Why is believing that we are being visited by beings from another planet any nuttier than believing that a guy name Jesus rose from the dead or that Muhammad rose into heaven or that there are inexorable laws of history that will lead to a socialist future? Or for that matter a belief that the United States has a destiny to manifest or that Australia is the greatest country in the world or that the U.S. or England is somehow superior to Iran (or Norway)? Or the delusion that we somehow live in a "free market system" or a "democracy"?
Why should this delusion be privileged for attack over all the other nutty delusions?
How do you decide which delusion is nuttier than any other?
How do you attack a delusion while still reflecting and remaining open to the possibility that you are not seeing your own delusions? How do you know that your own delusions don't far surpass the delusions of a nutty belief in UFOs or an even nuttier belief in the goodness of the United States government? I'm talking in general here.
I am not saying that Doug or Charles or anyone else has any of the delusions I am pointing in front of these questions marks. I am just saying that the first step in questioning delusions is skepticisms about ourselves.
Jerry
On 10/29/07, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Oct 29, 2007, at 11:14 PM, Gar Lipow wrote:
>
> > But the pile on was going beyond just laughing to painting
> > Kucinich as the craziest candidate in the race. As oppose to the
> > mainstream candidates who all seem to favor bombing Iran, and who
> > mostly (with a few exceptions like Obama) favored attacking Iraq.
>
> Is the only way to beat some nuts with another nut?
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