The United States of Esoterica

I'll get straight to the point with this:

He's a total douchebag. Whatever valid points he may have are totally lost in the fact that he's as likable as herpes.

Discuss.

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Modern Science: Where a crappy answer is better than no answer at all.

Agreed.

Where does it say that in order to be a skeptic, you have to be a smarmy shithead ? Shermer and Shostak seem to think it is their job to ridicule, then debunk.

Shermer's constant harping on "probes" on tonight's Larry King show was beyond awful and a textbook example of his garbage. A total psychological move to humiliate Ufology by associating it with the infamous "anal probe", over and over again.

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"Give a lunatic a keyboard and a modem and that's what happens." -- Jeff Rense, 2.25.5

"An artist has got to be constantly in a state of becoming." -- Bob Dylan

I didn't see the show, but I know what you mean.

Shermer, and James Randi especially, seem to think that skepticism must include ridicule.

I know they've encountered scam artists who may be deserving of such treatment, but to belittle and demean every aspect of the paranormal is malicious and immature.

Yeah, Randi is another one.

Penn and Teller also sort of toe that line from time to time.

I must've missed where being a stage magician gives you credentials to discuss things other than stage magic.

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Modern Science: Where a crappy answer is better than no answer at all.

You can read Shostak's latest article here - http://www.space.com/searchforlife/0707 ... swell.html

He challenges you to "let the abuse begin." As I said at my blog, make it so.

Shermer is a total ass.

Sometimes I long for the days of Phil Klass.

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"So much good, so much evil. Just add water."
Markus Zusak

Who is Michael Shermer??

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A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. "Mostly Harmless"

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. - George Washington

I believe he is the editor in chief of "Skeptical Inquirer" or something along those lines.

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"Give a lunatic a keyboard and a modem and that's what happens." -- Jeff Rense, 2.25.5

"An artist has got to be constantly in a state of becoming." -- Bob Dylan

Guess I'm not alone in my feelings this guy is kind of creepy.

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You Can Not Expect of People What They Have Not Yet Learned . . . .

Which makes me ask, how many readers can a magazine like that really have?

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Modern Science: Where a crappy answer is better than no answer at all.

if i had been at that table , i would have went to jail because i would have used his little green toys and used them as as probe and shoved it up his butt after i knocked his stupid ass out off his chair . there is not to many people i ever see on TV or in person i just instinctly dislike but shremer is one of them and buzz Aldrin was not entirely truthful in what he said either about the light they seen , he was interviewed on another show awhile back and he told a different story , that it WAS NOT part of the third stage rocket assembly .

Actually, its just called "Skeptic" and Randi contributes as well.

I buy it!

I didn't see the show, so I'm not sure what in particular the gripe with Shermer is. I have seen him before ridiculing people that are blatant frauds (like Sylvia Brown) and I think they deserve it.

If people are just plain making things up, they should be called on it. There's no need to be polite when debunking people like Zeta-killyourpets-talk or Brown. These type of people often do more harm than good.

But getting back to the show, can someone post some info on what in particular he did? Maybe he was being a jerk, but I'm just curious why exactly you think so.

Why is it that the two assholes both brought toys? Shermer had his plastic alien and Buzz had his toy spaceship.

Buzz changes his story so often that CNN had the wrong story at the bottom of the screen.

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"So much good, so much evil. Just add water."
Markus Zusak

He ahd silly little alien toys and kept babbling about "probes".

Anyone that is a legitimate con artist deserves to be called out, but Shermer is a condescending ass who's too full of himself to ever admit he might possibly be wrong about something. Same for Randi.

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Modern Science: Where a crappy answer is better than no answer at all.

The only thing Shermer and Shostak have down is that giggle laugh whenever someone makes a point they don't agree with.
Shermer should of asked Buzz if he really went to the moon. I mean, all we have is eyewitness testimony that he did.

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When the mob governs, man is ruled by ignorance; when the church governs, he is ruled by superstition; and when the state governs, he is ruled by fear. http://countdowntoapocalypse.com/

I read Aldrin's bio Return to Earth years ago. I think it's been out of print for a long time. I'm relying my own faulty memory. I recall him writing about "light" things that went right through and out the bottom of the spacecraft. I pictured them in my mind like when you see the sparkles of dust in a sunbeam. So subatomic, interdimensional? Going right through the metal walls of the capsule and presumably right through their bodies? Wish he'd talk some more about that!

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Dorie
"Freedom of thought... is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom." Justice Benjamin Cardozo, 1937