Reacting to critics: On the other hand

Musing about how people react to criticism, Theodore Dalrymple, inspired by Richard Dawkins [pictured here, at right], writes about George Bernard Shaw (who reportedly scorned the idea that microbes can cause disease):

“I suspect that he had that contrarian mindset that supposes that the truth must be the opposite of what everyone thinks, instead of the judicious mindset that supposes that the truth might be the opposite of what everyone thinks.”