Thursday 5 July 2012

"For some people, the debate continues today"

These are words from the National Trust blog regarding the recognition that some people (about seven of them) believe that the world is literally 6016 years old.

And they have a point. No matter what is a generally accepted belief, there will always be people for whom "the debate continues today". So I thought it important that we showed both sides of every story.

For example, scientists have identified the virus that is responsible for influenza, and the genetic mutability which enables it to outwit the bodies' defences. But others believe it is caused by the influence of the stars. For some people, the debate continues today

To avoid unwanted pregnancies, the best bet is to use one of the fairly reliable forms of contraception that are widely available. But some uninformed teenagers think you can't conceive if you do it standing up. For some people, the debate continues today.

It is well known that people didn't laugh at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round. He knew fully well that it is round, and our modern world simply wouldn't work if it wasn't. But a bloke in Basingstoke think it's flat and it's all a giant con. For some people, the debate continues today.

Stonehenge was erected from a mixture of local sarsens and imported Welsh bluestones, over a period of a couple of thousand years. Or maybe Merlin did it. For some people, the debate continues today.

In a television set, encoded digital signals received via a conventional aerial or satellite disk are converted into a soundtrack and the light signals, which are communicated via a cathode ray tube or a plasma screen. Or else there are little people living in the box in the corner of my room. For some people, the debate continues today.

If you go upstairs in your house, you will be on the first floor. Or possibly you will find yourself, like I do, in the county of Bedfordshire. For some people, the debate continues today. And for Americans this will probably be completely incomprehensible, on so many levels.

Wind is caused by the movement of air from high-pressure, colder zones to low-pressure, warmer ones. The straight lines this would cause are then diverted by the rotation of the earth, in what is known as the Coriolis effect. Either that, or the god Aeolus is breathing upon us again. For some people, the debate continues today.

Cars these days are available as diesel, petrol, hybrid petrol/electric or electric. Or alternatively you can shove your feet through the floor and run like Fred Flintstone. For some people, the debate continues today.

5 comments :

  1. I haven't quite grasped your point. Could you give a few more examples?

    ReplyDelete
  2. When I think of Flat Earth, I think of Terry Pratchet's Disc World books.

    The idea of a world mounted on two giant turtles is actually quite appealing. Especially if you have the ability to put your enemies on a boat and let them float over the edge.

    Terry Pratchet has the imagination of creation, and whether or not he is right or wrong, it's worth being in another reality.

    I enjoy the ingenious ways that he replicates the technology of today using other alternate methods.

    If Terry Pratchet can imagine another universe, why shouldn't another have been created as well as ours by God?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I thought the wind was caused by the Earth spinning round and round.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Some people have their own beliefs, some their own facts, only one of these is reasonable.

    ReplyDelete

Drop a thoughtful pebble in the comments bowl