Unlike most others in the conspiratorial/paranormal/alternative
community I take a keen interest in our antithetical numbers in the Skeptic
media. I've covered this in great detail in the background links below. One of
the most prevalent things I've noticed in my study of the Skeptic movement is
an endemic lack of introspection on their part, a fundamental misunderstanding
of themselves. Ask a Skeptic to define their own position and they'll say
something like this: “A Skeptic is one who… rigorously and openly applies
the methods of science and reason to all empirical claims… A Skeptic
provisionally proportions acceptance of any claim to valid logic and a fair and
thorough assessment of available evidence, and studies the pitfalls of human
reason and the mechanisms of deception so as to avoid being deceived by others
or themselves" (source: http://oxford.skepticsinthepub.org/Default.aspx/19/What-is-a-Skeptic).
However this is not a description at all, it is a slogan. There are those who
actually do emulate that passage with their action, but I call them sceptics,
not Skeptics; note the different spelling. These two words are homophones so
when speaking I just say "sceptic with a C" and "Skeptic with a
K". I consider myself a sceptic, or at least I aspire to such. What is a
Skeptic with a K? A far more accurate definition would be: "A Skeptic is one who is ideologically uncomfortable with the idea
that the paranormal, conspiracy theories and associated subjects might be real
and wishes for them not to be. A Skeptic tries to prove that such subjects do
not exist in order to artificially prop up their worldview, sometimes using science
and reason, but also rhetoric, denial, deception and subterfuge." A
sub-category of the Skeptics is what I call atheo-Skeptics, Skeptics who
combine general Skepticism with a positive and active disbelief in God and
rejection of all religion; the best example being Richard Dawkins, see: http://hpanwo.blogspot.co.uk/2008/04/god-delusion-by-richard-dawkins.html.
Along with being the world's most famous atheist, Dawkins is also an outspoken
Skeptic, for example see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CyMglakWoo.
A few other commentators have pointed out the same criticism
of atheo-Skepticism that I have, for example Rod Liddle in The Trouble with Atheism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i20vLIgBt4M.
However the atheo-Skeptics themselves seem to live in blissful ignorance of
their worldview's structural flaws. I came across an interesting example the
other day on the well-known Skeptic radio show The Skeptics Guide to the Universe. The subject under discussion is
the upbringing of children in a Skeptic household. One of the presenters
explains how a friend of his is a secular humanist and tried to bring up his
daughter to be one too by teaching her to be a critical thinker. However when
she grew up she became a Buddhist and her father wasn't happy about that. He
considers his parental philosophy a mistake and says that if he could go back
and start again he would "indoctrinate her into non-belief". See here
from 47.20 (There's no time stamp on the online player so you may need to
download the programme to skip to the right place): http://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcast/sgu/10.
This explosive statement seems to flow straight past the SGU presenters without raising a ripple. For some reason they fail
to grasp the enormous implications of what they've just been talking about. Indoctrination into non-belief? This is
a vitally significant concession for an atheo-Skeptic to make. They're
admitting that critical thinking is not enough, that atheo-Skepticism is indeed
an ideology that can be rejected
through critical thinking; that rational, logical and scientific thought
sometimes needs to be suppressed in
order to maintain the ideology of atheo-Skepticism, and that one is justified
in doing so. Skeptics spend a lot of time studying and criticising us "buh-leevas"
in conspiratorial, supernatural and spiritual ideas. Maybe they should turn
around and take a good long look at themselves too.
See here for important
background: http://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/programme-5-podcast-skeptics.html.
And: http://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/programme-48-podcast-steve-trueblue.html.
And: http://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/programme-48-podcast-steve-trueblue.html.
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