Brian Marick2d ago

I’m bemused that the Vice President of the United States now says “I don’t think [UFOs are] aliens. I think they’re demons anyway, but that’s a longer discussion.”

That is *exactly* what the teacher of AP Chemistry told us when I was in high school somewhere around 1975. (I went to “the bad high school”.)

I am not kidding, or exaggerating. He specifically said that UFOs are piloted by demons. (He was a fundamentalist before fundamentalists were cool.)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jd-vance-aliens-demons-devil_n_69c93d9de4b0a014076f69bb

JD Vance Believes UFO Sightings Are 1 Of The 'Devil’s Great Tricks'

The vice president shared a spiritual explanation for supposed alien encounters during an interview released on Saturday.

HuffPost
Show threadBrian Marick
It never occurred to me to blame that high school teacher for my getting an F in freshman chemistry at CalTech. Just as well, I guess.
Mar 29 at 11:09pmWeb
Show threadBrian Marick2d ago

I also had a high school English teacher who’d been a Catholic nun. When talking about the Greek myths, she told us that the classical Greeks didn’t *really* believe in polytheism. Of course they knew there was one God.

The mid-70s were a time of “let your freak flag fly” for public school teachers. And others.

Show threadBrian Marick2d ago
I should note that the devil-may-care attitude toward public education had some benefits.
– The New Math *rocked*. https://www.si.edu/object/uicsm-high-school-mathematics-experimental-programed-edition%3Anmah_1302593 Great preparation for being a computer programmer. Number bases! Sets!
– One particular whole-class exercise taught me that I could – in a rational way – organize groups with shared information toward a common goal. Also that they would be really mad at me for being bossy.
Show threadarclight2d ago

@marick From just a few hours ago https://oldbytes.space/@arclight/116314547525898163

The New Math was great! Plus it eventually introduced you to Tom Lehrer :)

arclight (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image Sometimes you see a book and a song just pops into your head

OldBytes Space - Mastodon
Show threadPaul_IPv62d ago

@marick

i had a high school teacher who was a former protestant minister. he taught the "bible/mythology" where everything was treated as myths and literature, even the bible.

Show threadGLC2d ago

@marick

She may possibly have come under the indirect influence of Pico della Mirandola.

At the time he proposed something like that, it was condemned as heresy, but it may have lingered on. Notably among the nuns, who were an unruly bunch theologically.

Show threadBarney Dellar (he/him)2d ago
@marick I mean, that’s sort of true, at least under the Platonist school of thought. All of reality was seen as emanating from the One. It’s a similar argument to the one used by Hindus in Indonesia today. According to the constitution, only monotheistic religions are allowed. Hindus have successfully argued that they ARE monotheists, and the gods they worship are but manifestations of the One God. (This in turn has caused all kinds of animists to claim to be Hindus!)
Show threadrestorante2d ago

@BarneyDellar

Is it Sang Hyang Widi?

@marick

Show threadBarney Dellar (he/him)1d ago
@restorante @marick Yup. The concept was always there in Hinduism, but it’s been brought to the forefront in Indonesia.