The Crazy Skeptic

I had an interesting experience after posting my blog about why I am an Atheist. I created a forum topic asking for any criticism of the blog. I like to do this because I'm not an expert in any given scientific field. While I do consider myself a "thinking" person I still want feedback from anyone who might have something to add. Several great suggestions for clarification were made and I corrected the relevant lines in the blog post. Soon after, something odd happened. I encountered the "crazy" skeptic.

I won't name any names because it was just a forum thread, but this person was the perfect example of a skeptic that the public gets to see. He was the epitome of the skeptic that is always right, super cynical of everything, and was generally ill-willed toward other people. He regarded what he deemed "stupid people" with great contempt. I ended up debating him for many pages because I felt he had misrepresented me and my blog post. The conversation devolved into an argument of semantics about Occam's Razor. I won't delve into the meat of the argument because it was pointless, but I kept it going because I was completely fascinated at the dedication put forth by someone who on the surface seems fairly level-headed.

The conversation lasted for several days and once the board hit around page 17 I decided that I was satisfied. It was down to satire and name calling anyway. I bring all this up because this is the perception the world has of skeptics. It is these people who are just as self-righteous as the crazy pseudo-scientists and creationists, that gives the skeptical movement a bad name. Forgiving the points he made that I disagreed with and the logical fallacies I pointed out, he was overall a very mean-spirited individual. What is sad is that when he interacts with the rest of the world nobody learns anything. He calls them stupid and makes a point out of encouraging them to continue being stupid instead of attempting to enlighten them. His heart seems to be in the right place but his methods for reaching others (if that is even his goal) are extremely flawed.

I bring this up as an example for how skeptics are perceived by the public. This was an argument between two skeptics, supposedly on the same team! I did some research on his name and discovered a sleuth of Amizon.com posts where he went on a review rampage. He attempts to debunk pseudoscience left and right, and while it was extremely entertaining, none of it was useful. He gets into arguments with scientifically illiterate people left and right. Whenever they commit logical fallacies he just steamrolls them with attacks directed at their intellectual capacity. Now and then he actually does reference the studies that support his arguments, but most of the time it is just naked criticism. This doesn't speak to the fact of whether he is right or wrong, only that he doesn't take the time to explain things in a calm enough way that someone else might benefit from it.

This is just one extreme example of a crazy skeptic out to debunk the world. The sad fact is though, that skeptics such as him are the vocal majority. They put out a negative vibe and worsen the connotative meaning of the word skeptic. It is sad to see so many people talk about how much they hate those "skeptics" because of one crazy they interacted with. Most of us are happy skeptics that have just as much meaning in their lives as those that take joy from believing in nonsense. I may end up renaming this blog to "The Happy Skeptic" because that is the image I would like to convey. I want others to see me as an example of a scientifically literate atheist and skeptic that is perfectly happy and lives a great life. I want people to know that all atheists and skeptics don't have an agenda to push on them. Having an agenda to push onto others is no different than the Mormons here in Utah trying to convert the world to their religion.

I want to end this post with a message to my fellow skeptics. As you journey out into the world of woo, do not try to show everyone why you're so intelligent and why they are not. Do not try and convert them to your way of thinking. Set an example and be the happy skeptic that is content with his/her confidence in logic and the scientific method. When you set that example people will become interested. Once those people become interested you have opened the door for rational thinking to take place. Several of my close friends have already come to me asking me about my participation in the skeptical movement. Never once did I tell them they should be interested. I simply set an example and they fell in line. All we can do as skeptics is grease those mental cogs a little bit and hope that they start turning. Don't get caught up arguing with someone that will never see things the way you do. In fact, the more you argue, the worse they will forever stereotype you and all skeptics.

Set an example. Don't stoop to the same tactics that true believers use. Feuding will never accomplish anything. You can make your points and still be calm and collected.

- Chevex