|
|
|
Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
 Posted - 08/28/2001 : 18:49:51 [Permalink]
|
Piltdown:
quote:
What is your favorite story of a face-to-face encounter with a far-gone creationist, new age wacko, ufool, or other non-critical thinker?
Chip:
Great story! Here's my contribution to this old thread.
About 20 years ago, a gullible but likable friend of mine invited another friend and myself to a "New Age UFO Encounter Group." Craig, a comedy writer, and I were the unknown-to-the-group skeptics, and our third friend, Eddie, was the "likeable gullible" (who was there basically to meet girls.)
The group was lead by a young woman who lectured about Atlantis, UFO's, spinning to find your center, and other goofy stuff. She also sang an ancient song that survived Atlantis. (As a music student I noted that it was in C Major, and employed authentic leading-tone to tonic cadences that were not found in music before the 14th Century….i.e. before “Atlantis” and certainly not in ancient Greece.)...Nevertheless...she lectured us, and could see our auras, etcetera.
The people there were basically friendly and naïve about a lot of things. A LOT of THINGS! (-;
During the course of the evening, Craig and I found the proceedings more and more ridiculous, but we were both aware that sarcasm and smugness would be a mistake on our part.
Then came some kind of "past life channeling" session wherein these average folks, including an Air-research engineer, became via a trance and incantation, surprisingly famous people from the past. Craig and I discussed this during a cookie break. Why is everyone at one time either Cleopatra (or her personal hand maiden,) or Nostradomus, or a Roman emperor, or Charlemagne??? (What happens if two people were Charlemagne? So…we decided incase they asked us...well, here's what happened:
We all sat in a circle and they went around the room asking people to describe who they were, or what they did in a past life. (Remember, everyone else was either King Authur, or Queen Elizabeth, or Napoleon - or one of his generals, or a Chinese Emperor, etc...Then it was my turn:
"Well...(I said)...I was a near sighted Gaul." (Blank looks.) "You know, from the war of the Gauls? Except I was near sighted and had to stay home and tan hides." "But later, I built a shed." (Head scratching.)
Then it was Craig's turn: (He was tall and skinny then.) "Well me, I was a 300 pound gay Roman baker. I had long fingernails, and I was sad because a Centurion seduced my boyfriend and took him away. But I baked and baked, and was proud of my bread. In this life I like girls…"
They found our stories unbelievable, and we had to escape. We were invited back at a later date, but declined! (-;
Chip
|
 |
|
|
Boron10
Religion Moderator
USA
1266 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2001 : 22:56:02 [Permalink]
|
quote:
They found our stories unbelievable
LOL! That is a nice bit of irony. 
I am afraid I'm not clever enough to come up with a good signature, eh? |
|
|
|
marvin
Skeptic Friend
77 Posts |
Posted - 08/29/2001 : 14:37:09 [Permalink]
|
quote:
My previous post is a swansong of sorts. Henceforth I will not respond to anything Marvin posts on this or any other BBS. Why? There are several reasons actually. First, the discussion has become repetitive. Marvin is simply re-asserting his contentions without regard to counter arguments made by myself and others. I have no time to waste on repetition. Second, the discussion has degenerated to the “yes it is,” “no it isn't” level of dialogue. I am not interested in that. Third and most importantly, I don't like what this interchange is doing to me. ---Tim
And I was having a great time.
quote:
I have not seen enough convincing facts, only speculation and outright misrepresentations of my posts. Instead of making a claim of ‘inference' ask the person a question. Unless you want to put words in their mouth {ie “Are you saying that the prevailing theory is absolutely true?} --- Well we see how silly this looks and no one could possibly infer that, theory = absolute truth.
So don't ask the question and you will be able to use the Straw Man fallacy to attack your opponent. Perhaps no one will notice and then you can really beat them over the head with the inferred phrases, claim a win for your side and retreat to your safe house. A place of communal reinforcement filled with fantasy prone, wishful thinking peers void of critical thinking. ---Marvin
Well it seems like he was overcome with cognitive dissonance and instead of ‘decreasing' the number of inconsistent cognitions he chose to ‘increase' the number of consistent cognitions, thereby abating his dissonance. This often involves rationalizing because the individual seeks out semi-logical conclusions using extant cognitions and newly created consistent cognitions in order to find a way to invalidate the inconsistent cognitions. {ie the skeptical conspiracy to keep psi from being accepted}
And I was just getting on a roll.
The efficacy of propaganda is directly proportional to the percentage of the audience that uses mode2 thinking. |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Topic Locked
