Skepticism and Blind Faith
This was posted as a reply on another thread, but I wanted to bring it to the forefront and elaborate so that we can keep it in mind.
I am re-reading The New Inquisition, the first Robert Anton Wilson book I encountered. Here is an explanation for Joe “It’s All Owls” Nickell and his ilk (and their opposites) in a large nutshell:
[Quoting from Space Time Transients]: We, as a species, exist in a world in which exist a myriad of data points. Upon these matricies of points we superimpose a structure and the world makes sense to us. The pattern of the structure originates within our biological and sociological properties.
To the extent that we remain conscious of this process of imposing structure (programming our emic reality) we will behave liberally and will continue learning throughout life. To the extent that we become unconscious of this process, we will behave Fundamentalistically or Idolatrously and will never again learn anything after the hour at which we (usually unconsciously) elevate a generalization to a dogma and stop thinking. (emphasis in original.)
This is one idea that I try to keep in mind, even though it’s difficult sometimes to get outside my own thinking and see where this concept is affecting my own perceptions, i.e. I try to guard against dogmatic and therefore comforting thoughts and opinions.
Nickell has apparently decided that unknowns that are not explainable in terms of a 19th century scientific view are by definition either hoaxes or misidentifications. Someone like Steven Greer appears to think that almost all unknowns (in the UFO arena anyway) are the result of benevolent extraterrestrials. As I see it, one of the main purposes of this site (besides a bit of fun) is repeating the idea of detached hypothesizing multiple times until we aren’t at least partially speaking to the choir anymore. I suppose that’s idealistic, given the quote above!
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Jan 15 2007 
January 16th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Certain cryptozoologists now seem to be backpedaling on their Nickellian views that these are just mundane, undiscovered creatures. Confusingly, they also say that the “supernatural” explanations, those supported by quantum physics, are also out of the question. Even more strangely, they sometimes offer explanations involving both (i.e., mundane animals with the ability to curse humans). Peter Moon, in his Montauk Book of Dead, blames all this flip-flopping on a fear of the supernatural. This fear is usually caused by some childhood trauma. The trauma leaves the poor victim clinging to materialist dogmas, in the hopes of squelching the conspiratorial paranoia buffeting them daily.
Andy Colvin
January 16th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
THE VERY IDEA!
Greg, have you ever considered the possibility much of the motivation of many ARDENT sceptics is a secret fear, or even an unadmitted sense, these things may actually be true, hence the preposterous nature of much of their attempts to disprove their existence?
A personal example: a friend of mine from school days onwards is a senior figure in social services and at one stage in his career he actually had the power to section anyone who caused him to be concerned for their mental welfare without recourse even to so much as a psychiatrist.
Anyway, a few years back I told him how, since I was a baby, I’d been prone to undergoing weird experiences, and he didn’t bat an eyelid.
I told him how in the run-up to the new millennium I’d been being beseiged by what SEEMED to be a wide and wild variety of ‘entities’ who, by means of a sort of violent pulsating electric shock, SEEMED able to reach me wherever I was, no matter the time of the day, using it to physically bounce me off whatever four walls were available, events witnessed at times by various members of my family, much to their and my distress, a situation that got so bad at one stage I actually became suicidal to the point of trying to throw myself under a train, only for something I’ve dubbed ‘The SOMETHING’ to prevent this; again, on hearing all this, not once did my friend blink.
I told him how subsequently this critter ‘The SOMETHING’ had SEEMINGLY made me undergo a wide and wild variety of experiences, like finding myself outside the gates of Heaven, or being cast down to Hell, [incidentally, I've only ever claimed to undergo these experiences, not that these 'places' really were Heaven or Hell, etc., and even if they really WERE I'd still refuse to attribute any kind of religious or spiritual significance to them, especially to anyone else] and, again, my friend didn’t bat an eyelash.
I told him how I’d also been prone from my childhood onwards to suddenly finding myself SEEMINGLY gazing upon, or even temporarily stranded in, ‘environments’ which SEEMED to be parallel dimensional versions of our own world, or even ‘planets’ entirely alien to anything known by us and, again, from my friend, not a blink.
But when I told him one of my ’silly’ experiences, how I’d once inadvertently stepped on a t-shirt only for it to suddenly SEEM to writhe like it was alive and let out this hideous blood-curdling ’silent’ shriek, he suddenly became momentarily enraged and snapped at me, “I’m not having that!”, leaving me under the distinct impression I’d touched a raw nerve, much like, I’d suggest, many of our supposedly sceptical chums.
I also suspect, however, something similar applies to at least some of the more dippy of the all-believers, i.e., the reason they so vociferously proclaim any and every sighting, of any and every THING as incontrovertible PROOF for their favourite anomaly or critter, is they secretly doubt their own supposedly passionately held beliefs.
And, again, a personal example: in 1982, I was sitting watching the telly three days before that year’s Grand National when, suddenly, a second identical ‘telly’ appeared to the left of the REAL one, with an image of a racehorse being led into Aintree’s winning enclosure as the voice of the ‘commentator’ announced, “And there you have it, the winner of this year’s Grand National, Grittar…”
Now to cut a long story short, I won what was a lot of money for me on that horse that year, but the moment the cash was placed in my hand I suddenly became afflicted by a terrible overwhelming sense of horror at how I’d managed to achieve this, because it seemed to imply our fates were somehow foreordained, which in turn led to the further realisation, all those times I’d claimed to’ve believed in such things as psychic powers I hadn’t really believed in them at all, I’d only liked the IDEA of them.
January 16th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Andy and Alan,
I ususally am loath to delve into the psychological histories of fundamentalist skeptics. We have no idea of what goes on in their minds other than what they publish and say in public. There are probably a number of reasons that they wish to explain things, such as childhood trauma, overbearing parental figures, or maybe even the fear that science in its present state may not be able to “solve” everything.
There’s always the quote from William Burroughs, which I almost hate to bring up, which was “The mark of a basic [turd] is that he always has to be right.” He further postualted that the power structure is filled with this sort of person. One of his characters said, “It’s got to be one thing or the other. Can’t leave any loose ends laying about.”
To them, Ufology is almost all loose ends, so it’s their job to tie them up and save the masses, I suppose. The priests ministering to the flock.
To me, it’s often not very useful to frame things in an “us and them” dichotomy, but the fundamentalists sometimes force us into it!
January 17th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Alan,
I find your experiences fascinating, not just the paranormal events but actually your acquaintance’s reaction to the T-shirt story.
I think you are right, people do tend to lock out those ideas that are foreign or frightening to them, I would recommend that instead of becoming die hard skeptics that maybe they should search for another hobby and allow those folk who are not filled with fear to spelunk the dark unknown.
Jess