VIESTI 3 / 4
Re: an article you may both hate. or like.
Lähettäjä: Noam Chomsky
Vastaanottajat: Lawrence Krauss
Aika: Thu, Sep 10, 2015 at 7:52 PM
Thanks for sending. A wide area of agreement, but not total.
On confronting dogma, | of course agree — though in my opinion the secular religions — nationalist fanaticism, etc. — are much more dangerous. And if some find rational discussion offensive — as, for example, mainstream academics find dismantling myths of “American exceptionalism” or “Israeli self-defense” or Obama’s mass murder campaign, etc., offensive — so be it.
But | don’t see why that should extend to ridicule. That includes astrologists. Astronomers can refute astrology, while recognizing that perfectly honest and deluded people may believe it and should be treated with respect, while their beliefs are confronted with evidence. | also don’t see why we should ridicule religious dogma, just as | don’t think we should ridicule the much more pernicious secular dogmas. Rather, we should respond to irrational belief with