Daphna Baram threw out an idea in The Guardian. I don't know Baram's larger work, but if the message is "let's think about this rationally a moment" -- we're not indicting, we're analyzing at this phase -- then I'm receptive to that idea. However, being receptive to an idea opens you up to an unhealthy dose of vitriol, and that is dangerous.
One thing that's encouraging is that the idea frontier has been moving -- more or less-- in the direction of reason. A friend of mine is reading the biography of Mercator. He reports that, in that day, the threat of the idea of representing the Earth on parchment in some way that is practically useful was sufficient to get the Church to imprison you, bury you alive, or dispatch you in some horrifically unpleasant way.
Let's keep the pile moving forward, shall we?
Other powerful ideas that will get you in a heapin' helpin' of trouble, even today: love, compassion, tolerance, introspection.
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