Long ago in the land of BecauseIsaySo, the scientists of the day were presented with a new theory by one of their own, Professor IknowWhatIsee. “The Earth is a large ball,” he said. This was completely different from what they knew, that the Earth is flat. And comfortable in their certainty, they went about their lives untroubled.
However, Professor IknowWhatIsee began to teach that there was another theory of where things were on the Earth. And as he taught more and more of the young people in the land, the scientists of the day were having to answer questions about the shape of Earth. This annoyed them to have their finest thoughts on the shape of the Earth questioned.
After a year or two, a few young people decided to leave BecauseIsaySo and journey to the ends of the Earth to see for themselves. “They’ll fall off the edge and be eaten by the monsters that live beyond or just fall off the edge and die!” thought the scientists of the day.
So, they decided to put an end to this dangerous new theory once and for all. They held a big international scientific conference with fellow scientists from the lands of WeFollowWhatYouDo and WhatWeReadMustBeTrue. At the conference, they invited IKnowWhatIsee to make a presentation, so that he would not be able to say he wasn’t given a fair chance. After his presentation, the President of the National Society of Science for BecauseIsaySo thanked him and said it was only right that his theory be given proper scientific attention and proceeded to ask for a vote on the merits of Professor IknowWhatIsee’s theory that Earth is a large ball.
The vote was 342 against the theory and 1 for it. (I won’t tell you who voted for it, but I bet you can guess.) The President of the Society regretted that such a fine mind as Professor IknowWhatIsee had to be subjected to this humiliation, but perhaps now he could concentrate on his other work, such as growing a new breed of chickens.
Well, you and I know how this turned out many ages later. Professor IknowWhatIsee was right and the 342 other scientists at the conference were wrong. There is no democracy where the truth is concerned. The truth is the truth and will not change to humor a group of mortal men.