Its a long, long way to Tipperary
Read pages 27-29 of Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons' about the persecution of scientists by the Church in the Middle Ages. The Church persecuted scientists ruthlessly, torturing them, burning them at the stake, and banning or destroying their works, because scientists challenged the Church's claim of monopoly over the truth, e.g. whether the sun went around the earth as asserted by the Church, or vice versa as claimed by Copernicus and Galileo, whether God created man as asserted in the Bible, or man descended from the apes, as claimed by Darwin ?
As mentioned on page 29,the Church discovered the identity of four scientists, captured them, interrogated them under torture, branded them alive with crosses on their chests, brutally murdered them, and dropped their dead bodies on the streets of Rome as a warning to others.
Though ' Angels and Demons ' is a work of fiction, this part of it is true.
The genuinely patriotic people in India are like those scientists. They must be ready for the herculean task before them, of spreading the scientific outlook throughout the length and breadth of India, which alone can lead our country to progress, and give our people decent lives..
They will be initially a tiny minority, confronting a huge mass of people having very backward mindsets ( whom I had called the 90% ), full of casteism, communalism and superstitions, and powerful forces and vested interests which wish to keep India backward, or even hurl it back into the dark ages.
Those of you who wish to join this historical endeavour must know the pitfalls which will confront you at every step. What will you be endeavouring to do ? You will be endeavouring to change the minds of people. Making physical changes is relatively easy. But changing minds of people, which are full of unscientific crap and prejudices, instilled into their minds over centuries of brainwashing by the feudal, backward outlook, is very difficult. And when this task involves changing the minds of almost 1250 million people, surely that is correctly described as a herculean task, the task on which we are set forth, a task which is likely to take 15-20 years or more.
And so my brothers and sisters, if you wish to join our ranks, be prepared for a barrage of abuses, condemnations, villifications denunciations, and even physical attacks, as I have been regularly facing. Even some of your friends and relatives will forsake you once you set out on this perilous path. If you are weak hearted, do not join our ranks. In fact even if no one accompanies me, I, who have already set out on this path, will continue on it alone. A fire burns inside me, a passion, a torrential rage, which is driving me on. Unless you have that passion, that fire inside you, you will find it difficult to continue on this path for long, even if you begin the journey, for you will get no personal benefit from it, in fact you are likely to suffer personal losses.
What is our goal, our El Dorado ? It is to see our country India as a modern, highly industrialized. prosperous country, with its people enjoying a high standard of living, having employment,, good education and healthcare, nutritious food, decent housing, etc for all Indians, with the scientific outlook penetrated into the darkest and furthest corners of our country, with its people in all their rich diversity living harmoniously like brothers and sisters, with science and arts developing rapidly.
Its a long, long way to Tipperary, but ' Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour ' as the Bible said, and as Churchill said when Nazi Germany was about to attack Britain
Read pages 27-29 of Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons' about the persecution of scientists by the Church in the Middle Ages. The Church persecuted scientists ruthlessly, torturing them, burning them at the stake, and banning or destroying their works, because scientists challenged the Church's claim of monopoly over the truth, e.g. whether the sun went around the earth as asserted by the Church, or vice versa as claimed by Copernicus and Galileo, whether God created man as asserted in the Bible, or man descended from the apes, as claimed by Darwin ?
As mentioned on page 29,the Church discovered the identity of four scientists, captured them, interrogated them under torture, branded them alive with crosses on their chests, brutally murdered them, and dropped their dead bodies on the streets of Rome as a warning to others.
Though ' Angels and Demons ' is a work of fiction, this part of it is true.
The genuinely patriotic people in India are like those scientists. They must be ready for the herculean task before them, of spreading the scientific outlook throughout the length and breadth of India, which alone can lead our country to progress, and give our people decent lives..
They will be initially a tiny minority, confronting a huge mass of people having very backward mindsets ( whom I had called the 90% ), full of casteism, communalism and superstitions, and powerful forces and vested interests which wish to keep India backward, or even hurl it back into the dark ages.
Those of you who wish to join this historical endeavour must know the pitfalls which will confront you at every step. What will you be endeavouring to do ? You will be endeavouring to change the minds of people. Making physical changes is relatively easy. But changing minds of people, which are full of unscientific crap and prejudices, instilled into their minds over centuries of brainwashing by the feudal, backward outlook, is very difficult. And when this task involves changing the minds of almost 1250 million people, surely that is correctly described as a herculean task, the task on which we are set forth, a task which is likely to take 15-20 years or more.
And so my brothers and sisters, if you wish to join our ranks, be prepared for a barrage of abuses, condemnations, villifications denunciations, and even physical attacks, as I have been regularly facing. Even some of your friends and relatives will forsake you once you set out on this perilous path. If you are weak hearted, do not join our ranks. In fact even if no one accompanies me, I, who have already set out on this path, will continue on it alone. A fire burns inside me, a passion, a torrential rage, which is driving me on. Unless you have that passion, that fire inside you, you will find it difficult to continue on this path for long, even if you begin the journey, for you will get no personal benefit from it, in fact you are likely to suffer personal losses.
What is our goal, our El Dorado ? It is to see our country India as a modern, highly industrialized. prosperous country, with its people enjoying a high standard of living, having employment,, good education and healthcare, nutritious food, decent housing, etc for all Indians, with the scientific outlook penetrated into the darkest and furthest corners of our country, with its people in all their rich diversity living harmoniously like brothers and sisters, with science and arts developing rapidly.
Its a long, long way to Tipperary, but ' Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour ' as the Bible said, and as Churchill said when Nazi Germany was about to attack Britain
The article demands a better quote.
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