The biggy, isn't it. I mean, you aren't supposed to criticise religion and you have to 'respect' peoples beliefs, even if they are based on stone age nonsense and defy the laws of nature, physics and common sense. 'Beliefs' are immune, they hold an exalted position and are not open for challenge.
Wrong. The sooner the human race reaches that point in it's evolution where everyone realises that religion is utter nonsense, the better. And we will get there, eventually. It's the natural course of things, the default position. Nobody was born a christian, muslim, jew or hindu. They were made that way by their parents or the culture in which they were raised. As were the parents, grandparents etc etc etc. It is not natural to be 'religious', it is a learned thing. Once we accept that fact, which is inescapable and indisputable, we can use the intelligence that evolution has created for us and examine the concept of religion.
And once we start doing that, once we start to question it, to rationalise it and to apply modern day knowledge and science, it falls apart at the seams. It doesn't get past the first stage. We know 'god' didn't create the heavens and the earth. We know that there was no virgin birth. We know that the old testament of the christian bible is nonsense if taken literally. In fact, we know that the whole bible is nonsense if taken as being anything other than a book that doesn't really do anything other than provide a glimpse of life in the late Iron Age.
All religions are obsessed with death and sex. Particularly the latter - the catholic church is utterly obsessed by it. What a strange example when it has so many celibate priests that are total paeodophiles. A close second place is Islam, though. The woman hating religion. The religion that executes homosexuals and suspected female adulterers, believes in genital mutilation and total repression of every single female right that we take for granted in secular society. How disgusting, utterly depraved and totally repugnant is that. And they tell me I have to respect their religion? No, I don't think so.
At least christians (outside of the American Bible Belt) don't generally adopt such a radical attitude. Unless you count Messrs Bush and Blair and reckon up the body count from their voices in the head god inspired crusades into the East. Add that to the catholic obsession with not using birth control (condoms) and count up the number that may have been saved from AIDS or starvation in 3rd world countries if the moronic pope and his idiot pals would come into the 21st century and stop wearing dresses. So I suppose the body count is totting up on the christian side as well.
Then there is the vast wealth invested in the churches, mosques, temples and other buildings. How much is the Vatican worth, eh? What was it about rich men and eyes of needles? And the C of E, whilst not in the same league, isn't short of a bob or two. How much do they give to charity? Secular charity I mean, without the proviso that you can have some help but you must convert to believing a load of crap from the stone age? Seems to me that they all try to buy their way to paradise or heaven or whatever you want to call it. Why does a god need his worshipers to be housed in a building that costs millions to build? I suspect the answer is not hard to find, but the faithful prefer to stay blinkered to the reality. It's more comforting that way.
Ghost
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Quack Medicine 1 - Homeopathy
It's good to see that the NHS is getting more reluctant to fund new age nonsenical remedies like homeopathy. The debate on homeopathy is over, done, finished. We know that it doesn't work. We know that a solution of tortoises ear wax that has been diluted billions of times (equivalent to one drop of ear wax in all the oceans on earth) cannot possibly have any effect on anything, let alone help you to grow a new leg. But it's the same old theme - believers will not countenance any evidence that shows they are wrong, whilst they in turn are unable to provide any evidence that they are right - it's a pointless discussion to have and you are left with trying to limit the spread of such stupid beliefs and to try to ensure that they dont affect people that still retain the power to actually work things out for themselves.
So we know - beyond any doubt, beyond any contradiction- that homeopathy is just sugar pills that may act as a placebo - which is not in any way diluting the effectiveness of placebos, the effect can most certainly be very powerful. The ethics, however, of dressing up a monstrously and demonstrably wrong piece of pseudo-science as being a credible alternative treatment for anything is highly questionable. I personally consider it has far more to do with wealth creation than a desire to bring relief to anyones suffering. Yet there are doctors who swear by it - what a waste of an expensive edication! I suppose there are also doctors who believe in ghosts, so the same applies, but my point is this. People should not be told lies when they are offered a treatment for an illness. The big name pharmacies like Boots are telling outright lies to their customers in the name of profit, and that is morally disgusting, although the shareholders may not agree.
As with all woo, the adherents usually end up saying something like 'OK, smart arse, well explain this' and go on to relate how they knew someone who had a friend who's uncle had an ingrown toenail that defied the best efforts of medical science to cure, but a daily dose of viper spit pills had it fixed in a week. As if we are supposed to say - 'Oh, well, I take everything back, on the basis of that remarkable bit of research it's obvious that it works so I will go and beat myself with bunches of nettles'. No, I prefer the double blind clinical tests that are done for all other medication (why should the 'science' of homeopathy get a bye on this) which have conclusively proved time and time again that it is nonsense! So the Royal family believe in it, do they? As if that is some form of endorsement! They also believe in god and the power of conversation with plants, so I think it's safe to say that their beliefs are rather tenuous to say the least.
