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Re: The flat earth notion
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2003 Nov 3, 17:37 +0000
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2003 Nov 3, 17:37 +0000
There's a nice flat-Earth story told by my favourite traveller, Joshua Slocum. In South Africa in 1897, by which time his circumnavigation was largely completed, a group of three Boer geographers tried to convince him that the Earth was flat. Even his Mercator charts of his voyage (being flat also) failed to convince them. Later, he was introduced to President Kruger of Transvaal who, it turned out, shared those same views, and when Slocum explained his voyage, dismissed it as simply impossible. A remarkable example of minds closed to the facts by an awful combination of racial, intellectual, and religious bigotry, in my view. I would hope that few flat-Earthers now remain since publication of photographs of the Earth from space. But there exist many other matters, in which facts and arguments are dismissed by unreceptive intolerance. Of course, my own reasoned rejection of an argument is on a much higher plane than the bigotry and intolerance of others. I think. George. ================================================================ contact George Huxtable by email at george@huxtable.u-net.com, by phone at 01865 820222 (from outside UK, +44 1865 820222), or by mail at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK. ================================================================