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When Skeptics Fail

Exhibit one in why affable, intelligent scientists shouldn’t jump on the skeptic bandwagon, and start acting all obnoxious and unintelligent. I give you Neil DeGrasse Tyson at last year’s Amazing Meeting:

Ugh, it’s like your drunk uncle at your wedding, thinking he’s a stand-up comedian all of a sudden…

Editor
  1. Calling Jeff Dunham!
    Personally, I have nothing against someone having a little fun on the subject of UFOs. A bit of comic relief might actually be good for us; a respite… so to speak, from the weirdness. But honestly now… this guy was about as funny as James Oberg doing a Philip Klass routine.

    What we need is for Jeff Dunham to invent a little ‘Grey’ to go with his traveling menagerie. Now, that could be funny!

    1. Jokes, and then jokes
      [quote=Redoubt]Personally, I have nothing against someone having a little fun on the subject of UFOs. A bit of comic relief might actually be good for us; a respite… so to speak, from the weirdness. [/quote]

      Agreed entirely. Not only do I enjoy jokes on the topic, I enjoy skeptics who do it well.

      This particular ‘routine’ though gave me the impression of a teenager who just heard a joke he thought was funny, and then proceeds to excitedly tell it (badly) to a room full of people that heard it all 20 years ago.

      Kind regards,
      Greg
      ——————————————-
      You monkeys only think you’re running things
      @DailyGrail

  2. My eyes! The goggles do nothing!
    I made it til 1 minute 6 seconds, and had to stop. It’s like watching a televangelist. All that was missing was Randi bringing a UFO witness up onto the stage to be healed, or like a “savage Indian” displayed at a traveling sideshow. It must be hilarious feeling so superior to others. They just. Don’t. Get. It. Which is why you won’t see Dean Radin parodying Randi at the Science And NonDuality Conference.

    ~ * ~

    @levitatingcat

  3. Giving the crowd what it craves
    All good showmen know they have to give the crowd what the crowd craves.

    If I go to a bachelor party, I wouldn’t expect the stripper to remain clothed and do tricks with balloon animals instead!

    Likewise, if you go to the Amazing Meeting, you wouldn’t expect the lecturer giving some credence to Sheldrake’s research or UFO investigators —you could be in serious risk of Penn throwing you a bottle to the head!

    —–
    It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
    It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

    Red Pill Junkie

  4. Nerds
    That waistcoat is inexcusable.

    I wonder if the intense concentration of nerdiness present at the (not particularly) Amazing! meeting would trigger a spike in the GCP RNGs.

  5. A confession
    I must confess: I have smiled. Actually I have even
    *chuckled*.

    Now, call me names.

    I have two excuses: If I see it as a routine to please and entertain skeptics, it is comparatively quite good. If you
    an UFO enthusiast or you experienced an abduction, well….
    The second excuse…guess which is my home country ?

  6. Fame spoils the unprepared mind
    Oh boy, his guest appearance in Stargate really went to his head, didn’t it?

    (And is it coincidence that another loud UFO-skeptic, Bill Nye, was also in that same episode of Stargate? What are They trying to not tell us??)

    (Just kidding about They, of course…)

    1. Stargate
      Stargate also had an episode (in the same season I think), arguing why keeping ET contact secret is so important. A conspiracy theorist convinced the US military was keeping ET knowledge secret was whisked away by the SG-1 gang, taken on a joy flight through space, and by the end of the episode was convinced that disclosure is bad and secrecy is a good thing. It made me wonder if the episode was also trying to convince the audience.

      No, I wasn’t wearing a tinfoil hat.

      ~ * ~

      @levitatingcat

  7. debunkery
    Here’s a guy who says that galactic alignment (trying to debunk 2012) happens annually instead once every 25,920 years. Even I, with my piddly little Skyglobe program, could prove him wrong on that one.

    What do you expect from someone who demoted Pluto as a planet?

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