Life of Galileo #5

Sagredo: ...Forty years spent among human beings has again and again brought it home to me that they are not open to reason. Show them a comet with a red tail, scare them out of their wits, and they'll rush out of their houses and break their legs. But try making one rational statement to them, and back it up with seven proofs, and they'll just laugh at you (Brecht, 27).

This was a time of change in history not only for Galileo, but for when the book was written as well. During Galileo’s time there was such a fear for thought because thought would mean discovery and discovery would mean change. So much power rested on the church for answers and their answers were divine answers not answers of truth. This quote shows the ruthlessness of Galileo Galilei and the excitement that comes with discovery. He sees a world of possibilities while the church sees a world of catastrophe that throws off the equilibrium of their time. Around the time Brecht wrote this book, the world was on the brink of war and new ideas and theology were being introduced in Germany where the play was written. Facism was a very new and different idea to people which made the western hemisphere worried. However, at the time for the Germans they were looking for something new and Facism seemed the way to go. Now granted Galileo Galilei’s unorthodox ideas that he introduced are far from the realm of Facism, but it only displays the changes in ideas and theology that were occurring in Galilei’s life along with Brecht’s as well. Brecht was a socialist at the time and therefore strayed from the normal thinking of that time, which was Facism, and therefore had to keep his beliefs a secret like Galileo out of fear of political persecution.