.rebellion/MISHACHAN

Today when I went to my Biology class, a boy sat next to me who, after glancing at the syllabus, was disgusted that we were going to spend the first five weeks studying evolution. He expressed a sort of smug amusement that he'd already learned about that subject and was sick of learning about how we evolved from monkeys. I immediately recognized him as an idiot and informed him that we did not actually evolve from monkeys but that humans and monkeys have a common ancestor. He sort of laughed this off and with a smug superior look described how one teacher told him we evolved from fish in the oceans while another told him we evolved from amoebas, and another claimed it was monkeys, and none of them really had it right. He obviously knew nothing about evolution, and he was proud of it. It was a familiar scenario to me. I've heard it a million times.

It's disturbing to me how the students around here approach the subject of evolution. We go to a university to learn, as mature adults (ha!), and yet only a small minority of the people I've talked to are actually open to learning about this particular subject. Utah is, of course, predominantly Mormon, and the ratio is even more concentrated on my campus. At church, religious instructors warn students to be careful while attending class: they musn't allow themselves to get sucked in by the compelling evidence of scientists, for the only truth about anything is found within the church. I was once told in a religious class that I should attempt to get a good grade and humor the professors by pretending to believe in evolution, but in my heart I should reject the theory. And of course students obey, because these are the priesthood holders, these are the authority figures. The best way to avoid believing in evolution is of course to avoid learning about it, so we don't get tricked into thinking it makes sense. And meanwhile the academic community writhes in agony at the stupidity of it all.