"My Position Is Mistaken..."

"In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,’ and then they actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion."
Carl Sagan, 1987

I had plenty of complaints with old Carl, and began communicating them to him via snail mail back in the early-70's. He was on the board of science directors that sent the first Viking mission into space, the one with directions back to earth should anyone find it, along with several CD's containing a history of mankind and descriptions of what modern day humans looked like.

And of course the pics of us were censored. After vigorous protestations from various puritan groups across the country, the male genitalia was shrunk to the size of a frickin caterpillar and if memory serves, the woman was smooth from the waist down. I could imagine an alien race scratching their heads over such an impressive attempt at communication sent from folks with no reproductive organs, and sent Carl a letter containing the following line:

"I just wish you would have had the balls to show ours."

He answered that as long as nothing else was compromised he could live with the scale-down, and even made a joke along the lines that some men wouldn't think there was anything wrong with the size, or lack thereof.

But it was a piddling thing to bitch about, and as long as the scientific facts were correct then what the hell. I did not envy him for having to listen to members of various god squads ranting about how this religion or that religion should be included in the descriptions of who we were and what we were all about, but he handled it like a gentleman and did agree that religion WAS a part of the human condition, so certain ones were included.

And I argued with him about that, too, but he was right, and who the hell was I anyway, but some pain in the ass whippersnapper who was embarassed to think that advanced civilizations would put us on the do-not-disturb list because we had journeyed to our moon but still thought there were invisible people living in the clouds.

Now, I know that religious doctrine simply cannot change very much, because after all, many people believe that ancient scriptures are sent direct from the deity of their choice, but wouldn't it be nice if the other example he gave were to be somewhat flexible, and politics were something that rational peoples could discuss, and at least some of the time admit when they were wrong about one thing or another.

Hell, we're supposed to be fallable, right, so what's the big deal? I've been wrong a lot...comes with the territory when one grows older as there's far more room for error...and I'll admit some.

I was wrong about John Roberts and now believe he'll make a good Chief Justice. Sure that's hindsight, but it's a start. I didn't think Dick Cheney would make a good VP, but he's done as well as can be expected given the current state of affairs in Washington.

I thought that George Bush was smarter than he's proven himself to be, and was wrong. Now, there's a difference between intelligence and cunning, and I still believe that W can be a crafty politician, but he's just not equipped with enough brain matter and I'm really not trying to disrespect the man, just telling it like I see it and admitting that he had me fooled for a time.

And here's the worst part; who ELSE was there to vote for if I'd come to the same conclusion last year, or even 5 years ago? Gore? Kerry? Please now. The former is a total dunce and the latter a posturing, posing elitist who was discharged from the Armed Services under less than honorable conditions and fer chrissake, we gotta have SOME standards.

But back to what I've been trying to say all along. I've taken Carl's challenge and admitted that I was wrong.

Can you? Can any of you fess up to making a mistake with regards to the past two elections or so? Or with anything to do with politics? We can't all bat a thousand, so come on, can you stand before the world and say "my position on [insert whatever here] was mistaken."?

Or do only scientists have what it takes to admit an error?