Diving into the pool of ignorance

Letter  to the Editor in The Daily Examiner 14 November 2013:

Pool of ignorance

WE IGNORE history at our peril. Whenever science makes advances which challenge long-held beliefs the reaction is always the same.

Enthusiastic vociferants emerge from the pond of general ignorance to rubbish the findings and pillory any person who should speak out on behalf of the science.

But what would the world be like if the deniers/sceptics had been correct?

1. The world would be flat.

2. The sun, planets and stars would circle the earth.

3. The earth would be less than 10,000 years old.

4. Fossils are the result of recent catastrophic occurrences.

5. Biodiversity is not the result of evolution.

6. The continents are fixed in position.

7. The Holocaust is a Zionist fabrication.

8. Tobacco products are good for your health.

9. The moon landing was filmed in the Arizona desert, and so on.

So will time also relegate our climate deniers/sceptics to the wheelie bin of history where they would join the flat earthers and the geocentrists? Maybe they will find some solace in that history also shows that often deniers/sceptics are long since passed on, leaving their descendants to ponder 'How could they have ignored the bleeding obvious?'.

Ted Strong
Seelands