(no subject)

From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in "sharing their vision of American society." Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.
U of M

uh ._.

Edgell believes a fear of moral decline and resulting social disorder is behind the findings. "Americans believe they share more than rules and procedures with their fellow citizens—they share an understanding of right and wrong," she said. "Our findings seem to rest on a view of atheists as self-interested individuals who are not concerned with the common good."

Erm, beyond the ridiculousness of that assertion, isn't acting "as self-interested individuals who are not concerned with the common good" a treasured American value which separates us from the Damn Communists and pushes us unerringly toward collective enlightenment and euphoria? Isn't the modern field of (capitalism-promoting) economics based on the assumption that every individual is self-interested and not concerned with the common good? Isn't that the primary excuse for why we need a government (i.e. to prevent all us self-interested no-common-gooders from killing each other and to provide us with military defences)? Isn't this what the NRA-types say-- that essentially, we're all self-interested and not concerned with the common good, so we all need weaponry to keep the bolder individuals in check?

Or did I just miss some huge elephant-in-the-room which fills in all of those blanks elsewise?

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p.s. when I go to bed all exhausted-wise around 8pm and fall asleep by 10pm, I'd rather not wake up feeling refreshed at 1am15. I have a feeling I won't be able to get back to sleep until hours from now, which quite defeats the purpose of going to bed early.