporter Correspondent
Dummerston, Vt.
DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Can a country where more people believe in the Devil than
in evolution maintain its leadership in the sciences?
That's a question that David Baltimore, Nobel laureate and president of the
California Institute of Technology, asked in a recent op-ed piece in the Los
Angeles Times.
Baltimore believes that "Asia has the potential to blow us out of the water"
because their scientists and engineers "are as good as ours, as imaginative
as ours - they work longer hours and are more dedicated."
The numbers bear him out. India's colleges and universities are turning out
more than 40,000 computer science graduates each year, and the enrollments
in those programs are rising while U.S. colleges struggle to fill their
science programs. And China produces more 325,000 engineers each year, or
five times more than the United States.
By contrast, Baltimore wrote that our nation has a "lack of federal
leadership in funding schooling that emphasizes math and science" with a
"fragmented educational system that leaves much to local control" and an
attitude of "general anti-intellectualism."
China is not a paradise politically, but it isn't having arguments over
whether Darwin's theories are correct. It isn't rewriting science textbooks
to give the Biblical version of creation equal weight with evolution. It
isn't letting narrow political agendas or special interests trump scientific
or medical facts.
Anti-intellectualism has always been a powerful force in America. Combine
that with religious fundamentalism and you have a recipe for economic,
scientific and political disaster. Because scientists in secular societies
like Asia and Europe aren't fighting fundamentalist dogma and political
hackery at every turn, they are now poised to kick our collective butts. And
when this happens, most Americans will never know what hit them.
Why are we still arguing about Darwin? Why are more schools around the
country forcing teachers to treat "intelligent design" (the new euphemism
for creationism) as something as valid as evolution? Why do two-thirds of
Americans (according to a CBS News poll taken last month) favor teaching
creationism and evolution side-by-side in public schools?
This is happening because America is now a post-literate, post-logical
society where truth and reason no longer matter. Fundamentalism appears to
be gaining on modernism and what's become known as the "reality-based
community" is treated with total contempt by people willing to distort
science (and facts in general) for political gain. All you have to do is
look at the way the Bush administration - that perfect nexus of religious
fundamentalism and cynical politics - treats science.
Take the issue of global warming. There is little doubt in reputable
scientific circles that the earth's climate is changing and that those
changes - mainly brought on by the burning of fossil fuels - will ultimately
cause major environmental problems.
The rest of the world's reaction to this is to work on ways to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. Europe has taken the lead in this area, developing
new technologies to reduce energy use and pollution. The United States lags
behind because it has been decided by the Bush administration that global
warming is a myth. The United States - the nation that consumes about a
quarter of the world's energy and natural resources - has rejected the Kyoto
Protocol and any other steps toward reducing energy use.
This sort of willful blindness infects every bit of the Bush
administration's treatment of science. If the facts conflict with their
beliefs or the ability of their corporate patrons to make more money, they
either ignore the facts or fund studies that give them the version of the
facts they want.
The anti-intellectual, anti-reason myopia that now infects America will come
back to haunt us. As this nation turns into a religious cult with nuclear
weapons, scientific innovation will migrate to places where radical clerics
and corrupt politicians aren't calling the tune. Just as our manufacturing
base has migrated overseas, our scientific and intellectual base will travel
the same path.
Baltimore wrote in his piece for the Times that the thousands of
international students who once filled our math and science programs are now
staying home because the schooling in China and India is as good as
America's, while the Bush administration has made it increasingly difficult
for international students to study here. Both China and India have poured
huge sums of money into education, while American schools are falling
behind.
The countries not held hostage by fundamentalism will ultimately overtake
the United States. The technological lead the United States once had will
vanish. We will become an industrialized nation without industry, a
technologically advanced society without technologists.
The future belongs to those who aren't slaves to dogma and are willing to
innovate. It belongs to societies where intelligence and hard work are
rewarded and excellence is celebrated. Sadly, these qualities are not in
great supply in the United States today.
maureen
<jim-ch...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>http://www.american-reporter.com/2,536W/1.html
>
>HOW FUNDAMENTALISM FAILS AMERICA
>by Randolph T. Holhut
>American Reporter Correspondent
>Dummerston, Vt.
>
>DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Can a country where more people believe in the Devil than
>in evolution maintain its leadership in the sciences?
Definitely NO !
It's a big mystery. It's a non-starter in this country. However, that
could change if the fundamentalist leader in our minority government
ever took power. Right now he's doing the Fundie thing - keeping
controversial fundy topics that are anti-Canadian values under wraps.
Canadian Universities are being inundated with students who don't
want to go to America any more for their studies.
>
>The countries not held hostage by fundamentalism will ultimately overtake
>the United States. The technological lead the United States once had will
>vanish. We will become an industrialized nation without industry, a
>technologically advanced society without technologists.
As well as poverty stricken .
>
>The future belongs to those who aren't slaves to dogma and are willing to
>innovate. It belongs to societies where intelligence and hard work are
>rewarded and excellence is celebrated. Sadly, these qualities are not in
>great supply in the United States today.
An excellent article ! And the question is:
Which country will be the world's next great power????
maureen