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To those responsible for the graffiti on the abandoned concrete building on Maui Veterans Highway, no, we are not sheep.
We are normal, everyday, educated people who believe in the validity of the scientific tradition that brought us the smallpox and polio vaccines, antibiotics and organ transplants.
The same science also brought us electricity, transistors and semi-conductors. We know that every time you turn on lights, start your car, make a phone call or order something from Amazon, you avail yourself of the benefits of this science.
We are not fools. We know that scientists and the technocrats that employ their inventions can be guilty of greed, hubris and immoral behavior. But true science is self-correcting, and scientists nowadays are hard at work developing new medicines, trying to preserve our environment and sounding the alarm about climate change and the excesses of our 21st century lifestyle.
You, on the other hand, are part of the great American tradition of mindless followers of the snake oil salesman, Bible thumpers, cult leaders, quacks and conspiracy theorists who litter our country's history.
In Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," two characters jump on board Huck's raft and run their cons up and down the Mississippi River. The gullible crowds willingly fork over their money, believing the most outrageous lies, not realizing their folly until after the two have left town.
Those folks are you. You are the sheep.
Alan Hodara
Makawao