Dangerous People

You may quote me on this:

"If you can believe in astrology, you can believe in anything.

That makes you dangerous."

of course you could substitute any number of popular but truly crazy ideas for "astrology" such as

• We will hook up with our dead loved ones in paradise after we die
• We will go straight to paradise if we kill infidels by killing ourselves
• The universe is ruled by a loving God who has a reason for everything that happens
• Witches deserve to be burned to death
• If you are not a Catholic, you deserve to die
• If you are not a Protestent, you deserve to die
• If you are different you deserve to die
• Killing hundreds of thousands of civilians to advance US interests is not murder

What makes you dangerous if you believe things like this is that you have shut down your critical faculties. You no longer feel it is important to test evidence or respect people who challenge your world view. You think that everyone is "entitled to their own opinion" and somehow you don't accept the real-life disasters that happen when people shut down their brains. 

Sadly, it is a fact that organized religion is a school for shutting down critical thought among "believers" and going to great lengths to silence critical thought in general, even to the extent of murdering dissenters. Politics is the wicked step sister of religion which elevates being confidently wrong about everything to a virtue. In fact, the separation of organized religion from politics is a fairly recent phenomenon -- more honoured in theory than practice.

Skepticism is the very basis of Science. Science is just another word for "knowledge" -- what we know (or think we know) for sure -- what we can prove, or what could be disproven but has so far stood up to attempts to prove the opposite. It's a simple but powerful idea that has made the modern world. Skepticism is not an option -- to simply swallow any crazy idea that comes along makes you dangerous.

On the other hand, the world is full of people who have somehow escaped being exposed to the last 400 years of human thought. Tolerance and patience is required, even for those who are not tolerant or patient themselves. It is simply not practical to overcome a lifetime of education in systematic self-delusion with a reasoned debate, since it is reasoned debate itself that is alien to 99% of the human race.

It is not true that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. People who believe in astrology are mental cripples. It is unkind and rude to point out their disability at every turn. However, their disability bars them from access to the vast store of factual knowledge that is only available to people who have learned to use their brains.  Their tolerance is a sham. It means that they demand that you listen respectfully to their crap while reserving the right to dismiss "non believers" as "close minded".

This particular disability is so widespread and dangerous that we cannot place our hope polite tolerance. These fools know how to use guns even if they don't know how guns work. By their simple weight of numbers, they rule every nation on Earth. Every time I enter the US, the first thought that crosses my mind is, "Oh my God these people have Atomic weapons". It is somehow the way of the world that Scientists are called upon to build weapons that are then turned over to mental cripples -- doubly infected by brain rotting Religion and Politics. The mental cripples who rule over us (and the people who vote them in) feel free to brush aside masses of Scientific evidence as "opinion" if it somehow conflicts with their agenda.

I'm encouraged by signs that stewardship of the planet itself is gaining a foothold -- introducing many people to the marriage of Science and morality It is also a discouraging fact that in the US, that fortress of the right to believe anything, Republicans have managed to marry right wing Religiosity with militant anti-environmentalism, the right to bear arms and the right to prevent a woman to control her own body (this is the evil magic of political no-think and politics in its ancient disguise as religion). 

Here and there, you see a few Republicans starting to break ranks. I'm always optimistic that thinking may become popular in my oh-so-dangerous neighbour to the South.

But must we toss out religion entirely? I think not. Humans are religious by nature. They are also ignorant, intolerant and violent by nature. What we need to do is nurture the core of the great religions that teach tolerance and boundless love, especially for our enemies. I see no reason why such beliefs are incompatible with boundless curiosity and  a humble respect for what is real.