Ch. 16 Moon of Ice (5/18-5/24)

[Hannah]

Obtain a copy of High Weirdness by Mail, by Rev. Ivan Stang, (Simon and Shuster, 1988), a catalog of dissident groups in the U.S., covering the full spectrum from the fairly plausible (and possibly important) to those that appear totally "nutty" to almost all the rest of us. Pick out five groups that seem sane and plausible, and five that seem totally crazy, and send for a packet of their literature. (Stang gives mailing addresses for all groups he reviews.) Study the literature and discuss in the group.

Do some of the plausible groups look less plausible when analyzed operationally and skeptically? Do some of them seem, maybe, as important as a dissident group in Nazi Europe publishing evidence that the moon doesn't consist of ice? And — do any of the "nut groups" look less nutty when you analyze their arguments?

[Hannah]

I was intrigued by the line:

We have been told over and over again that "you can't change human nature," but the study of emic realities shows, quite the contrary, that almost anything can become "human nature" if society defines it as such.

[jjones]

@Hannah This seems even more pertinent given how much we've watched society swing from one side of the polarity to the other over the past decades.

Perhaps this statement highlights the significance of learning from the past so that we do not recreate the reality tunnels that put humanity backwards rather than forwards. It certainly feels as if we have taken two steps forward and one step back with how the world stage keeps unfolding.