By now, you would think I should quit being surprised. Yet, I still find myself constantly being amazed at people’s abject ignorance. Far too many people are just plain gullible, accepting whatever nonsense comes down the pike. If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, then a little misinformation coupled with tons of ignorance must have the same potential as a hydrogen bomb!

Let me tell you what started all this personal shock and ire. I was reading something I had written a few years ago. It concerned a revealing conversation that Sue, my darling bride, became involved in. Revealing in the sense that the conversation exposed people’s innate capacity to believe foolishness. My wife’s field of expertise is education, especially the education of those with learning problems. She has spent many years studying and teaching children (and adults) who have learning disabilities. She knows her stuff. So she was intrigued, and a little frustrated, to become involved in a group conversation that dealt with the subject of dyslexia. One person present was pontificating on a theory that attempts to explain away dyslexia in terms of social evolution. This theory holds that one category of people learns one way, and another category learns completely differently, based on whether they are hunter-gatherers or farmers by nature. Dyslexics, according to this theory, are hunter-gatherers. And, of course, the poor, misunderstood hunter-gatherers are castigated and denigrated by the more numerous and socially acceptable farmer learners. Alas, poor hunter-gatherers! How preposterous! Sue was appropriately irritated by this folderol. Continue reading →