Emotions are not in conflict with rational behavior; they cause rational behavior. It hurts because it is not just one man out there who is willfully ignorant

Emotions are not in conflict with rational behavior; they cause rational behavior. It hurts because it is not just one man out there who is willfully ignorant about reality. There are a very large number of people in the US who believe that the world is only 6,000 years old, that everything is going to end any day now, that the environment isn't really worth protecting because of that, and by extension that it's not really worth doing anything meaningful. The religious people still vote, and their votes shape our policy. If their churches tell them to vote one way, and they do, the authority of the religiously fueled motivations highly define the results.