Reply #53: Skeptics, Debunkers and Believers [View All]

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by Mac Tonnies


Students of ufology and extraterrestrial archaeology are constantly confronted with three terms that quietly challenge assumptions of reality: “skeptic,” “debunker” and “believer.” In the storm of claims, hypotheses and accusations that define esoteric research, these labels are routinely misused. I’d like to take this opportunity to look a bit closer at these emotionally charged words in order to see what they really mean, and how they sculpt the epistemological landscape. (I suspect that most readers versed in “forbidden science” secretly know all of this already, but the public arena incessantly distorts definitions to suit its own politics; consequently, one rarely sees “skeptic,” “debunker” or “believer” used in proper context.)

1.) Skeptics

Skeptics are thinkers. Skeptics evaluate evidence, realizing that there is no absolute plane of reference on which to cling. Skeptics neither debunk nor believe--unless they are able to establish that a given phenomenon deserves to be debunked. “Belief” is not a luxury the true skeptic can afford; the mechanics of skeptical thought are rooted in probability and open-mindedness. Being a skeptic requires courage and intellectual flexibility. What looks like a neat idea may turn out to be unsubstantiated nonsense; conversely, it might be the real thing.

2.) Debunkers

Debunkers comprise the most virulent of contemporary self-described “skeptics.” There is nothing inherently unsound about debunking, contrary to the many appeals on behalf of the “pro” side of any given paranormal controversy. But in order to debunk, the subject being debunked must be bunk. Valid, substantiated evidence cannot be debunked until new evidence supplants or alters it.
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As researcher Daniel Drasin aptly notes in “Zen and the Art of Debunkery,” “extraordinary” is an essentially emotional word, not any sort of qualitative objective standard. This allows the would-be debunker to define “extraordinary” at her whim, establishing a forever out-of-reach “evidential horizon” that no amount of evidence can hope to surpass.

“Skepticism” is not merely the focus of semantic confusion. Its implications are exceedingly political. Cults, governments, advertisers, religions, schools, and the news media have an abiding interest in infecting you with their beliefs. If you're not vigilantly skeptical, it’s all too easy to succumb. The moment you do, you trap yourself in a given “reality tunnel” (to borrow a term from skeptic extraordinaire Robert Anton Wilson).

The Earth of the early 21st century is a deceiving, perilous place, and we may ultimately pay for the luxury of our zealously guarded tunnel realities with our own extinction. Wrench your mind out of its routines. Eviscerate your most cherished notions, leaving “belief” severed and twitching on the dissection tray where it belongs. And the invisible fog begins to part; the idiot chatter of our collective human television channel (all ads, all day) fades to a whisper somewhere in the distance.

http://www.mactonnies.com/skeptic.html