THE GOOD FIGHT AGAINST BAD THINKING
SALTON SEA, CA — JUNE 2018 — On the shore of this sunbaked sea in the Mojave Desert, two teams gather for a test. One team — call it Team Inquiry — consists of scientists and self-styled thinkers trusting hypotheses and observation. The other team believes the earth is flat.
Nine miles across the salty sea, Team Inquiry has rigged a 9 x 6 foot striped boat to a helium balloon. On this near shore, a telescope aims at the horizon. IF — and it seems a small “if” — the earth is flat, they should spot the boat now, or seconds after the balloon lifts it.
All eyes peer across the sea. Binoculars rise, hopes, too. At a signal, the balloon is released. Through the scope, no boat. Seconds later still no sighting. Finally, when the balloon reaches 45 feet, the boat! The earth’s curvature hid it until then. Case closed. Or is it?
We live in a tide, a flood, a deluge of nonsense. Flat-earthers are few, but hordes of “true believers” are spewing daily drivel about hoaxes, conspiracies, and garden variety B.S. It’s easy to dismiss “those people” as hopeless, immune to facts. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) thinks that’s a mistake.
Since 1976, when philosopher Paul Kurtz gathered rationalists from astronomer Carl Sagan to psychologist B.F. Skinner, CSI has fought the good fight against bad thinking. Headquartered in Amherst, NY, CSI promotes “scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims.”
Mere skepticism is as easy as crying “bullshit!” But following Kurtz’s “Skepticism of the Third Kind,” CSI tests, inquires, then challenges. Using a podcast, press releases, speakers’ bureau, and a bi-monthly magazine, CSI de-bunks and “pre-bunks” everyday nonsense.
“I am a debunker, yes, by definition,” wrote CSI’s James Randi, “but I think scientific investigator covers it better.”
Early in COVID, when the Youtube documentary “Plandemic” went viral, CSI announced eight questions challenging its claims of conspiracy and cover-up. No response.
Elsewhere, CSI has denounced Amazon for promoting untested homeopathic cures, filed “friend of the court” briefs in lawsuits defending LGBT rights against religious attacks, and demanded proof of astrology, UFOs, mind reading, and more. Its new Office of Consumer Protection from Pseudoscience lets consumers sue promoters of products based on B.S.
CSI abounds in awards, including the “In Praise of Reason Award,” the “Candle in the Dark Award,” and the recent Full of Bull, chosen by vote. Full of Bull nominees included Infowars sleazeball Alex Jones, “anti-vaxxer in chief” Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and a bullshitter who needs no introduction, Rudy Giuliani.
“These individuals spend their days cooking up falsehoods and misdeeds with the sole purpose of creating division and distrust – all while growing their own profiles and bottom lines.” And the winner is??? Rudy Giuliani, though he might consider the election rigged.
But CSI is not just a pack of snide dataheads holed up in labs. Under its parent Center for Inquiry are 200+ like-minded groups around the world. American affiliates range from Bay Area Skeptics to the Central Florida Free Thought Community, from the Freethinkers of Central Texas (FACT) to Reason, Empiricists and Skeptics of Nebraska (REASON) If, as artist Francisco Goya warned, “the sleep of reason breeds monsters,” then CSI is sounding an alarm.
The alarms ring loudest in Skeptical Inquirer. First published quarterly, CSI’s magazine went bi-monthly once the Internet made hokum a cottage industry.
“It takes only a paper-thin YouTube challenge or a half-baked website to undo 400 years of science,” Skeptical Inquirer noted. Recent cover stories include: “How to Repair the American Mind,” “The Bizarre Quiniverse of Qanon Conspiracies,” “Megavitamins: Puffery vs. Fact,” and “Surviving the Misinformation Age.”
And yet, and yet. . .
From SI: “A recent survey (Poppy 2017) of 1,511 American adults found that 54 percent believe the 9/11 attacks involved a U.S. government conspiracy, while 42 percent believe global warming is a conspiracy or a hoax . . . Thirty percent believe President Obama was born in Kenya. . . 32 percent believe the North Dakota crash was a government cover up, despite the fact that the researchers completely fabricated the ‘North Dakota crash’ and inserted it into the survey to see how many respondents view everything as a conspiracy.”
What to do? Dig deeper into the toolbag of patience, reason, and hope. Call out those Full of Bull, and educate, educate, educate.
“The American mind can be repaired in the long term by teaching the skills and principles of critical thinking to every child,” Skeptical Inquirer wrote. “The answer lies with us. Teach our children thinking skills so that they can be their own editors and fact checkers.”
Back at the Salton Sea, Team Inquiry was not surprised. They knew the earth was round. But would Team Flat-Earth agree?
“Well, you know the atmospheric disturbances. . . “
“What we just saw didn’t happen like that.”
“The post-demo face-off,” Skeptical Inquirer wrote, “quickly devolved into tangents about the alleged ‘moon hoax,’ NASA cover-ups, and why us ‘globers’ can’t see how we’re being played by various powerful and secretive institutions.”
Sigh. . .
The battle goes on. CSI, founded to challenge ‘70s bunk such as Bigfoot and alien abductions, presses on against more dangerous denials — of global warming, vaccinations, election results. Why bother?
“To confront the challenges that face us as a planetary civilization, we need to use the tools of science and reason guided by compassion and respect for the dignity of every individual.”
Because “the sleep of reason breeds monsters,” we need to keep up the good fight.
