virus: Skeptics

Reed Konsler (konsler@ascat.harvard.edu)
Wed, 10 Feb 1999 13:11:22 -0500

KMO:
>Paul Kurtz is an intelligent and thoughtful man, and I don't think that
>he is an unthinking proponent of a mundane worldview as a result of
>being sucked into a cult of personality, but many of the people who are
>inspired by Kurtz, James Randi, and the other charasmatic celebrities of
>the skeptical elite and seek to follow their example are not as
>thoughful or as sophisticated, and they believe what they're idols tell
>them to believe and support that worldview by any means available. These
>guys are level-2 poster children, and an encounter with one or more of
>them can be a real eye-opener.

>People who practice a moderate and reasonable level of skepticism in
>their lives probably don't identify themselves first and formost as
>skeptics. They more likely think of themselves as writers, doctors,
>programmers, movie-lovers, vegatarians, mothers, boyfriends and a long
>list of other roles before they get down to "skeptic." The people who
>put "skeptic" at the top of the list in most social encounters tend to
>be the scary ones, and one encounter with this variety can put a serious
>stigma on the skeptics one meets or hears about subsequently.

Wow. That's almost exactly what I think...and so well put, too.

Reed


  Reed Konsler                        konsler@ascat.harvard.edu
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