Index

Old Fight, New Players

History Does Not Repeat Itself, But It Rhymes. - Unknown

One of the oldest fights in western civilization is the fight between superstition and science.  Most people that were paying attention in high school will remember the fight between Galileo and the Catholic Church over the nature of the solar system. Galileo’s observation-based view eventually won out, but that was not accepted by the church for many years.

While the fight between superstition and science manifests itself around different issues at different times, the basic nature of the fight is much more low-level - it is really about who controls the thought processes of the people, which is political power in its rawest form.  Up until the advent of science and its broad acceptance as dealing with the truth of reality, superstition was able to define the meanings of things, unchallenged by any real authority.  With science claiming to have a basis in immutable reality, that part of the human mindspace that science lays claim to becomes an area that superstition can no longer change to suit its whims.

Watching Trump repeatedly trying to push the press around with his obvious and ridiculous lies is this same fight all over again with new names on the program.  As with any other shaman, his followers allow him to control their thoughts, but those of us that insist on reality-based discussions and policies can do nothing but shake our heads in amazement at the complete lack of that reality that Trump brings to the role of the (formerly) most powerful man in the world.

Just like with Galileo and the Catholics, reality always wins over time, but the superstitious keep trying.