“We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep deep into our own history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men…”

Edward R. Murrow

I first heard this quote in the intro of Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast. I was struck by the appeal to the fact that we are descended from humans that accomplished amazing feats and survived incredible hardships.

Then I went back and looked at through my skeptical lens. As Americans, we stand on the backs of men and women of the Enlightenment. Of men and women who valued reason, not only in the sciences, but in economics, philosophy, and politics as well.

There are many people today that will try to drive us into an age of unreason. Some will just because they can wring some sort of monetary or power advantage. These are the charlatans, the snake-oil salesmen of our modern world. Fraudsters are dangerous, but not nearly as dangerous as the other kind of person that will drive us into unreason. The kind that will do it because they believe they are right and just and must inflict their justice upon us. These fanatics will deny what history or science has taught us because history or science is corrupt and non-applicable to their paradigm.