A rant about the lack of critical thinking...

[Humanist_Activist]

OK, this is, in a way, somewhat related to religion in that its a rant against magical thinking and superstitious belief. It was inspired by my exposure to a show on the Travel Channel called "Ghost Adventures".

This is what happens when you leave the TV on overnight and this show pops on, its apparently a marathon for today, anyways, I'm just going to describe some scenes. So this guy is in the middle of this haunted house, and he has one of those old fashioned, C to D cell powered radios from the 1980s, with the manual dial that slides across the face and one, big speaker. All chrome looking, you get the idea. So he turns it on and, with the camera facing the radio, turns the dial all the way across the entire FM band, not stopping it at all. You hear various levels of white noise, some other sounds and even a clear voice popping through at times. This took less than a minute, and he then has the camera turned to him and he says, without sarcasm "Clearly we are getting no radio signals from this location, so it would be a perfect spot to listen for spirits." Uhm, I heard a fucking song, or at least a very brief voice singing from that radio, plus other sounds, the radio is clearly working, and more than that, you can listen to the top 40 from that location, I'm sure. I would say that this guy lied on camera, but apparently he believes his own bullshit, that's just sad.

In another episode or scene, these guys are running around a building, at night of course, and started yelling at each other about their experiences, in addition to recording what is apparently called(after 5 minutes of googling), "EVPs" Electronic Voice Phenomenon, or as I like to call them, pattern seeking, auditory style. These guys would yell about feeling everything from chills(really, in a large, drafty building, who knew?), to feeling shivers(could this not be explained psychologically)? Or feeling dread, etc.

You can probably take any 5 minutes of this show and see examples of so many different biases and fallacies it isn't even funny. Granted I would regard the show as largely harmless except, and this is just from a brief google search, but the hosts of the show apparently actually believe in this stuff, so they aren't trolling, and more importantly, much of their audience believes in them too. This is a problem, belief in such bullshit, and let's be honest, its complete bullshit, can lead to belief in other types of more damaging bullshit and cons, such as consulting mediums(for a price), or having someone exorcise your home(for a price), or faith healing(for a price), etc.

Its kinda like Miss Clio, yes there's a disclaimer saying its "just for entertainment" but it does no good when the credulous will hand over their life savings, or make other, really bad, life decisions on the word of a medium, priest, or pastor.

[rug]

1. I put that show in one category below "The Curse of Oak Island".

Bad editing, false suspense. and general nonsense. "Next week, a Templar relic!"

[Hoppy]

2. I once consulted a medium in Bethlehem, Pa. (Not the real Bethlehem). He and his spirit guide, Rosco

are good buds.

Roscoe told me the location of the Arc of the Covenent. You probably read about it. I have it in G.P.S. coordinates. I paid him $100. for this information but it is worth it because the Arc will be worth hundreds of millions when I dig it out.

Anyway, I am taking time to post this because I know you want to get in on this. It will cost me a few hundred thousand to get a Deere backhoe over there, hire some illegal immigrants from Texas and fly them over there and dig.

I will split the profits with you. P.M. if interested.