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28th January 2013, 03:25 PM | #1 |
Philosopher
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Why I am no longer a skeptic
http://subversivethinking.blogspot.c...no-longer.html
A friend's grilfriend posted this on facebook, so I thought I'd share. I could probably spend a week trying to address all the strawmen and other fallacies... |
28th January 2013, 03:31 PM | #2 |
Muse
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"To thine own self be true" - Polonius, Hamlet "Beer is proof that God loves me and wants me to be Happy" - Benjamin Franklin "A hypothesis that cannot be falsified is merely a superstition" - Me. |
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28th January 2013, 03:34 PM | #3 |
Troublesome Passenger
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Why I decided being simple-minded is easier.
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28th January 2013, 04:06 PM | #4 |
Critical Thinker
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Quote:
Wow, what a neojerk. I for one did not realize "skeptic" was a permanent label, rather than just a situational way to act. When I ponder a likelihood, I am being a skeptic; when I'm reading an argument, I am being a skeptic; but when I am sleeping, I am not being a skeptic. It is a cloak I don at particular moments, not my skin. When I am playing baseball, I am a baseball player. When I am watching television, I am a television viewer. When I am faced with puzzling evidence, I am a skeptic. I am, at times, each of these things; but at no time am I all three. And never, ever, have I been a neoliberal. |
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Wants to be a saint rather than a knight. |
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28th January 2013, 04:14 PM | #5 |
Village Idiot.
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I believe the author makes a common mistake, namely categorizing skepticism as a philosophy. But it's not; it's a technique for learning things upon which to build a philosophy. As such, it's not sexist nor neoliberal nor anything else.
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28th January 2013, 04:17 PM | #6 |
Illuminator
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Which one of you appointed Elevator Guy to be the spokesman for all skeptics? I have a bone to pick with you. Fess up.
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Take the risk of thinking for yourself. Much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way. -Christopher Hitchens Believe what you're told. There would be chaos if everyone thought for themselves. -Top Dog slogan |
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28th January 2013, 04:32 PM | #7 |
Critical Thinker
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28th January 2013, 04:46 PM | #8 |
Troublesome Passenger
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"All skeptics are neoliberals . . . " is not an example of critical thinking. "Neoliberal thugs like Christopher Hitchens . . . " isn't either.
"What's so bad about fortune tellers . . . " is an example of simplistic thought however. It is certainly true that some see psychics and their lot as a form of entertainment, but if this fellow doesn't think these charlatans have a darker side, he hasn't done much investigation into these phonies at all. Like I said, simple-minded. |
28th January 2013, 04:47 PM | #9 |
Graduate Poster
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I sort of see what he's doing. He isn't stopping being a skeptic, he's just rejecting the label. In other words, this:
http://xkcd.com/774/ ETA there are a few tropes trotted out here. First there's a reference to "old white men" which means that... Rebecca Watson isn't far behind... Sure enough there's a link a few paragraphs in to a blog article repeated her "rape threats from skeptical community" line. I wonder if the term "skeptic" as a label is being deliberately discredited as an out-group. |
28th January 2013, 04:50 PM | #10 |
Penultimate Amazing
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So, he's no longer a skeptic...
Quote:
So, he is in fact, a skeptic! |
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28th January 2013, 05:01 PM | #11 |
Illuminator
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Take the risk of thinking for yourself. Much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way. -Christopher Hitchens Believe what you're told. There would be chaos if everyone thought for themselves. -Top Dog slogan |
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28th January 2013, 05:01 PM | #12 |
Graduate Poster
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At about the halfway point of the article I thought to myself "Is he still going?"
What did I learn? Anyone who calls themselves a skeptic is a bore (though not too boring to write over 7000 words complaining about), is white and old and male, is racist, is bogus, hates women and is a "neoliberal thug" whatever that means. I don't know who Stephen Bond is nor do I know what his username on the Atheism Plus forum is. ETA I took a browse of the blog. Posted items include a documentary claiming the Turin Shroud is authentic and some study suggesting intercessory prayer helps chimpanzees recover from illness, each without any commentary from the blogger. A few items suggesting that groups like Centre for Inquiry are pseudoskeptical groups of monstrous human beings. A short eulogy of Christopher Hitchens claiming that he was an "unsophisticated thinker" together with a video of him "handily losing" a debate with William Lane Craig. A claim that Richard Dawkins is a hypocrite because he states that "good" and"evil" are subjective but he called a documentary about religion "The Root of All Evil" (sic - the documentary was called "The Root of All Evil?" and the question mark changes the meaning of the title). I still don't know who Stephen Bond is but I'm beginning to think he never was a skeptic. |
28th January 2013, 06:08 PM | #13 |
Illuminator
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I have a feeling this guy is a political ideologue who lost one too many arguments.
