On 3 December 2014 at 17:17, 'Chris de Morsella' via Everything List < [email protected]> wrote: > > > Liz, I am with you here that evolution and e=mc2 make for highly visible, > honey pots tempting all manner of oddball, legend-in-their-minds geniuses > (or the pious pompous religious sort for the league of Darwin haters). I > also agree that the tactic used is similar – spotting the overlooked flaw > etc. However, I do not see the reason or need to invoke anti-Semitism – in > Einstein’s case, as being the main driver. Sure some of his detractors are > driven by the racist impulse, controlling their illing minds, but most – in > my experience – seem to be ultimately harmless sorts, even if, often they > are obnoxious, socially retarded bores. > > Yeah I may have overstated that. It was just a passing thought really - I thought perhaps there was a subconscious element of that involved, but if there IS any subconscious motive it may just be that some people don't like seeing someone who's touted as being a genius when they know they have the real answer.
My thought was along the lines of - they see this guy - he's a pacifist liberal, possibly with Buddhist leanings - and in some cases (I wasn't thinking everyone, I think I phrased that badly - have to dash off some of these posts!) they react against that. Oh, he thinks he's so clever but he wouldn't last five minutes in the real world - or words to that effect. I just threw "Jewish" in there because I thought it might also be a component in some cases but I seem to have hit a nerve, and I apologise to anyone who found my comment offensive or indeed just wide of the mark, as it perhaps was in 99% of cases. My main feeling is as stated, that some theories are both against some people's idea of common sense and appear easy to understand and attack. (I have seen people argue seriously that "if we evolved from apes, why are there still apes around?" and "what would happen if you travelled one kilometre per hour slower than light, and fired a bullet ahead of you?" They seem like sensible questions if you know little enough about the subjects.) Perhaps in some cases the image of the originator of the ideas is important, but probably not most. That was a throwaway comment that I should have thought about for a bit longer before pressing "Send". -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
