Tyranny of the Majority
“Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half the time.”
-E. B. White
A new poll from the First Amendment Center reveals that I may have misunderestimated the American people. They are far more ignorant than I had believed, and most of them see no need to go to the trouble of seeking truth when PR and rumors fit effortlessly into that same space in their consciousness. The majority of Americans (55%) believe that the Constitution established a Christian nation, and even more (65%) believe that the founding fathers intended the United States to be such.
This is disturbing on several levels. First of all (and least obviously), it means that at least 10% of Americans believe that the founding fathers were too stupid or incompetent to actually get their intentions down on paper. This tremendous insult to the memories of the great men who gave birth to the grand experiment that is the United States saddens me. More clearly, these results highlight both the success of the religious right’s marketing machine and the failure of the American educational system. I don’t know about any of you, but thinking back, I was never required to actually read the Constitution in school. We learned about what it says, but I suppose the four page document was deemed too hard. After all, so many of our elementary school children can barely read a comic book, much less an 18th century legal document.
Now, I was not so naive as to assume that all Americans understood the secular nature of our founding document, but I honestly didn’t expect the informed to be a minority. In a democracy, majority is truth, so welcome to the Christian States of America, heathens.
On a subject only tangentially related to the topic of this blog, the survey also indicates some unsettling trends in the public’s thoughts on the freedoms granted to us in the Bill of Rights. 74% of people want to prevent public school students from wearing T-shirts with slogans that might offend someone, and 42% don’t feel that musicians should be allowed to sing songs with potentially offensive lyrics. 34% believe that the press has “too much freedom,” and 40% think that the government should be able to require broadcasters to report a certain amount of “positive news” as a prerequisite for being allowed to use public airwaves. A quarter of Americans even believe that the first amendment “goes too far in the rights it guarantees.” Of course, they can’t even name those rights. Of the five freedoms granted by the first amendment, speech was the only one that could be named by the majority of respondents (64%). Only 19% were able to name freedom of religion, but since only 56% believe that freedom extends to all religious groups, I guess it doesn’t make much difference.
I recommend not just reading the article, but perusing the actual survey tables. Look ignorance and authoritarianism in the eye. And don’t blink.
~I AM~
September 21st, 2007 at at 2:05 pm
I doubt that that many people actually believe that. I’m sure many Christians just answer that way because they want it to be that way.
September 21st, 2007 at at 3:47 pm
Carl:
There are three kinds of lies. Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics. Polls fall into the latter, easily misinterpreted. I scanned the article, but didn’t see the questions that were asked. I have often been read poll questions that were hard to understand, or generally confusing. This can skew results. Then there’s the question of who was asked and was it a proper cross section of American population. I’m not really denying the study per se, but saying that the numbers may be skewed.
That said, even if we assume a massive 20% margin of error that still leaves 35% of Americans believing that we’re a christian nation. So, Carl, even if you’re right and 1 in 5 people is misunderstanding or lying, 1/3 of the nation still have their heads up their asses.
And good luck arguing with them. I’ve tried. You tell them it’s not a christian nation.. read the constitution.. first amendment.. no mention of god.. they nod at you and say, “But it’s a christian nation”. Immunity to logic goes with faith.
So, here’s the question, to I Am and to anyone else. If it keeps going this way. If the country becomes truly a christian nation in law and word. Do we atheists leave? Fight? Hide? What will you do? These are the things I’ve been mulling over. For now, I’m going to get an Atheist t-shirt with a big red A on it.
September 21st, 2007 at at 3:53 pm
I’m not sure fighting is an option. We’re completely outnumbered, and people fighting in the name of god are willing to do things that most of us won’t. I think we’ll have to leave.
September 28th, 2007 at at 1:02 am
“74% of people want to prevent public school students from wearing T-shirts with slogans that might offend someone.”
I find that rather sensible. Schools are places for learning and anything that distracts from that doesn’t have a place in them, kids can wear what ever T-shirts they like after school. Of course you can go overboard with that.
