the Skeptic Contents Vol 24, No 4 Summer 2004 ISSN 0726-9897 Regulars

Editor ♦ 3 – Editorial — Reflections on a Phenomenon— Barry Williams Barry Williams ♦ 4 – Around the Traps — Bunyip ♦ 61 – Letters Contributing Editors ♦ 66 - Notices Tim Mendham Steve Roberts

Technology Consultant Richard Saunders

Chief Investigator Features Ian Bryce ♦ 6 - Convention Round-up — Barry Williams ♦ 10 - World Skeptic Congress — Lynne Kelly All correspondence to: ♦ 15 - The Strikes Back — Martin Bridgstock Inc ♦ PO Box 268 18 - Fractured Fundamentalists — Brian Baxter Roseville NSW 2069 ♦ 22 - The False Bits from Humbug — Jef & Theo Clark ♦ 28 - The Skeptic — (ABN 90 613 095 379 ) ♦ 32 - Nutrition Myth: Cellulite — Glenn Cardwell ♦ 35 - If it Sounds Like a Duck — Peter Bowditch Contact Details ♦ Tel: (02) 9417 2071 40 - Interview: Skeptical, Comical and Rational — Richard Cadena Fax: (02) 9417 7930 ♦ 44 - Interview: Confronting — Richard Saunders new e-mail: [email protected] ♦ 47 - The Good Word — Mark Newbrook ♦ 50 - The of Religion — John Warren Web Pages ♦ 52 - Review: The Unreal State of Real Estate — Michael Lucht Australian Skeptics ♦ www.skeptics.com.au 55 - Notice: A Plea from Nigeria — No ♦ 56 - Review: Out of the Mouths of Babes — Rob Hardy http://home.austarnet.com.au/stear/default.htm ♦ 58 - Review: Thoughts of Freethinkers — James Gerrand ♦ 56 - Forum: Two Cheers for — Jon Jermey the Skeptic is a journal of fact and opinion, published four times per year by Australian Skeptics Inc. Views and opinions expressed in articles and letters in the Skeptic are those of the authors, and are not necessarily Photo Credits:Eran Segev, Lynne Kelly, Richard Saunders, Peter Hogan those of Australian Skeptics Inc. Articles may Cover art by Charles Rose of Cogency be reprinted with permission and with due acknowledgement to the Skeptic. Skeptics around Australia Editorial consultants: Dr Stephen Basser (medicine) Queensland Western Australia Dr Richard Gordon (medicine) Australian Skeptics Inc Australian Skeptics (Qld) WA Skeptics Dr William Grey (philosophy) PO Box 268 PO Box 6454 22 Esperance Street Prof Colin Groves (anthropology) Roseville NSW 2069 Fairfield Gardens QLD 4103 East Victoria Park WA 6101 Tel: (02) 9417 2071 Tel: (07) 3255 0499 Tel: (08) 9448 8458 Mr Martin Hadley (law) Fax: (02) 9417 7930 [email protected] [email protected] Dr Colin Keay (astronomy) [email protected] Qskeptics eGroup Dr Mark Newbrook (linguistics) (To subscribe send blank message to: Tasmania Australian Skeptics in Tasmania Dr Andrew Parle (physics) Hunter Skeptics [email protected]) PO Box 166 PO Box 582 Prof Ian Plimer (geology) Waratah NSW 2298 Gold Coast Skeptics North Hobart TAS 7000. Dr Stephen Moston () Tel: (02) 4957 8666. PO Box 8348 Tel: (03) 6234 1458 Dr Alex Ritchie (palaeontology) Fax: (02) 4952 6442 GCMC Bundall QLD 4217 [email protected] Tel: (07) 5593 1882 Dr Steve Roberts (chemistry) Victoria Fax: (07) 5593 2776 Northern Territory Mr Roland Seidel (mathematics) Australian Skeptics (Vic) Inc [email protected] Darwin Skeptics Branch correspondents: GPO Box 5166AA PO Box 809 Sanderson NT 0812 ACT: Mr Peter Barrett VIC 3001 South Australia Tel: 1 800 666 996 Skeptics SA Tel: (08) 8932 2194 Gold Coast: Mr John Stear Fax: 03 9531 6705 PO Box 377 Fax: (08) 8932 7553 Hunter: Mr Michael Creech [email protected] Rundle Mall SA 5000 [email protected] Qld: Dr Linda Shields Tel: (08) 8272 5881 ACT Fax: (08) 8272 5881 Borderline Skeptics SA: Mr Allan Lang Canberra Skeptics [email protected] PO Box 17 Tas: Mr Fred Thornett PO Box 555 Mitta Mitta VIC 3701 Vic: Mr Grant Stevenson Civic Square ACT 2608 Tel: (02) 6072 3632 [email protected] WA: Dr John Happs [email protected] Editorial Reflections on a Phenomenon

