REFLECTIONS

In 1852 Charles MacKay published in London his Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. MacKay began his preface: “In reading the history of nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities; their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first.” When those words were written the various popular madnesses came at decent intervals allowing nations and individuals to recover from their follies. Today with the Internet age of communications the hype is bombarded upon us faster and nearer to each other. Previously in this web log I wrote about the movie by Al Gore on Global warming; in my review of the popular movie I contend the data needed a strenuous and rigorous testing. A complete flogging in reply for my daring to question what so many believe is “…backed up by THOUSANDS of years of data, THOUSANDS of scientists, etc.” Did my thrasher committ an ad hominem or, a justly retribution for my remembrance:

“The tulip next appeared, all over gay,
But wanton, full of pride, and full of play;
The world can’t shew a dye but here has place;
Nay, by new mixtures, she can change her face;
Purple and gold are both beneath her care,
The richest needlework she loves to wear;
Her only study is to please the eye,
And to outshine the rest in finery.” -Cowley

Yesterday, I went to see Ben Stein’s Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. He has far, more vicious repliers. Jeannette Catsoulis of the New York Times accuses Stein playing to the Resentment Over Darwin by evolving it into a documentary. maygon commented to her review that the film, “…effectively exposes the hysteria about even minute challenges addressing the Scientific and Academic community … [and said community has a] great resistance to examining widely held theories up to reasoned argument and scrutiny….”Thunderf00t dugg to EXPELLED [Ben Stein] out of the water” at YouTube. John Rennie in Scientific American claims Stein blames Darwin for the Holcaust. Finally, in this summary of the movie by the critics, there is Amy Proctorwho gives the movie four stars and she said, “Ben Stein said in a CNN interview yesterday that he believes in macroevolution. I think it is Darwinism that bothers him the most. Stein is not against evolution and the point of his film is that debate should not be shut down in the scientific community. The rampid militant atheism among scientists is truly creepy.”

I quoted Charles Mackay in the beginning of this piece because when any person/group puts down anybody who questions them I think of his book Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. It escapes me who said if one forgets history one will repeat it. Watching current events I sense of abandonment of discovery and our return to darkness.Let us keep examinations of data open to all possibliies for any found datum — otherwise, we may find out the modern philosopher’s stone is nothing more than polished piece of coal:

“‘Kelly did all his feats upon
The devil’s looking-glass—a stone.’”
-Butler