Why have people gotten so stupid?

This post isn't about politics, although it uses politics to ask a question.

I was listening to CNN today when I heard some quite stunning poll numbers. Apparently, after he has been running for president for more than a year, a large number of Americans still believe that presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama is -- or was -- a Muslim.

Listen to these numbers from the Pew Organization:

-- 39 percent of those polled believe Obama attended a Muslim school as a child.
-- 26 percent believe he was raised as a Muslim.
-- 12 percent believe he is still a Muslim and took his Senate oath of office on a Koran.

Then add a New Yorker cover that attempted to satirize all that but failed miserably and you've got a full-fledged controversy.

Is Obama Muslim?

Of course not.

Was he ever a Muslim?

Nope.

So why do so many people want to believe that he is one, that he can't be trusted to be our president during a time of tension between the United States and the Muslim world?

Unfortunately, stupidity has a lot to do with it. Too many people don't read, write or think independently. Too many people are getting their news from biased Internet sites or from even more biased talk show hosts.

I can't count the times I've heard people quote something incredibly wrong that Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity said. When I correct it, what I hear all too often is that "they couldn't say it on the radio if it weren't true."

It's ironic. We live at a time when more people have more access to real evidence, to source material, than ever before through the World Wide Web. You can read the actual words of any bill before Congress. You can read the transcript of most political speeches.

You can, but most of us don't.

So if you look at those poll numbers and laugh that so many people could be so stupid, don't laugh.

It's really not funny.