97% of the Universe May Not Even Exist – But 9/11 and the Holocaust Are Sacred Eternal Truths?

I explained to Tony that the story illustrates the most basic principle of science and scholarship: All current models are always open to revision!

So if André Maeder is right, 97% of the known universe just disappeared. WOW! That is quite a revision!

The people witch-hunting Professor Hall at the University of Lethbridge do not seem to grasp the idea that all models are open to debate and possible revision. They think Tony Hall should be fired simply for arguing that the Holocaust, like all other historical events, can be questioned and argued about. And they think that Tony’s views of 9/11, which challenge the Zelikow Commission’s conclusions, are so outrageously heretical that they must be forcibly silenced.

Obviously Tony’s persecutors are neither scholars nor scientists. They are fundamentalist true believers. They have elevated their own narratives of the Holocaust and 9/11 to the status of sacred myths.

If they want to make their own stories into tribal idols, they are perfectly free to do so. But such primitive idolatry has no place in the  modern academy, which is built on the premise that everything in the universe is open to questioning and possible revision.

If anyone strongly disagrees with the Professor Hall’s interpretations of any historical issue, they have every right to argue against him using logic and evidence. If he is shown to be wrong, yet irrationally clings to demonstrably false models, his scholarly peers will take care of the problem. That is how the academy is supposed to work.

I know Tony Hall well, having worked with him for many years. And I know that he would never stubbornly cling to demonstrably false views in the face of new evidence. On the contrary, when shown the inadequacy of his current views, he responds by looking into the issue and enlarging his understanding. (That openness to new ideas and arguments, a prerequisite for genuine academicians, is in fact what got him in trouble with the true believers in the first place!)

So Tony Hall’s critics have an easy task in front of them. All they have to do is muster a strong argument against Tony’s position on any issue that concerns them. Tony will weigh that argument and, if necessary, adjust his position accordingly.

I hope that happens. It would be wonderful to see a flurry of scholarly monographs explaining why Tony Hall’s positions on the Holocaust, 9/11, North American history, etc. are wrong. Tony Hall would respond with monographs of his own. Then the two sides could have a series of live debates. The monographs, along with transcripts and videos of the debates, could be published and widely distributed.

But I do not expect Professor Hall’s critics to do any such thing. I suspect they lack confidence in their own positions. They are afraid that Tony Hall would win any debate in which facts, evidence, and logic were the ultimate arbiters. So instead of debating him, they hurl emotionally-charged insults while sobbing and shrieking about Hall’s damnable heresies.

Such people, whose emotional instability is only exceeded by their disregard for logic and evidence, have no business in the academy.