
Welcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.
By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.
What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.
Are people gullible or just stupid? No, that is not my provocative question, but it seems that a lot of Americans — and not just Americans — believe in some very weird things. Of course, one of the things that almost all Americans believe in that I, an atheist, think is weird is the existence of some sort of supernatural, all knowing, all powerful being (i.e., God). But let’s not get hung up on that.
No, I’m talking about other things people believe in for which there is no evidence. Things like:
- The planet we live on is flat
- The planet is only six thousand years old, give or take a few thousand years
- White humans are superior to non-white humans
- The 2020 U.S. presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump
- Chocolate milk comes from brown cows
- Ghosts
- Angels
- An afterlife
- Humans and dinosaurs coexisted on Earth at the same time
- Poor people are poor because they are lazy
- Climate change is not a real problem
- The Holocaust was a fabrication
- The moon landing was produced on a movie sound stage
- Evolution is “just a theory”
- A whole host of conspiracy theories
I’m sure, if you thought about this, you could probably come up with your own list of things people believe in for which there is no evidence.
So, my provocative question this week is…
Why do you think so many people are so confident in beliefs that can’t be proven?
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