Wednesday, April 27, 2011

birthers and barkers: witchcraft in 2011

What does Obama's birth certificate have to do with this this physics paper?

Nationally, some people believe Obama was not born in the US although the story makes no sense. Even if he were born in Kenya, he would still be an American citizen. To believe the story, you have to think that two young people, 18 and 25 years old, flew from Hawaii to Kenya in 1961, which would have cost about 3 years salary, and secretly renounced Ann's citizenship, Barack's mother. It just can't be true.

Locally, some people believe that if you have 15 times as many dogs and are 15 times farther away you make 15 times as much noise when in fact the laws of physics as established based on the surface area of a sphere as described in 100 AD preclude this possibility. It just can't be true.

People believe stuff because they would like it to be true for political reasons. No matter how hard you might wish it were true, if it isn't true, it isn't true.

In both cases it is very easy to disprove the charge. People were convicted of witchcraft in New York State... to wit, the 1665 witchcraft statue, as per THE CASES OF HALL AND HARRISON, At the Court of Assizes held in New Yorke the 2d day of October 1665 etc. has never been repealed.

Doesn't mean people are in fact making their neighbors sick with voodoo. But if they are, you can still bring the charge. I mean, the 1978 law against dog barking in the town of Stuyvesant went unenforced for 30+ years. I was charged under this law although the charge defies the laws of physics more surely than a charge of witchcraft.

It would be just as fair to charge someone with witchcraft under the 1665 statute in Stuyvesant as to charge me under the 1978 statute. Didn't stop the town government from doing just that.

No comments:

Post a Comment