Then too, generations of American school kids was taught that Columbus' sailors was scared they was gonna sail off the edge of the world! Washington Irving said that in a book he wrote, and millions of people took it as gospel for a long time. Now it turns out it was a buncha hooey, because the sailors then knew perfectly well that the world is round. What them guys was scared of was that they would run outta drinkin' water before they got to Asia! And they would've...if the Americas hadn't been waitin' at less than the halfway mark.

People will believe anything, no matter how stupid it is, if most of the other people they normally hang out with believe it. Trust me. For example, most people don't realize that King Kong died for their sins, and they wouldn't accept it if ya told 'em so, cos their peer group don't think that way....but no ape would dream of even questioning it.

What most people believe is whatever they acquired from their favorite authority sources...and their normal peer group. They set about justifyin' it after makin' the initial assumptions. They're usually pretty sharp at comin' up with "evidence" and logic to support their idea too. Just ask 'em. ;-D They'll tell you ALL about it!

I mean, hell, there was this wacky university professor who was in the Flat Earth Society, and he had all kinds of articles up on his door and office walls explainin' why the Earth is flat, how they faked the space photos, etc. There is nothin' else that quite matches the delight of thinkin' that YOU know stuff that most other people are too stupid to know. It's like a fine wine. Delicious and satisfyin', with a heady bouquet. Every day I get up and think to myself..."Oh, those poor, pathetic fools! If only they knew!" It starts my day off grand, and it just gets better from there.

- Chongo