This issue represents the culmi- method. To a large extent, we of a video on water divining, has nation of 24 years of publishing have resisted that temptation raised our profile around the the Skeptic and it is probably a and, as was emphasised by the globe, leading to sales of our good time for a bit of reflection inclusion of comedians at the work in many countries. about our journal and about Aus- recent convention, Skeptics enjoy A further indication of the im- tralian Skeptics in general. The a good laugh in a good cause. A pact achieved by an advocacy Skeptic began as a four page humorous approach can often group (as the Skeptics is) the broadsheet, but with the second help in getting a serious message amount of media attention it at- edition it emerged as a 16 page across, or as H L Mencken put it tracts. By that token, Australian A4 sized magazine. Since then it in his famous phrase, “One good Skeptics must rank among the has evolved through many mani- horse laugh is worth a thousand most successful of such bodies in festations and, with the aid of syllogisms”. the world. It is a rare week in improved computer technology, During the life of Australian which a Skeptic does not appear, grown into the familiar journal Skeptics we have held an annual is quoted, or has provided some you are now reading. convention every year since 1985, useful information in the media. In that time we have broad- most of which have been highly That is not at all common among ened the scope of our activities successful, with the most recent our colleagues overseas. We get a away from a rather narrow focus one in counting among pretty fair run in the media be- on common paranormal claims, the successes. We even managed cause we are available and reli- into a skeptical coverage of many to hold a World Skeptics Conven- able and diverse matters that have tion in 2000 which, reports sug- Many people have been in- interested our readers. We have gest, has not been bettered as a volved in our success, as commit- also attracted a wider selection of function by any of the other tee members, as contributors, as contributors, from a wider range World Conventions. It was a lot of subscribers and supporters — all of expertise, who have assisted in hard work, as conventions always part of the Skeptics network. Our broadening our horizons and im- are, but success makes it worth- thanks are due to every one of proving our understanding. while you, as are our very best wishes One of our aims has been to do Another advance we have as another year comes to an end. something that is not necessarily made, and I believe we are We hope you will all be back in a priority of all similar journals unique among Skeptics groups the new year, and if you notice a or organisations, that is, to main- world-wide in this, is to capture portly chap with a white beard tain a sense of humour — to tem- all our back issues in electronic wandering around a shopping per advocacy with wit. Many format, first with the Great Skep- centre, please don’t attack him as groups with a serious purpose tic CD and then with the updated a symbol of superstitious exploi- succumb to a grave temptation to Great Skeptic CD2, containing 23 tation of the young. It might just take themselves far too seriously years of output and much more be ... — to confuse purpose with besides. This, plus our production Barry Williams

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 3 News and Views Around the Traps

Seeing stars In passing

During his recent It has been a sad quar- highly successful visit ter since our last issue to Australia as a spe- for some of those with cial guest of the Aus- whom Skeptics have tralian Skeptics and had fundamental disa- keynote Speaker at the greements. Convention, “Bad As- In early October, Prof tronomer” Phil Plait John Mack, the was taken on a tour of Harvard psychiatrist astronomy and space who famously gave cre- exploration landmarks dence to alien abduction in Australia. stories, was knocked Among the sites he down by a car on a visit visited were to London and died as a Tidbinbilla Tracking result. Station and the ruins Possibly the most fa- of Mt Stromlo Observa- mous ‘abductee’ of all, tory in the ACT, as a Phil Plait flanked by Neil Mason and Cliff Smith Betty Hill, whose claim guest of the Canberra to have been abducted Skeptics. by a UFO in 1961 started the whole Fittingly, there were two special Then, under the tender care of improbable field, died in her 80s at guests in the audience, Neil “Fox” Alynda, Peter Rodgers and Eran Segev her home in the USA. Also passing Mason and Cliff Smith. On the night from the NSW Committee, he went to from the scene was Joyce Jillson, of July 21 1969, working under the Siding Spring where he was treated who became famous as one of the supervision of John Bolton, Mason was to a tour of the telescope sites and a astrologers who allegedly advised the telescope driver and Smith was in light aircraft flight around the area by Nancy Reagan on auspicious dates charge of maintenance (including Skeptic subscriber and astrophysicist, for meetings for her husband, the making sure there was enough petrol Andre Phillips. President. in the generator’s tank). Phil was pho- From there, he went to Parkes, Finally, the French chemist, tographed with the two guests at a where he gave his “Moon Landing Jacques Benveniste, whose claims mock-up of the telescope control panel Hoax” talk to members of the Central about ‘memory’ being retained by made especially for the film, The Dish. Western NSW Astronomical Society at water, gave a boost to the homeopa- Phil wound up his successful tour the famous Parkes radiotelescope dish. thy promoters, died in France after with a talk, co-hosted by The Austral- History minded readers will know that heart surgery. ian Museum Society, at the Austral- this facility was instrumental in re- While we might have disagreed ian Museum. Phil, who was a great ceiving the images of the first human with their claims, we are nonethe- guest and speaker, can no longer claim steps on the moon. less saddened by their passing. that he has never seen the Southern Cross.

