• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Skepticism has ruined my reading

htf666

Scholar
H
Joined
Feb 22, 2006
Messages
77
O.K. you lot. You have a lot to answer for. Do you realise that I can no longer enjoy my favorite horror stories? You had to go and get me thinking rationally didn't you? Now whenever I read about Zombies bursting through the soil, a little voice of reason pipes up 'Well of course during the last 2000 years no one has actually returned from the dead apart from that one guy who nobody really believes in anyway'. Ditto dracula, damn, I liked vampires. And werewolves and ghostly phenomena. I have actually put down three books half-read because my rational side keeps spoiling the plot. I can't concentrate on novels that promise unremitting horror because nothing is believable any more. I shall sue all of you. I can see me getting thousands of pounds just for losing the fear of being in the dark. O.K. I suppose it would not be fair to blame all of you so I shall just pick one to sue. But who? (Cue John Edward)..........I'm getting a L...
 
How dreadful. Skepticism has never bothered my enjoyment of horror fiction or watching horror movies.
 
Skepticism has not hurt my ability to enjoy sci-fi/fantasy at all. For example, a man cannot travel through time and space in a police box, yet I still love Doctor Who. There is no such thing as a girl whose destiny is to slay vampires, but I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
 
I've never had that problem. Military movies where they get all the details wrong... that irritates me!
 
Lol... that's funny. That happened to me when I started studying cinematography. I can't watch a movie without concentrating on every little detail and giving my criticism. I guess that's why while my friends talk about how awesome the action scenes were or how great the battles were I just keep pointing out the lighting, sequences, acting, plot holes and other things they really don't care about. :(

As for zombies and stuff like that, I'm really not into it, but I do like vampire stories, even if they're not real I find them interesting. I guess you just have to try to forget that it's fiction and try to enjoy it a little bit more.

Btw, don't sue me. :p
 
I'm counting down to Halloween. Sure, none of these monsters ever existed. It's still fun though, and I put on a big show. In fact, I want a motion activated animatronic mummy for the front porch this year.
 
JoeEllison said:
I've never had that problem. Military movies where they get all the details wrong... that irritates me!
Click to expand...

ding ding ding, i really hate that. i was watching an episode of Frontline on the PBS website last night, and the narrator kept referring to automatic weapons as "semi-automatic." drove me crazy.
 
EdipisReks said:
ding ding ding, i really hate that. i was watching an episode of Frontline on the PBS website last night, and the narrator kept referring to automatic weapons as "semi-automatic." drove me crazy.
Click to expand...
Now that is ODD!!!! Normally, they are too busy calling semi-automatics "automatics".
 
i see it all the time in news reports. there will be a picture of soldiers armed with select fire rifles and a SAW, for instance, and the news reporter will say that they have semi-autos. just general ignorance, i suppose.
 
Hmphf. Just before I read this post, I put in the DVD of LOTR - Return of the King for the umpteenth time. Smeagol is killing Deagol right now, in fact. The trick is to separate fun and silliness from *beleiving in* fun and silliness.

<derail>If Sylvia Browne were to be compared to a fictional character, which nasty would it be? The Wicked Witch of the West wasn't that bad, so she's out... Hmm...</derail>
 
I'm always counting rounds, getting angry at the fireballs from grenades... which I suppose is an aspect of skepticism. I know what it should be like, so I'm distracted when it comes out a different way.

On the other hand, I can totally accept horror movies and books, on the grounds that they take place in worlds with different rules. As long as they are internally consistent, I'm good.
 
Skepticism has made me laugh at certain movies. But like Lisa, have to accept certain pieces of fiction as 'unchallengeable fact.'

Plenty of other types of novels to read. Otherwise buy and read reference books. Then that would spoil most novels. The average IQ of a person in a novel cannot be more than about 70. Apart from the hero who may have a higher IQ to solve all the problems.
 
fuelair said:
Now that is ODD!!!! Normally, they are too busy calling semi-automatics "automatics".
Click to expand...

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's the First Rule of TV - any documentary on a subject you know more about than the average person is always rubbish.



Re: the op, I know what you mean, but suspension of disbelief is a skill worth persevering with, even if it is a bit harder to do when you've forced your brain to do just the opposite all day long.

For myself, I don't have any trouble buying bizarre premises like ghosts, time travel, aliens, even God, in fiction, but it's when things start okay - subtle, scary - and then go much too far in Hollywood style that my disbelief becomes unsuspended. White Noise (started off quite promisingly, ended up as a stoopid ghostfest), even Poltergeist, starts brilliantly and ends dismally.
 
I was always bad with military and historical stuff, now I'm worse, and I apply the same thought processes to just about everything. It hasn't harmed my enjoyment of films etc, but it might have harmed my long-suffering partner's. She tends to say "go on then, what was wrong with that bit?", and I go "well, seeing as you asked..." :D

Of course nitpicking and scepticism are not the same thing, but the one can reinforce the other to the point where you have to remind yourself that what you're watching is only entertainment.
 
I don't have a problem with anything supernatural in fictions/movies as long as its either so ridiculous that *anyone* would know its not really true, or its so subtle that it could be open to interpretation (including a skeptics interpretation - see Pans Labryinth). A lot of Stephen Kings books are quite good in that regard....some of the stuff could be in the mind of the subject or it could be real. Equally scary.

Where I have a problem and can't get into at all, is where something tries to pass itself off as being true, or actively dismiss the skeptics side of things (see White Noise). I also veer away from anything that passes off the concept of mediums as 'plausible', such as that TV-series recently. Monsters, demons, vampires and werewolves are things most folk know are just fantasy. Mediums, unfortunately, still gets a lot of 'buy in' and therefore I can't handle being 'entertained' when I know others will be thinking 'wow...that could happen'
 
Last edited:
Lisa Simpson said:
Skepticism has not hurt my ability to enjoy sci-fi/fantasy at all. For example, a man cannot travel through time and space in a police box, yet I still love Doctor Who. There is no such thing as a girl whose destiny is to slay vampires, but I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Click to expand...


That's because he doesn't travel through space and time in a "police box". He actually travels through time and space in his TARDIS that just happens to have its chameleon circuit stuck on the appearance of a 1950s police box... :wackyskeptical:
 
htf666 said:
O.K. you lot. You have a lot to answer for. Do you realise that I can no longer enjoy my favorite horror stories? You had to go and get me thinking rationally didn't you? Now whenever I read about Zombies bursting through the soil, a little voice of reason pipes up 'Well of course during the last 2000 years no one has actually returned from the dead apart from that one guy who nobody really believes in anyway'. Ditto dracula, damn, I liked vampires. And werewolves and ghostly phenomena.
Click to expand...

So, have you ever enjoyed Lord of the Rings, or does that annoying little voice go "Dude, there's no such thing as a hobbit. Or a Dark Lord. Get real." when you try to read it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom