Comments on: On Women, Paranormal Belief And When Yahoo Answers Wrong

By: Politicalguineapig

Politicalguineapig — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:49:09 +0000

I’ve always thought that women would be less religious than men. After all The Heap Big Sky God approves of men’s health care, but when it comes to women, we get screwed. And of course, there’s a multitude of verses from your book of choice affirming that women are less than men and always shall be.

By: podblack

podblack — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:12:03 +0000

WAHHH!!! I have faith in the Colanduno to work his skeptical-magic to make it all appear somehow!

By: Derek Colanduno

Derek Colanduno — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:21:22 +0000

Now with the last minute add-on of Adam Savage, our Skeptic Track will be overhauled a bit. So… please consult the final programming book before taking any of the above days, times, or panels as a fact!

It has been nutty here in the past 48 hours at Dragon*Con planning HQ!

By: AndyD

AndyD — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:19:30 +0000

“…belief in the paranormal is no longer considered an eccentricity in the modern world.”

This has been fascinating me recently. In Oz, Channel 7 have elevated paranormal belief to “normal”, not just by promoting belief itself but by mocking scepticism. On that station, disbelief is apparently seen as eccentric.

This week, for example, when Nat on Sunrise expressed doubts on a “ghost” video, she was ridiculed on air by her colleagues. In the past, Peter FitzSimons copped an ear-bashing for daring to doubt John Edward on the same show. And Aussies will remember the not-so-subtle jibes aimed at nasty, mean, party-pooping Richard Saunders on The One.

Meanwhile, professional “psychics” benefit from regular advertorial-like appearances on Sunrise and other shows – generally without their supposed abilities being questioned.

Given this sort of public ridicule of scepticism, I wonder to what extent belief is the result of “media peer pressure” (or is the media responding to pressure from society?)

By: Shree

Shree — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:08:44 +0000

I cannot agree more when you say cognitive differences are often misconstrued as cognitive deficiencies and I’ve come across famous authors attributing such differences to lack of reasoning and intellect.
My first visit to this blog. Made a brilliant read!

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:19:51 +0000

This is totally tangential… but if you’re going to Dragon*Con, have a good time at the Abney Park concert!