But why is it such a popular thing? In my view, it's a sort of folk memory, a throwback to the days when we didn't have to think anything through for ourselves because there wasn't the information available and we had little choice but to believe anything we were told by those who appeared to be educated. That gene lives on today. It's a simple fact that when homeopathy was invented by Hahnemann in the late 1700's, the conventional medical treatment of the day probably killed more patients than it saved. By prescribing homeopathic remedies and insisting on cleanliness, healthy living, diet and exercise, Hahnemann was undoubtedly saving lives, merely by not attaching leeches, bleeding, adminstering arsenic or laudanum or giving purgatives! And so the false science of homeopathy passed into folk legend and exists to this day.
So we know - beyond any doubt, beyond any contradiction- that homeopathy is just sugar pills that may act as a placebo - which is not in any way diluting the effectiveness of placebos, the effect can most certainly be very powerful. The ethics, however, of dressing up a monstrously and demonstrably wrong piece of pseudo-science as being a credible alternative treatment for anything is highly questionable. I personally consider it has far more to do with wealth creation than a desire to bring relief to anyones suffering. Yet there are doctors who swear by it - what a waste of an expensive edication! I suppose there are also doctors who believe in ghosts, so the same applies, but my point is this. People should not be told lies when they are offered a treatment for an illness. The big name pharmacies like Boots are telling outright lies to their customers in the name of profit, and that is morally disgusting, although the shareholders may not agree.
As with all woo, the adherents usually end up saying something like 'OK, smart arse, well explain this' and go on to relate how they knew someone who had a friend who's uncle had an ingrown toenail that defied the best efforts of medical science to cure, but a daily dose of viper spit pills had it fixed in a week. As if we are supposed to say - 'Oh, well, I take everything back, on the basis of that remarkable bit of research it's obvious that it works so I will go and beat myself with bunches of nettles'. No, I prefer the double blind clinical tests that are done for all other medication (why should the 'science' of homeopathy get a bye on this) which have conclusively proved time and time again that it is nonsense! So the Royal family believe in it, do they? As if that is some form of endorsement! They also believe in god and the power of conversation with plants, so I think it's safe to say that their beliefs are rather tenuous to say the least.
But why is it such a popular thing? In my view, it's a sort of folk memory, a throwback to the days when we didn't have to think anything through for ourselves because there wasn't the information available and we had little choice but to believe anything we were told by those who appeared to be educated. That gene lives on today. It's a simple fact that when homeopathy was invented by Hahnemann in the late 1700's, the conventional medical treatment of the day probably killed more patients than it saved. By prescribing homeopathic remedies and insisting on cleanliness, healthy living, diet and exercise, Hahnemann was undoubtedly saving lives, merely by not attaching leeches, bleeding, adminstering arsenic or laudanum or giving purgatives! And so the false science of homeopathy passed into folk legend and exists to this day.
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Whats the Harm
People often say to me -'Ahh, what's the harm, let them get on with it'. Well, yes, for many people it is just a bit of harmless entertainment and I take no issue with that. In a diverse world, if someone wants to fool themselves and believe in superstitious clap trap from the stone age, that's their right to do so and good luck to them. As long as they dont bombard me with their woo, I dont mind at all. I include, of course, religion in this.
