They announced clearly that wearing these bras was unIslamic because it is a form of fraud and deception.
2. The Fourth Kind: based on a true story? – At least that’s what filmmakers would have us believe. It seems as though the “true story” the film is allegedly based on is probably not even based on a real account but more likely was just extra content created for an internet viral marketing campaign.
It was just an ordinary Sunday evening in Grovers Mill, New Jersey. The date was October 30, 1938. But soon after 8pm, panic broke out. The reason was that radio newscasters were reporting that the Martians had landed in Grovers Mill. . .and they were out for blood.
The broadcast could be heard across the U.S. but it was those closest to ground zero of the Martian invasion who reacted the most as they could immediately identify the locales mentioned in the reports. Then they decided to fight back against the unwelcome visitors. This was their town and they weren’t going to let the Martians take it from them.
Of course it turned out that there were no Martians. There never were. And those heard on the radio were not even real newscasters. They were radio play actors reading a script written by Howard Koch, loosely based on H.G. Wells’ classic book, The War of the Worlds. The project was produced by a then twenty-three-year-old Orson Welles. And the whole thing was broadcast from the New York City studio of the Columbia Broadcasting System’s Mercury Theater.
In his famous study of the Martian panic, Princeton University psychologist Hadley Cantril discusses the extreme variability of eyewitness descriptions of the “invasion.” These examples have been usually overlooked in subsequent popular and scholarly discussions of the panic. One person became convinced that they could smell the poison gas and feel the heat rays as described on the radio, while another became emotionally distraught and felt a choking sensation from the imaginary “gas” (Cantril 1947, 94-95). During the broadcast several residents reported observations to police “of Martians on their giant machines poised on the Jersey Palisades” (Markush 1973, 379). After checking various descriptions of the panic, Bulgatz (1992, 129) reported that a Boston woman said she could actually see the fire as described on the radio; other persons told of hearing machine gun fire or the “swish” sound of the Martians. A man even climbed atop a Manhattan building with binoculars and described seeing “the flames of battle.”
The event also reminds us that the human mind does not function like a video camera capturing each piece of data that comes into its field of vision. People interpret information as it is processed.
As a skeptic who remains unconvinced of the supernatural, the paranormal, or the invisible strings of grand conspirators, I’m no stranger to the appeal to anecdotal evidence. I’ve frequently heard fantastical tales from those who swear to have truly encountered the unbelievable. And my demands for physical evidence are often met with the rolling eyes of true believers who think I’ve set the bar for evidence too high so as to be out of reach. They’ll insist that no amount of evidence would convince me and that I’d still deny these phenomena even if an angel/ghost/extraterrestrial/Reptilian/agent of the New World Order showed up at my door. And to this, I respond that this is an unfair assessment considering I’ve been offered no evidence even remotely as compelling as that which they’ve invented in their hypothetical scenario.
The religious ask me to account for all the reported miracles and angel sightings, etc. from trustworthy witnesses. The paranormalists ask me to account for all the reported ghost and UFO sightings from trustworthy witnesses such as air force pilots or police officers as well as all the alleged “psychic” claims that the “psychic” “couldn’t possibly have known.” The UFO crowd The “alternative” “medicine” proponents ask me to account for all the reported cases of a person appearing to get well after seeing faith healers, psychic surgeons, acupuncturists, homeopaths, herbal supplement dealers, etc. And the grand conspiracy theorists ask me to account for all the little details from “the official story” that doesn’t seem to “add up” like why did that one newscaster report the wrong gun after the Kennedy assassination, or why can I see the letter C on the moon rock, or why did the guy yell “Pull it!” before WTC 7 collapsed, or why did one 9/11 eyewitness from the ground report that he distinctly saw X number of engines on the plane that struck the Towers when video footage clearly shows that there were Y number of engines on the plane.
While some of these types of claims have been thoroughly and definitively debunked, the truth is that often I don’t have all the answers and that sometimes it’s impossible to arrive at a more plausible and rational alternative explanation without having either been there or more famous cases, having at least done extensive research.
