Ever so slightly related, but having read a lot of material and discussion related to the phenomenon of UFOa, I've just got to say that skeptics have an issue with objectivity. I've read stuff of where even Phil Plait has resorted to ad hominems when tackling the subject, misrepresentation of arguments, and insults in his blogs. He's not the only big skeptic out there guilty if this, he's just one that always come to my mind. These only occasional ideas and writings really get picked up by stupid people and blasted whenever they can because they are so sure of themselves. If you really want to see the best of this culture of just go ahead and head over to reddit and read some threads about UFOs in some big subreddits. Really nothing more than a bunch of idiots talking on both sides of the argument, with skeptics being really in your face and mean about it. Reddit of course is just one site, but in my experience its usually the same all around the web when it comes to skeptics. The culture makes it hard to have good open discussion.
Of course there's a fair share of skeptics that aren't bleeding heart opinionated assholes, and there's a lot of idiots when it comes to ufos believers and what not, and there's to many dicks and idiots sadly. Shame because its an interesting subject with a fair bit of history no matter what side of the aisle you take towards it.
I know exactly what you're taking about and I'm sorry you've had a bad experience with skeptics. They can definitely be dicks. I was hoping to start a non-dickish community here. I agree that places like the Reddit community can be awful, but try not to sour on skepticism all together.
People are not stupid. They believe things for reasons. The last way for skeptics to get the attention of bright, curious, intelligent people is to belittle or condescend or to show arrogance toward their beliefs.
I left reddit because of the community. To much crap to sort through to find the stuff that I liked. So far the community here has been very good although a fair bit smaller than reddit and less social, but that will only improve with time. I've learned through a fair bit of reading of conspiracies and UFOs to have an open but skeptic mind, and to keep a good level of objectivity without resorting to logical fallacies or just blatant name calling, something many people have an issue with it seems. Many people are just to much of dicks about how they go about it.
Ever so slightly related, but having read a lot of material and discussion related to the phenomenon of UFOa, I've just got to say that skeptics have an issue with objectivity. I've read stuff of where even Phil Plait has resorted to ad hominems when tackling the subject, misrepresentation of arguments, and insults in his blogs. He's not the only big skeptic out there guilty if this, he's just one that always come to my mind. These only occasional ideas and writings really get picked up by stupid people and blasted whenever they can because they are so sure of themselves. If you really want to see the best of this culture of just go ahead and head over to reddit and read some threads about UFOs in some big subreddits. Really nothing more than a bunch of idiots talking on both sides of the argument, with skeptics being really in your face and mean about it. Reddit of course is just one site, but in my experience its usually the same all around the web when it comes to skeptics. The culture makes it hard to have good open discussion.
Of course there's a fair share of skeptics that aren't bleeding heart opinionated assholes, and there's a lot of idiots when it comes to ufos believers and what not, and there's to many dicks and idiots sadly. Shame because its an interesting subject with a fair bit of history no matter what side of the aisle you take towards it.
I know exactly what you're taking about and I'm sorry you've had a bad experience with skeptics. They can definitely be dicks. I was hoping to start a non-dickish community here. I agree that places like the Reddit community can be awful, but try not to sour on skepticism all together.
- Carl Sagan
I left reddit because of the community. To much crap to sort through to find the stuff that I liked. So far the community here has been very good although a fair bit smaller than reddit and less social, but that will only improve with time. I've learned through a fair bit of reading of conspiracies and UFOs to have an open but skeptic mind, and to keep a good level of objectivity without resorting to logical fallacies or just blatant name calling, something many people have an issue with it seems. Many people are just to much of dicks about how they go about it.
I thought this sighting was pretty.
WOW! I'm impressed.