But there is a harmful side to it all. An evil side, a wicked side. A disgusting, filthy and morally reprehensible side. You see, a believer in ghosts will invariably believe in psychics. They will believe in dowsing, homeopathy, acupuncture, feng shui and that thing where you stand in a field and pretend you are a badger standing on one leg and bending in the breeze. Jehovahs witnesses refusing blood. (are those people for real???) Whatever new age nonsense you care to mention, they will embrace it. The internet is full of examples of occasions where woo beliefs have caused immeasurable harm to innocent people. You may say 'More fool them for parting with their money/not taking their medication/imagining they can fly' with a certain amount of justification and I agree, to a certain extent. It's sort of Darwin in action - culling out those who are foolish enough to believe in this claptrap. But that's making yourself as bad as the vendors of the filth themselves. In this day and age, vulnerable people should be protected and helped, not encouraged to give their money to charlatans and frauds. Heres an example - OK, I know it's American, but just have a look.....http://tinyurl.com/67al7sp
Yes, the old 'facillitated communication' nonsense nearly destroyed yet another bunch of lives. It's a spooky parallel to the UK case of Christopher Lillie and Dawn Reed. A stone age belief in satanic rituals destroyed the lives of these two totally innocent people. In both of these cases, the 'experts' and the police suspended common sense and natural intelligence in favour of a hysterical outcry evoking parallels to medieval witch hunts and mob hysteria at public executions. www.richardwebster.net/cleared.html
OK, so these are isolated cases. Wrong. How many people kill themselves through trusting to woo medicine every year? How many distraught, bereaved and vulnerable people give money to mediums and spiritualists every day? How much time is wasted by 'psychic detectives' who give false hope to loved ones and waste police time? (no, contrary to popular belief, there has NEVER been a case where a psychic has solved or even helped to solve a crime. No, not ever. Not once. Anywhere in the world, not even in America. But they will tell you lies to get you to believe that they have and to boost their money making potential).
Have a look at this website. http://whatstheharm.net/
It's must read material for anyone who is capable of thinking critically, actually cares about their fellow human beings and who is interested and open minded enough to see for themselves just exactly what harm can be done by magical thinking. Some of the examples are truly mind boggling and the naivety of those involved is amazing. But the depths that the perpetrators will sink to in order to get money out of vulnerable people is sickening.
So don't tell me it's harmless. It isn't. It's a creeping sickness, a disease, a horrible repugnant affliction imposed by degenerate charlatans and fraudsters. But as long as there are credible people who refuse to use their intelligence, these people will continue to prosper and well they know it.
But there is a harmful side to it all. An evil side, a wicked side. A disgusting, filthy and morally reprehensible side. You see, a believer in ghosts will invariably believe in psychics. They will believe in dowsing, homeopathy, acupuncture, feng shui and that thing where you stand in a field and pretend you are a badger standing on one leg and bending in the breeze. Jehovahs witnesses refusing blood. (are those people for real???) Whatever new age nonsense you care to mention, they will embrace it. The internet is full of examples of occasions where woo beliefs have caused immeasurable harm to innocent people. You may say 'More fool them for parting with their money/not taking their medication/imagining they can fly' with a certain amount of justification and I agree, to a certain extent. It's sort of Darwin in action - culling out those who are foolish enough to believe in this claptrap. But that's making yourself as bad as the vendors of the filth themselves. In this day and age, vulnerable people should be protected and helped, not encouraged to give their money to charlatans and frauds. Heres an example - OK, I know it's American, but just have a look.....http://tinyurl.com/67al7sp
Yes, the old 'facillitated communication' nonsense nearly destroyed yet another bunch of lives. It's a spooky parallel to the UK case of Christopher Lillie and Dawn Reed. A stone age belief in satanic rituals destroyed the lives of these two totally innocent people. In both of these cases, the 'experts' and the police suspended common sense and natural intelligence in favour of a hysterical outcry evoking parallels to medieval witch hunts and mob hysteria at public executions. www.richardwebster.net/cleared.html
OK, so these are isolated cases. Wrong. How many people kill themselves through trusting to woo medicine every year? How many distraught, bereaved and vulnerable people give money to mediums and spiritualists every day? How much time is wasted by 'psychic detectives' who give false hope to loved ones and waste police time? (no, contrary to popular belief, there has NEVER been a case where a psychic has solved or even helped to solve a crime. No, not ever. Not once. Anywhere in the world, not even in America. But they will tell you lies to get you to believe that they have and to boost their money making potential).
Have a look at this website. http://whatstheharm.net/
It's must read material for anyone who is capable of thinking critically, actually cares about their fellow human beings and who is interested and open minded enough to see for themselves just exactly what harm can be done by magical thinking. Some of the examples are truly mind boggling and the naivety of those involved is amazing. But the depths that the perpetrators will sink to in order to get money out of vulnerable people is sickening.
So don't tell me it's harmless. It isn't. It's a creeping sickness, a disease, a horrible repugnant affliction imposed by degenerate charlatans and fraudsters. But as long as there are credible people who refuse to use their intelligence, these people will continue to prosper and well they know it.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Time to tackle the woo
It's been a while since I addressed the issue of woo. So let's start with ghosties and ghoulies.
First of all, let us get this dead right. There's no such thing. Ghosts do not exist. Disembodied spirits do not haunt anywhere. There is no such thing as a poltergeist, an evil spirit or anything like it. I repeat my generous offer - anyone who can show me a ghost or credible evidence of one (no, not a photo of an 'orb') will receive a shedload of dosh to their nominated charity. It's safe because it will never happen.