Page 4 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 UFO Abductions: the evidence All in the family Somebody blundered

Visiting Skeptics were startled at the Why is it so difficult to distinguish Is it just us, or have the internet recent national convention in Sydney between the concepts of “ancestors” spammers started eschewing the Ni- to see a UFO flying around the foyer and “descendants”? We don’t know, but gerian Letter in favour of an obsessive of the venue, where it homed in on the it seems to be a problem for some of interest in the sexual prowess of eve- only rocket scientist in attendance, the those working in our ‘quality’ media. ryone of late? We are constantly being Skeptics Investigator-in-Chief, Ian The ABC has, within the past few bombarded with offers to increase cer- Bryce. It would require a dra- tain intimate dimensions or matic suspension of disbelief potions to spice up our li- to see this as being purely co- bido. This one, just in, has incidental, so we have no al- really piqued our interest: ternative but to assume the Since the 20 age, your trunk craft was under the control of sluggishly desists makes a an alien intelligence. grave hormone known as Shocked Skeptical by- Someone Increase Hormone. standers were rendered para- The reduction of it, which lysed and mute as the appa- controls levels of other inter- rition apparitioned and nal secretions in our organic hovered around the head of structure is directly respon- the nonplused Bryce. In itself, sible for many of the largest surely this is evidence of how ordinary designations of a powerful energy unknown to growing old, such as fur- science (EUTS) is capable of rows, gray hair, subsided interfering with the central power, and weakened sexual nervous system and critical purpose. faculties of even the most ada- If there are any doctors mantine Skeptic. out there who know the full Fortuitously, the raid was details of “Someone Increase rendered relatively impotent Hormone”, would they by a phenomenon first noted please reply in strict confi- by H G Wells in his novel War dence to Bunyip under a of the Worlds, to wit, alien in- plain brown paper wrapper? competence. In that case, the It sounds like just the sort evil (or perhaps misunder- of thing that someone stood and themselves victims should not be without. of childhood trauma) Gallant Ian Bryce under attack from alien ship Martians fell victim to an months, displayed at least one exam- Earth virus; in this case it was a re- ple of confusion in a documentary Commercial opportunity sult of imperfect intelligence estimates about Aboriginal people in the NT brought about, no doubt, by faulty dis- The Skeptics have for sale several co- seeking to restore the reputation of a tance viewing techniques involving a mestible items that bear striking re- man who had been killed in the 1920s. inappropriate scale problem. The semblances to a variety of identities, It described his descendants as ‘ances- intergalactic craft, when it arrived to both sacred and secular. You can have tors’, while the Melbourne Age re- carry out its nefarious purpose, was the deity of your choice limned in a se- cently published this gem: insufficiently spacious to engulf an lection of nourishing spreads (our entire Bryce and its thwarted To complete her story of pioneering Vegemite Zeus is particularly tasty) or galactoid inhabitants had to be con- courage, Mrs Evans struggled 100 why not try our Lamb Casserole tent with abducting his pen. kilometres to a doctor. These days, her William Shakespeare or a packet of So perish all sinister plans to sub- ancestors feel they are still treated as Johnny Cashews? No discerning col- jugate Earth to the evil designs of al- remote pioneers who should put up lector should be without one. No offer iens. with rough conditions — like regular over $10,000 will be refused. (Expect to see this story appear, power cuts. slightly changed and totally The old cliche “Gone to join his an- unattributed, in a near future edition cestors” does not mean he is living with Bunyip of Nexus.) his grandkids.

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 5 Convention Round-up

They came from all across the Wide pants, and that was our decision to Brown (and getting browner by the lighten up proceedings by including day) Land to visit the 20th annual two professional comedians and two Skeptics National Convention. We professional magicians among the had delegates from every state and line-up of speakers. Both Sue-Ann territory, except the NT, and it was a Post and Flacco had the audience in pleasure at last to put faces to stitches (to the chagrin of the doc- names that we have long known. tors aplenty in the audience) with Glenn Cardwell, our Skeptical Nutri- their rather offbeat views of the tionist, was there from Perth; Bryan world, but both also had much of Walpole came from Hobart (but he serious interest to impart, wrapped also spends time on Macquarie Is- up in their comedy. land in the Antarctic); Veikko Tanner Sue-Ann, who bills herself as dropped in from Julatten, which is so “Australia’s Only 6 Foot, ex-Mor- Far North in Far North Queensland mon, Lesbian, Feminist, Diabetic that locals regard Townsville as Comedian” spoke both hilariously “Down South” and Doug Irvin came and movingly of her experiences from Townsville itself. Nor should we stemming from her association with forget Russell and Robyn Kelly, a all the facets that make up her ti- couple of Borderline Skeptics, whose tle. She mentioned in passing that journey was not so long, but it did Bad Phil Plait when she and Flacco had attended begin at the evocatively named the Fringe Festival Wombat Gully. It was great to meet ence to those that claim that the some years ago, they had been intro- them all, as well as to re-establish Apollo Moon landings were all a Hol- duced as a “typical Australian cou- many old friendships. We think they lywood stunt. Phil enthusiastically ple” (which probably accounts for the all enjoyed themselves and we have participated in all phases of the con- drop in migration here from Scot- had lots of positive feedback about vention and later toured and gave land). the convention. talks at astronomical sites around In characteristic mode, Flacco Phil Plait, the “Bad Astronomer”, NSW and the ACT, as mentioned spoke about a book, “Releasing the our overseas keynote speaker, spoke elsewhere in this issue. We are very Imbecile Within” written by one Paul informatively and entertainingly grateful to Phil and would be de- Livingston who, he claimed, was a about the plethora of conspiracy lighted to see him back here again in figment of his imagination (Paul theories that surround astronomy the future. claims the vice is versa). He ex- and space flight, with special refer- One thing in particular was men- plained in detail how even the most tioned approvingly by many partici-

