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Merged The razor of Hitchens and the Spirits!

In many cultures, belief in spirits is associated with ignorance, superstition, or backwardness. Pseudoskeptics may internalize these stereotypes and use them to justify their contempt
 
Pseudoskeptics may fear that accepting unscientific beliefs will lead to irrational thinking or social regression; this fear may manifest as hostility toward those who believe in spirits.
 
Pseudoskeptics who reject or "hate" people who believe in spirits usually do so for a combination of reasons, including an attachment to scientific materialism, a personal disconnect from spiritual experiences, a fear of uncertainty, and cultural influences. However, this rejection often reflects more on the limitations of their own perspective than on the validity of others' beliefs
 
Oh, we're just using this as a way to further insult people.

Hey, why don't you answer any of the points raised against you rather than being intellectually dishonest and rude?
 
So, to sum up:

"Waaaaaahhhh! You meanies won't accept my unevidenced claim and instead ask reasonable questions and request genuine evidence! So now I'm going to accuse you all of being pseudoskeptics because you won't accept my particular brand of unevidenced vacuous nonsense! Waaaah!

What do you mean answer questions? That's rude of you!"
 
MarkCorrigan said:
So, to sum up:

"Waaaaaahhhh! You meanies won't accept my unevidenced claim and instead ask reasonable questions and request genuine evidence! So now I'm going to accuse you all of being pseudoskeptics because you won't accept my particular brand of unevidenced vacuous nonsense! Waaaah!

What do you mean answer questions? That's rude of you!"
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Just quoting this because I can't like it twice.
 
Calderaro said:
If I accept that spirits exist, I will have to admit that there are things I don't understand, and that makes me uncomfortable.
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"The correct scientific response to anything that is not understood is always to look harder for the explanation, not give up and assume a supernatural cause" - Sir David Attenborough

Rational people do not unquestioningly accept your irrational beliefs because they are irrational. Trying to imagine other reasons why they might do so will not change that simple fact. Pretending that the people who possess the knowledge and understanding you lack are the ones being wilfully ignorant will not get you anything but laughed at.
 
Back in the day Colleague I Shared An Office With and I coined a new psychiatric diagnosis, which seemed to decently describe a number of folk we encountered: we called it "Twattishness".

This thread is a good example of the OP demonstrating the validity of our diagnosis.
 
Carrot Flower King said:
Back in the day Colleague I Shared An Office With and I coined a new psychiatric diagnosis, which seemed to decently describe a number of folk we encountered: we called it "Twattishness".

This thread is a good example of the OP demonstrating the validity of our diagnosis.
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Is there a cure or are we dealing with a terminal case?
 
Calderaro said:
You are believing in something that cannot be proven scientifically, so your belief is invalid.
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?!!!

How astonishing!!! Where are the exclamation marks?!!!

Oh, and where's the nonsense?!!!!!

...Have you been kidnapped? Are you being held at gunpoint?

Just quietly let out a bleat, like a one-testicled goat, and we'll know that you're in danger. In which case we'll send some spirits --- that we know exist --- to help you.
 
Nice t-word-ing, by the way. You've managed to take the whole lot of us here for one massive ride.

Of course, most of us new were on a ride even while riding on, but still.
 
Calderaro said:
You are not a pseudo skeptic but they are pseudo skeptics! They have proven that they are pseudo skeptics and this undermines true skepticism!
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Really? I happen to be on the other side of the fence on the subject of the paranormal. I've been a ghost hunter for over thirty years. I've earned my skepticism the hard way. I've done the work, put in the hours, and the mileage. I have ZERO evidence proving the existence of ghosts, spirits, or whatever. I've had experiences, I've seen things, heard things, and felt things. But unlike you I keep the door open for a real-world, scientifically based explanation for the handful of events I'm stumped over.

I went back to college, I did the science classes, got good grades, and respect the scientific method. Science works when the right questions are asked. If the question is: Are Spirits Real? The answer is no. The better question should be: Why did this strange thing happen? That's an answerable question that often leads to interesting, and even fantastic results all rooted in science. And there is a lot of esoteric, and off-the-wall science out there. The difference between you and I is I'm willing to take "No" for an answer as long as the explanation is solid.

It's not enough to believe, you have to be willing to back your beliefs with evidence.
 
It's not even about evidence. The belief in spirits is not a belief that one comes to via logic and reason. There is no chain of logic where one can start with a premise, follow reasoned steps, and end with "and therefore spirits must exist".
 
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