One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. it is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. (So the old bamboozles tend to persist as the new bamboozles rise.)
[Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection]
Carl was such a visionary. I often wonder what he would say about world events today and the rise of superstition over reason. I suspect pretty much the same as he said back then ...
IA
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