But there is no convincing those who throw science in the dustbin and are incapable of thinking something through. To them, ghosts or whatever are real, because they WANT them to be real. The greatest gift that god has given us (that was irony, by the way) is the gift of intelligence and the ability to reason. It is a sin not to use it. There is ALWAYS an explanation for the shadowy figure or the woman standing next to your bed when you wake up in the middle of the night. There is always a reason for the creaking floorboard. There is always a natural explanation for the weird noise heard in the small hours. By not thinking it through, the witness is guilty of reverting back to stone age mentality, when everything that was not immediately understood was asigned a supernatural explanation. These people are doing exactly the same thing.
So what is the harm? Probably very little in most cases, apart from the person themselves subjecting themselves to a life of fear, dread and superstition. Get on with it, if they want to live like that, super dooper. But the hidden side is the big business, the frauds and the idiots who try to convince impressionable and vulnerable people that there is something in this nonsense. When it comes to ghosties, well, most of the rather simple folk who pay to be scared out of their wits are welcome to it. Fools and money are easily parted, thats what I say. But belief in claptrap like this leads to belief in all things woo, and that when it gets to be dangerous. New age stupidity. Homeopathy, reiki, mediums, psychics, clairvoyants and other pond life all come creeping around, desperate to indoctrinate the feeble minded and take their cash, to the detriment in many cases of their families and loved ones.
So what about the catch phrases that alway surface as a defence to stupid beliefs? Eg. There are more things in heaven etc. OK, So what does that mean? It's a cliche. Yes, there are more things. Science discovers new things every day, so it does. But ghosts aren't on the agenda I'm afraid. Cliches dont win arguments and they certainly don't provide evidence for the existence of woo. When it is realised that there is actually NO evidence whatsoever for any of this crap, resorting to catch phrases is the standard procedure for reasons to believe.
So come on, all those people who claim to have proof positive of the existence of ghosties and ghoulies, share it and earn a Nobel prize. Or maybe Randi's million dollar award. But I'm not holding my breath.
:-)
First of all, let us get this dead right. There's no such thing. Ghosts do not exist. Disembodied spirits do not haunt anywhere. There is no such thing as a poltergeist, an evil spirit or anything like it. I repeat my generous offer - anyone who can show me a ghost or credible evidence of one (no, not a photo of an 'orb') will receive a shedload of dosh to their nominated charity. It's safe because it will never happen.
But there is no convincing those who throw science in the dustbin and are incapable of thinking something through. To them, ghosts or whatever are real, because they WANT them to be real. The greatest gift that god has given us (that was irony, by the way) is the gift of intelligence and the ability to reason. It is a sin not to use it. There is ALWAYS an explanation for the shadowy figure or the woman standing next to your bed when you wake up in the middle of the night. There is always a reason for the creaking floorboard. There is always a natural explanation for the weird noise heard in the small hours. By not thinking it through, the witness is guilty of reverting back to stone age mentality, when everything that was not immediately understood was asigned a supernatural explanation. These people are doing exactly the same thing.
So what is the harm? Probably very little in most cases, apart from the person themselves subjecting themselves to a life of fear, dread and superstition. Get on with it, if they want to live like that, super dooper. But the hidden side is the big business, the frauds and the idiots who try to convince impressionable and vulnerable people that there is something in this nonsense. When it comes to ghosties, well, most of the rather simple folk who pay to be scared out of their wits are welcome to it. Fools and money are easily parted, thats what I say. But belief in claptrap like this leads to belief in all things woo, and that when it gets to be dangerous. New age stupidity. Homeopathy, reiki, mediums, psychics, clairvoyants and other pond life all come creeping around, desperate to indoctrinate the feeble minded and take their cash, to the detriment in many cases of their families and loved ones.
So what about the catch phrases that alway surface as a defence to stupid beliefs? Eg. There are more things in heaven etc. OK, So what does that mean? It's a cliche. Yes, there are more things. Science discovers new things every day, so it does. But ghosts aren't on the agenda I'm afraid. Cliches dont win arguments and they certainly don't provide evidence for the existence of woo. When it is realised that there is actually NO evidence whatsoever for any of this crap, resorting to catch phrases is the standard procedure for reasons to believe.
So come on, all those people who claim to have proof positive of the existence of ghosties and ghoulies, share it and earn a Nobel prize. Or maybe Randi's million dollar award. But I'm not holding my breath.
:-)
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