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.
Ghost
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
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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