Page 6 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 Skeptical among the audience could and on the topic of global release their inner imbecile and thus warming and nuclear energy. We fit much more comfortably into a heard plenty of good science and world of reality TV and the Internet. politics from Ian Plimer (geologist), Mark Mayer baffled the audience Colin Keay (physicist) and Danny in a highly entertaining presenta- Kennedy (Greenpeace advocate) but tion, by speaking to dead people and it really wasn’t a debate. Debates are reading minds of the living, while probably not the best way to discuss Steve Walker unveiled several new these issues anyway, but all three jokes and tricks as he magically en- speakers provided much food for tertained those who attended the thought. dinner. When asked to “put the ket- Education, particularly in science, tle on”, Steve happily complied (see came under scrutiny from Cheryl photo). Capra (primary teacher) and Martin Ian Bryce got the Friday proceed- Bridgstock (university lecturer) talk- ings rolling with results of his inves- ing about techniques they used to tigations into many devices, includ- enlighten their charges to the won- ing some that had appeared on the ders of the world, and the need for ABC’s New Inventors, that had seri- and use of, in their en- ous conflicts with well established Sue-Ann Post deavours. Richard and Alynda joined scientific principles (more about this in with their frenetic and entertain- later). Four people from different ing Mystery Investigators show for backgrounds spoke of why they sup- schools. ported evolution rather than crea- Lynne Kelly (more of whom later) tionism as the explanation of why we wound up the proceedings with prac- are as we are. Colin Groves (anthro- tical demonstrations of how skeptics pologist) Paul Willis (palaeontolo- could use science and psychology to gist) and Phil Plait (astronomer) make their points in an easily com- spoke of the preponderance of scien- prehensible and user-friendly way. tific evidence, with many details. We hope to have a dvd of high- David Millikan, as befitted a minis- lights of the Convention available in ter of religion, took a slightly differ- the not too distant future. ent tack, though he agreed that the scientific evidence made a nonsense Awards of creation ‘science’. As is customary at our annual con- Alternative medicine was scruti- ventions, we presented two awards nised, first by Peter Bowditch with a at this one. The Bent Spoon Award, characteristically hard-hitting and “presented to the perpetrator of the rapid-fire assault on its more idiotic Flacco most preposterous piece of fringes, to be followed by David pseudoscientific or paranormal pif- Brookman, a medical educator, with fle” caused more discussion than is a more formal presentation of the usual among the judging panel, con- differences between the approaches sisting of the various state commit- of alternative and orthodox tee members present. From a large healthcare. Steve Roberts spoke of field of nominations on our web site, “having a big one”, referring (we the finalists came down to two TV think) to the very large numbers programmes. involved in the practice of homeopa- The first was an effort named thy and to large numbers in general. Sensing Murder, aired on the 10 Net- Various prominent Skeptics then work. This programme showed de- tried to end it all by consuming tails and discussions of unsolved handfuls of homeopathic sleeping murders in Australia and then, with pills, with no ill-effects being evident total disregard for the sensitivities of (though some of them were over- relatives of victims, used a panel of heard slurring their sibilants later in self-described to spout the evening at the dinner). highly improbable “evidence” that, One mistake we probably made they claimed, might aid in solving was in billing a debate about science the crimes. As an exercise in bad Steve Walker

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 7 Leading Skeptics ending it all Skeptic of the Year meets Santa taste, this was a highly favoured very beginning. With degrees in both deal of experience in media and pub- contender. science and engineering, Lynne had lic speaking as a result and she The second programme was The a very successful career as a high never misses an opportunity to pro- New Inventors, shown on ABC TV. school science teacher and published mote skepticism and Australian While the programme itself was un- several books. This year she had The Skeptics. Lynne Kelly is a most wor- exceptionable and while it did act as Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal thy recipient of the accolade Skeptic a showcase for many worthwhile published by a major publisher, with of the Year. inventions and provided support for a US publishing deal (and possibly a Her award scroll reads: inventors, a number of the inven- TV series) in the offing. In this en- tions selected for showing relied on deavour, Lynne has gained a great principles that can only be seen as Australian Skeptics Inc . Most strikingly was has great pleasure in awarding the title one that claimed to use low inten- sity sound to remove bacteria from Australian Skeptic of the Year water supplies. Several Skeptics 2004 had contacted the producers of the show, requesting that the employ to someone with a scientific back- ground to vet claims, but this was Lynne Kelly not done. When it came to the vote, al- Who, by her forthright approach as though Sensing Murder was an ap- a teacher and author, palling example of sensationalism and credulous insensitivity, it was and in her dedication to presenting Skepticism felt that the ABC should be ex- in a positive, thoughtful and up-beat light pected to adhere to higher stand- ards in its programmes, than were in her teaching, writing normally exhibited by commercial networks, and the Bent Spoon and media appearances, award was won, very narrowly, by has contributed substantially to the “The Producers of The New Inven- tors. continuing health and wellbeing There was no such controversy of our society. about the selection of the Australian Skeptic of the Year. Lynne Kelly has been a Skeptic subscriber since the Alynda and Richard give a pointed and bal;anced presentation

Page 8 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 Convention Miscellany

Mark Mayer baffles Margaret Kittson

Bryce, booze, Bowditch

Steve Roberts Steve Walker channels Slim Dusty

David Brookman

Cheryl Capra Ian Plimer Danny Kennedy Colin Groves

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 9 Report Fourth Skeptics World Congress

