UFO? Photo by Håkan Dahlström under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
The Connecticut Post published a front-page article on Aug. 13 about a local paranormal research group’s activities. After it appeared, an exchange ensued through the newspaper’s opinion section, with skeptics decrying the article and true believers insinuating that the skeptics were close-minded.
Seeing that the vitriol wasn’t subsiding, I jumped into the fray. The Post published my letter, which follows, on Aug. 23:
Unlike some of the skeptical commenters who appeared in the You Said It section throughout last week, I wasn't offended that the Connecticut Post published a front-page article about the Orange-based paranormal group Smoking Gun Research Agency (SGRA).
Regardless of my own skepticism regarding the paranormal, the local nature of the group and its growing popularity within the community make it a newsworthy subject.
The piece was disappointing in one major way, though: it failed to examine the standard of "evidence" for some of the SGRA's claims.
However professional-sounding it may be, the SGRA uses long-debunked pseudo-scientific tools and methods in its investigations. It also employs psychics, not one of whom has ever been able to demonstrate any ability that a well-trained magician or mentalist couldn't perform.
The SGRA's staff members "screen all material" before adding it to their library, according to the article. Yet SGRA's online library includes a title on global conspiracy by David Icke, who famously proposed that a race of shape-shifting "reptoids" from the constellation Draco were secretly controlling human civilization by posing as world leaders.
The evidence for most paranormal phenomena is scant at best. Nevertheless, I do think that paranormal research is important, as long the work is rigorous and scientific.
An open mind accepts new evidence -- after critical scrutiny. The SGRA's bar is apparently much lower than that.
Seeing that the vitriol wasn’t subsiding, I jumped into the fray. The Post published my letter, which follows, on Aug. 23:
Unlike some of the skeptical commenters who appeared in the You Said It section throughout last week, I wasn't offended that the Connecticut Post published a front-page article about the Orange-based paranormal group Smoking Gun Research Agency (SGRA).
Regardless of my own skepticism regarding the paranormal, the local nature of the group and its growing popularity within the community make it a newsworthy subject.
The piece was disappointing in one major way, though: it failed to examine the standard of "evidence" for some of the SGRA's claims.
However professional-sounding it may be, the SGRA uses long-debunked pseudo-scientific tools and methods in its investigations. It also employs psychics, not one of whom has ever been able to demonstrate any ability that a well-trained magician or mentalist couldn't perform.
The SGRA's staff members "screen all material" before adding it to their library, according to the article. Yet SGRA's online library includes a title on global conspiracy by David Icke, who famously proposed that a race of shape-shifting "reptoids" from the constellation Draco were secretly controlling human civilization by posing as world leaders.
The evidence for most paranormal phenomena is scant at best. Nevertheless, I do think that paranormal research is important, as long the work is rigorous and scientific.
An open mind accepts new evidence -- after critical scrutiny. The SGRA's bar is apparently much lower than that.
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