why are people so proud of ignorance?

[Gooch]

see..i don't view it as race for ingorance. i've made my share of racial/ethnic jokes..but i really don't believe it is race, but instead about education/opportunity and environment that determines ignorance/stupidity. the lower the income, the more prevelent alcohol/drugs, the lower the education level....the stupider/ignorant/out-of-touch people are. Take a new look at those red states who voted Bush, yet have barely a pot to piss in. Case and point. and in those places...religion becomes influential..but in many cases...the organized religion is more concerned with it's own conslidation of power, wealth and lnfluence rather than the betterment of it's members. So, they use religious belief and a narrow-minded box and people who look for this view, and are comfortable in this tiny little box of their perceptions walk around with it...with this huge need to make sure all fits within this box...and bandy about rhetoric...and can never question anything at all...b/c that would pitch the balance of their tettering Jenga belief system...which isn't based on information or knowledge...but instead...plugging in gaps to make them feel better in their little boxes.