A report from the front lines The World Skeptic’s Congress, ticism vary between the countries Abano Terme, , October, represented in our small group eat- of world skepticism 2004 ing pizza and drinking Italian wines? They were so very different If Argentina had been more skeptical because of the social, political, reli- of the lies and corruption twenty gious, cultural and educational envi- years ago, then it would be a differ- ronments. This was a fascinating ent country today. So we were told, start to a fantastic experience. By with vivid descriptions of life in a the end of the congress, with many country where bank accounts are other countries added to the mix, the zeroed. But then again, it is also a insights gained would have a pro- country where people disappear found affect on my thinking and without explanation. It is sometimes make me very glad I am a skeptic better not to ask questions. The making a public stand in Australia. Argentinean editor of the new Span- The Congress was organised by ish language skeptical journal, the Italian Skeptical organisation, Pensar, Alejandro Borgo, was argu- CICAP along with its parent organi- ing that skepticism should encom- sation, CSICOP. Most presentations pass economics and politics as much were in English, with those who as, if not more than, claims of the spoke only Italian having ear-sets paranormal. The Canadian professor and access to a team of translators. of nuclear medicine convinced us The food was great! (Important that the need is to be skeptical of all things first.) medicine, not just that which we label as ‘alternative’. The Spaniard Opening the debate wanted to make sure religion was on Opening sessions discussed whether the agenda. The Brit said ‘skeptic’ a dialogue is possible between skep- was such a negative, the word tics and parapsychologists. Dr should be avoided all together, to Caroline Watt, President of the which all agreed — except me. And Parapsychological Association, works so the debates began — and this was in the Koester Unit only at dinner on the night before Lynne Kelly is a science teacher and author. of the University of Edinburgh, the congress began. Her latest book is The Skeptic’s Guide to the where she made it clear that re- The World Skeptics Congress was Paranormal. She was awarded the accolade search is not only into possible psi held in Abano Terme, near , of Australian Skeptic of the Year for 2004 at (psychic phenomena of all descrip- Italy, in October 2004. How did skep- the recent Australian Skeptics Convention. tions), but also into what made peo-

Page 10 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 ple believe they were experiencing The last point led to further dis- psi. Working with cussion about just how much of tra- (Professor of Psychology at the Uni- ditional physics and neurophysiology versity of Hertfordshire) among is wrong, and hence must be radi- others, it is clear that both sides of cally revised, if psi is ‘true’. Hence the debate can collaborate if there is evidence is needed. As these specifics a desire to do so. I was convinced of physics and other have that a positive attitude from skep- passed all the above rules with ease tics to working with those who do over many decades, then there is not necessarily agree with us, can going to have to be a strong case for only be good for the public profile of psi. skepticism, but also for our joint A point which made a strong im- ultimate goal (isn’t it?): the search pact on me was that for all other for truth. Watt openly acknowl- sciences we can set an experiment in edged the range of parapsycholo- first year at university, or much ear- gists from those who are willing to lier, in which the teacher can be sure accept the outcomes of rigorous the whole class will get the same testing to those who are so rigid in result. There is at least one solid Prof Richard Wiseman their beliefs in psi that no negative point of basis for the science which test would be considered conclusive. every student can experience. This is For them psi is a matter of faith. parapsychology to be accepted by not possible in parapsychology. That reminded me of the range from mainstream science. There is no such experiment. true skeptics to cynics in our own 1. There must be an unambiguous Alcock argued that for the ques- ranks. definition of psi. tion of the existence of psi to be re- Richard Wiseman is a role model solved, skeptics need to say what for the way skeptics should approach 2. The theory must be able to be would confirm the claim, and para- the media — he is fun, lively, enthu- falsified. psychologists need to say what siastic and applies scientific method 3. The null hypothesis must be would confirm it doesn’t exist. As the with rigour and relish. When fire- given credence. latter is not forthcoming, the ques- walkers argued that the physics tion can never be resolved. Mind doesn’t apply to them because they 4. Replication must be achievable by you, the ability for many claims of believed they were protected by a another experimenter. psychology to live up to these stand- ‘force field’, he had them acknowl- 5. The theory must be predictive, ards was questioned by the psycholo- edge on camera that this means they not only post hoc. gists themselves! could traverse a sixty foot course, not the mere ten feet we skeptics claim 6. The theory must have consistency Investigating claims with other areas of science. physics tells us will be the maxi- Many sessions looked at the investi- mum. Having agreed, they then gation into various claims and were jumped off, dramatically in front of wonderfully entertaining examples the cameras, at about twelve feet, of scientific method at work. A par- with burnt soles. Wiseman is work- ticularly fascinating one was pre- ing with parapsychologists to explore sented by Luigi Garlaschelli, Profes- why some experimenters consist- sor of Chemistry at the University of ently get positive results when the Padua, and the Senior Research test conditions appear to be strin- Fellow for CICAP, where he re- gent. He said: ported on recent research into what We should not be dogmatic. We he considers the real source of the should be ready to engage in dialogue Sword in the Stone. He has located with those parapsychologists who are the sword, withdrawn it from the willing to collaborate. There should stone and replaced it. He denies that be an enormous sense of inquiry to he is now King of All England. Read find out what is really going on. about that on his website at http:// www.luigigarlaschelli.it/ swordhome.htm. Prof Garlaschelli Guidelines also provided an intriguing display Professor James Alcock from York of weeping statues and liquefying University, Toronto, Canada offered blood of St Januarius. It is all on his up some valuable guidelines for

