• QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago
    1. I already know about James Randi, his reputation isn’t as clean as you might think, dude was VERY problematic

    2. Dude I remember the 90’s, I was there, the Satanic Panic was in full swing. People believed that there was this epidemic of Satanists going around brainwashing kids with Pokemon and Harry Potter, and the proof was in repressed memories.

    • spittingimage@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      You can be an awful person and still be right. If you’re asking people to ignore someone’s legitimately useful work because they’re a bad person, stop.

      • QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works
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        6 days ago

        I don’t just have a problem with the man. I find his methodology questionable. Yelling “FAKE” and doing a bit of showmanship is not good science

        In fact he had no science training at all being a high school dropout

        • spittingimage@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Is that what he’s doing? Back when I read his blog, he always talked about staff from his foundation establishing testing protocols. I suppose it’s always possible he could say that and then not do it, but it seems unlikely.

          You don’t need formal training to follow the scientific method.

          • QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works
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            6 days ago

            Well right now he’s not doing anything. He’s dead

            James Randi was to skepticism what Charlie Kirk was to debates.

            An inflammatory phony

    • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      I already know about James Randi, his reputation isn’t as clean as you might think, dude was VERY problematic

      Meaning what? You could say this about anybody as long as you don’t provide any evidence. How funny that you want us to believe a vague claim with zero evidence about one of the most famous skeptics ever.

      • QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works
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        7 days ago

        You don’t get it, it wasn’t just religious nuts believing in the Satanic Panic, today only Fundies and Evangelicals go for that nonsense. Back then this was a mainstream belief, heck Christianity itself was incredibly mainstream… Richard Dawkins hadn’t helped start New Atheism yet, no one knew who he was. Churches weren’t in decline yet, you were there every Sunday or you were seen as weird.

        The concept of not believing in a God was itself very strange and novel. Not believing in psychic powers or astrology made you look close minded and dumb in mainstream eyes.

        Now you are allowed to not believe in magic, in fact it seems to be slowly becoming the dominant position.

        I’m sure there’s similar madness today and it will be looked upon as nonsense by hindsight. I know for a fact Donald Trump will be remembered as one of the worst presidents in America’s History if America is even still around

        • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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          6 days ago

          Back then this was a mainstream belief, heck Christianity itself was incredibly mainstream…

          Christianity is still “incredibly mainstream”. In fact, the more extreme Christians have become so mainstream that they’re running the government now.

          Now you are allowed to not believe in magic, in fact it seems to be slowly becoming the dominant position.

          I don’t know where you were living, but I’m confident that most people in the 90s didn’t believe in magic. Yeah, The Craft was pretty popular, but I didn’t know anybody who thought that it was a documentary.

        • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          I get it - you don’t. My point is that it there’s always been bullshit, and there have always been plenty of rational people who could sniff it out. The flavor may have changed, but the nature of the matter has not.