I spent a good 5 years in various Christian schools as a kid.

I'm not a believer, but I'm agnostic and sympathetic - even if my outspokenness might have sounded harsh here and there.

One day in 6th grade, like so many other days, I didn't have my homework. And it was already a backlog. But I didn't bring in the backlog. Needless to say, I was very anxious about this, and was dreading having to tell my teacher, Mrs. Evans (who, incidentally, I consider one of the best teachers I've ever had).

She was not happy. In fact, she sent me next door. To 5th grade.

So I sat in a carrel against the righthand wall in 5th grade and worked on my backlog, feeling somewhat humiliated.

While I was there, the teacher was teaching the class about Charles Darwin.

She attacked his character. He wasn't really that smart. He'd been a bad student in school. He wasn't a genius. He was more of a flunky. He was lazy. No wonder his theories didn't add up.

And so on.

Soon, the class were engaged in cracking jokes about how WE weren't monkeys, HE was a monkey, ha ha ha ha. One person would joke, and the others would laugh. And that would spur on more.

And it occurred to me - I'd had the same insight the first day of school in Kindergarten when kids made fun of my British accent - that this was part of the mechanism. This was part of how they deluded themselves.

I wasn't an expert. I didn't know FOR SURE that this teacher was deluded and Darwin was right.

But you know what I did know?

I knew that the way they were critiquing him was utter garbage and had nothing to do with the issue.

"The internet’s tailored social media feeds and algorithms have herded us into echo chambers where our own views are cheered and opposing views are mocked."