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 11 World Congress website — in English dotes. The jury, and the when you hunt. Fantastic general public, is swayed reading. by the confidence of the speaker, far more than Randi rampant by the reliability of the presented. evidence. Of course. And it was When fantastic. Of course. Sto- (Professor of Psychology ries of the weirder of the and Head of the applicants for The Prize Anomalistic Psychology could not fail to entertain Research Unit, Univer- an audience of skeptics, sity of London) played and presented with Led Zeppelin’s Stairway Randi’s flair, he suc- to Heaven backwards, I ceeded with honours. One could hear nothing. claimant could tune in to When I was told to listen the DNA of dogs. OK. for Satanic messages, I Fair enough. And into the could hear the word Sa- DNA of bullets? Yes, tan three times. When The Author with Ian Rowland and Ray Hyman metal type bullets. An- given the full paragraph other complied with the of what I should be hear- rules that the claim must be stated I would gladly give away the million ing to read on the screen as I lis- in only two paragraphs. Unfortu- dollars, although it would hurt, tened, the unintelligible noise clearly nately for Randi, his two paragraphs because it would be an investment in repeated the words on the screen. It covered eighteen pages, both sides, increasing the knowledge of human is astounding what you hear as long and was unreadable. There was the beings and we are all human beings. as you know what you are hearing! guy who arrived on the doorstep Let’s celebrate that fact. Ray Hyman, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Oregon, with an empty suitcase. What for? Randi was asked: “What if some- talked about magicians, deception The million dollars. Other cases one cleverer than you comes and and self-deception. Here I take the were impossible to test because the deceives you to take the million dol- opportunity to be totally self-indul- nature of the claim was ill defined or lars?” to which Randi replied that it gent, because meeting Ray was an a matter of faith. Then there are is a risk he has to take. He feels he absolute highlight for me. As many those with lawyers. The rules get must make a public stand for what of you will know, I have put many rewritten so often the whole exercise he believes in and put his money years into developing my own divi- becomes an endless game of paper- where his mouth is. He also ac- nation system, Tauromancy. When I work about definitions. knowledges calling in the relevant was investigating cold reading for One of Randi’s favourites was the experts from science and related The Skeptic’s Guide, I went out and two guys from Dubai who believed disciplines whenever he needs them. tried it. I found that even though they made the sun rise every morn- He sees himself as the ringmaster people accepted that I was a fraud, ing. They don’t know how, just that for the investigations. they work together to make it hap- psychic credit was still given to the pen. How do you test this, short of Deception system, be it or tarot. So killing one? Or both? If it then invented my own — a totally invalid The of Deception was a fun doesn’t rise, Randi promised, he ‘ancient Chinese’ system of metal filled set of sessions. Richard would pay the million dollars. masks and chopsticks, called (by an Wiseman did magic and did science Randi also talked about the tests inappropriate Latin derivative) — and did both with an entertaining he found difficult emotionally, which Tauromancy, so there was nothing in flair. Using the audience as guinea focussed on those who truly believed, my entire reading which was not pigs, we were easily deceived. What were self-deluded or were children firmly based on science and the art we saw, and what we would have led to believe in their abilities. Peo- of cold reading. I had the most won- reported we saw, were very different. ple with a strong emotional invest- derful discussion with Ray Hyman, The research behind the reliability of ment in the outcomes of the test had the writer of the very first article in eyewitness reports is worrying for to be treated with a great deal of 1981, the much quoted “Cold Read- two . Obviously it is a huge care. ing: how to convince strangers you concern in the law courts, but also Would Randi like to see the Prize know all about them”, and Ian because it is the basis of the majority won? He said, and I quote as accu- Rowland, the author of what is now of reasons people believe in the par- rately as my rapid scribble could considered the definitive book on the anormal — those convincing anec- manage: topic, The Full Facts Book of Cold

