Having been catching up on PZ's blog over the last few minutes, my attention was drawn to a collection of responses to the catastrophic recent events in Japan by some illiterate American facebook users, some of which I shall quote here; see the link below for the full compilation. The mind truly boggles...
"ya know Japan, this earthquake is just gods way of getting you back for that Pearl Harbour deal"
"Eat a dick Japan! That's what you get for pearl harbour, karma son! Hahaha!"
"Hell yeah that's right japan 3-1 you may have had pearl harbour but we got Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and, since God is on our side, we have this. SCOOOREEEBOOOAARRDDD."
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/upload/2011/03/i_hope_these_people_arent_your/GodBlessAmerica.php
Yes, I concede that these views are (hopefully) in the minority, and that there are people who hold views of equal bigotry in the UK, but one is currently seeing a wave of right-wing activity across the Atlantic, given the recent rise of the Tea Party movement within the Republican Party and various ultra-conservative legislation being passed by Republican-run states (see the anti-choice law in Nebraska for a dangerous, inhumane example of right-wing politics at its most illiberal). Add to that the lack of acceptance of global warming, a frighteningly self-righteous attitude towards sectarian Christianity, the antipathy towards scientific education and the apparent spinelessness of the Democrats to stand up to these troglodytes, and the USA has a serious intellectual crisis on its hands. Since the change of government in the UK, the "special relationship" between the UK and USA has cooled somewhat, a change about which I am in two minds. Yes, we want to support a progressive, liberal president in Obama, but his liberalism certainly appears to have its limits when it comes to his attempts to appease the right-wing lobby.
There are about 100 other things I could say about this, but I don't want to be accused of ranting.
Yours sincerely and with love,
Charlie x
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