You're BLOCKED! I've Told Everyone. Now I'm Sharing Your Posts (That I Blocked).

I can understand blocking someone on a social network. I've done so myself, but it's rare. I can even understand (in some weird section of my brain) creating a list of people you've deemed "block worthy"; although (is this the right place for a semi-colon? I never know) I really struggle with the idea of sharing that list with people so they can uncritically decide to block the same people (not taking into consideration any biases you may have against this "awful" person) but, whatever. That's their choice. What I don't understand (and likely wont understand) is blocking someone...adding them to your bullshit "block worthy" list...and then writing a blog post containing 200 (2000? do you think I counted them?) tweets that this "horrible" (actually...WONDERFUL) person sent. What sense does it make to block someone, tell the entire world you've done it...and then share a bunch of that person's tweets (which you've blocked!) on your blog?!? I don't know why I'm even saying anything about this. You should probably block me for even posting about it. It only matters to me because EVERYONE I met at TAM talked about how "lack of community" was the most difficult part of "losing their faith". It's tough to feel like you're the only one (I know. I felt this way for years). I'm sorry. This post is rife with babble, odd punctuation, and likely typos. It's the only time I'm going to post about any of this. I really do understand blocking/deleting/unfollowing me for it. I hope you don't. Ok...I got it out of my system. I hope some small piece of it made sense.

A Skeptical Look at Pseudoneuroscience

One of the best books I've read lately is "Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)" written by Carol Tavris (along with Elliot Aronson). The subtitle of the book is, "Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts". I was hoping that Carol would be at TAM this year so I would have a chance to tell her how much I enjoyed it, but she was not. Fortunately, the JREF not only puts on a truly AMAZING meeting, they also post videos of all the great talks that take place there. Here's a talk that Carol Tavris gave at TAM 2012, titled "A Skeptical Look at Pseudoneuroscience"(definitely worth a watch):

 

I just wanted to include quickly a quote by Lenny Bruce that Tavris shared in her great book. The following was said by Bruce after watching the Presidential Debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960:

 

I would be with a bunch of Kennedy fans watching the debate and their comment would be, “He’s really slaughtering Nixon.” Then we would all go to another apartment, and the Nixon fans would say, “How do you like the shellacking he gave Kennedy?” And then I realized that each group loved their candidate so that a guy would have to be this blatant – he would have to look into the camera and say: “I am a thief, a crook, do you hear me, I am the worst choice you could ever make for the Presidency!” And even then his following would say, “Now there’s an honest man for you. It takes a big guy to admit that. There’s the kind of guy we need for President.”

 

Pretty great, huh?

How Great is Kyle Hill?

I've been a big fan of science writer and JREF Research Fellow Kyle Hill for awhile now. I first discovered his writing at his blog "Science Based Life", but he now writes a blog at Scientific American (Overthinking It) as well. His writing has been featured in Pop Sci, WIRED, the JREF Swift blog, and Slate. Basically, you can find him anywhere they are willing to talk science. You'll even find him popping up in places that you don't normally associate with science. Fox News, for example. Here's a video of him on Fox and Friends talking about the Kopp-Etchells Effect.

I was fortunate enough to meet Kyle at TAM. I attended a workshop he gave with Barbara Drescher titled, "How Rational Are You?". Also, Kyle and Sara Mayhew recorded a GREAT episode of Skeptically Yours. The episode also featured John Whiteside (affectionally dubbed John the Super Atheist by Penn Jillette). John founded the United Church of Bacon and is a member of the MRFF (Military Religious Freedom Foundation) Advisory Board. I'll post a link to the podcast once it's available. 

Ardent Atheist - Episode 115

Here's the link to the episode of Ardent Atheist that I was a guest on. Oh yeah...Paul Provenza and Father Guido Sarducci were on it, also. (This is a really short and lazy blog post. Whatever. You're not paying for this. Fuck you!)

 

 

If you like what you hear during the free portion, sign up for a premium subscription and listen to the whole damn thing! It's only $10 a year. That's cheap! Go here now.

¡SATIRISTAS!

At the risk of turning this blog into a shrine for Paul Provenza, I want to share an excerpt from the introduction to his book, "¡SATIRISTAS!" I picked up a copy at TAM and it's really a great book (the photography by Dan Dion is wonderful). Ok, here's goes. Speaking about satirists, Provenza pens the following:

"...because they want you to listen and pay attention, because they want you to relate, because they want you to think, because they want you to get angry, because they want you to know you're not alone, because they want you to wake up, because they want you to learn, because they want you to understand them, because they want you to understand yourself, because they want us to understand each other, because they want you to be skeptical, because they want you to feel passion, because they want you to be empowered, because they want you to be free, because the truth will set you free, because they want to tell the truth, because they want us to discover the truth, because truth is absolute, because, as William Shakespeare said, "Jesters do oft prove prophets," because as Dario Fo said, "With comedy I can search for the profound," because as Moliere said, "The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them," because as Mark Twain said, "Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand," because as George Orwell said, "Whatever is funny is subversive," because as Edmund Burke said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph over evil is for good men to do nothing," and because we all know what happens if someone doesn't stand up and say, "Stop drinking the Kool-Aid!," the only thing that matters is the laugh." 

You NEED this book! Fortunately, I've got your back. Here's the link to click to pick up your own copy.