[Peace-discuss] Moon eclipse

[Ricky Baldwin]

Carl is right that Magellan probably did not say it, which is why I said it is
"attributed to" him, altho I unfortunately still made it seem that he did say it by
fumbling my tenses later on.  My bad.  The quote has been attributed to Magellan for
over a century, but I understand it's not actually found in any of Magellan's writings.
 Maybe I was too focussed on not making it appear that I was glorifying Magellan, and
enjoying the sentiment in the quote.

But why we would assume it's "liberal" myth-making is far from clear.  The original
source of the quote is unknown.  Nowadays it has traction across several political
positions that I know of due to the Church's history of similar dogma in the face of
reality, most notably geocentrism (Earth at the center), which is what got Galileo in
hot water (or nearly did), and more recently other religious authorities concerning the
teaching of evolution in public schools.  Poking fun at such authorities, even
inaccurately, is not necessarily "liberal".

Frankly, I still like the quote, whether the source is literary or historical, for more
general reasons: it expresses a basic skepticism in the face of stubborn authoritarian
dogma and/or ignorance, a sentiment that resonates with many people because dogma and
ignorance of one kind or another is still very real.  (This includes Flat-Earthers,
literal and figurative.)

Michael Moore, for example, is someone whose work and quotes I greatly admire, even tho
he is sometimes inaccurate.  (His oft-repeated statement that the US whisked a group of
Osama bin Laden's relatives out of the country when all other planes were grounded, for
example, is according to Moore based on a newspaper article that says no such thing.) 
But Moore expresses a frustration with our rulers from a working class perspective,
which is in short supply in the venues that he is able to climb into - plus, he is
usually basically right.

At any rate, even if it spoils our fun, we must agree when our missteps are pointed
out.  

Ricky 
--- "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:

> Liberal myth-making, I'm afraid (which is not unknown in our own time).
> 
> I doubt Magellan ever said any such thing, because educated Europeans
> (including church officials) of Magellan's time (and long before) did
> not think the earth was flat.
> 
> The standard model (as in Dante) was of a round earth at the center of a
> series of concentric spheres, each one (except the ninth) holding the
> the moon, sun, or one of the planets.
> 
> A quite brilliant book on the model of the world from ancient times
> through Shakespeare and Milton is C. S. Lewis, THE DISCARDED IMAGE.  I
> used to insist my grad students in Renaissance studies read it. --CGE
> 
> Ricky Baldwin wrote:
> > Hope you saw it, it was a nice one - and early enuf that even 
> > Catharine stayed up for it.
> > 
> > We were reminded of a quote attributed to a famous, and famously 
> > deeply flawed, earthbound explorer who despite his many barbarous 
> > acts and allegiances was able to look up from the muck and blood of 
> > brutal history and come up with this one:
> > 
> > "The Church says the Earth is flat, but I have seen its shadow on the
> > Moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the Church." - F. 
> > Magellan (not the first man to circumnavigate the globe)
> > 
> > Ricky
> > 
> > --- Karen Medina <kmedina at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> > 
> >>> A total moon eclipse may be seen around 9:01 PM this evening, if 
> >>> clouds permit. A
> >> fairly rare event, which may foretell nothing.
> >> 
> >> It may not even foretell a "change"?
> >> 
> >> -karen medina p.s. It is so nice to have peace and peace-discuss 
> >> lists back up again! Yay! 
> 



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