A quick thought on stats and stupidity

With the Monkey Trial, part 2 wrapping up, chances are good you'll occasionally stumble upon a graf like this:

According to a CBS News poll last month, 51 percent of Americans reject the theory of evolution, saying that God created humans in their present form. And reflecting a longstanding sentiment, 38 percent of Americans believe that creationism should be taught instead of evolution, according to an August poll by the Pew Research Center in Washington.

If you're anything like me this kind of thing drives you crazy. It's 2005 and over half our countrymen don't believe the theory of evolution?!

But tonight I had a thought that makes stats like this less scary, for me anyway.

The average score on an IQ test is 100. What that means is that half our countrymen, by definition, have IQs less than 100.

It explains a lot.