What causes Skepticism in Skeptics?

[Arouet]

I gotta hand it to you justin- you do have imagination and a way with words! But you're wasting your talent trolling skeptics - you should write something to get published! I bet you could come up with something for Cracked - they accept independant articles and they'll pay if they publish!

[saiyankevin]

Complete skepticism of anything unknown is always healthy. But, even “proven” things can be wrong – so what can you believe these days.

Skepticism is a part of life, some how we have to find the truth among all the lies.

[Craig Browning]

[Arouet]

Craig! Nice to see you! I was wondering if something had happened to you!

[NinjaPuppy]

Yay! Craig is back! Good to see you.

[Craig Browning]

Justin. . . I fear you are doing what many skeptics do towards people of faith and self-described psychics; you're lumping skeptics of all sorts and degree into one pile and covering them with a big blanket. Truth is, not all skeptics are cynics or total unbelievers. Then you have those that are believers in a deity but who are strongly opposed to anything that goes against the American Nationalist image i.e.; corporate strength no matter what a.k.a. screw the environment and all findings that "prove" the world is heading to hell in a hand-basket because of industrial function and over-use (waste). A position held by many Fundamentalist Christians, I might add.

I'm terribly skeptical when it comes to certain issues, even those that I was once quite supportive of. The fact that I changed my position is why I distinguish things as I do and have hope that believers will open their eyes as well as the detractors -- there is a middle ground in which both sides are right.

"Scientific Studies" are akin to market research, a field I used to work in. . . any desired finding can be created and shown as "proof". We see this in the debate over climate change; research backed by the industrial machine and far right political groups "proves" that global warming is not happening but is cyclic, etc. while independent and more neutral based studies "prove" that some thing is afoot. The kicker in this case is that there is far more evidence proving that climate change is a reality and if we don't get our act together soon and stop being so damned selfish and self-serving, the earth as we know it now won't exist by the middle of this current century when it comes to both, nature and land-mass. . . the waters are rising along with the temperatures and freakish weather -- species are dying off at an escalated level and shifting migration patterns that have cause loss in breeding, life of off-spring due to loss of natural habitat and more. . . but that's just one of the things "skeptics" are in denial of. . . and as I said, human being can create "facts" that suit their desired way of seeing things. . . not everyone can appreciate a rose.

But I can't leave this at picking on the skeptics. . . believers need to come around as well. They need to look at things far more realistically, which can take longer to happen than waiting for a skeptic to shift paradigms in that "believers" in certain phenomena have convinced themselves that nothing can explain things away EVEN IF THEY DIDN'T DIRECTLY EXPERIENCE SAID HAPPENING, but only read about it or seen a video, etc.

Belief is a very odd thing and the majority of people "believe" as a matter of heredity. . . the social and familial environment they are exposed to from birth forward. This is why those of us raised in a primarily Westernized society will see someone like Jesus in a dream whereas a Hindu will see one of their deities or someone from Asia will encounter the Buddha, etc. Each dream means the same thing but the individual as edited the cast of players based on how they can relate to the star of the film. . . so to speak. Let's face it, if you were to see Adolf Hitler in a dream your first impulse would be to think of hate, evil, etc. but to someone that actually knows German history there's a good chance that they will see a great man that saved their nation even though he became a glutton for power. . . we can see this in the case of many noted "evil doers" in history. . . even Dick Chaney & George Jr. had a good side to themselves. . .

I frequently speak to Pagan types offering them a realistic challenge based on their own claims; the idea that WICCA "means" Way of the Wise (in truth, Wicca comes from the word Wicce, which was a middle-aged slur akin to the famed N word).. . . the thing is, if one is to travel such a path then you don't really believe that burning a green candle will bring money into your life. Rather, you understand that the candle is a focusing tool via which the individual meditates, affirms and visualized the idea of money flowing into their lives. . . the meditation side of this formula being how they are shown, be it via deity or the subconscious, how to accomplish said task. . . typically the resolution isn't what the spell caster wants to hear -- YOU HAVE TO WORK!

Getting people of blind faith to wake-up and smell the coffee is a serious challenge in that a zealot of any religious group will see such a step forward as 'back-sliding" and a "sin'. . . the devil's work. Just look at nations that are heavily Muslim and how backward their culture is when it comes to living conditions, social tradition, the treatment of women, gays, etc. Sharia Law supersedes rationalism let alone humanitarianism within the social definition. . . which is ironic when you consider that Islam gave the world some of its biggest social and scientific breakthroughs, leading a form of culture that was centuries ahead of most white folk throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

Fortunately more and more people from within the Pagan/New Age spiritual movement are willing to see reality over the illusion or "deception" that faith creates in people -- within our mind. But many of these people are well educated . . . then too there is that Carl Sagan parallel; most of these people have experimented with or used certain types of "drugs" at recreational or ritual levels e.g. the do not see the world in the same way others will. . . this is especially true for those that have done drugs like LSD, Magic Mushrooms, Peyote, etc. While these "experimenters" can look at things rationally, they can likewise apply "formula" to their reason for faith . . . same holds especially true for persons dealing with "High Magick" such as that associated with the Golden Dawn, John Dee, etc. forms of practice that are highly dependent on mathematics, geometry and even how words are intoned (harmonics).

My point is, no one is a pure skeptic and most everyone has a degree of faith as well as skepticism within themselves that varies by degree and "issue". For this reason there is no umbrella that covers all persons that are believers of cynics. . . that is a genuine impossibility in that we would bit both such blankets and no resolution to the "conflict" could be had. That is why those from either position on whatever topic, need to learn to move towards the middle; that is the only place. . . the only way . . . to find genuine harmony.

[really?]

[really?]

Once again you overwhelmingly demonstrate an utter lack of comprehension. It's very much pointless to argue with one that has such a skewed and intractable belief, so I'm not going to.

Btw, climate change deniers are practicing skepticism all. Other underlying reasons motivate them to dismissing climate change. Go discover what they are.

[Arouet]

[really?]