Comments on: Skepticism 102

By: Kennedy Goodkey

Kennedy Goodkey — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:06:58 +0000

Yeah, the bumbling part is the tough part of being an asshole skeptic. Knowing when to bite your tongue can be hard.

I find I get drawn in easily into the half-dozen or so subjects that I’m really passionate about, and once the passion is flowing it can be hard to stop. But it HAS to stop as soon as I get into territory I’m not versed in.

I fully advocate impassioned argument (when appropriate – and that’s a very long subject) and the wanton use of playing the emotion card & other tricks usually the domain of the non-skeptical… but there is one we can never afford to play: not telling the truth. And that emphatically includes making stuff up.

By: Kennedy Goodkey

Kennedy Goodkey — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:00:00 +0000

“…a skeptic is someone who asks questions… a skeptic is a science advocate… a skeptic values critical thinking… a skeptic likes to do their own research and see the evidence.”

Nice. That’s an excellent and fairly comprehensive laundry list of the true commonalities amongst us.

I believe it was Phil Plait who said at TAM this summer something to the effect of “We may not agree on everything. We may not agree on matters of opinion. We may not agree on political beliefs. We may not even agree on our spiritual beliefs. But we do agree on one thing, and that is how we come to determine what we believe in.” (I am seriously paraphrasing from memory, but that was the gist.)

I think your summation totally nails the essence of that.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:56:27 +0000

That’s a good strategy. And yeah, I hate to say it, because I’m not trying to be deceitful, but I’ll feign ignorance for a bit in order to make sure I listen to the whole answer to “why.” first.

Ha, I think the Oprah outburst was directed at my mom once. But it was unwarranted, she’s pretty skeptical all on her own!

By: Nicole

Nicole — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:51:49 +0000

See, but you pull off the passion intelligently. When I let my inner asshole skeptic out, it’s a bumbling idiot. We just need to team up and be unstoppable in any situation!

By: Heidi Anderson

Heidi Anderson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:06:18 +0000

Very good post, and this is coming from an asshole skeptic

Also, you are going to have far more people listen to you than do to me.

However, when you are ready for the screaming, call me!

By: idoubtit

idoubtit — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:53:27 +0000

I think the best question we can ask in these situations is “Why?” Why do you feel this way? Why do you think that is true? Why do you believe what she says? Why might that be a good idea? Perhaps it at least gets them thinking (when they can’t produce an answer that sounds good out loud).

It’s very hard to just listen. One must make the effort to suppress the urge to rant on. Very difficult when you encounter someone who should know better. Or, worse, when it’s your Mom.