Who would you believe

[yellowlawn]

If someone came to you with a story of a detailed encounter with the afterlife, then you would deal with it depending on your own ideals of skeptic or believer. Now what if that person was a Lawyer, Doctor, Police Officer, MP, Judge, Scientist, Sports Personality, Celebrity etc etc would it change your standing? As I'm quite sure the Paranormal Investigators on here could provide you with a story from anyone or all those people in there various professions.

[ciscop]

[brett]

who someone is ( or thinks they are ) makes no difference to the truth - and personally i don't trust anyone who flaunts "professional" qualifications and makes them think they are a someone - there are MANY clever and educated people out there who never went to uni and don't have a qualification to their name - but they have experience of life - counts for a lot in my book

couple of examples from my days in the fire service - some Muppet came up with the idea of "graduate entry " officers some years ago , the plan was shelved owing to the ground swell of hostility to a plainly daft idea by the guys on the sharp end or as one succinctly put it " we ain't having no F****** snot nose kids with a degree telling us who have to do this s*** how to do it !! " and most of us who had been in the job for some time agreed - in fact we considered the whole plan a sure way to get guys killed !! - well the force of feeling soon put a stop to the idea and its not been mooted since as far as i know

and as any of you who are "practical " people will ( or should ) know - having a degree or PhD is no sure sign of practical ability - i had a guy on my station , more letters after his name than i had hot dinners - good at "theory" - but totally crap at anything practical , and conversely , guys who could "read ,write and drive tractors" bloody brilliant , could strip a fire pump down at the side of the road with a pair of mole-grips and get it working - i sure as heck know WHO I would want covering my back in a crisis

and there are many classic examples of incompetence by supposedly "edumacated " people throughout history - - take the officers of the first world war - the ruling class - went to oxford y know - got a whole load of people killed through inflexible thinking !!

and the one thing i REALLY hate is when some non entity asks you " DO YOU know who I am ?? " - my usual reply is don't know , don't care and you must be very insecure to even be asking that question " - and believe me i have hacked off quite a few supposedly important people in my time - oh they don't like it if people don't fawn all over them or kowtow to their supposed importance

at the end of the day - you can be as full of "piss and importance" as you like , but if you are no good in a practical situation , then you become part of the problem - not part of the solution - if push comes to shove ever - it wont be the phDs that save the world - it will be the "little" people - the uneducated erks who will do that - mark my words

so to quote a great line from a film when all the experts rolled up with a plan that was way too complex fro a simple problem " why don't you people just stick to what you are good at ?? - taking something simple and complicating it !!""

truly as someone observed "education , is wasted on the young "

and i always say - they always promote people to the maximum level of incompetence - that's why all the really clever people are on the shop floor

supposed position or qualifications mean little peeps - never be impressed by tittles - go on results !!

[Hellboy]

[brett]

hellboy said " To an extent I agree, however There are people that I do do admire from a purely academic basis, one of which is good friend. There are lots of normal Dr's , Professors , researchers and assorted ologists out there Brett, who do not have a god complex and are prepared to question there own stance and beliefs."

yea HB but we both know one " Dr " we both don't admire and know is the biggest egotistical t*** going ( actually that"s an insult to a t*** , as they are useful ) - ,has a MAJOR "god complex" , and is about as much use to this planet as piles are ( you know of whom i refer )

[Hellboy]

[ciscop]

[Hellboy]

[ProfWag]

[brett]

no ciscop - we have VERY good reasons for maligning this particular individual ( its a bit of an "in " joke ) - a most unpleasant pseudoskeptic of the worst kind , whom we are unfortunately acquainted with ,here in the UK -( this one really DOES give ALL skeptics a bad name ) compared to him - you are a pussycat

[ciscop]

[Twain Shakespeare]

I am getting the range of some people here. I think I have yours, Ciscop . You are the one who is saved from "pseudo-skepticism" by having the ability to laugh at yourself with others, as witness the beautiful variety of icons in your post above You are the court jester when King Lear, George III and Ludwig of Bavaria met! !

Re topic. As a "doubting thomas" I would doubt anyone who spoke in any of those capacities as they are all professional liars. I'll stick with the fools and the deluded. They are more trustworthy.

Fools and the deluded, I assume are telling what they remember of experiential truth, but even then, as a doubting thomas, i want to see touch and feel before I believe, because the end of that slope is a cliff.

[Craig Browning]

Re topic. As a "doubting thomas" I would doubt anyone who spoke in any of those capacities as they are all professional liars. I'll stick with the fools and the deluded. They are more trustworthy.

Fools and the deluded, I assume are telling what they remember of experiential truth, but even then, as a doubting thomas, i want to see touch and feel before I believe, because the end of that slope is a cliff.

I once did a parody talk about how going to college was nothing more than a creative way to teach people how to lie in creative ways that make their claims sound legit. Let's face it, nearly all professional fields that have a sense of public profile are known for their deceptions; doctors, lawyers, statisticians, preachers... I can't think of a single sort that don't fit this truth. At least with those of "lower" education you are getting a more heart-felt sense of honesty.

I have had ghostly encounters that I have to deem to be just that... I'd think I have sufficient background to be able to find alternative explanations for most such claims but not all. When you have piano playing and singing in a room that is totally empty but USED TO HAVE a piano in it... When you have animals reacting to things in one part of the property only for you and others that are with you to see a person hanging from a tree from a lynching... Or maybe you are on a site seeing tour of a historic location only to sense key events and emotions tied to specific points in the tour... the exact same "memories" and "sensations" others have had at those exact spots at which historically documented events happened which match those sensations.

Sorry, but science can't explain it all away. Some day the skeptics will wake up to realize you can't tie-down and analyze everything in a lab or based on the parameters we have learned to limit ourselves to... the world isn't as anally rigid.