But one thing that I don’t find compelling–and the Grovers Mill case illustrates why–is the argument that there were just too many witnesses for X to have not really happened or have been a mere misinterpretation. Maybe there was a real historical Jesus and there really were five hundred witnesses who thought they saw miracles. Unfalsifiable. Maybe Joseph Smith really did have twelve witnesses who sincerely believed they’d seen divine revelation. Meaningless. Maybe that Pilot Kenneth Arnold did really see craft that he couldn’t identify in 1947 and believed were from out of this world. Scientifically worthless. Maybe the townspeople of Roswell, New Mexico and Major Jesse Marcel really did believe they saw a crash flying saucer or saucers. Tell that to the town of Grovers Mills. Maybe Betty and Barney Hill truly believed they were abducted by space aliens. So what?
Human perception and memory reconstruction are deeply flawed and easily susceptible to suggestion (Ex. here, here, and here). Here’s another account of a witness of the great Grovers Mills Martian invasion:
These memories are not statically locked away in the brain forever, but our memories of events are reconstructed over time (Loftus and Ketcham, 1991). Cantril (1947) cited the case of Miss Jane Dean, a devoutly religious woman, who, when recalling the broadcast, said the most realistic portion was “the sheet of flame that swept over the entire country. That is just the way I pictured the end” (181). In reality, there was no mention of a sheet of flame anywhere in the broadcast.
In the beginning there were sightings, and those sightings began with private pilot Kenneth Arnold on June 24, 1947. As soon as news stories appeared reporting Arnold’s claim that he saw nine airborne objects that flew “like a saucer if you skip it across the water,” others began reporting seeing the “saucers” too (a curious development, since Arnold did not say that the objects looked like saucers—they looked like boomerangs, he said—but skipped like saucers, a subtlety lost in the public’s imagination). Soon sightings of “saucers” were pouring in from all around the country and from around the world. Sightings occurred in waves, which appeared to be fueled by media reports. A wave would typically start in one location, but as soon as news reports began to carry the story of the localized excitement, sightings activity would pick up nationally. Great waves of UFO sightings occurred in 1947, 1949, 1952, 1957, 1965—67, and 1973.
Then in 1973, there was a significant drop-off in the number of reported UFO sightings. Then after the release of Stephen Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, all of a sudden, the UFOs returned in droves. What are the odds? And it turns out that a pattern emerges. It seems the UFOs seem to always resurface every time Hollywood has renewed interest in aliens. I guess the movies on their planet are all directed by Joel Schumacher, so they have to traverse the whole universe to see anything good. And there was a time when aliens were always described as being little green men. Then after the Hill case, all of a sudden, the little green men stopped visiting and sent their friends the big-eyed Grays instead. What we’re seeing here, as with religions, is meme evolution. It seems like we’re seeing exactly what we’d expect to see if all these weird paranormal events were nothing but a self-perpetuating mass delusion.
People create false memories. This is the horrible reality of eyewitness testimony. Sometimes honest, well-meaning people simply get it wrong. They see or experience something strange or unexplained and their brain fills in details based on their own prejudices or expectations. This is how the real power of suggestion works. If your primed to think weird lights in the sky is a flying saucer, that’s what you’ll perceive it to be. And if you’re primed to think aliens are gray with big eyes, that’s what you’ll see.
The problem with anecdotes:
Test your skills as an eyewitness:
Watch this video and see if you can count how many times the players in the white shirt pass the ball around.
Do not read on until you’ve done this. This is more tricky than it seems.
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Now, did you see the gorilla?
Here’s another test of your eyewitness skills:
And for more lessons in critical thinking, click here.
1. 69% ain’t afraid of no ghosts – A new survey found that 69% of people would live with ghosts for significantly reduced rent. And 51% would live with a ghost in exchange for free rent. Now given that my status as a skeptic gives me 100% ghost-haunting immunity, if anyone knows where I can get free or reduced rent in NYC because the place is haunted, let me know (I’m serious. Let me know).
The ABC understands that the consumer watchdog ACCC has been investigating Mercy Ministries, after media reports that young women seeking psychological and medical support were instead essentially enrolled in a Bible program.
Some young women say they could not leave the treatment centre and that staff would “exorcise” them.
But Mercy Ministries denies those claims.
According to its website, Mercy Ministries is a Christian organisation that helps young women suffering from eating disorders, self-harm, abuse, addictions or an unwanted pregnancy.
