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Monday, April 16, 2007

Signs of progress

Pew Polling (PDF) on the younger generations is proving to be very interesting. Take for instance, some signs of progress.

Looks like it's the boomers that are keeping us back on evolution (sorry Ted).

The thing I hate about polls like these is when the pollsters ask people's opinions on things and then proceed to mistake their opinions for facts.

For instance:

Now. Does anyone see the problem here? The actual data on drug use shows that it has undergone a 20 year decline, the 60s and 70s were the peak of drug use in the youth. This is a popular misconception. Check out the data on teen drug use and you actually see we're getting better. Further, crime is down, violent crime is at the lowest levels since the 60s. Are we really more likely to resort to violence? The voting issue too is a joke, young people are voting in increasingly higher numbers with each election (Bush has helped).

Finally, binge drinking has only become a "problem" since some idiot decided to describe a binge as more then 3 or 4 drinks at a time. Give me a break. What prohibitionist prude came up with that definition? And it conflicts with the data from NIDA etc.

So, take this survey at it's word when they ask people opinions about themselves since that's something people can reliably speak to. Don't pay attention when people are asked opinions about what others have done, because they have no idea.

Labels: general discussion

4 Comments:

Ted said...

Looks like it's the boomers that are keeping us back on evolution (sorry Ted).

Although it's not easy being Ted, I think about half of the boomers go along with the evolution thing. Some Teds do and some don't.

What was interesting to me in that chart is that the 18-40s were mainly in the evolutionist camp.

This ongoing debate and chest-thumping on evolution is silly. The nonbelievers will die soon enough so that time is on your side on that issue. However, what are you going to do about climate change -- which is, a) time constrained, and b) will disproportionately affect your generation and your kids (if you choose to have some).

This evolution/atheism fight is the wrong fight for now, because it's the lazy fight.

On another topic, I note that Gen-X get a lot more nookie and casual sex, so you're getting some revenge already.

Hell, generation-X accepted the redefinition of oral sex as not-sex without much debate. I call that clear indication of progress.

April 16, 2007 7:05 PM,

Mark said...

Yeah, I don't know why that was considered a bad thing. Clearly the boomers who designed the study have a problem with the love making.

I don't think that the evolution debate will die out though as long as those in power are the boomers. People in power will be effective in spreading their destructive memes and they should be opposed, just like you don't wait for racists to die. You oppose racism when it pops up, even though the main obstacle to progress are the old bigots who just haven't died yet.

I hope you stick with us though Ted. I love the comments.

April 16, 2007 7:18 PM,

The Factician said...

Your conclusion that things are getting better is based on a presupposition that peoples' opinions won't change. What will happen as the Gen-Xers get older and "find religion"? Many older religious folks have gone through a phase in their 20s or 30s where they "rebelled against God". What happens when those folks come back to religion? I wonder what surveys of the boomers would have looked like in the 60s?

April 17, 2007 7:59 AM,

Mark said...

Good point. It's hard to say without historical data about the boomers.

In the full report they show that this generation does trend pro-evolution compared to previous generations asked at the same time (or at least in the 80s and 90s I think).

April 17, 2007 9:33 AM,

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