Pub Skeptics-Keen Will Attend

[SteveGrenard]

Monty Keen has agreed to meet with and talk to a group of potentially inebriated skeptics November 20th in London. Any reader in the UK here (e.g. Tony Youens, Det Shaw, etc) are gladly invited to meet and talk with Keen personally if they can. The only details I have are as follows which is posted with Keen's permission.





Thursday 20th November 2003
7.30pm

The Old Kings Head, London Bridge, London


Skeptics in the Pub

"Montague Keen is a journalist, ex lobby correspondent, head of the
Parliamentary and Legal Division of the National Farmers Union, an
editor and farmer. He chairs the Image Committee of the Society for Psychical
Research and is secretary of its Survival Research Committee. Principal author of the SPR's 300-page report on the Scole Group of physical mediums, he's written,
lecture and researched extensively in the paranormal, specialising in evidence
relating to the survival of human consciousness after death.

What makes skeptics shy away from paranormal evidence?


Montague Keen will briefly examine the chief areas of evidence for the

paranormal, and comment on the criteria employed to assess evidential
value, both for spontaneous cases like poltergeists, ghostly visitations,
near-death and out-of-body experiences and mediumship, as well as for parapsychological experimental work which lends itself to orthodox scientific protocols.

He will examine the legitimate and illegitimate sceptical objections, and list
some of the ways in which many sceptics seek to escape frank confrontation with unexplained and discomforting evidence. Examples from recent or current controversies will be given and discussed."

 

[Clancie]

How fun. Wish I could be there.

Second wish...that someone who goes could ask Keen my question about an incident with Schwartz and Laurie Campbell and him described in Justine Picardie's book, "If the Spirit Moves You". She describes a mediumship demonstration in Arizona, at a seminar she attended. Laurie Campbell was giving audience readings that weren't going well, and Schwartz suddenly announced that she would instead do a demonstration on someone he would choose from the audience, someone she would be unable to see.

Many grieving people were there volunteering, yet...Schwartz chose Keen. And Campbell, after a rocky start, offered a lot of "evidential" material to Keen, "sight unseen".

Very impressive for the audience, but...obviously Keen's accent was distinctive...obviously he was previously known to Schwartz...LC surely knew Keen would be in attendance...and Schwartz, Picardie, Campbell and Keen all went out to dinner together afterwards.

The author of the book didn't raise any suspicions of cheating, but the description itself totally sends up red flags for it--unless the book has left out important information of some sort.

I've never heard this addressed by either Keen or Schwartz or Campbell. But someone should ask about it. I felt the book made LC's great "mediumship demo" at that workshop appear to be a set up.

 

[Ed]

How fun. Wish I could be there.

I've never heard this addressed by either Keen or Schwartz or Campbell. But someone should ask about it. I felt the book made LC's great "mediumship demo" at that workshop appear to be a set up.

A classic Woo demonstration.

 

[Pyrrho]

Montague Keen will briefly examine the chief areas of evidence for the paranormal, and comment on the criteria employed to assess evidential value, both for spontaneous cases like poltergeists, ghostly visitations, near-death and out-of-body experiences and mediumship, as well as for parapsychological experimental work which lends itself to orthodox scientific protocols.

He will examine the legitimate and illegitimate sceptical objections, and list some of the ways in which many sceptics seek to escape frank confrontation with unexplained and discomforting evidence. Examples from recent or current controversies will be given and discussed."

Sigh. Looks like another "anecdotes are proof" and "them stupid skeptics" exercise.

 

[CFLarsen]

Monty Keen has agreed to meet with and talk to a group of potentially inebriated skeptics November 20th in London. Any reader in the UK here (e.g. Tony Youens, Det Shaw, etc) are gladly invited to meet and talk with Keen personally if they can. The only details I have are as follows which is posted with Keen's permission.

Or perhaps you lifted it off a listserv, as is your usual procedure?

"Montague Keen is a journalist, ex lobby correspondent, head of the
Parliamentary and Legal Division of the National Farmers Union, an
editor and farmer. He chairs the Image Committee of the Society for Psychical
Research and is secretary of its Survival Research Committee. Principal author of the SPR's 300-page report on the Scole Group of physical mediums, he's written,
lecture and researched extensively in the paranormal, specialising in evidence
relating to the survival of human consciousness after death.

OK. No academic degree on paranormalism. Oh, wait. That doesn't exist.

What makes skeptics shy away from paranormal evidence?

Strawman. I don't know any skeptics who do. In fact, I see skeptics all over the place asking for evidence. It just never emerges....

Montague Keen will briefly examine the chief areas of evidence for the paranormal, and comment on the criteria employed to assess evidential value, both for spontaneous cases like poltergeists, ghostly visitations, near-death and out-of-body experiences and mediumship, as well as for parapsychological experimental work which lends itself to orthodox scientific protocols.

Same old anecdotes, same abominations of "scientific" studies and experiments.

He will examine the legitimate and illegitimate sceptical objections, and list
some of the ways in which many sceptics seek to escape frank confrontation with unexplained and discomforting evidence. Examples from recent or current controversies will be given and discussed."

Steve, please tell Monty to come to JREF. We won't "shy away" from the "paranormal evidence".

We will most certainly investigate it, of course. That might be why neither you, Monty or any other paranormal believer want skeptics to really look at that fabled "evidence"...

 

[CFLarsen]

Bumped for Steve Grenard.

Any word from Monty?