I don’t know what offends me more, that they vandalized the billboard, which can be viewed as a hate crime, or that they didn’t put the word “FAGS” over the crossed out “Religion” as to change the sign to read: “Keep fags out of government.” Just sloppy work. But the FFRF isn’t laughing. They’re offering a $1000 reward to anyone with information as to who’s responsible.
The Obama administration on Monday came out strongly against efforts by Islamic nations to bar the defamation of religions, saying the moves would restrict free speech.
“Some claim that the best way to protect the freedom of religion is to implement so-called anti-defamation policies that would restrict freedom of expression and the freedom of religion,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters. “I strongly disagree.”
2. Did the anti-vaccinationists convert Star Trek’s Data? – Oh, please tell me it isn’t true. Apparently, actor Brent Spiner tweeted that he was a fan of Jay Gordon and when asked if he was an anti-vaccinationist, here was his tweeted response:
RT @SusietheGeek @BrentSpiner Are you an antivaxxer–Not completely. But it’s worth investigating before letting drug cos. bamboozle us.
No, don’t do it, Data!! Don’t be assimilated! Resistence is not futile!
That’s right. Child Rapist Apologist Bill Donohue is pissed off at something. I swear, if I had a penny for every time this happened, I’d be a rich man. Wasn’t it only a week ago that he The Simpsons outraged him?
So what’s made baby Jesus cry now? Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry David has mocked religion before in the show (for instance, here, here, here, and here). But I guess Donohue only cares when its his religion that’s being mocked.
But Donohue’s not the only one. Michael Savage (yeah, that Michael Savage) also attacked Larry David, who he refers to as a “self-hating Jew,” “insane,” and somehow an “anti semite.”
The guy complains that Seinfeld teaches people that all Jews are like Woody Allen stereotypes despite not watching Seinfeld. . .obviously. He then mischaracterized Curb Your Enthusiasm, another show that he doesn’t watch, claiming that “the only Christian in the show” is depicted as fat and stupid, etc. The only Christian in the show? What?! Right off the top of my head, David’s on-screen wife Cheryl is a Christian. She was in the episode and was neither depicted as fat nor stupid. I’m pretty damned sure Ted Danson’s not Jewish. And he’s in almost every other episode of the show. Though I don’t recall seeing him in this particular episode, he was in the previous episode. And there are countless non-Jews in Curb Your Enthusiasm. And they’re not depicted as all fat and stupid. And let’s be fair here. Similar cases to the one mocked in the show really do happen.
Then Michael Savage says something else incredibly ignorant and stupid (I know. Shocker) by using the old Donohue “they only mock Christianity because they’re afraid to mock Islam” gambit. Which is of course absurd considering Larry David HAS MOCKED ISLAM IN THE SHOW!!!
Oh, I am outraged, Mike. I’m outraged that your bullshit is allowed on the air. It’s not Larry David that makes Jews look bad. You make humanity look bad, you hypocritical, self-righteous ass-clown!
The secret to a happy marriage for men is choosing a wife who is smarter and at least five years younger than you, say UK experts.
And in related news, money can be used to buy goods and services.
2. Anti-vaccinationists like Skepacabra’s recent commenter J.B. Handley prove nothing is off limits when attacking critics – Several days ago Amy Wallace wrote an in depth piece on Dr. Paul Offit and the history of anti-vaccination movement in Wired magazine. In response, JB Handley wrote an essay using rape imagery to describe Wallace’s relationship with her interview subject, Offit (which he then quickly removed and replaced with Jonestown Massacre imagery by the time I read it on Age of Autism). Anti-vaccinationists have since threatened and intimidated Wallace as well as calling her a “cunt,” because that’s what classy folk they are. David J Kroll also defends Wallace here.
1. Walt Disney refunds parents for not making their kids geniuses – Disney is refunding parents for all those “Baby Einstein” videos. Come to think of it, my niece watched them. I wasn’t aware that these videos promised to make kids smart anymore than I was aware Baby Van Gogh promised to turn kids into great artists.
