Election Reaction, Part Two

Okay, so, in an election-night conversation with my big sister, I was asked just what it was about Sarah Palin that torqued me off so badly. And my answer? That Palin, despite absolutely no knowledge of climatology, believes she understands the ideas behind global climate change better than do actual climatologists. That she sees the Bible not as a religious document, but rather as a biology text.

Does this make me a snob? Hell, yes, and proudly so.

I've previously commented upon the connection between big money interests and certain politicians' convenient "skepticism" concerning global climate change. As to the other subject:

Darwin's theory of natural selection (and, contrary to popular belief, he was not the man who came up with the idea of evolution; it was an observed reality long before he came upon the scene) is one of the world's great scientific ideas, at the very least on par with relativity, quantum mechanics and plate tectonics. It is the overarching theme that unites all of biological study. To deny it is as utterly ridiculous as to deny the existence of gravity or nuclear fusion, or to postulate that 1+1=29.

It was telling that, during the campaign, Palin decried the expenditure of public monies upon biological research involving, in her own words, "fruit flies, I kid you not, in Paris, France." The problem with said opposition? That academic work upon the Drosophila (remember that from high school biology, Governor?) genome has yielded major breakthroughs in autism research, for which Palin professes great support.

Were she paying attention, Sarah Palin might actually know that there has been extraordinary progress in the past decade in the fields of genetics and biochemistry, especially as they relate to evolutionary biology. That the deep connection between animals as different as fruit flies and humans is now more firmly elucidated than ever. That all living things are interrelated in ways more exquisitely beautiful than previously understood.

Instead, Governor Palin chooses ignorance, superstition and insularity.

That any candidate for public office might proudly (and successfully, in political terms) proclaim his or her illiteracy concerning an extraordinarily elegant scientific concept is a sad commentary upon a certain segment of the electorate.

You know who you are.