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“I think we’re property.
I should say we belong to something:
That once upon a time, this earth was No-man’s Land, that other worlds explored and colonized here, and fought among themselves for possession, but that now it’s owned by something:
That something owns this earth—all others warned off.
Nothing in our own times—perhaps—because I am thinking of certain notes I have—has ever appeared upon this earth, from somewhere else, so openly as Columbus landed upon San Salvador, or as Hudson sailed up his river. But as to surreptitious visits to this earth, in recent times, or as to emissaries, perhaps, from other worlds, or voyagers who have shown every indication of intent to evade and avoid, we shall have data as convincing as our data of oil or coal-burning aerial super-constructions.
But, in this vast subject, I shall have to do considerable neglecting or disregarding, myself. I don’t see how I can, in this book, take up at all the subject of possible use of humanity to some other mode of existence, or the flattering notion that we can possibly be worth something.
Pigs, geese, and cattle.
First find out that they are owned.
Then find out the whyness of it.”
—- The Book of the Damned, by Charles Fort, [1919]
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- Charles Hoy Fort (August 6, 1874 – May 3, 1932) was an American writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena.
- “A procession of the damned.
- By ‘the damned’, I mean the excluded.
- We shall have a procession of data that Science has excluded.”
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- – opening lines of The Book of the Damned
“The title of the book referred to what he termed the “damned” data – data which had been damned, or excluded, by modern science because of its not conforming to accepted guidelines. The way Fort saw it,mainstream scientists are trend followers who believe in what is accepted and popular, and never really look for a truth that may be contrary to what they believe. He also compared the close-mindedness of many scientists to that of religious fundamentalists, implying that the supposed “battle” between science and religion is just a smokescreen for the fact that, in his view, science is, in essence, simply a de facto religion. This is a theme that Fort would develop more heavily in his later works, New Lands and Lo! particularly.
Fort was one of the first major writers to deal extensively with paranormal phenomena, and in that aspect at least, The Book of the Damned should be considered an important work. It should be viewed as a formulative work, perhaps understandably, as it is his first major book. Though Fort’s uniquely acerbic writing style is already in evidence, and there are plenty of interesting phenomena to read about, Fort’s theories (as such) are only beginning to be developed.”
Fort’s comment on Darwinism:
“Darwin & Evolution In mere impressionism we take our stand. We have no positive tests nor standards. Realism in art: realism in science – they pass away. In 1859, the thing to do was to accept Darwinism; now many biologists are revolting and trying to conceive of something else. The thing to do was to accept it in its day, but Darwinism of course was never proved: The fittest survive. What is meant by the fittest? Not the strongest; not the cleverest – Weakness and stupidity everywhere survive. There is no way of determining fitness except in that a thing does survive. “Fitness”, then, is only another name for “survival.” Darwinism: That survivors survive.” (Damned, pp. 23-24)
Science-fiction writers of note including Philip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein, and Robert Anton Wilson were fans of the work of Charles Fort. (SEE WIKIPEDIA.ORG ARTICLE ABOUT CHARLES FORT)
