1492
"Don't be ridiculous. Everyone knows the Earth is flat."
1674
"How could anyone refuse to accept the existence of God? Human society has always depended upon the worship of deities, and anyone who denies the existence of a being greater than ourselves is a threat to society."
1863
"Mr Lincoln's proposal is obscene and goes against the laws of nature. Slavery has been a part of every civilisation since the dawn of time. This has nothing to do with civil liberties. White is white and black is black."
1893
"Give women the vote? What madness is this? That's not democratic. What's next? Give our livestock the franchise? What society has ever given its women a say in the affairs of state?"
1903
"If God had meant us to fly he'd have given us wings. Fact, sir!"
1953
"Nobody has ever climbed that high. It cannot be done. It is foolish to even make the attempt."
1985
"That's ridiculous. She's my wife, and she will do her duty. She gave her consent when she said 'I do' at the altar."
1986
"Decriminalise homosexuality? Forget all those arguments about equality. Homosexuals already have all the rights of straight people, so long as they don't engage in that disgusting behaviour. Nobody is forcing them to do anything, and they could stop it if they wanted to."
2012
"It is doubtful there is any society known to history or anthropology where social order has not been based on marriage between a man and a woman."
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
9 comments:
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Do you hate both science and history?
ReplyDeleteNo, why? Should I?
DeleteI must concur with Graeme. The "earth is flat" bit is egregiously out of step - the argument against Columbus was that the Earth was *way too freaking big* for him to reach China by sailing west. Which was, in point of fact, absolutely right; the missing data point was the existence of the Americas, not the roundness or size of the planet. The one you want is "Everyone knows the Earth is at the center of creation".
ReplyDeleteSure, plenty of educated people suspected the Earth was a sphere, but plenty of others thought the world was flat.
DeleteI'd like evidence of this. Because I think you're wrong. Evidence of just one person warning Columbus that he'd sail of the edge of the Earth will suffice (or the details of another event in 1492 to which this was relevant :-) )
DeleteAlso, it wasn't suspicion, but proved with science! Science!
DeleteI don't know if Earth, strictly speaking, was seen as being at the centre of creation. It was certainly the point around which the stars revolved, but then again there's something awkward in a theocentric view-point about putting anything but God at the centre.
DeleteI mean, the reason I say that is that in Dante, Lucifer sits at the centre of the Earth, and it's pretty awkward to say Lucifer is the centre of creation, for instance. So I dunno how that one was handled in Christian cosmology but.
"Everyone knows the Earth is at the center of creation"
ReplyDeleteThat's debatable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_location_in_the_universe
1492
ReplyDeleteThe science is settled. The earth is flat.
Works for me.