"Do you," I asked, "know anything about genetics? Are you _au courant_
in this particular affair?"
"No. But--"
"Then stay out of it. Good God! Isn't that like a damned scientist?" I
turned to Yvonne. "He'd laugh at me if I tried to argue with him about
mesons. He's been briefed to the eyeballs on that. But he'll argue with
anybody about genes and chromosomes and heredity--because he hasn't
bothered to learn the known facts!"
Paul didn't rise. "Okay!" he said. "Okay. So communism is based on that
fallacy. Others, too. We have a few fallacies to contend with, in this
country."
"Sure," I agreed. "I pointed one out to the Reverend Socker Melton,
who called on me today. Old friend of pop's. Pointed out that, if we
understood the importance of our celebrated liberty--we'd have been
ready and willing to go to war the instant we realized that the Soviet
holdout was going to force a restriction of knowledge. So what? Do our
faults entitle other people to faults? Or vice versa? That's merely the
maudlin attitude of Joe Doaks!"