Well, all this is interesting to me, anyway, and that's what matters here. The Internet is a terrible thing for someone like me, who finds almost everything interesting.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Some people will believe anything
Isn't that about the craziest thing you've ever seen? This news team is careful - too careful - not to editorialize, but you have to wonder if they burst out laughing afterwards. I certainly hope so.
Yes, he can heal "anything" with his eyes. Sure he can - in only five minutes, for eight dollars per person. It's the "Croatian Yanni with superpowers." And he even heals automobile transmissions! Heh, heh. Isn't this something you'd expect to see at The Onion?
It must get harder and harder to write satire when real life gets this bizarre, don't you think? It's kind of like trying to poke fun at the Republican presidential candidates. What can you say that's crazier than the truth?
And in both cases, how gullible would you have to be to believe that stuff? It just blows my mind.
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
You must have missed this story:
"FOX ["News"] Poll: 77 Percent Believe Prayer Can ‘Literally Help Someone Heal From An Injury Or Illness’"
Do you really think that's depressing, Beets? I'm surprised it wasn't higher.
After all, 20% of Americans don't think that prayer can help someone overcome injury or illness (3% are unsure). That's quite remarkable, don't you think?
If there's anything about this that discourages me, it's that even 72% of Democrats believe in prayer. But overall, I find this survey (a Fox "News" poll, note) encouraging, not disheartening.
PS. To be honest, I'm not sure how I'd answer that poll, myself. After all, prayers might function quite well as a placebo. And the question doesn't seem to specify prayers by someone else, with the injured/sick person being completely unaware of it.
Those weren't very good questions, anyway. Note the option about creationism which mentions the Bible twice. What's up with that? It really seems intended to boost that response by reminding Christians of their religious faith, don't you think?
I'm a skeptic. I think it makes sense to have reasons for what I believe, so I apportion my belief to the evidence. You're welcome to disagree. Please, tell me I'm wrong. I probably don't agree with anyone about everything. Why should disagreement be a problem? Check the Pages section below for series posts and links to book reviews and game posts, as well as contact info. Unfortunately, I rarely blog at all, anymore. So don't expect new posts. - Bill
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The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss, and commit to memory the one, and pass over the other. - Sir Francis Bacon
When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Speculation is perfectly all right, but if you stay there you've only founded a superstition. If you test it, you've started a science. - Hal Clement
No matter how many times a theory meets its tests successfully, there can be no certainty that it will not be overthrown by the next observation. This, then, is a cornerstone of modern natural philosophy. It makes no claim of attaining ultimate truth. In fact, the phrase "ultimate truth" becomes meaningless, because there is no way in which enough observations can be made to make truth certain and, therefore, "ultimate". - Isaac Asimov
The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion. - Treaty of Tripoli, passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate and signed by President John Adams (1797)
I don't doubt the sincerity of dowsers, but even after we've demonstrated that they can't produce results that are any better than chance they'll still go away believing in their abilities... It is like the mother whose son is caught shoplifting on tape. She wonders why someone would want to frame her child by producing a fake video. - James Randi
During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. The Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church ... imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood. Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry. - Mark Twain
Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths. - Bertrand Russell
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. - Friedrich Nietzsche
I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends... that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them. - Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
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The formula was very simple: build this really flexible, really open economy, tolerate creative destruction so dead capital is quickly redeployed to better ideas and companies, pour into it the most diverse, smart and energetic immigrants from every corner of the world and then stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat. - Shekhar Gupta
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We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven into an age of unreason if we dig deep into our history and remember we are not descended from fearful men. - Edward R. Murrow
The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence. Science is simply common sense at its best - that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic. - Thomas Huxley
There is no absurdity so obvious that it cannot be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to impose it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity. - Arthur Schopenhauer
Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. ... Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state," therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society. - President Thomas Jefferson
To be elected in America, no matter from what party, the candidates have no choice but to year after year pledge to lower taxes further and further. We have become the nation of Ken and Barbie, looking good but very poor at the math. - Rack Jite
Invisible Pink Unicorns are beings of great spiritual power. We know this because they are capable of being invisible and pink at the same time. Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them. - Steve Eley
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2 comments:
You must have missed this story:
"FOX ["News"] Poll: 77 Percent Believe Prayer Can ‘Literally Help Someone Heal From An Injury Or Illness’"
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/fox-poll-77-percent-believe-prayer-can-literally-help-someone-heal-from-an-injury-or-illness.php
weeping for humanity,
beets
Do you really think that's depressing, Beets? I'm surprised it wasn't higher.
After all, 20% of Americans don't think that prayer can help someone overcome injury or illness (3% are unsure). That's quite remarkable, don't you think?
If there's anything about this that discourages me, it's that even 72% of Democrats believe in prayer. But overall, I find this survey (a Fox "News" poll, note) encouraging, not disheartening.
PS. To be honest, I'm not sure how I'd answer that poll, myself. After all, prayers might function quite well as a placebo. And the question doesn't seem to specify prayers by someone else, with the injured/sick person being completely unaware of it.
Those weren't very good questions, anyway. Note the option about creationism which mentions the Bible twice. What's up with that? It really seems intended to boost that response by reminding Christians of their religious faith, don't you think?
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