September 28th, 2007 at at 7:06 am
Flaky, you’ve said two different things. The part you find sensible is not allowing distractions in school. Which is the general thought process behind not letting young women wear short shorts and miniskirts to school. However, that’s not the same as not allowing people to be offended. I can declare myself “offended” by anything, which is carte blanche to stifle who I want. Either outlaw all slogans, or none.
September 28th, 2007 at at 11:22 am
I Am said, “I may have misunderestimated the American people. They are far more ignorant than I had believed”.
And sadly, the ignorance keeps on keepin’ on.
If we have to fight, just aim for the crucifixes around their necks.
October 4th, 2007 at at 2:52 pm
You wrote: 74% of people want to prevent public school students from wearing T-shirts with slogans that might offend someone, and 42% don’t feel that musicians should be allowed to sing songs with potentially offensive lyrics. 34% believe that the press has “too much freedom,” and 40% think that the government should be able to require broadcasters to report a certain amount of “positive news” as a prerequisite for being allowed to use public airwaves.
Why am I not surprised at all? I don’t even live in the Bible belt but I can see that the average Joe doesn’t even come close to seeing past what will affect them at the moment never mind the big picture when it comes to things like the tie between controlling speech and controlling thought. They just think about how nice it would be if people did things that made them uncomfortable less often. Mindless self-interest.. you gotta love it.
October 6th, 2007 at at 3:30 pm
Put simply: Science can’t give us answers for basic, radical questions concerning our individual existence, such as:
Why have I been born?
Does my life on earth have any purpose at all?
October 6th, 2007 at at 7:20 pm
Anarchy Rises, you realize your post is the first reference to science on the page? This post was about the First Amendment and religious freedom. Did you read it at all before commenting?
October 7th, 2007 at at 11:18 am
“40% think that the government should be able to require broadcasters to report a certain amount of “positive news” as a prerequisite for being allowed to use public airwaves”
Clearly this is because they thrive on lies to feel good about taking big fat zero responsibility for the state of the world, and for doing nothing to make the world a better place. A prime example of such lies is the “promise” of a happy afterlife within which all believers who’ve “suffered” on earth can let go of their mortal chains and bask in the loving glow of the baby jesus.
I hear bullshit tastes like apple pie. Oh yummy!
October 8th, 2007 at at 9:19 pm
I’ve been seeing a lot of comments like Anarchy’s on blogs these days. All the churches must be handing out the same talking-points pamphlets. Even if it’s totally off topic, these folks seem to have this compulsive need to mention that “oh, BTW science can’t prove…(hot-topic of the moment).”
Evidently, science is the “atheist’s religion,” and if they can just tear that down, then everything comes tumbling down around our ears, thereby negating the value of anything we say, including the actual post on this page. After that, we atheists come to our senses and ask Jeebus for guidance.
Science can’t answer these questions? Who cares? Science can’t give me the answers to a lot of things, such as why our country is overrun with asshats (actually the “soft sciences” might be able to, but I digress.) However science is the best method, at our disposal, for understanding the observeable universe. You’re assuming that the inability of science to “prove” everything is synonymous with an inability to prove ANYTHING. Or, for that matter, that science even needs to answer these questions. Both of these are logical fallacies.
Objectively speaking, nothing can provide answers to the questions you presented, because there are no objective answers to these questions. We have to find our own meaning for our existance, even if we choose to find that meaning in the ramblings of a barbaric, nomadic bronze-age tribe.
As for this post–wow, yes, even I’m surprised by these numbers, although, having worked for the Gallup Polls in the past, I can support Glintir’s assertion about the wording of survey questions–they can be and many times are worded to elicit certain responses. I hope that’s the case here. But honestly, I think people in this country are pretty ignorant of their own consitution, and, having always taken their constitutional rights for granted (not having to fight for them,) are largely unaware of what their personal lives would be like if they got their way and these rights disappeared.
October 9th, 2007 at at 8:48 am
Fortunately, the US isn’t a democracy. It’s a representative republic.
The majority does not rule in the US. Instead, they merely get to participate by electing representatives. Even the presidential election is not by majority but by electoral college.
Regions with ignorant populations may elect morons to office, but if those representatives can be educated then there is a good chance they’ll do the right thing. Chances of representatives being willing to do the right thing go up if they feel secure in their job though.