Sunday, January 22, 2017

Pause for a moment...

Consider that Carl Sagan wrote this in 1996...

"The chief deficiency I see in the skeptical movement is in its polarization: Us vs. Them — the sense that we have a monopoly on the truth; that those other people who believe in all these stupid doctrines are morons; that if you’re sensible, you’ll listen to us; and if not, you’re beyond redemption. This is unconstructive… Whereas, a compassionate approach that from the beginning acknowledges the human roots of pseudoscience and superstition might be much more widely accepted. If we understand this, then of course we feel the uncertainty and pain of the abductees, or those who dare not leave home without consulting their horoscopes, or those who pin their hopes on crystals from Atlantis."

(Italics are mine).

Very applicable to all sides of the debate today and the raging intolerance and hate for anything but complete agreement...

From: The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Carl Sagan, 1996