Not long ago two farmers, Abe and Ben, lived close enough to see the buildings of the other. One night farmer Abe got up to piss, and looking out his window he saw smoke coming from his neighbor's barn. Abe phoned Ben and woke him to tell him his barn was on fire. Ben said he would take care of it and hung up.

Abe waited for the fire trucks and looked for Ben to turn on lights and go to the barn. Nothing happened and the smoke billowed larger. Abe called again waking Ben to warn him. This time an irritated Ben and told Abe that the barn was new and the builder said it would not burn. He hung up. After thirty minutes, Abe could see a red glow coming from the barn and began to worry that a fire would spread to his own barn. Again he phoned Ben who started yelling and tell him that he trusted the barn builder who had put in water system would put out any fire immediate. Ben then yelled that Abe was a ranter and he no longer wanted Abe for a friend. He slammed down the phone.

The following week the local news paper reported the barn fire had destroyed not only Ben's barn but had spread to his house where the family got out just in time to watch their home burn to the ground. Having nowhere to stay, Ben and his family went to Abe's house until they could rebuild.

Is the above true? Not in historical fact, but politically, medically, and religiously it is true every day in tens of thousands of places when people put their trust in self aggrandizing politicians, ignore healthy medical practices, and take advice from clergymen who believe in a 6,000 year old universe and take their spiritual advice from 2500 year old writings of priests who thought their god had a nose and liked the smell of slaughtered cow guts burning on an altar.

Rants are only rants when they are based on myths, fantasies, and wishful thinking. When a "rant" is based on scientific and observable facts, then calling by any other name than fact does not take away its truthfulness or usefulness.