Does being a sceptic ever get you down?

[Marc L]

This reminds me of a recent conversation between me and a couple of theist friends regarding Mr. Rogers having been a Marine Sniper. I quoted snopes, and was told, "Just because it's on snopes, doesn't mean it's right. You have too much faith in that site."

Threw me for a loop, that did.

Marc

 

[luchog]

Ugh. Yes, sometimes it is very wearing. Just had a discussion last night with a couple of close friends regarding the supposed Thimerosol/Mercury/Autism link; which they believed, citing various studies which have long since been debunked. I don't think I managed to convince them; but I think I did manage to create some doubt.

I have two friends who are fairly staunch Loosers; and several others who are more than willing to believe anything negative about the US involvement in terrorism or other ickiness in the world, despite a complete lack of evidence. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Unfortunately, they're not consistent enough in their reason for the Invisible Pink Dragon illustration to be very effective.

It's depressing to see just how much of that nonsense that people I'm close to still believe.

 

[ElWampa]

This reminds me of a recent conversation between me and a couple of theist friends regarding Mr. Rogers having been a Marine Sniper. I quoted snopes, and was told, "Just because it's on snopes, doesn't mean it's right. You have too much faith in that site."

Threw me for a loop, that did.

Marc

I've had that one thrown in my face before. As well as this, and I quote:

Please, for your own sake, grasp your own reality and come back to the land of the suffering, the land of the living, I mean, unfortunalty , that is the way the world is now, what the hell can I do about it? Nothing, All I can do is keep an open mind, and not belive everything I read on the f****** internet, And I pray that you can do the same, because maybe then, this f******* place can have a chance. Good luck to you, and I hope that someday, we can be true friends again, but right now, I can not afford to associate with people that judge everything based on research. I really hope someday, you open your mind......

And that was coming from a friend who took chain letters and hoaxes at face value! She called it having fun, and I was ruining that fun for her and everyone else on the Internet, apparently.

This all came about because she saw that I debunked "popular beliefs" so she decided to ask me what I thought of these two: 2012 and Phil Schneider fire fight. (Can't post URLs just yet)

I showed her the evidence against it all, and all she had to say to that was "I thought you'd like that". Not sure what she meant by that, but I hoped she had learned something. Not quite!

She didn't blow up at me until I corrected her Japanese. She had posted a bulletin on Japanese names, you know the type:

what is your japanese name ?
Take each letter of your name and substitute it with the japanese
sound to the right of the letter. Names might be kinda long.


A- ka * B- zu * C- mi * D- te * E- ku * F- lu * G- ji
H- ri * I- ki * J- zu * K- me * L- ta * M- rin * N- to O-ra* P- no * Q- ke * R- shi * S- ari * T-chi U- do * V- ru * W-mei * X- na * Y- fu * Z- zi

Obviously wrong, and to anyone who actually studies it, pretty stupid. So I corrected her, what would be the danger in that? Apparently a lot, seeing as though "she could not afford to be my friend anymore".

It's the same thing you all get: "What's wrong with you?" "Have an open mind!" "Don't be so close minded!" yadda yadda! I laugh every time I hear it too, mostly because I was a wiccan witch for a very long time before turning to science and skepticism.

Oh how those youngling ideas wear off in the face of reality!

 

[tacodaemon]

The advantage of being a skeptic is that I get to collect as many conspiracy theories and other woo-woo beliefs as I want, and laugh at all of them, whereas if I believed in any of them, I'd either have to pick and choose among them or else I'd have to try to rationalize the contradictions between them.

It does get me down when I hear about people seriously putting themselves in danger because of off-the-wall medical beliefs and such. But most of the stuff I don't take too seriously, because I'd give myself a concussion bashing my head against the wall if I did.

 

[Diazo]

Big Thank You!

Just wanted to thank everyone who is skeptical out there who makes their ideas know.

Until recently, I was one of the "silent fence-sitters" that has been mentioned in this thread. When Loose Change came across my radar, it made me go "WTF?!?!" and pushed me into looking online for more information. This search led me to this site and others in the community, which has put me firmly on the side of facts and evidence.

So keep it up everyone! You may not see/hear us very often because we are "silent", but rest assured we are out there.

 

[Nicholas Turnbull]

But there's a problem with this approach in areas of the country where science is viewed as a false religion and/or a liberal conspiracy. Appealing to science will get you quickly shut out.

Indeed, quite right; an astute point. However, there is a distinct difference between appealing to science, and demonstrating the method of science - it is very much the latter, versus the former, that I apply and advocate. One can demonstrate, and indeed teach, the principles of science even without necessarily using the word "science" - test and control logic is quite independent of reference to the Sciences, and indeed under many circumstances, the term "science" will cause many believers in the supernatural to balk. I think the point I am trying to make is that showing people the method of science can usually be done regardless of preconceptions; of course, there is a good chance that people will reject the data they do not wish to see, and for that reason denounce scientific thinking in toto, but nonetheless usually most cases of preconceived ideas on the way the Universe works are worth at least one shot in attempting this.

Nicholas Turnbull