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The Rat
SFN Regular

Canada
1370 Posts
Posted - 08/19/2007 :  14:16:21  Show Profile  Visit The Rat's Homepage Send The Rat a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Just posted a new item to my blog, title as above, link below. I've tried to counter the old charge that we skeptics are a closed-minded lot. Please have peek and let me know what you think before I submit it to our newsletter editor, comments welcomed here or there.
Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom.

You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church? - The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder II

Baculum's page: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3947338590

Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts
Posted - 08/19/2007 :  14:56:17   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Direct link to this particular blog entry.
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard

USA
4907 Posts
Posted - 08/19/2007 :  15:48:57   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Ricky an AOL message Send Ricky a Private Message  Reply with Quote
You certainly make a good point. But when others say "Open mind", I don't believe they are referring to the same thing we do. We refer to an open mind as one who considers all the possibilities. On the other hand, those who believe in strange things seem to refer to keeping an open mind as meaning that one should accept possibility as evidence for a claim. Of course, other times it simply means, "You disagree with me, so you are close minded."
Why continue? Because we must. Because we have the call. Because it is nobler to fight for rationality without winning than to give up in the face of continued defeats. Because whatever true progress humanity makes is through the rationality of the occasional individual and because any one individual we may win for the cause may do more for humanity than a hundred thousand who hug their superstitions to their breast.
- Isaac Asimov
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The Rat
SFN Regular

Canada
1370 Posts
Posted - 08/19/2007 :  16:25:37   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit The Rat's Homepage Send The Rat a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Ricky

But when others say "Open mind", I don't believe they are referring to the same thing we do.


Agreed. To paraphrase the old saying, they're so open-minded that their brains have fallen out.
Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom.

You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church? - The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder II

Baculum's page: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3947338590
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HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts
Posted - 08/19/2007 :  16:51:44   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
That was a fine article, highlighting a common but unfair criticism of skepticism. For some reason, woos love to accuse skpetics of being like themselves.

They say we are close-minded. Similarly, the more fundamentally religious a person is, the more likely that person is to accuse scientists, seculars, and even atheists, of holding to a "religion" by blind faith.

The projection involved is apparently so transparent to them, they fail to see it. (Perhaps they'd say I'm projecting.)
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
Edited by - HalfMooner on 08/19/2007 16:53:29
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