This week, Kurtis Williams, Professor Astronomy, writes an awesome couple of blogs about what is and isn't science.
Part one, What is Science? and part two, Why Intelligent Design Isn't Science make the case without the negativity and snotty, put-down attitude Simostronomy readers know I disapprove of. I'm all for debunking pseudo science and nut-job religious fanatics, but most of the popular debunkers are just too nasty and negative for me to appreciate.
Professor Astronomy does an excellent job of this without taking the "I'm smarter than you, and if you don't think like I do, you're an idiot" attitude that just pisses me off. Even better, to make his point, the professor invents an element called "plumatardium" that is worth the price of admission alone. It struck the Simo-Funnybone just right.
Showing posts with label Skeptics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Skeptics. Show all posts
The Manners of Skeptisism
I've read and heard far too many political, religious and skeptical rants on what I thought were supposed to be science blogs, podcasts and television shows lately, and it's got me stirred up. So I'm writing one of my own just to get it off my chest.
I admit to being an atheist, and I don't think much of UFO claims, ghost sightings or psychic powers, but I don't close the door entirely on any of this stuff. I'm skeptical, and in the end, all I want is someone to show me proof. Then you can win the argument.
It would be comforting to know that God is somehow responsible for all this mess and beauty at the same time. It would be exciting to finally know for sure we are not alone in the Universe. It would be fun to come back and haunt some of the people I've known in my life after I'm gone, or check in on the great-great-great grandkids one day from the beyond.
Mostly, I avoid getting in these discussions because I've found that the people who rabidly defend their point of view are never interested in hearing your point of view. It is always a one way conversation. No one listens to the other person. It's futile and a waste of time. You are not going to change their mind suddenly with your brilliant argument today.
That is why I wonder at the attitude of so many of the 'skeptics' who write blogs, author books, do podcasts and appear on TV. I've grown as disinterested in reading or hearing their rants as I am of hearing the rants of the fanatics and religious zealots they are so eager to discredit. To me, they come off as arrogant, sarcastic, egotistical, inflexible, bitter, and just plain rude. I don't care how many books you've written, or how many degrees you have, you don't know EVERYTHING. Many of these skeptics act like they DO know everything. Apparently there is a God, and THEY are He.
Infinitely worse, and far more annoying, is the way they talk about anyone who doesn't agree with them. In the "world according to skeptics" if you don't think like they do, believe in what they do, or disagree with them, you are obviously undereducated, narrow-minded, ignorant, j-holes not worthy of breathing the same air as the almighty brilliant ones. The skeptics I'm referring to often condescend to the people who disagree with a wink and a nod to their readers or audience, as if to say, "Just look at these stupid losers. We know how pathetic they are."
The other night I watched Phil Nye, the science guy, on Larry King arguing with a panel of people who had different opinions about what was really going on with the Roswell incident. Some of them were merely recounting what their parents had told them when they were children, or telling of veiled confessions made by people who were scared to death of the long hand of the government. Most of them calmly and succinctly stated their case, or told their story, including a former NASA astronaut. None of them was losing their cool or jumping up and down all excited. They weren't looking for converts or trying to win the argument once and for all.
But the science guy was rolling his eyes and acting like a superior intellect the entire time, dismissing everything and anything these people had to say, often without hearing all of what they had to say because he was too busy being rude and interrupting them. None of his counter arguments were particularly compelling, and yet he acted as if only a fool would disagree with him. What a jerk.
I don't know why so many of these 'skeptics' have this attitude problem, and I don't care. Maybe they grew up in a sheltered environment where they didn't have to live with, respect and cooperate with other people. That's sad. It seems to me they're not as interested in making the world a better place as they are in showing everyone how smart they are. What a waste of potential good.
All I know is I don't want to hear any more from these social retards. I won't be plugging, feeding, linking, reading or watching anyone who can't promote science and rational thinking without making the other guy look bad.
Get some manners or get lost.
I admit to being an atheist, and I don't think much of UFO claims, ghost sightings or psychic powers, but I don't close the door entirely on any of this stuff. I'm skeptical, and in the end, all I want is someone to show me proof. Then you can win the argument.
It would be comforting to know that God is somehow responsible for all this mess and beauty at the same time. It would be exciting to finally know for sure we are not alone in the Universe. It would be fun to come back and haunt some of the people I've known in my life after I'm gone, or check in on the great-great-great grandkids one day from the beyond.
Mostly, I avoid getting in these discussions because I've found that the people who rabidly defend their point of view are never interested in hearing your point of view. It is always a one way conversation. No one listens to the other person. It's futile and a waste of time. You are not going to change their mind suddenly with your brilliant argument today.
That is why I wonder at the attitude of so many of the 'skeptics' who write blogs, author books, do podcasts and appear on TV. I've grown as disinterested in reading or hearing their rants as I am of hearing the rants of the fanatics and religious zealots they are so eager to discredit. To me, they come off as arrogant, sarcastic, egotistical, inflexible, bitter, and just plain rude. I don't care how many books you've written, or how many degrees you have, you don't know EVERYTHING. Many of these skeptics act like they DO know everything. Apparently there is a God, and THEY are He.
Infinitely worse, and far more annoying, is the way they talk about anyone who doesn't agree with them. In the "world according to skeptics" if you don't think like they do, believe in what they do, or disagree with them, you are obviously undereducated, narrow-minded, ignorant, j-holes not worthy of breathing the same air as the almighty brilliant ones. The skeptics I'm referring to often condescend to the people who disagree with a wink and a nod to their readers or audience, as if to say, "Just look at these stupid losers. We know how pathetic they are."
The other night I watched Phil Nye, the science guy, on Larry King arguing with a panel of people who had different opinions about what was really going on with the Roswell incident. Some of them were merely recounting what their parents had told them when they were children, or telling of veiled confessions made by people who were scared to death of the long hand of the government. Most of them calmly and succinctly stated their case, or told their story, including a former NASA astronaut. None of them was losing their cool or jumping up and down all excited. They weren't looking for converts or trying to win the argument once and for all.
But the science guy was rolling his eyes and acting like a superior intellect the entire time, dismissing everything and anything these people had to say, often without hearing all of what they had to say because he was too busy being rude and interrupting them. None of his counter arguments were particularly compelling, and yet he acted as if only a fool would disagree with him. What a jerk.
I don't know why so many of these 'skeptics' have this attitude problem, and I don't care. Maybe they grew up in a sheltered environment where they didn't have to live with, respect and cooperate with other people. That's sad. It seems to me they're not as interested in making the world a better place as they are in showing everyone how smart they are. What a waste of potential good.
All I know is I don't want to hear any more from these social retards. I won't be plugging, feeding, linking, reading or watching anyone who can't promote science and rational thinking without making the other guy look bad.
Get some manners or get lost.
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