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28th January 2013, 06:16 PM | #14 |
Illuminator
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I was gonna be a neoliberal once, but there's a membership fee.
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28th January 2013, 06:18 PM | #15 |
Master Poster
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28th January 2013, 07:44 PM | #16 |
Scourge of the Believer
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Me..Well, i just dont believe in bollox..
Sorry if i haven't got any 'intelligent debate' on this subject.. It's still all just total garbage.. Why even bother discussing this? DB |
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I've made nearly 30,000 posts on the JREF... Trouble is..nearly 25,000 have been deleted...100% true..(Thanks to someone messing with the database..and you know who you are) And you think you're 'Hardcore'.. (DB) |
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28th January 2013, 07:48 PM | #17 |
Philosopher
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meh... that's *so* 2011... (the article in the link is a cut-and-paste from the August 2011 original in the author's blog)
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What do Narwhals, Magnets and Apollo 13 have in common? Think about it.... |
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28th January 2013, 07:54 PM | #18 |
Nasty Woman
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A lot of mischaracterization of the skeptic movement not to mention a whole lot of absurd thinking we all have the same agenda and act accordingly. Clearly he doesn't like/approve of some individuals who call themselves skeptics. D'uh, what skeptic likes what every other skeptic is doing?
Or, maybe he's just looking for attention. |
28th January 2013, 08:11 PM | #19 |
Banned
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I think he has a crush in Rebecca
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28th January 2013, 09:41 PM | #20 |
Philosopher
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What do Narwhals, Magnets and Apollo 13 have in common? Think about it.... |
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28th January 2013, 10:10 PM | #21 |
Philosopher
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29th January 2013, 01:02 AM | #22 |
Penultimate Amazing
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29th January 2013, 02:22 AM | #23 |
NWO Litter Technician
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When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord, in his wisdom, doesn't work that way. I just stole one and asked Him to forgive me. - Emo Philips
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29th January 2013, 02:27 AM | #24 |
Critical Thinker
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Wants to be a saint rather than a knight. |
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29th January 2013, 02:37 AM | #25 |
Banned
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I didn't know I was part of a skeptic community until I read that. Yikes!
Hey, and 'we' are sexists too. No one picked that up yet. Must say I don't have that general impression of the folks round these parts but maybe there are better informed opinions about it. |
29th January 2013, 02:51 AM | #26 |
NWO Litter Technician
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When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord, in his wisdom, doesn't work that way. I just stole one and asked Him to forgive me. - Emo Philips
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29th January 2013, 05:34 AM | #27 |
Graduate Poster
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Unfortunately there is no comments section. I was going to accuse him of "mansplaining".
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29th January 2013, 05:39 AM | #28 |
Banned
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29th January 2013, 05:54 AM | #29 |
Penultimate Amazing
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http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s....1.5v41O4Jee1o
I've never succeeded in reading _Don Quixote_, so I'm not sure I get it, but it's not important. |
29th January 2013, 06:17 AM | #30 |
Penultimate Amazing
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29th January 2013, 08:01 AM | #31 |
Banned
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Skeptics are produced in childhood. You might already be a skeptic without realizing it.
I posted a study done in Australia on how skeptics are produced. http://www.internationalskeptics.com...248789&page=34 |
29th January 2013, 08:59 AM | #32 |
Illuminator
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29th January 2013, 10:28 AM | #33 |
Muse
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29th January 2013, 03:00 PM | #34 |
Nap, interrupted.
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Could we fix the "politicized group-think label versus reasonable way-of-thinking" issue by coming up with a term for a skeptic who is not politicized?
Perhaps paleo-skeptic? ~~ Paul |
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29th January 2013, 03:05 PM | #35 |
Penultimate Amazing
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29th January 2013, 03:29 PM | #36 |
Rootin' Tootin' Raspberry
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What a time to be alive! It's like the collapse of Rome but with WiFi Basically, if the GOP doesn't want to be called the white supremacy party, they should stop acting like they are. -Mumbles |
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29th January 2013, 04:09 PM | #37 |
a carbon based life-form
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30th January 2013, 01:13 AM | #39 |
Illuminator
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Reading this sentence is ineluctable. |
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30th January 2013, 01:15 AM | #40 |
Illuminator
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I thought you was purdy cool, hitherto that baseball playing comment.
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Reading this sentence is ineluctable. |
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