The Straight Dope has been fighting ignorance since 1973. How is the battle going?
Unfortunately, Yahoo Answers! has far more combatants.
And there was our disastrous attempt to liberate 4chan. We lost a lot of good people in that one.
YOU DON’T KNOW MAN, YOU WEREN’T THERE AT THE BATTLE OF /b/!! WE LOST OVER 9000 MEN
It went better than the battle of Free Republic, though.
I’ll never get over Free Republic.
I voted neck and neck but I think it is a little more positive than that. Think about about 1973. People were ignorant and dumb as could be back then and that is just the smart ones. I know because that was the year of my birth and I WAS THERE MAN. Conservatives were wondering when 1950 was coming back and the liberals and hippies were trying to do some good but between the drugs and the smell, it was an absolute mess. You bring a 1973 person straight into the present day and they would quickly realize that they all had it wrong. There is still a whole lot of stupid out there but the counterinsurgency is growing.
The Straight Dope and this message board pops up to the top on an alarming number of Google searches for millions of people worldwide. It was mostly restricted to print and then quickly relegated to fire starter or improvised toilet paper even a decade ago.
Ignorance wins War on Ignorance
Gradually I hope we’re winning. Over the last generation such fears as the Population Bomb theory, “nuclear power is bad in all circumstances” idea, “a foreign policy of strength will cause World War 3” idea, and etc. have all been disproven.
Intelligence is futile. You will be assimilated.
I’m starting to feel like Idiocracy is a documentary that fell through a space-time portal.
The SDMB never had a chance.
No kidding. I think we should have a ceremony where we officially concede to Glenn Beck and Jenny McCarthy.
slowly losing similar to the metaphorical “Battle of the Bulge” (aka Bulging Waistlines)
Well, the Straight Dope itself is mostly devoted to truthful questions and debunking urban legends. I would say it is achieving its goal for the most part in that respect.
I know people like to cite crazies like Beck and McCarthy, but every age has it’s crazies. Hal Lindsay? Jon Birch and his Society?
But when have the crazies been so close to the Presidency? And have such widespread support?
Ever the optimist, I voted that ignorance is retreating. At the very least, I’m* smarter because of the Dope.
Never give up! Never surrender!
The universe and human stupidity are infinite. And I’m not so sure about the universe. And I plagiarize only from the very best.
Two words: Sarah Palin
I voted neck & neck. There are a lot of very, very smart people here, spreading a lot of wisdom, but also a lot of, well, not so smart, spreading heaps of manure.
I figure I’m somewhere in the middle.
I don’t think that the war will ever be won, unfortunately. There are just so many more of them than there are of us, and ignorance is so easy. Why look something up, why question sources, why read the article, when the big loud headline is right there and the pretty people on TV are talking about it and doing all the thinking for you?