really cool video
by Hortensia 12 Replies latest social current
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Hortensia
I came across it on this interesting page:
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yadda yadda 2
That's the late and legendary Carl Sagan. He had something to say about JW's:
"[The Watchtower Society] confidently predicted that the world would end in 1914....It is astonishing in the face of such transparent evasions that this religion has any adherents at all....The fact that [its religious leaders] can be so shamelessly dishonest, so contemptuous of the intelligence of [its] adherents and still flourish, does not speak well for the tough-mindedness of [Jehovah's Witnesses]." - Broca's Brain, Carl Sagan (Ballantines Books, New York, 1982 pp. 332-3)*
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still thinking
Love it! and Carl Sagan is one of my faves
I like this quote of that site too...
“We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust.” Jalal ad-Din Rumi , Persian Poet and Mystic, 1207-1273
and this...
"Be humble, for the worst thing in the world is of the same stuff as you; be confident, for the stars are of the same stuff as you."
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Captain Obvious
The wold needs another Sagan!
Not many people of his level of intellect and knowledge can communicate with regular humans, let alone in an interesting and exciting way.
Krauss tries, but he still speaks like everyone is a physicist.
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Hortensia
Glad you all liked the video. I love how what the physicists say has been turned into a rap video. And I loved all the quotes on that page.
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Open mind
Marking for later viewing with high-speed connection. Thanks hortensia!
@ yadda yadda 2:
I don't want this to sound nit-picky, and I hope it doesn't come across that way:
Sagan never mentioned the JWs by name.
You did put brackets around [Watchtower Society] and [Jehovah's Witnesses] so hopefully most readers will know that Sagan did not actually mention either one by name.
I remember reading Broca's Brain as a JW and as I read the quote you referenced, I knew it must be the JWs that Mr. Sagan was talking about, but I felt safe continuing to read as long as he didn't specifically mention my cherished little cult by name.
Anyway, here's the full quote with no omissions or additions:
One prominent American religion confidently predicted that the world would end in 1914. Well, 1914 has come and gone, and - whole the events of that year were certainly of some importance - the world did not, at least so far as I can see, seem to have ended. There are at least three responses that an organized religion can make in the face of such a failed and fundamental prophecy. They could have said, Oh, did we say '1914'? So sorry, we meant '2014'. A slight error in calculation. Hope you weren't inconvinenced in any way. But they did not. They could have said, Well, the world would have ended, except we prayed very hard and interceded with God so He spared the Earth. But they did not. Instead, the did something much more ingenious. They announced that the world had in fact ended in 1914, and if the rest of us hadn't noticed, that was our lookout. It is astonishing in the fact of such transparent evasions that this religion has any adherents at all. But religions are tough. Either they make no contentions which are subject to disproof or they quickly redesign doctrine after disproof. The fact that religions can be so shamelessly dishonest, so contemptuous of the intelligence of their adherents, and still flourish does not speak very well for the tough- mindedness of the believers. But it does indicate, if a demonstration was needed, that near the core of the religious experience is something remarkably resistant to rational inquiry. [Carl Sagan, Broca's Brain]
As well as a link to a bunch of other great Carl Sagan quotes:
http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_CSagan.htm
Cheers!
om
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yadda yadda 2
Yeah, actually you are being really nitpicky. What other religion predicted the end of the world in 1914? I just cut and paste the quote with the brackets in anyway, not originally mine.
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LisaRose
I loved this, it really makes you think. Hopefully some day people will stop their petty fights over religion and accept that we are all connected. We should be looking at the ways we are all the same, not the ways in which we are different.