William Beaty wrote:
On Fri, 2 Nov 2007, John Berry wrote:
The level of skepticism in this group even from the moderator makes it
Ah, I remembered! That's what first turned me off to Ron Stiffler and
started my "chilly" attitude. He started demonizing the criticism of his
stuff. He was calling it "skepticism," and also using "Skeptic" as if it
was a dirty word.
But then organized "skeptic" groups such as CSICOP and others managed to
alter the word to mean something like "one who defends Science from hoards
of crackpots." They weren't anything like scientists, but instead behaved
more like soldiers or the police: totally certain of what's right and
wrong, then going out to knock heads together.
Excellent post Bill, Otto Schmitt agreed with you, he resented Skeptic
Magazine, and refused to endose their ideas.
But to be a scientist is
to be tenative. Truzzi resigned from the board of CISCOP over just this
issue, and in later years tried to popularize the word "Zetetic," in place
of the corrupted word "skeptic." He also coined a term for so-called
"skeptics" who give lip-service to science but don't practice it:
Pseudoskeptics. I started a Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoskepticism
Excellent writing
So a skeptic is the same as a scientist. If you make it your duty to
investigate even the taboo subjects while maintaining clear vision of both
the supporting evidence and the flaws, unveiling the truth-tellers and the
liars... then you my friend are a Skeptic. Nothing wrong with it. Call
yourself a "scientist" if you don't like it. And it's totally different
than being a Disbeliever or scoffer or "pseudoskeptic."
Particularly when you are quick to brand anyone who disagrees with you a
quack.
Now suppose you post an honest criticism of my work, and in response I try
to label you as a "skeptic." But that's a common scammer tactic! It's
There's nothing honest about Parksie's attacks on LENR. Speaking of the
devil, I haven't seen the reposting of his newsletter on Vortex for some
time.
In fact, this the same ploy also used by scoffers: suppressing criticism
through fear, threatening to attach disgusting labels such as "crackpot"
or "woo woo" to anyone who disagrees. It's a serious threat. If the
There's no "finer" example of this than Dr. Park. Parksie was quick to
use the aforementioned tactics against LENR and Intelligent Design. The
group behind www.reasons.org , has put together a video talking about
130 some factors which make it possible our solar system to sustain
life. Another group did a video showing the functions of a living cell
at the molecular level, it looks like an automated factory. Both of
those arguments rolled right off of Parksie's thick hide. He's yet to
read a paper proving LENR's either, that's because he lets them slide
through his fingers when someone hands one to him. And he gets paid big
bucks to do this!
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