Page 12 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 Reading. These guys about but he was cer- were very generous in tainly passionate about acknowledging that I them. The Italian speak- was the first in the ers were not much the world to create a to- wiser, telling me it was tally scientific system. to do with a post mod- My head swelled a ernist approach to sci- considerable amount ence — they thought. by the end! The Italian panellists responded with equal Bilingual performance vigour, passionate Ian Rowland per- speech and much hand formed his magic on waving. This was thor- stage and proved that oughly enjoyable even we could all be de- without a knowledge of ceived and thoroughly the content. I think I am enjoy the experience. in love with all Italians. Throughout the con- At no stage did I feel gress, speakers had anything but a bonus in James Randi interviewed by Massimo Polidoro adjusted as unobtru- the bilingual nature of sively as they could to the Congress. the needs of a bilingual audience. Maybe she said: “the woman’s repre- Massimo Polidoro’s interview of Rowland decided to run with it. The senting the Australian Skeptics so Randi was the Saturday evening’s translators are required to translate you need to make allowances!”. I entertainment. We were treated to whatever is said as literally as possi- have no idea, but the problem, like archival footage of Randi’s career, ble. By having his translator, Matt, the translator, had disappeared. questions direct to the man himself, make confessions about his personal Watching the Executive Director and tributes from Richard Wiseman, life, Rowland managed to get the of CICAP, Massimo Polidoro, inter- Ray Hyman and . What a audience to laugh with a time delay view Randi was a delight. He oscil- wonderful career. It is well worth built in — those hearing it in Eng- lated with ease between perfect Eng- reflecting on the influence one man lish preceding those in Italian by a lish and (I can only assume) perfect can have on the thinking of a signifi- significant moment’s silence. The Italian, with the hand gestures no- cant proportion of the world through incredible work of the team of trans- ticeably more energetic when speak- his own words and those of the skep- lators was then acknowledged en- ing in Italian. There was the obliga- tical organisations he has inspired. thusiastically by the whole audience. tory conference interjector who had At first, I worried the bilingual lengthy speeches to make when of- Global perspectives nature of the Congress would be a fered the chance of a question after Sunday’s sessions were devoted to problem. Soon I realised that it every session. Being in Italian, I had looking at skepticism from a global would be an asset. In and around the no idea what his pontifications were perspective. I had marked this with venue, the ubiqui- less enthusiasm tous translators than the rest of seemed to materi- the sessions alise whenever a when reading problem arose the program in and fade again as advance. I was soon as they were wrong. It had no longer needed. the most pro- Trouble with un- found effect on derstanding an my thinking in order in a nearby terms of the Aus- restaurant caused tralian Skeptics one such mysteri- and our role in ous appearance, a the world. I will rapid flow of Ital- have a great deal ian with requisite more to say on hand gestures, this and so it and all was solved The author lunching with Alejandro Borgo, Argentina, Ian Rowland, England, will form an with smiles. Barry Karr, USA, Luis Gamez, Spain. article of its own.

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 13 World Congress

It will also greatly influence every- enable belief without question and thing I do and say in the Australian hence the belief in contradictory Skeptics for a long time. I will just events is not a problem. They are summarise a little of what happened simply not questioned. The educa- here. Under the Chairmanship of tion system and family enshrines Barry Karr, Executive Director of this way of thinking and accepting CSICOP, USA, we heard people from without question, from birth. Germany, the UK, Italy, Argentina Abousenna is a female defending and Spain tell us of the negative rationalism in an environment impact of the word ‘skeptic’ and the which is antagonistic not only to behaviour of some skeptics in the what she is saying, but also to the public arena. fact she is a woman saying it. She Sergio Della Sala, Professor of risks her life by saying things we Neuroscience at the University of would not even consider controver- Edinburgh, warned us of the Seven sial. I was unable to stop reflecting Sins of Skepticism in a talk he titled on the difference between her role A (bombastic) Rant. Here’s fodder for and mine as women making a public debate. How many are typical of Prof Mona Abousenna from Egypt stand for rational thinking. I have it members of the Australian Skeptics? so easy and she has it so hard. She Sin the First: Pride and a patronis- has risen to the top of my most-ad- Spain and Argentina, such claims ing and condescending tone. mired list! are delivered as miracles and attrib- Sin the Second: Scholarly Impro- uted to God. In China, the basis for Conclusion priety. We should expect the same the still prevalent witch doctors is in As a result of these sessions, I re- level of peer review of our own ac- herbal and traditional medicines, flected on what had been said by tivities that we ask of the believers. but we were warned to be very care- people from that very first dinner, ful to separate the rural Chinese Sin the Third: Inbreeding and through many formal and informal herbal medicine claims from those of inaccuracy — which comes about meetings between, to these final the more educated Chinese who of- from constantly drawing on our own riveting sessions on skepticism in ten mix the herbal and ‘western’ skeptical literature rather than many countries, and came to the traditions. The latter may lead some going out and doing it ourselves. conclusion that there are many rea- major advances, while the sons why we, in the Australian Skep- Sin the Fourth: Spraffing* about pseudoscientific practices of the tics, are in a unique position to lead science. *Scottish word for ‘chewing witch doctors are a major cause for the world in presenting an new voice the fat’. We should write less, write concern. From Egypt we heard about of skepticism — a positive, uplifting better and avoid triviality. (Oops, the enormous difficulties of even voice. As an organisation, there are hope he doesn’t see this article.) asking questions in an Islamic soci- many indications we have already ety. Sin the Fifth: Omnipotence. started that. I will be writing more Something Mona Abousenna, Claiming ‘it is already explained by on this topic — be warned! Head of English at Ain Shams Uni- what is known.’ Much of it isn’t. In only three days my thinking versity, Cairo, said, gave me had undergone radical changes. Sin the Sixth: Initiated Bias and for a sudden reflection on what CICAP, the Italian organisers should Authority Bias. We tend to accept makes Australia such a great place be congratulated on a truly amazing things written by our own and reject for a skeptical organisation to really congress. I was honoured to repre- them if written by one of ‘them’. have an impact. She said that ‘be- sent the Australian Skeptics and liefs in paranormal phenomena are a Sin the Seventh: Haziness in our duly presented CICAP with our lat- symbol of civilisation’s backward- message. Beware of mixing science est CD of The Skeptic and The Great ness.’ She talked about the lack of and technology and being linked to Water Diving CD, while handing out religious liberation allowing free industry, especially the pharmaceu- Australian Skeptics pens to all and thinking which requires a religious tical industry. We are about method, sundry. Please let me represent you reformation first. We have had ours not sources. at a World Congress again! — centuries ago. During the next session on alter- To be truly skeptical, there is a native health, from Russia we heard need for religious behaviour and way how skepticism is based around of thinking to be separated from pseudo-physics in that secular state. daily life. In the Middle East, these So the many miraculous cures are are totally enmeshed. The traditions touted in terms drawn from physics. In deeply religious countries like

