SUNlite -- New Skeptical Newsletter

See the first issue of SUNlite at
home.comcast.net...

Editor Tim Printy writes: "I look forward to input, comments, and possible future submissions from everyone. Future issues will come out every two months and can be downloaded from my website at:
home.comcast.net..."

having scanned it, i'm not all that sure what it adds to the subject. the only real reason i can come up with to publish something like that is vanity, really.

a habitual skeptic seems to speak from quite a blinkered position, to say "thats rubbish and i'll find a way to prove it" to every piece of evidence seems.....dishonest. i wonder does it just translate into "i'm smarter than that guy, here's the proof".

skepticism has it's place but to spend all your time in "disbelief of all but the mundane" as a position of preference seems a small and obscure location from which to view the world. it's akin to looking at the stars through the gaps in the leaves, you observe the odd item of interest but the majesty of the sky is eternally lost to you.
climb to the canopy and see it all in it's glory once in a while.

i don't see any great merit in disbelief of all over belief of all. a hardened skeptic, to me, seems as useless as a fervent believer.

neither is really capable of adding anything relevant to the debate, they just clog up attempts at an honest assessment of the evidence with their vanity and bickering.

Originally posted by pieman
i don't see any great merit in disbelief of all over belief of all. a hardened skeptic, to me, seems as useless as a fervent believer.

neither is really capable of adding anything relevant to the debate, they just clog up attempts at an honest assessment of the evidence with their vanity and bickering.

That pieman, is as well as I've seen that put.

I wish I could star you a thousand times.

Originally posted by pieman
i don't see any great merit in disbelief of all over belief of all. a hardened skeptic, to me, seems as useless as a fervent believer.

neither is really capable of adding anything relevant to the debate, they just clog up attempts at an honest assessment of the evidence with their vanity and bickering.

The difference is that disbelief of everything makes us ask questions, while belief in anything makes us accept things.

After a quick look at that newsletter I don't see it as anything special, ATS is better than that.

Originally posted by ArMaP
The difference is that disbelief of everything makes us ask questions,

i don't think that's true though, i think it's a misconception.
i think a hardened skeptic decides the answer, that it is untrue, and then looks for the right questions to ask in order to convince themselves that their answer is correct.
a fervent believer decides the answer, that it is true, and looks for questions to convince themselves their answer is correct.
neither is being honest.

the question "how can i show this as false?" is as useless to us as "how can i show this is true?", they both clog things up.

the only question that will move things forward is "is this true?".

Originally posted by pieman

Originally posted by ArMaP
The difference is that disbelief of everything makes us ask questions,

i don't think that's true though, i think it's a misconception.

Not to me.

For example (and to try to keep this on-topic), this newsletter, I looked at it with my "disbelief on"; I did not knew anything about it, I do not know that guy, etc., so I looked at it as an unknown. What I saw was someone that looks like one more of those people that are more worried about proving someone else wrong than proving something as true.

If I had looked at it with "belief on" I would see someone that does not accept blindly what other people say, and if I had used the "100% belief" I would not even looked at it, after all it was presented as a sceptic newsletter by someone that is considered (right or wrong) by some as a professional debunker of UFO sightings.

PS: I don't know if you noticed that I did not talked about sceptics and believers, just about believing in everything and disbelieving everything.

Originally posted by pieman
the only question that will move things forward is "is this true?".

I'm in violent agreement here.

And there are specifics in this new publication that most ATS'ers will choose to ignore because they might make believing something they want to believe is true, harder.

Knee-jerk disbelievers aren't the only closed-minded people on this subject.

Visiting Conspiracy sites only reinforces my skepticism.

A lot of Jr League pseudo-science, twisiting of data, attempts to reinforce self-image by role-playing truth seeking detective. The inevitable anti-US and allies hatred. Acceptance of anything in any book, website, video.

Those who demand some kind of independent validation of hearsay, amateur videos, outrageous claims, are outnumbered and an almost persecuted minority.

So-called skeptics are people who want to know what's going on. It shouldn't be an uphill battle every time climbing over a mountain of disinformation and paranoia.


Mike

there will always be debunkers and believers. that's not going to change anytime soon. i think the people that are in the middle will be the ones to see the truth.

with that said ...why do i get the feeling the purpose of this thread is to gather info for next months newsletter

Originally posted by easynow
with that said ...why do i get the feeling the purpose of this thread is to gather info for next months newsletter

Because your mind conjures up phantom motivations for people whose opinions you want an excuse to ignore?

reply to post by JimOberg

Because your mind conjures up phantom motivations for people whose opinions you want an excuse to ignore?

who said i was ignoring them ?

i think your mind is conjuring up pre conceived misconceptions because you belong to the Skeptics Society and have a biased judgment.

that's what is wrong with ufology

I just skimmed through that SUNLite. Pretty good stuff that needs to be revealed. Deservedly demolishes the Roswell mythology with close looks at the manipulations and distortions by the professional conmen who have built this into a sub-industry.

I don't think even the most hard core believers can read through and not be shaken.


Mike