| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Jason Spaceman" |
| Date: |
14 Feb 2004 09:45:08 PM |
| Object: |
Book Review: Struck dumb by the age of Aquarius |
From the article:
-----------------------------------------------
Andrew Crumey
HOW MUMBO-JUMBO CONQUERED THE WORLD
Francis Wheen
Fourth Estate, £16.99
WHEN Ronald Reagan went to Geneva in 1985 for a summit conference with
Mikhail Gorbachev, the US president was well prepared. The new Soviet
leader’s star chart had been analysed by San Francisco astrologer Joan
Quigley, who later fixed the exact time when Reagan should sign the
Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty. An aide leaked the story, but the
American public’s reaction was indifference. If most of the country
believed in astrology, why shouldn’t the president?
In a book that is both amusing and hair-raising, Francis Wheen charts
the vertiginous rise of superstition, quackery and gobbledygook in
every aspect of public life over the last few decades. His "short
history of modern delusions" looks at the growth of self-help books,
the dot.com bubble, and the spread of postmodernist mystification
among academics who can no longer recognise reality unless the word is
in ironic quote marks.
A thesis of sorts emerges, but more than anything, this is a book that
is pure fun to read, unless you happen to subscribe to one of the many
faiths - be it homeopathy, Lacanian psychoanalysis or supply-side
economics - the author aims to debunk. Witty columnist and biographer
of Karl Marx, Wheen delivers a well-earned slap in the face to
whaffle-mongers everywhere.
To see how much the intellectual landscape has changed, consider the
words of President Woodrow Wilson in 1922, asked what he thought about
Darwinian evolution. "Of course like every other man of intelligence
and education I do believe in organic evolution. It surprises me that
at this late date such questions should be raised."
Compare that with Tony Blair’s reaction to news in 2002 that a
state-funded school in north-east England was teaching creationism in
biology lessons: "In the end, a more diverse school system will
deliver better results for our children."
Blair’s comment is unsurprising, because we live in an age when truth
is regarded as a relative concept, and being judgmental about other
people’s belief systems is seen as a bad thing; though the
judgmentalism implied by a term such as "bogus asylum seeker" is all
right, perhaps because those people do not have a vote to cast.
-------------------------------------------------------
Read the rest at http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=181282004
J. Spaceman
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