19 July 2010

You've Heard It A Million Times...But Is It True?

Just because you've heard it a million times, doesn't mean it's true.

I was watching something on one of the history/science/pawn shop channels and there was talk about how an eclipse would terrify the simple peoples of the past. That's right, terrify. I've heard this factoid for decades, but it only hit me today, how do we know they were terrified? I don't remember an account by an ancient claiming they were even mildly anxious. Why? Because there are no accounts. And let's face it, as natural events go, an eclipse is one that happens slowly and with some regularity. I assume the first guy who saw a solar eclipse reacted this way:

"Wow. Look at that. Hey Betty, get over here! Something is very slowly starting to cover the sun. No, not our son, Timmy. The big sun! The sun, Betty, the thing that makes me sweat and you merely perspire. Watch. Watch. OK. OK. It's been several minutes and now it's almost half covered. What? Boring? You think this is boring!? Well, yeah, a little bit. Betty, are we out of beer? I distinctly told you we were almost out of beer the last time you went shopping. Well, if you put it on the shopping list show me the list. I see broccoli and carrots and Wooly Mammoth Helper and -- does that say quiche? Can't read it. It's getting dark -- too dark to see. I can't see your shopping list. The sun is gone. And there's no beer! We're all gonna die. We're all gonna -- oh wait. It's starting to come back. The sun's coming back. It's getting lighter. I can see your list. Things are almost back to normal. I see the word "beer" on your list. You were supposed to get beer. What's the point of putting it on the list if you're not going to actually buy beer?"

Maybe the first guy decided to sacrifice something to the sun god so he wouldn't yell at his wife again, a six-pack, maybe. And he sacrificed a six-pack and so did his sons and so on and it was claimed this was done to "appease" the sun god or the beer god or the wife god Betty.

Just because you've heard it a million times...

That's a problem I have with evolution. We're told that we adapt to survive, right? Not buying it. I mean, sharp things have existed as long as the animal kingdom. We have sharp rocks, sticks, teeth, claws, and eventually knives, arrows, bullets, and broken Schlitz bottles. Ability to adapt so we're not sliced, diced, and julienned by these pointy and sharp and painful things? Zero.

You may have heard a million times that Franklin Delano Roosevelt got us out of the Great Depression or that WWII got us out of the Great Depression. I used to believe this stuff, too.

And lately a lot of folks have been telling us the Tea Party is racist. To me, the word "racist" has come to have a boomerang effect. And that's very good news for people who truly do want to get beyond racism.

The boomerang occurs when I hear someone called a "racist"; I now look just as hard at the person making the accusation as the person being accused. Nine times out of ten, the person hurling the accusation is either wrong or is a racist himself.

There are three problems for those calling the Tea Party a racist organization:

1) It's not really an organization, but a loose, often rag-tag assortment of people scattered across the nation, some 20 million of them. There is a shared philosophy among each member: smaller government, lower taxes, adherence to the Constitution. And that's pretty much it.

2) While predominantly white (just like America itself), Tea Partiers hail from every ethnic, religions, political, and social class.

3) The Main Stream Media no longer controls the debate so only promoting one side (as the MSM does with increasing vigor) is no longer an option because the New Media (of which FFM is a part) is ready, willing, and able to set the record straight. So scream all you like that the Tea Party is racist. Without any proof, you're going to look mighty silly.

For more on this lame and baseless attack, I refer you to these excellent items:

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