2. The zombie apocalypse has been prevented. . .for now – An Iowa man accused another man of being a zombie, and then punched him…twice. I can only imagine this was because he was following Rule #4, which calls for a “double tap”:
3. Felicia Day does a NASA PSA – Felicia Day, best known for her role in Joss Whedon’s hit internet musical Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and less known for her starring role in the never-aired episode of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse (and possibly the show’s best episode), has now she’s managed to somehow up her geek cred even more:
Haggis called them out on their involvement involvement in California’s Prop 8 that overturned gay marriage in the state, their refusal to denounce this anti-gay bigotry, and their lies to cover it up:
As you know, for ten months now I have been writing to ask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Church of Scientology of San Diego. […] I called and wrote and implored you, as the official spokesman of the church, to condemn their actions. I told you I could not, in good conscience, be a member of an organization where gay-bashing was tolerated.
In that first conversation, back at the end of October of last year, you told me you were horrified, that you would get to the bottom of it and “heads would roll.” You promised action. Ten months passed. No action was forthcoming. The best you offered was a weak and carefully worded press release, which praised the church’s human rights record and took no responsibility. Even that, you decided not to publish.
The church’s refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word. Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.
He also called them out on the cult’s disconnection policy as well as their dishonest denials of the policy:
I was shocked. We all know this policy exists. I didn’t have to search for verification – I didn’t have to look any further than my own home.
You might recall that my wife was ordered to disconnect from her parents because of something absolutely trivial they supposedly did twenty-five years ago when they resigned from the church. This is a lovely retired couple, never said a negative word about Scientology to me or anyone else I know – hardly raving maniacs or enemies of the church. In fact it was they who introduced my wife to Scientology.
Although it caused her terrible personal pain, my wife broke off all contact with them. I refused to do so. I’ve never been good at following orders, especially when I find them morally reprehensible.
For a year and a half, despite her protestations, my wife did not speak to her parents and they had limited access to their grandchild. It was a terrible time. […] To see you lie so easily, I am afraid I had to ask myself: what else are you lying about?
Haggis then called $cientology out on the cult’s “Fair Game” policy in which the they viciously attack their critics:
How dare you use private information in order to label someone an “adulteress?” You took Amy Scobee’s most intimate admissions about her sexual life and passed them onto the press and then smeared them all over the pages your newsletter! I do not know the woman, but no matter what she said or did, this is the woman who joined the Sea Org at 16! She ran the entire celebrity center network, and was a loyal senior executive of the church for what, 20 years? You want to rebut her accusations, do it, and do it in the strongest terms possible – but that kind of character assassination is unconscionable.
So, I am now painfully aware that you might see this an attack and just as easily use things I have confessed over the years to smear my name. Well, luckily I have never held myself up to be anyone’s role model.
The great majority of Scientologists I know are good people who are genuinely interested in improving conditions on this planet and helping others. I have to believe that if they knew what I now know, they too would be horrified. But I know how easy it was for me to defend our organization and dismiss our critics, without ever truly looking at what was being said; I did it for thirty-five years. And so, after writing this letter, I am fully aware that some of my friends may choose to no longer associate with me, or in some cases work with me. I will always take their calls, as I always took yours. However, I have finally come to the conclusion that I can no longer be a part of this group. Frankly, I had to look no further than your refusal to denounce the church’s anti-gay stance, and the indefensible actions, and inactions, of those who condone this behavior within the organization. I am only ashamed that I waited this many months to act. I hereby resign my membership in the Church of Scientology.
1. The Deity’s Nightmare – The other day the Atheist Foundation of Australia and Global Atheist Convention websites suffered a Distributed Denial of Service attack. In retaliation, they’ve called on all non-believers and advocates for freedom of speech to unite in a “global co-ordinated minute of prayer with the aim of inundating God.”
Due out in autumn 2011, What is a Rainbow, Really? will take on topics including who the first man and first woman were, why there are seasons, what the sun is, how old the world is and why there are so many animals, first answering the questions with myth and legend, and then with “lucid scientific explanations”.
2. The Fourth Kind: based on a true story? – At least that’s what filmmakers would have us believe. It seems as though the “true story” the film is allegedly based on is probably not even based on a real account but more likely was just extra content created for an internet viral marketing campaign.
3. Maine voters, on Tuesday Vote NO on 1 – This is Maine’s version of Prop 8 to stop marriage equality.
4. Antioxidants may be the key to defeating all strains of flu – Suck it, Mercola!
5. Iraqi man who ran down daugher is caught – I blogged about this story last week. Glad to hear this douchebag, Faleh Hassan Almaleki, was caught.
Posted by Michael Rosch 
Skepacabra 