Suspend your disbelief

St.Michael

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St.Michael
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I have a woo friend who’s very fond of saying this to anyone who is sceptical about the paranormal. It’s almost like a catchphrase now but no one seems to ever have much of an answer to it.

If someone tells you to “Suspend your disbelief” - how would you respond?:boxedin:
 
St.Michael said:
I have a woo friend who’s very fond of saying this to anyone who is sceptical about the paranormal. It’s almost like a catchphrase now but no one seems to ever have much of an answer to it.

If someone tells you to “Suspend your disbelief” - how would you respond?:boxedin:
Click to expand...


Turn off the lights and get me some popcorn.
 
Tell him that you are willing to suspend your disbelief in the paranormal for the purposes of listening to his evidence. Then, listen to his evidence, and evaluate it objectively. Most likely, he is either mistaken about some fact, or will not provide proper evidence. If either of these is the case, then you can correct him. If he does have real evidence for something that you thought was paranormal, then perhaps you are mistaken, and should take some time to investigate what he is talking about.
 
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St.Michael said:
I have a woo friend who’s very fond of saying this to anyone who is sceptical about the paranormal. It’s almost like a catchphrase now but no one seems to ever have much of an answer to it.

If someone tells you to “Suspend your disbelief” - how would you respond?:boxedin:
Click to expand...

My answer might be, "that's what I do when I read a fantasy or watch a movie. Why would I have to do that if you are talking about reality?"

To which the woo guy might say,"because you don't fully understand all the possibilities of reality so you reject what you can't explain."

Then I'd say, "but I can explain it. It's a mixture of credulousness and wishful thinking. Throw in a bit of bad statistical analysis and some pseudo scientific blather and there you have it... All explained."

Then my woo friend will look at me sadly and say,"If only you'd suspend your disbelief...."

Then I would say,"OK, lets just have a beer and watch the cricket. Cheers."
 
Why do Firemen wear Red Suspenders?

Definitions of suspend -

To hang - not something I want to do, particularly I do not want to hang with woos.

To temporarily render ineffective - no, don't like that either.

To bar for a period from a position, privilege, or office, usually as a punishment. This ain't gettin' better.

Asking me to suspend my disbelief is not just asking me to withhold judgment until facts are in; it's telling me to temporarily render ineffective my powers of critical thinking.

Can you ask a woo to temporarily suspend his credulousness and use a little judgment, to admit his doubt and Think? Maybe a trade-off with your fingers crossed?
 
I would point out to your woo friend that the phrase "the willing suspension of disbelief" was originated by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. What he really said was:
“In this idea originated the plan of the Lyrical ballads; in which it was agreed that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural or at least romantic; yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment which constitutes poetic faith”.
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In other words, he was asking his readers, when reading his works of fiction having to do with the supernatural, to suspend their disbelief, to go along with the fantasy, in other words, for purposes of dramatic and poetic effect.

Then ask your woo friend if what he means is that he's asking you to go along with the fantasy, of a work of fiction.
 
Wally said:
Perhaps he should suspend his gullibility.:rolleyes:
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I think Wally has nailed it on the head here.

Suspension of disbelief should only ever be an issue when disbelief is so strong as to render a person immune to genuine evidence. It doesn't seem like that's an issue for the OP.

My advice? Let the conversation go something like this:

Friend: "Suspend your disbelief!"

You: "Okely-dokely, friend-er-ino. Consider it suspended. Now, let's hear why you belief such-and-such."

Friend: "Well, as I learned in 'What the Bleep Do We Know', reality is defined by how we perceive quantum burrito fields -"

You: "BZZT. Time's up."
 
Goshawk said:
I would point out to your woo friend that the phrase "the willing suspension of disbelief" was originated by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. What he really said was:
In other words, he was asking his readers, when reading his works of fiction having to do with the supernatural, to suspend their disbelief, to go along with the fantasy, in other words, for purposes of dramatic and poetic effect.

Then ask your woo friend if what he means is that he's asking you to go along with the fantasy, of a work of fiction.
Click to expand...

Right. The willing suspension of disbelief has kept me reading scientifiction. But not the stuff with unicorns or dragons.
 
St.Michael said:
I have a woo friend who’s very fond of saying this to anyone who is sceptical about the paranormal. It’s almost like a catchphrase now but no one seems to ever have much of an answer to it.

If someone tells you to “Suspend your disbelief” - how would you respond?:boxedin:
Click to expand...

The translation of that is basically: "I can't prove my stuff, so you'll have to take my word for it."

The answer is: "For which reason should I do that?"

I have sometimes found it useful to point to something the believer disbelieves, if need be, a constructed example (ask them if they will buy the Brooklyn Bridge from you).

This shows that we all have a limit for what we will belive in without evidence. You will often find that people who are completely credulous about, say, the paranormal, are highly skeptical about other things, for instance used car salesmen. Pointing out this puts things in perspective for some.

Hans
 
St.Michael said:
If someone tells you to “Suspend your disbelief” - how would you respond?:boxedin:
Click to expand...

I usually hear "Don't be so sceptical/cynical!"

I usually tell them I can psychically predict the winner in a horse race and if they lend me a couple of thousand I'll give them double their money back tomorrow.

(1) If they refuse (they usually do), point out how they have refused to suspend their disbelief when it comes to putting something of theirs on the line.

(2) If they accept (never happened to me):

(a) Give the money to charity and tell them an angel told you to do it; or just tell them that you have, but keep the money ready to hand back. Depends how nasty you're feeling.

(b) Tell them the money was cursed and you had to burn it. Give them back a bag of ashes. Again, let you're nastiness determine your actual actions.

(c) Bet the money on an outsider. If it wins, give back the money, pocket the difference, and never speak of this again. If it loses, tell your friend that sunspots/bad vibes/mind-control rays/aliens/evil trolls had distorted your vision to trick you, but that you have purified your mind through meditation and has he got another couple of thou because this time you're absolutely sure that you've got the winner!

(d) Whack any old bit of metal with a ball-peen hammer for ten minutes. Tell your friend you were abducted by aliens, who probed you horribly and took all the money for further study. Present the beaten up scrap metal as proof explaining that it is an alien implant you removed from your nose.

(e) ...

...Well, you get the idea.

Basically, they can either refuse - indicating a certain lack of suspended disbelief on their part - or accept - providing a golden opportunity to demonstrate why suspending one's disbelief is not a good strategy.
 
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