Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Away with the fairies


Reason.com's daily brickbat story;

Developer Marcus Salter says fairies have cost him big money. Well, not fairies, as much as the Scottish villagers who say they believe in them. When he started to move a big rock in the middle of his development, neighbors in St. Fillans complained he would disturb the fairies that lived underneath it. At first, he thought they were joking. But when the local community council started talking about complaining to planning authorities, he took the claims much more seriously. The planning commission's guidelines say nothing about protecting fairies, but they do say "local customs and beliefs" must be taken into account in approving development. Salter decided not to even fight. He's having the project redesigned to leave the rock in place.

3 comments:

GodlessZone said...

Superstitution of any kind is always counter productive and harmful. Whether it is myths about rivers and beaches in New Zealand, fairies in Scotland, or promoting "creationism" in place of science.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Do you not see a place for mythology in the world of children?

Anonymous said...

We have our taniwha, they have fairies. It does no harm as long as everyone realises it is fiction but when people start acting as though it is fact then the men in white coats should pay a visit.