Truth: Strictly for those than can cope
One of the greatest things I've learned in the last few years, is that for one, the more scientifically literate I become, the more money I save. Direct result, cutting out such a monumental part of everyday bullshit that plagues so much of people's lives it is truly, utterly astounding. The second part is that it answered tons and tons of questions eliminating the constant nagging of cognitive dissonance and allowing for honesty to replace illusion.
And BRAVO!!!! by the way; a well deserved hats off to the charlatans and conmen out there that have been taking advantage of man's ignorance and pure unadulterated stupidity by making a fucking mint off it. I applaud you!!! I too was taken for many, many years, decades really, victim to the bullshit due to my very own weaknesses, ignorance and stupidity. I say 'stupidity' because I then chose to remain ignorant even when presented with evidence for a long time..... and it is when we are at our weakest that we are the most vulnerable to these snake oil salesmen but like I said, I admit and applaud them though I do not condone what they are doing one bit as they are as much a part of the perpetual bullshit, pseudo-science, hocus pocus, mumbo jumbo plaguing the vast majority of humanity still today.
I don't understand what scares people so much about facts and truth to the point that they have to create and hang onto illusions, myths and legends..... sure they're cool, uplifting etc. but why the need for blind faith? I don't get that. At all. Not only deny the truth, but also for some unfathomable reason, to be offended by it?!?! Wow. Just... wow. I for one was never offended by truth. Sure it created a massive amount of cognitive dissonance and I sure as hell wanted to believe in all those things, be it deities, astrology, sasquatch, spirits, angels, demons, extradimensional beings, magic cures and what not, but the only thing they have in common other than being 'paranormal' or 'miraculous' is that every single one of those things lack one major criteria: EVIDENCE. They got none. Outside of tradition, hearsay, personal anecdotes and interpretations of events, they got nothing.
How crucial, critical is evidence? Well, critical enough that in most first world countries anyway, we cannot convict a man, especially to a death sentence without evidence and facts. Critical enough that I don't care who you are reading this, I can only imagine that if you were wrongly convicted for a multiple murder in a city that sustains capital punishment, you would be hard pressed to have all the solid facts and evidence revealing your innocence via the use of forensic science over eyewitness testimony and hearsay.
It requires outside the box thinking to evolve I agree, but it takes evidence based thinking to progress throughout our evolution. Scientific literacy is and should be one of the top priority lessons in raising our children today. In my opinion, this will insure 2 things: 1. They won't be conned out of hundreds of thousands of dollars throughout their lives by every charlatan and snake oil salesman out there and 2. They will help undo the dark ages of religion past and present, and eradicate a good percentage of 'deaths by belief' be it through anti-vaxxers, religious fundamentalists and/or medicine/science deniers.
Sincerely,
Rich
