I had an out-of-body experience the other night at YOLO, and if it wasn't so scary I'd be completely amused by it. Initially I wrote it off as just another idiot encounter; another sad creature blindly feeling their way through life, but the more I thought about it, the more it concerned me. It explains much of the divisiveness in our country and in our communities. It's really quite troubling.
On the surface, Heather seemed fairly normal. 30-something, clean, well groomed. Decked out for a friday night but not looking like a clown; she seemed like a regular girl. But then she opened her mouth, and all hell let loose.
We did the usual niceties, like what do you do for a living. Heather was a "therapist", which always gives me a bit of pause. I like to tell the ironic story of my nutty ex sister-in-law; a therapist who has written a book on how to raise children. The irony is that my 2 nephews are both a bit off of the bell curve; one has sexual problems and is in therapy himself, and the other is gay. "That doesn't mean anything", says Heather. "Being gay is genetic". This of course raised my eyebrows a bit. While I'm not closed-minded to the notion that there may be a gay gene, surely many people make a choice of sexual preference. "No", she said adamantly, "It's completely genetic". Now this is the position of someone who doesn't really get it; other than height and eye color there's very little that's completely genetic. Her reasoning behind this was that it wasn't a choice that anyone would ever make. If you think about it; it was a completely homophobic position; to Heather, being gay was so abnormal that nobody would ever make such a choice. "What about bi-sexuals", I asked. "What about people who enjoy sex with barnyard animals, or pedophiles? Is that genetic too? Surely there are life experiences that drive some people into varying sexual behaviors for reasons that you and I might not understand?". Heather was getting frustrated now. She didn't like to have her ideas challenged. "You're just ignorant", she claimed. Ah, the name-calling had begun.
8 major Identical twin studies have pretty much proven that being gay is not genetic. It's not even close. This indoctrination of our society that people are born gay is complete nonsense; maybe its out of someone's control due to their childhood environment, but identical twins are genetically identical and generally raised in the same environment, so there should close to 100% correlation. 80% would raise a debate. The actual number is 11%. Let's come to terms with the truth and cut the BS. Doctors who have conducted these studies categorically conclude that being gay is not genetic.
Then came the kicker. Heather had a litmus test for whether someone was stupid or not. "Do you believe in Global Warming?", she asked. "I believe that some Global Warming may be occurring, but that the movement is largely propaganda to effect an energy agenda", I replied. Whoa, I was sure I saw Heather's head spin completely around. According to Heather, Global Warming is a proven fact. The actual facts make no difference to her; If you questioned Global Warming you were an uneducated moron. "Do you have a college degree", she asked, as if a college degree guarantees that you are informed about current events. "I do", I replied. Made no difference. I mentioned that scientists admitted that they have falsified studies on the subject, at which point Heather threw her hands in the air. "Don't talk to me anymore", she said. "We have to go", she told her friend. My smile was breaking my face at this point. The best way to piss off a liberal is to pepper them with facts. It was completely unbearable for her. I admit that it was fun, but then it hit me. Heather votes. And there are a lot of Heathers out there; grossly uninformed, living in a shell, covering their ears and screaming "NO, NO, NO" when something that might challenge their twisted view of reality is said out loud.
When I think about this ridiculous encounter, it's really unfortunate. Subjects that are important; subjects that we should be debating, aren't being debated because so many people have been indoctrinated into thinking that the subjects are closed. If affects our politics, because politicians have to position themselves to get votes from the Heathers; people who can't be reasoned with and who have no interest in rational debate or the truth. The true debate about "Global Warming" should not be about whether or not it's occurring; the debate should be whether riding bikes and driving souped up lawnmowers that run on soybean oil is really going to have any effect on the weather when there are 8 Billion people in the world demanding electricity and trying to heat their homes?
"Men are born ignorant, not stupid", said Bertrand Russell. "They are made stupid by education". The Heathers believe that a degree is some sort of badge that confirms that they're smart; I went to college in the 80s, and the only thing I learned was how to get babes to come back to my dorm room. And maybe how to do my own laundry. Not much else. Today, the education system is cranking out Heathers. And it's downright frightening.
To me, the litmus test of stupidity is whether or not a person has absolute positions about things that have no exact answer. The bedrock of science is skepticism. "Beware of the man who knows the answer before he understands the question", someone once said. Beware of the Heathers. They're everywhere, and there's no greater danger to our way of life.
