Could it be a "heart" problem? No, not a cardiovascular disease--- a deeply felt emotional "hang-up". [A nice way of saying "prejudice"] Now, I don't know any human who can even "read minds" completely, much less "hearts". But we do seem to have an unintentional confession in the presentation by Professor Emeritus Paul Kurtz (State University of New York at Buffalo) to the first North American conference of the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Well if you've read the "legal" page (the previous segment), you'll understand when I say Mr. John Stuart Mill and I are both here to tell you that what's good for General Bullmoose IS NOT good for everybody. Maybe not even for General Bullmoose! But HE ALONE should have to bear the consequences of BELIEVING it's good for him. In reality it seems we're all still in Dogpatch "paying" for General Bullmoose's inflated opinion of himself --- he apparantly has us believing it with him. We've been considered the "ignorant masses" so long most of us evidently see ourselves that way. Our ususal response to evidence of possibilities alternative to "expert" opinions is: "But they've had all this specialized training!", as if others are incapable of reading in their mother tongue and thinking. A professional opinion actually is just that --- an opinion --- SOMETIMES based on first-impression superficial evidence, never considering other possibilities.

"Prejudice means literally pre-judgement, the rejection of a contention out of hand, before examining the evidence. Prejudice is the result of powerful emotions, not of sound reasoning. ... But we cannot reject out of hand, any more than we can accept at face value ..." ---- Carl Sagan, "Sense and Nonsense at the Edge of Science"

This neither describes all professional opinions nor is limited to professionals. It may, however, diagnose the only "heart disease" that's contagious ---attitude. Sadly, in this area of life, the seemingly most caring individuals are the most susceptible. The "established" way of healing ("allopathic medicine" in the Western world) is part of their "culture" ---- their "religious upbringing", if you will, even if they profess none. Especially friends and family. They do care about you and want the best for you. Imagining they KNOW what's best is the problem. Mindless sentimental love can be as misguided as zeal. Ever see a toddler (not quite mentally and emotionally ready for it) given a new pet; and who "loves" the baby duck, kitten, puppy or whatever so much it gets smothered --- literally "loved" to death? Zeal OR love that's uninformed, mis-informed, or insufficiently informed can have similar results at any age in virtually any setting.

Sadly, recovery from this "illness" can be agonizingly slow and painful. In this case, recovery requires "want-to" --- willingness to truly listen, think and reason. So, even in this more "enlightened" twenty-first century, (as the following true story illustrates) it appears that a professional chemist with degrees from Oxford and MIT, Anthony Standen, picked a timelessly apropos title for his 1950 book --- SCIENCE IS A SACRED COW.