Click here to support the Daily Grail for as little as $US1 per month on Patreon

SCEPCOP on CSICOP Action

First there was the woo, and the woo was everywhere. Then came the skeptics, forming themselves in the tribe of CSICOP, dismembering the woo and feasting on its remains. But the skeptics became drunk on their power, and began making stupid accusations and inane remarks. And thus SCEPCOP was born, to police the police. Or something like that…

The Paranormal is one of the most exciting frontiers today. Research into Consciousness, Quantum Physics and Psychic Phenomena, etc. explores venues that may unlock the mysteries of the universe and gateways to other dimensions or levels of reality. Thus it provides us hope, inspiration, and meaning for our existence, as well as expanding our minds into a larger picture of reality.

However, there are organized group of scoffers masquerading under the term “skeptics” who deny, ridicule and suppress anything progressive that challenges the static views of the establishment. They are debunkers who tend to distort, dismiss and obfuscate any phenomenon that challenges a conventional materialistic view of reality. In truth, they are not true skeptics engaging in open inquiry, but selective debunkers with an agenda to defend the establishment. That’s why we call them “pseudo-skeptics”. A “true skeptic” engages in open inquiry and doubt toward toward all views and belief systems, including their own and those of the establishment. But these “pseudo-skeptics” never question the views of the establishment, materialistic science or anything presented as “official”.

…So now, it’s our turn to form a group to counter them and expose them for what they are. Enter SCEPCOP, which is a counter to CSICOP (though they recently changed their name to CSI). As CSICOP was formed to “police the claims of psi”, SCEPCOP now in turn acts to “police the cynicism of pseudo-skeptics”. We will debunk all their arguments, revealing their fallacies, inconsistencies, false dogmas posing as “rules of logic” and double standards, showing that they are not objective truth seekers, but biased selective debunkers defending establishment views. Their minds were already made up from the beginning, and their actions and methodology expose them for what they are.

Regular readers will know that I’m all for dissecting the supposedly ‘authoritative’ views of skeptics. So it’s good to see a site out there which puts the focus squarely on this issue (although the Skeptical Investigations website already does a pretty good job of it). The thought of a ‘committee’ or group taking on the role of “police” to the skeptics does make me cringe a little though…half the problem with CSI(COP) and the like, is the weakness of group-think and shunning of apostate individuals. Additionally, I take time to argue certain issues as carefully and objectively as possible, so I certainly don’t want anybody talking ‘on behalf’ of me.

Apart from those caveats, I’m looking forward to seeing what comes from this venture.

Editor
  1. The Struggle for control of “Reality”
    When I was at university twenty something years ago the professors and senior lecturers were at pains to explain and to get us to conform to the rules of research. This was the case in both the hard sciences and the social sciences.

    It went something like – create a hypothesis, gather evidence from publications and fieldwork/experiments to support your hypothesis, then write it up in an ordered and logical way to then be submitted to publications / higher degrees committee. Anyone who did not agree with your hypothesis was then free to contest your work by creating their own research process with hopefully different results. Alternatively they could concentrate on picking apart the assumptions/premises of your hypothesis, pointing out alternative publication you did not deal with or running fieldwork/experiments which did not replicate/reproduce your findings.

    This was how , they told us, the level playing field of research and science was created and maintained to the benefit of all of humanity .

    Taking them at their word, I compiled and submitted my masters thesis topic which was something like ( it has been a while – twenty something years in fact, since I last thought about this) : To investigate the possible use of the methodology of the Hebrew Kabbalah for possible uses in the social sciences, using the work of Walter Benjamin in his ” The Origin of the German Tragic Drama” as the basis.

    Well to explain politely, they were not at all pleased. In fact, the department head had a very interesting and unusual red/purple complexion for the duration of that meeting.

    Needless to say they refused to register this topic under any circumstances.

    However, they also took the very unusual step of recruiting another student the following year to do her thesis on this topic specifically to disprove my ideas.

    So if research/ science is a level playing field depending exclusively on ones data/evidence and ones ability to argue ones case in an ordered and logical way, how can this kind of nonsense happen?

    Simply put, the vested interests who control this Earth do so by controlling what we psychologically comprehend as “reality”. Anyone who wishes to work in ways which might change/threaten that is their enemy.

    I have come a long way since that incident in 1988 and I am no longer interested in an academic career (at least not one in public). I will say that the behavior of the pseudo-skeptics can only be explained in political terms. They do not do any research of their own nor generate any alternative theories to explain certain phenomena at all. Their aim and purpose is solely to block all work aimed at understanding the esoteric nature of “reality”. ( I will contend that their are three realities of this Earth : a physical reality, a psychological reality and an esoteric reality)

    If we were to be able to reveal to the world this truth, all the people of the world would take their power back from the vested interests whose structures would rapidly collapse and disappear. Until such a time comes the seekers of the truth will still have to work underground just as they did in the middle ages under threat from the inquisition.

    1. Logic
      Logic can be used to demonstrate anything, and its opposite.

      The mind is so polluted with memories, its incredible.

      And it is the reason why it is not free.

  2. Updates on SCEPCOP
    Hi everyone,

    It’s Vinstonas again. I’ve created new pages and entries on SCEPCOP. Check them out if interested.

    Characteristics and Behaviors of Pseudo-Skeptics vs True Skeptics

    http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/characteristics.php

    Overgeneralizations and Distortions

    http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/distortion.php

    Explanations that don’t fit all the data

    http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/explanations.php

    Also, some new interesting folks have joined the forum. Come and participate with us at:

    http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/forum/index.php

    I’ve also added new graphics and videos on the home page. http://www.debunkingskeptics.com

    Thanks,
    Vinstonas

  3. Looking at the committee…
    It’s a bit hard to take that site seriously when the name ‘Victor Zammit’ shows up in the top left hand corner as one of the ‘Committee members’. Looking around, I have a feeling that this site is going to do more harm than good in the cause of getting so-called ‘paranormal’ phenomena recognised scientifically.

    1. change of acronym for SCEPCOP
      Hi, this is Vinstonas of SCEPCOP. Just to let you know, we’ve changed the acronym to “Scientific Committee to Evaluate PseudoSkeptical Criticism of the Paranormal”.

  4. Imbecile Oversight?
    So, we have skeptics of skeptics?

    Don’t get me wrong, I dislike debunkery and its desk’perts as much as the next person but… isn’t this almost like spending one’s time watching turds float aimlessly in a cesspool?

    It seems… at least at first blush, as being entirely nonproductive.

    But then again, I’m only on my second cup of coffee. maybe a third will clear the fog 🙂

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Mobile menu - fractal