Galileo was dozing in his study. He had spent the night gazing at the stars through his telescope before sitting in his favourite armchair with a glass of Sack to soothe his troubled thoughts. He just KNEW that Copernicus was right, the Earth DID revolve around the Sun, he had proven it through observation and mathematically. But his worry now was that powerful forces would line up against him, denounce him, subject him to the Inquisition and possibly burn him alive as a heretic. He had made the big mistake of publishing his thoughts in a manuscript that was being widely circulated.

He had fallen asleep just before dawn with all of these thoughts swirling around in his mind but was now startled awake as his daughter, Virginia, burst into the room. This was most unlike her, usually more serene, she was now known as Maria Celeste having taken holy orders many years earlier.

“Dad, wake up, you’re being cancelled, you have to do something” she said.

“What do you mean, have my lectures at the university been cancelled for today, has that idiot Benedetto set fire to the laboratory …. again?”

“No dad, it’s YOU, you’re being cancelled”!

“You’re going to have to explain that daughter, have you lost your senses, I can’t be cancelled, I exist, I’m here, everyone knows me, I’m a celebrity”.

“That’s the trouble dad, it’s because you’re famous that there are others who are out to get you” “There’s a lot of activity on Chirper this morning, your manuscript has gone viral and it’s being chirped by all of Urban’s followers, they’re denouncing you as a heretic”.

“Chirper, viral, what the heck is that” said Galileo.

“It’s social media dad, messages are sent to and fro between your followers, and as you know Pope Urban has got a lot of followers” “He’s also got the most pigeons so he can send his chirps via the World Wide Wings absolutely everywhere”.

“So Urban The Turd is stirring up the sh1t on me because I have scientifically proven that the earth revolves around the sun. He can’t deny it’s true, I’ve published the evidence”.

“Dad, Urban isn’t interested in the truth, it’s not HIS truth, and he has global business interests in monasteries, cathedrals, vineyards, and all of the tithes they produce. You have threatened his power over all of these things, his financial interests will collapse”.

“What can I do daughter, I’m an old man with no pigeons, I can’t compete”

“Right dad, here’s what you must do; first you must apologise, you must apologise for the offence you have caused to Urban personally. Then you must apologise to all of his followers for the distress you may have caused them. Then you must promise never to mention your hypothesis again AND you must burn your manuscript and all copies publicly. You will probably lose your job at the university too dad unless we can find a good Advocate who specialises in free speech, but I suspect one of those won’t be known or available for 500 years or so!”

{Galileo was quickly summoned before an Inquisition and subsequently confined under house arrest for the rest of his life}

{This of course is a parody, the historical essence is true, but the process description is a satirical jibe at present day events. Scientists, politicians, and ordinary folk are being persecuted by a “mob” on a range of social media, a mob that makes a lot of noise but who, like most empty vessels, are a minority. Holding a “different view” from the mob on the environment, climate change, transgender, race, politics, education, …….. the best breakfast cereal, the meaning of life (sorry, gone too far!) puts you in the crosshairs of the mob. Thankfully here in the U.K. we have the Free Speech Union, an organisation who are now winning case after case for people who have lost their jobs, unfairly or illegally. I encourage you to sign up for their newsletter, you will be astounded at the cases they are overturning.

Never before in the history of mankind have so many people been persecuted by so few because they used the wrong pronoun!}

Categories: books, Natural Philosophy, Politics

Tags: free speech, freedom of speech, Galileo, Science, short stories, short story, Twitter, Twitter storm