Of Blogs and Oranges..

Which one of the following is definitely true?

• Mice love cheese. (Circa 1800)
• HIV causes AIDS. (Circa 1984)
• The Sun revolves around the Earth. (Circa 1634)

One? Actually, none of the above are known to be definitely true. These are all ‘facts’ that have been globally accepted at one time or the other, without definitive evidence either for or against. In fact, these could even be outright lies.

Let’s start with the mice. A mouse is a generic term for any rodent from the Muridae, Heteromyidae, Cricetidae, and Zapodidae families, which is omnivorous, and is generally found in forests, savannahs, grasslands and rocky habitats . Cheese is a solid preparation made by curdling and acidifying milk. Milk is a liquid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals. If a mouse manages to naturally acquire cheese in the wild, surely it must be one of the hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional variety! Yet, when one thinks of a mouse eating, one automatically thinks of cheese.

If you must know, cheese began to be associated with mice was because no other food blends as nicely with rat-poison, and the smell of the cheese masks the odour of poison when used in a mousetrap.

HIV and AIDS are used interchangebly today. But did you know that HIV is only one of the suspected causes of AIDS, and while it is generally accepted that HIV causes AIDS, this has never been scientifically proven? And that AIDS as defined, is a collection of diseases and symptoms. And that a person can suffer from all the diseases and symptoms defined as AIDS without carrying HIV in his body? By definition, he won’t be said to have AIDS.

Yet, a person carrying HIV who suffers from a few of the symptoms will be said to have AIDS.

People seem to have an innate need for authority, for a command to follow and a rule to obey, a creed to adopt and an icon to look up to. All that’s fine, as long as you remember the reason for authority – better co-operation in human endeavours. Any other reason for authority is just another excuse for bullying. 

What’s rather scary is the propensity of people to accept authority unquestioningly. As has been proved in the Milgram Experiment [see 'The Perils of Obedience', brief version.] and the Stanford Prison Experiments, people don’t seem to mind extrapolating the validity of authority and precept to situations where this is wholly unjustified. (Unfortunately, my impromptu experiment in this regard was cut short because of the same reason the Stanford experiments were – a partner unsympathetic to the cause.)

As Milgram concluded, “The legal and philosophic aspects of obedience are of enormous importance, but they say very little about how most people behave in concrete situations. [...] The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation.”

Can misuse of authority be equated to solicitation on the part of the authority itself? I am not qualified to make an informed judgement on this, but my best guess would be that it is an inchoate crime. I’m also neglecting any effects of the doctrine of merger here; that is left as an exercise to the reader.

A little bit of distrust is okay, if not downright necessary. Why should you trust this article, even? The real reason cheese began to be associated with mice was because no other food had the required firmness and elasticity to be used in a spring-loaded mousetrap. Food in mousetraps isn’t usually poisoned. If you’re using poison, why use a trap? And then, mice don’t even like cheese. They seem to prefer cornflakes.

Quick, who was the first man in space?