"I Want to Believe"

[Orrex]

Every skeptic is likely familiar with the infamous UFO poster on the wall of Fox Mulder's office, and I've long thought that its intent in the series was misunderstood by the woo crowd.

Whereas Scully was the contrarian anti-believer (except about her religion), Mulder was IMO a dedicated skeptic who, in the fictional universe of the X-Files, happened to have seen enough evidence to justify his acceptance of crazy phenomena.

(Of course, the show went totally to shit in the final few seasons, but that's not really the point.)

Point is, I think that this archetype is effective and, in a way, sublimely tragic; the skeptic who desperately wants phenomenon-X to be true, but not so desperately that he's willing to hide, twist, or ignore the facts. This requires a level of integrity that I daresay is seldom seen among woos, for whom belief trumps fact eleven times out of ten.

I wouldn't say that I match the archetype overmuch, because I have no particular desire for ESP or ghosts or reincarnation or UFO's to be real. But I realized just today that current television is (AFAIK) almost entirely lacking this kind of conflicted character. Even the famed diagnostician House is, in this way, less complex than Mulder, because House flatly (and correctly IMO) rejects supernatural explanations, and he has no wish to substantiate them.

But The Believer is commonplace and is already a Medium or a Ghost Whisperer, rather than a dedicated seeker of truth; the woo has already been proven to her, end of story. And that's just the self-described fictional programs--don't get me started on Maury, Oprah, or Larry King. Tonight's episode of Home Makeover apparently dealt with a decrepit 100-year-old house with a "spirit presence" that tended to become "more active" when renovations were made to the structure. Puh-leeze!

How nice it would be if television devoted the same quanity of airtime to actual skepticism, rather than the caricature of the closed-minded scientist inherently unable to see the ghost in the room.


Mostly I'm just griping, but I do note with some optimism that some show about "Exposing the Psychics' Secrets" will air later this week. It's in the same format as "magicians' secrets revealed," but at least they might be pursuing it as a means of exposing these charlatans.

Of course, they'll probably include a disclaimer so as not to offend "real" psychics...

[TZ]

1. Woo sells. Better than sex, sometimes I think

People WANT to believe in this sort of stuff, because its "interesting". And "entertaining". Then you have the contingent of people who can't separate fiction from reality (I still remember with astonishment the rupukes citing a MICHAEL CREIGHTON novel as proof that global warming is a fraud). And critical thinking..not only do most people not have the skills...They don't want those skills!
That is afterall, why we got Chimpy for a second term. It was much easier to go along with his ooga-booga if you don't vote for me the terrarists are gonna nuke you..than think things through.

Yeah, Mulder and Scully are complex characters that make you think. But they seemed to have a cetain amount of appeal too...I loved the X-files but I think they might have encouraged some of the conspiroids into saying, see, my beliefs are valid...
As for skepticism on TV, I do think House is a good one, although judging by a recent thread of people who said they found the show annoying, thats not the case for a good chunk of DU.
FYI, there was a show on Discovery Health that I saw about cases of medical fraud where someone either a quack or elsewhere used woo/deception to committ crimes. It was good, but I have only seen about 2 episodes and then no more. As a friend said when I asked about it..probably afraid to alienate people. Goodness knows a medical channel wouldn't want to offend anyone with you know, science and all that..
To sum it up, I think its just easier for people to accept things that don't have complicated explanations. Like the whole homeopathic water crap..."water with memory" is a simple argument to grasp as opposed to what dilutions and molecule structure actually mean...

[Warpy]

2. Everybody wants to have a little bit of an advantage

over their fellows, and folks who are nice and pleasant but ordinary in every single way are the ones who most want that edge. That's why woo of all types, from vitamin "enhancements" to gods to angels on their shoulders to friendly ghosts whispering of oncoming danger are so attractive to all of them.

Most of it is harmless enough. Some of it costs a lot of money, though, and sometimes interventions are necessary.

[TZ]

3. Yes, thats probably part of it

I think my older sister is such a believer in "The Secret" because she believes it gives her an advantage, a way to get ahead.
But ironically, in some ways this OP dovetails a bit with a conversation I had yesterday with my younger sister..The one who firmly believes that scientists are narrow and closed minded. We were arguing politics and got to Kucinich and his wife (I don't remember why) and I said that I thought she was a bit..strange--the whole Shirley McClain thing etc...And she was like but thats what makes life interesting ..people like that. Thats fine, I suppose but just becuase something is "different" and "interesting" doesn't make it rational. But then, she's definitely not the most rational person. Suffice to say I had to end the conversation before we started arguing over how "boring" scientists and skeptics are. I really think the boring dry unimaginitive stereotype is firmly attached to the skeptic and in a society that values entertainment values, thats part of the problem. Magic water, alien abductions, psychic powers..much more entertaining to think about than say...the quadratic equation.
:)
And its just so sad because some of the most interesting people I have met are the rationalists/scientists. And if people would just use their brains to think and listen instead of just being entertained I think we would have much less woo to deal with.

[Orrex]

4. Another example occurred to me

I should have thought of him sooner, but Houdini might be the true archetypal skeptic-who-wants-to-believe. He was a brilliant and dedicated debunker of fraudulent spiritualists (but I repeat myself) even as he desperately wanted to believe in life beyond death.