Comments for What's A Poor Skeptic To Do? at http://www.randi.org/site , comment 1 to 9 out of 9 comments http://www.randi.org/site Mon, 20 May 2013 22:26:15 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/2081-whats-a-poor-skeptic-to-do.html#comment-26528 Did you miss the smilies? It wasn't a particularly serious reply, just a light-hearted observation that a language pedant doesn't get to choose which arbitrary rules he chooses to observe and which he chooses to ignore. :) - FrankH Sat, 06 Apr 2013 21:41:11 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/2081-whats-a-poor-skeptic-to-do.html#comment-26527 What is wrong with splitting infinitives? Especially what is wrong with splitting infinitives if doing so adds clarity or emphasis. I know that there are no split infinitives in Latin which is where this stupid rule in English seems to have come from. Languages which form the infinitive by changing the verb ending can't have split infinitives. Why should English be bounded by that? George - gmartincv Sat, 06 Apr 2013 16:21:07 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/2081-whats-a-poor-skeptic-to-do.html#comment-26526 [quote]Maybe fighting to restore the proper use of the word “hopefully.” Or getting news anchor-people to correctly use the word “literally.” ... The misuse of “hopefully” and “literally” drives this language pedant a little nuts at times[/quote] I think you might be literally flogging a dead horse. ;) However, this language pedant is upset at you claiming to be a language pedant yet being happy to incorrectly split your infinitives. :'( - FrankH Sat, 06 Apr 2013 08:58:59 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/2081-whats-a-poor-skeptic-to-do.html#comment-26525 What frightens me is the political clout of these people. Only 9% of people believe there is something sinister about fluoridation of municipal water supplies, yet they are enough to cause municipalities to seriously question, and in some cases discontinue its use. - Gr8wight Fri, 05 Apr 2013 13:57:02 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/2081-whats-a-poor-skeptic-to-do.html#comment-26524 One thing a skeptic might do is acknowledge how low those numbers are. It's not like any of them approach a majority. A skeptic might also point out the gulf between what the general public favors and what is on and off the political table, as it is run by TBTP. - Michael Dawson Fri, 05 Apr 2013 09:04:18 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/2081-whats-a-poor-skeptic-to-do.html#comment-26523 Belief that UFOs are a real phenomenon usually polls at about 50%. Belief that the government is 'covering up' UFO facts runs even higher (which makes no sense - if one doesn't believe in UFOs, then what could the government be hiding about them?). There was a lot of controversy over Kurtz' 'mission accomplished' statement concerning the paranormal, skeptics need to re-gain the focus on this that we once had. Robert Sheaffer - RobertoDebunker Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:32:13 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/2081-whats-a-poor-skeptic-to-do.html#comment-26522 "29% of voters believe aliens exist" I'm surprised it isn't 100% considering you must certify that you are not an alien in order to register to vote. I'd love to know what percentage of the poll responders understood the questions and answered truthfully. - CLamb Fri, 05 Apr 2013 07:32:25 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/2081-whats-a-poor-skeptic-to-do.html#comment-26521 The "conspiracy" ratings are more significant and quite plausible. But what percentage of people lie to pollsters on principle? - rosie Fri, 05 Apr 2013 06:18:50 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/2081-whats-a-poor-skeptic-to-do.html#comment-26520 For example: [b]"29% of voters believe aliens exist"[/b] Well, many people (including a large percentage of skeptics) believe in abiogenesis (rather than life springing from a Creator). In that case, there is no reason to assume that life formed only on this planet in the entire universe. Boom...some quite logical, skeptical people can believe that aliens exist[ed], even if there is no evidence for there existence. Also: [b]"Voters are split 44%-45% on whether Bush intentionally misled about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."[/b] Well, Bush claimed knowledge of WMDs that were never found. Was he mistaken, misled or misleading? That is a question for history to answer, but it is hard to label any of those choices as an irrational belief. [b]"15% of voters think the medical industry and the pharmaceutical industry “invent” new diseases to make money"[/b] Well, I certainly don't think that's a wide-spread phenomenon, but when one considers "male-pattern baldness", "botox" and other cosmetic procedures and possibly the widespread diagnosis of ADHD, there is room for thought. [b]11% of voters believe the US government allowed 9/11 to happen[/b] Hindsight is 20-20. But, there were reports which later turned out to be warnings. My point is that some of the polled questions (including those referenced above) are indeed quite laughable, but all 20 are not nearly of that quality. Finally, if someone had trapped me on the phone or in person asking such strange questions...I may have been tempted to answer that, for instance, the moon landing was faked, just to play around. - sibtrag Fri, 05 Apr 2013 06:02:56 +0100