Does It Matter If Americans Think Chocolate Milk Comes from Brown Cows?

A new survey found that seven percent of Americans believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows. Fourty-eight percent don't know where it comes from at all.

There are, of course, numerous far worse examples of public ignorance out there, including many about far more consequential issues. In and of itself, ignorance is not a problem. It is often rational and is an unavoidable part of the human condition. But ignorance becomes dangerous when individually rational ignorance leads to harmful collective outcomes. Sadly, that is often the case with political ignorance, and ignorance about scientific issues relevant to government policy.