C2C and the Skeptical Conspiracy

[westphalia]

Coast to Coast will air a show tonight (4/6/06) with a fellow named Paul Smith. He claims to have been part of something called the Stargate Project, and will discuss - ready for this? - the "skeptical conspiracy" to keep evidence of the paranormal away from the public. (The term "skeptical conspiracy" comes directly from the C2C website.) Of course, the Stargate Project is/was highly classified, so public records are not available.

I am so tired of this nonsense. I so often feel like healthy skepticism and critique is in dwindling supply - like we're losing the war. Naturally, this idiot has courses, books and seminars to sell via his own website, and C2C will continue to make lots of money off shows like this.

For me, skepticism is as getting to be as much about consumer protection as about intellectual advancement and the searth for truth. These people prey on the gullible, the paranoid, and people unwilling or unable to admit that the world really does function naturally, according to proven and predictable laws. I can't understand how a George Noory or an Art Bell can sleep soundly at night after four hours of outright fraud. How can someone like Sylvia Browne or Ed Dames look themselves in the mirror each morning?

Tonight's History Channel lineup featured a show about the AntiChrist and his agenda. The "History" Channel, for heaven's sake. The TV is filled with shows about Bigfoot, ETs, psychic "boot camps," remove viewers, dowsers, faith healers, psychic surgeons and mediums. These people are making so much money, and have seemingly unlimited access to willing media partners.

If I'm part of the conspiracy, why do I always feel like I'm losing?

Ugh. Rant over.

P.S. I can't tell you all how much I appreciate reading everyone's thoughts on this forum. It's been heartening and edifying to read the sentiments and points of view of like-minded folk. Thanks.

 

[steve s]

As Bill Clinton would say, "I feel your pain." What I really hate is when people use the word 'skeptic' like they use the word 'liberal.' I'm proud to be both.

The real universe is so much more interesting than anything these numbskulls have dreamt up. And they have the audacity to call us the "closed minded" ones.

Steve S.

 

[WildCat]

Shhhhhh, guys keep this on the down-low. We will tell you more after 500 posts.

This thread will self-destruct in 10 minutes.

 

[Arkan_Wolfshade]

Because we all know the gov't bases project names off of tv shows/movies. *sigh*

That said however, I think critical thinking is doing okay. I don't feel woo is more prevelent or powerful than it was in days past. People will probably always be gullible, and there will always be a smaller set of people that are not and will try to expose fraud/scam/hoax/urban legend/woo for what it is.

 

[SRW]

I can't understand how a George Noory or an Art Bell can sleep soundly at night after four hours of outright fraud. How can someone like Sylvia Browne or Ed Dames look themselves in the mirror each morning?

There are two school of thought I usually hear on this;

First they are deluded and really believe the B.S.

*(sort of like the diffrence between a used car salesman and a computer sales man, the used car sales man know when he is lying)

Second they are just plain con artists and instead of robbing with a gun
the rob with the victims gullibility.


I think most of them fall into the second category.

*Very old joke that is not as true as it used to be.

 

[westphalia]

Arkin's point is well-taken. In days past, when instant media did not exist, nonsense was around but more localised - or at least spread a little more slowly. Folks have always made money off it, but it could be that the modern media saturation makes it appear as though it is more prevalent, and gaining momentum. There's also the thought that folks can't imagine that times could get any worse than the period in which they are living.

This stuff just makes me so mad.

 

[Metullus]

Dammit! In the good old days we knew how to keep a secret conspiracy secret!

 

[Ersby]

The Project Star Gate stuff has been declassified for some years now.

Will anyone listen to the show? I want to know who's running this conspiracy.

 

[westphalia]

Just when C2C seems to sink to its most vapid point, Noory goes off and trumps himself.

From tonight's show:

It turns out that repeated studies over the last twenty years have proven the existence of paranormal phenomena. Puthoff, Swan, Utts and Targ might have made mistakes, but newer studies can't be refuted by skeptics.

It's also unfortunate that there aren't any major studies being done in the US anymore. Skeptics have been able to force that research off to Europe, where folks are more open-minded.

Skeptics - like James Randi, whose name Noory specifically mentioned - are working off logical fallacies, and can't disprove the paranormal just because a specific group or individual has failed to prove their abilities. It's out there, clearly - based on studies and evidence - but skeptics have defeated only the "easy targets." We don't tackle the hard evidence for paranormal activity.

Noory mentioned an aunt of his who worked with Ingo Swan, expressed his belief that there is a conspiracy on our part to keep the public from the truth about the paranormal, and lamented the fact that shows like C2C can't do more to reveal it.

I fired off about eight e-mails to him during this show, the contents of which fell just short of really bad language.

These people really make me angry. I need an anger management class!

 

[SirPhilip]

So many people get slogged down into the mud arguing semantics and definitions, and tied up in a "proper argument" that they don't realize they are wasting their time. These charlatans are not spiritual or religious - they are shameless hedonists. They do not care about their actions, or retribution, or other people's suffering. Nobody with any real interest in eliminating one's suffering - and the suffering of others in the process to the best of their ability - behaves this way.

Paranormal events do exist - the big bang was a paranormal event, as is Einstein's concept of time travel, as are theories of higher dimensions. All involve violating or transcending "normal" space, time and matter interaction. Your garden variety physics or mathematics professor could probably dream up his or her unique ways to bend what we call "laws". The difference is they have some sort of tangible link. The paranormal being real is not the issue here, and never was. First and foremost, a bag of flesh and water is simply not going to warp space and time, see ahead of it, reverse entropy, and whatnot - without some glaringly obvious physical characteristics or radically unheard of process.

 

[westphalia]

I was banging my head against my console when the guest lamented the lack of serious paranormal studies here in the US. Neither the guest nor Noory could manage to come up with the explanation that no study has ever determined the validity of such phenomena, and the studies were cancelled as a result.