ATS has made me a Skeptic... and I am thankful for it!

Good morning fellow ATS'ers...

When I first joined ATS over a year ago, I was convinced, like many of you, that the world was on a one way elevator to hell.
I thought that there were malignant extraterrestrial beings abducting innocent people for horrible reasons.
I believed that the government was making lists of individuals to be rounded up and put into those infamous FEMA camps when the time for the police state would be ready to stand up.
The NWO was a very real threat and all of us were in danger of being trodden underfoot in their quest for world domination.

Etcetera, etcetera.

ATS opened my eyes to many new viewpoints and topics. Threads were posted discussing various 'end-game' scenarios, power players around the world and their schemes, the Nephilim... and I read most of them, thrilled and terrified at the 'evidence' that sat before me.

Then one day, as I sat reading even more ATS information while enjoying my morning coffee, it hit me.

I was falling for sensationalist reporting.
I had become what I had always mocked previously.
I was allowing someone else's mental leaps of faith to influence and control my natural logical processes.

And since that day, when I log onto ATS to see what's going on in the world outside the MSM, I've slowly returned to being a skeptic.

Mind you, I'd prefer some wonder in my life. Like Fox Mulder from the "X-Files", I want to believe. I want to see miracles and things outside of what modern science and academia can explain. Yet each time, with every new 'discovery' that comes to light, the logic of science and reason wins out over belief and assumption.

When I finally realized it all, I realized that joining ATS had helped me to regain my senses, so to speak. It helped to ground me again, to get my head back in the real world and to properly analyze facts versus heresay.

I'm thankful for that, and ATS. And I'm thankful for all of you, both skeptics and believers who post what you do, so that all of us can read and decide for ourselves how the world around us operates.

Thanks all.

GBD

[edit on 23-7-2010 by GuiltyByDesign]

Though it may seem so, the real world isn't always as it seems, and the real answers we are looking for may not ever be disclosed to us.

What evidence do you really have that the world as we know it won't really go up in flames. I'm glad you know not to believe every story that someone tells, but just because everyone has different opinions shouldn't make you skeptical of the fact that mankind will eventually go down in ruin.

Look at how progressively worse the world has gotten decade to decade... Eventually there's going to be so many sadistic people and anarchists that something will have to be done be it nuclear war or extermination. Take in to account all the asteroids floating around out there as well, there's too many to count; also don't forget that our sun will one day reach it's end, and eventually cook us to death, or not provide the light and heat necessary for survival. It's very obvious mankind will not be here forever whatever the case is. We live in a violent and unforgiving universe.

I know you were't specifically referring to this, but what really is it that makes you a skeptic?

Allow me to say that I do believe the world as we know it is changing daily. I don't deny nor dispute that at all. My skepticism is based on the "world-shaking revelations" and such. I'm not saying I'm always right, or even right half of the time, but I believe that approaching things from a skeptical viewpoint is best for me. When/if the time comes that something major does take place... IE, alien disclosure, NWO police state, etc, I will be the first to admit I was wrong and will adjust accordingly.

When I start feeling the whole "we're doomed" vibe, I look to history to give me some perspective. The Romans felt much the same way during the fall of their Western empire as we Americans do today. Yes, their empire fell, and ours is waning. Will the country fall apart? I honestly don't know that yet and don't care to make a wager either way about it. But rather than worry about something that may or may not happen, I prefer to stand back, take in what information I can, and make the most rational decision I can based on what I've learned.

I agree that we live in an age of increasing violence and cruelty, there is pretty much no doubt about that. But I also believe that we repeat the past... society grows, flourishes, becomes corrupts, collapses, anarchy ensues, society takes root again... rinse and repeat.

Mankind has been through times like this before, and we will be again. I think that the advent of the Internet just makes this fact all the more obvious to humanity now, when before the Information Age we didn't know nearly as much about the world.

GBD

When I finally realized it all, I realized that joining ATS had helped me to regain my senses, so to speak. It helped to ground me again, to get my head back in the real world and to properly analyze facts versus heresay.

I think anyone who has been on ATS long enough will have been through a similar process...when I first joined ATS I was ready to relearn everything I'd learnt my entire life...and a lot of the time I probably wasn't skeptical enough...I slowly had that same epiphany... "What have I become? Am I crazy person that believes too much?" ...It was then that I started analyzing things from a more skeptical point of view...and I found that I was believing a lot less of what I read, and would often think to myself "I probably would have believed that before"...It's always good to keep a sharp eye out for hoaxery...truth seeking is fine and dandy, but believing lies as truth can be ultimately damaging to your entire search.

Now, that doesn't mean there aren't conspiracies and inexplicable phenomena which can't be explained by present scientific understanding. My mind has been opened up to a whole new world since joining ATS, and I have relearnt a great deal of the things I've been taught throughout life. There are many wise and intelligent people post on ATS, and I thank them for giving me the ability to look beyond what is immediately apparent about the reality around me. Being a skeptic doesn't mean you try to prove everything is of mundane scientific explanation. Doesn't it mean "to be skeptical of a given claim and/or evidence of that claim"? When a poster says "Oh, it's obviously just Venus!"...or..."Get a grip, this can easily be explained as a failed rocket launch, move along everyone"...a true skeptic wouldn't agree with those claims simply because they involve no conspiracies, and in fact a true skeptic might be suspicious or "skeptical" of the fact he/she is being told to move along, and would do unbiased research into the truth of the matter.

[edit on 23/7/10 by CHA0S]

reply to post by CHA0S


Precisely, I couldn't have said it better myself!

And you're exactly right... to disclaim something immediately without intimate or first-hand knowledge of a subject is not skepticism... it is ignorance.

Ignorance, as we all know, must be denied.

To be honest, since being here Ive become more paranoid. I'm now sadly dubious of any news story, whether its a cover up by the media or by government or police. I cant seem to trust anyone who says anything in authority anymore.

Don't know whether that's a good thing or not.....

reply to post by GuiltyByDesign

Ah herrm! I smell a bit of sarcasm here! You nifty little sneaky!
Boy! You must feel so hold to the new crowd of ATS now.

Wait a minute! So this site actually helped you drink the kool-aid of optimism and rationalism? I'd swear it's the contrary.

[edit on 23-7-2010 by Exv8densez]

Originally posted by BigOrange
Though it may seem so, the real world isn't always as it seems, and the real answers we are looking for may not ever be disclosed to us.

What evidence do you really have that the world as we know it won't really go up in flames. I'm glad you know not to believe every story that someone tells, but just because everyone has different opinions shouldn't make you skeptical of the fact that mankind will eventually go down in ruin.

Look at how progressively worse the world has gotten decade to decade... Eventually there's going to be so many sadistic people and anarchists that something will have to be done be it nuclear war or extermination. Take in to account all the asteroids floating around out there as well, there's too many to count; also don't forget that our sun will one day reach it's end, and eventually cook us to death, or not provide the light and heat necessary for survival. It's very obvious mankind will not be here forever whatever the case is. We live in a violent and unforgiving universe.

I know you were't specifically referring to this, but what really is it that makes you a skeptic?

The world has always been this crappy, Wars have always been around, Diseases have always been around, Corruption in leaders has always been around and it's no secret. Everyone already knows this