What are skeptics so worried about?

[ciscop]

[ProfessorX]

[quantumparanormal]

[ProfessorX]

[brett]

hi all - nah nah , a cynic - is someone who can and does look at all the BS and recognise it for what it is + he/she is allowed to be cynical by virtue of experience of being c****ed on by others through out his /her life ( guilty as charged y'r honor ) - that's different to being a skeptic - as you have real events and experiences to draw on and usually a profound knowledge of what REALLY makes people tick ( and you don't need no PhD to gain that in life ) ( Brett's definition )

( another for you is my defination of experts ) X= an unknown quantity & a "spurt" is a DRIP under pressure

thought i'd just throw that in

[ProfessorX]

[Jackal]

[ciscop]

If skeptics accepted the fact that there is more to the universe than the material world

im sorry...
but skeptics are the ones accepting FACTS
we just dont accept religious dogmas and wishful thinking you take as ¨facts¨

so you practice tibethan buddhism?
why makes your religion better than any other? why dont you accept the fact Jesus is the savior? or Mahoma? or Abraham? Why not Tom Cruise and his dumbtology?
just like any other religion, you dont have facts sir, you have wishful thinking.
and thats ok, just dont try to disguise it as ¨facts¨.

[Don]

First of all, I think it's important to make sure that some of these people do not steal the honest meanings of English terms. They are notskeptics. A true skeptic has an open mind and does not have previously determined conclusions. The people you're talking about are debunkers. They are pseudo-skeptics.

Debunkers have a world view, much as fundamentalist Christians have a world view. In both cases, they are not merely "worried," they are absolutely terrified that someone or something might upset that world view.

You see, they don't come up with their paradigm over night. They develop it as the result of a long period of personal experiences. Their paradigm is embedded in everything they think, believe, and know. This includes their thoughts about who they are and the very nature of their being.

If you challenge one aspect of their paradigm, you are actually challenging everything they know. This intertwined relationship of what they consider to be "real" can't be challenged because they are too cowardly to examine themselves. Some ancient temples had the words "Know Thyself" over the entry. Debunkers think they know themselves, but are terrified of actually working to examine this more fully.

So for debunkers, it's not really about paranormal phenomena and psychic abilities any more than for a fundamentalist Christian it's about teaching evolution or comparative religion. It's about their personal psychology. It's about not being willing to challenge their sense of self. It's about being terrified that if someone else is right, then they must be wrong (instead of acknowledging the possibility of multiple realities) and they simply cannot ever be wrong.

Take a look at the writings of debunkers. To them, what they do is a veritable religious crusade for what is "right." Do they ever say they were wrong? Nope. They come up with a new explanation. There was a case of two magicians who lied and defrauded some scientists. Did they ever apologize for deceiving them? No. Did they ever apologize for their fraud and lack of ethics? No.

In Flim-Flam, Randi admitted that he worked as a fake astrologer. Did he ever apologize for his lack of ethics in this? Not that I've ever seen. Did he ever apologize to the people he defrauded with false information? Not that I've ever seen.

The actions of debunkers have never been about the paranormal. It has always been about their own insecurities and unwillingness to examine their own lives, an action that would be necessitated if they ever admitted that they were wrong. They are terrified over who they are.

Recently, in a thread on these forums, some debunkers have tried to disprove astrology. Now, I don't know if astrology is valid. But their arguments have been so amateurish and fake that I've easily been able to show the falseness of their arguments. I've never once stated I believe in astrology, but they have asked me about that. One finally gave up and returned to an "I don't believe it and that settles it" argument, an argument that, to me, is about the same as the bumper sticker some fundamentalists Christians used to have: "God said it. I believe it. That settles it."

Debunkers are nothing more than people with the same psychological make-up as extremist fundamentalist Christians. They're unwilling to examine their beliefs about themselves and terrified that someone else might be right. They will do anything--including lie, commit fraud, misrepresent, etc.--in an attempt to prevent others from challenging their closed-minded, ultra-conformist views.

Debunkers come from a position of terror--the universe might be bigger than they think--and fear--over looking at who they really are. As is often the case, such fearful people are often bullies. Sometimes, it is necessary to stand up to bullies. Always, it is necessary to feel sad for them.

[ciscop]

nah what you think about skeptics
is a projection of your own inner fears
the world might not be what you wish it to be
skeptics live to be proven wrong, all we ask is proof and not just tales and stories..

and the case about the 2 magicians, (they were 3 if you count randi), is called the Project Alpha
and it helped to show, scientists and parapsychologist can be easily deceived by a couple of really young sleight of hand artists
it was beautiful
and it was ethical, They came out saying that it was a Hoax
not like Uri Geller who never admitted to that, and still there´s people here on this forum that believes he has psychic abilities since he was ¨tested¨by scientists. hahaha not quite

so whats your fix Don?
Ghosts? Psychic Abilities? UFOs? Bigfoot? The Secret?

[Jackal]

[NinjaPuppy]

Very well put!

[Jackal]

[ProfWag]

[NinjaPuppy]