Page 14 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 Legal Matters The Paranormal Strikes Back:

how I was sued for being a Psychic Criminal

Recounting a rather scary Skepticism is about investigating matter. The police were just serving claims of the paranormal. Skeptics the document. She read bits of the experience for a Skeptic. have a range of intellectual and summons to me. I couldn’t grasp its practical tools which, usually, enable meaning. Nor, apparently, could she. them to make sense of the paranor- “Yadda Yadda Yadda,” was her sum- mal in natural ways. Sometimes, mary of parts of it. So I headed to though, the paranormal can turn the police station on the weekend, and bite. If it does, you may find and collected the document. yourself in a kind of paranoid world, Hands trembling, I took the com- where the truth is turned on its plaint and read it. Then I read it head. again. It seemed to have no connec- My nightmare began one Friday tion with anything in the real world. afternoon in 2004. I was at work, My name was at the top all right, and had been checking references in except that I was named as a Profes- the University library. When I re- sor. Let’s call the complainant Petra turned to my office, a small message Crank. She lived in a nearby city, had appeared by my door. I get these and I didn’t know her. Two women all the time. Usually they are from were named as my co-conspirators: I students seeking special treatment, didn’t know them, either. help or extensions on essay dead- Assorted boxes were ticked, indi- lines. This was different, though. It cating that Petra was frightened was from a senior constable, inviting that I would assault or do bodily me to phone her about the service of injury to her, destroy or damage her a summons. property, or procure other people to do the same. What a terrible person Being summoned I must be. The detail followed. Summons? What had I done? My knees went rubbery. The worst legal The case against trouble I’ve ever faced is a speeding The complaints were, apparently fine. Why would the police be issuing that I had stolen a mass of docu- me with a summons? I called a ments including statutory declara- Martin Bridgstock is a Senior Lecturer in the friendly solicitor, who advised me to tions, police photographs and trade School of Science at Griffith University. He receive the summons and see what it marks. What’s more, I had arranged does not encourage his students to throw eggs was about. I phoned the police- for more thefts to be made. This at critics. woman, who told me it was a civil wasn’t all. Apparently I had also

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 15 The Paranormal strikes back broken and entered her the Pro-Vice Chancellor, and premises and car, and stolen see what he would do. It was yet more documents. Worst of all a bit out of his league: he all, I had arranged an assault. was more used to rentals, con- Apparently I had induced stu- sultancy contracts and the dents or friends to throw eggs like. at her from a moving vehicle. Unknown to me, wheels She had been hit in the right were beginning to turn. The kidney. All the complaints faculty manager sent an email were jammed together, laced supporting my position. The with exclamation marks. Here Dean phoned, urging strongly are a couple of samples, to that I be supported. Another capture the flavour: administrator, who had talked to Petra, gave the lawyer her * STOLEN STATUTORY opinions. And help came. A DECLARATIONS & DOCU- reputable firm of Gold Coast MENTS, POLICE PHOTO- solicitors was hired to help GRAPHS DRAWN DESIGNS, me2. So when I went for the GRAPHICS, RIGHTS UNDER preliminary hearing — the SEAL & TRADE MARKS SE- Meeting, it’s called — I was in RIES!!! ARRANGED TO the company of two tall, very HAVE OTHER DOCUMENTS intelligent young women law- UNDER SEAL STOLEN yers, an associate and a clerk. and If the case actually had to be *ARANGED ASSAULT — fought, I was told, a barrister HAD STUDENTS & OR would be brought in to argue FRIENDS THROW EGGS AT my case. We worked through ME FROM A MOVING VEHI- some preliminary questions. I signed papers denying all CLE —HIT IN RIGHT KID- knowledge of the crimes and NEY The author speaking at the Skeptics Convention allegations and we chatted Exactly what Petra was legal department. Something about about what would happen. doing with police photographs was aliens and President Bush.” not at all clear. Nor was it clear how I made a mental connection. I had In court she knew that I had students throw been contacted by a bevy of nuts We sat for a couple of hours: our eggs at her: did I give bonus marks when I had sought publicity for my court was running late. And I be- for a hit? Universities offer courses Skepticism, Science and the Par- came aware that Petra Crank was in weird subjects, but egg-throwing anormal course the year before1. The sitting just a few metres away. She was one I’d never heard of. University had helped me with the was alone, armed with bags full of Still shaken, I contemplated my publicity, fixing up press and radio documents and files. Apart from options. This was a civil case, but the interviews across Australia. This deep-set blazing eyes she looked content of the complaints was clearly sounded like the latest — and nasti- pretty normal. I took the opportunity criminal. Either I was a one-man est — nutcase surfacing as a result. to look at the documents Petra had crime wave, or there was something Well, if I had acquired this problem sent earlier. I read them twice, and very odd about my accuser. No times as part of my legitimate work, still couldn’t figure them out. As far or dates were given for these events, maybe the University would help me as I could gather, I was accused of so I couldn’t check my diary and see with legal representation. It was training student mediums to take where I had been. worth a shot. over her thoughts. “AGAINST MY What was going on? Why was I WILL!!!” Petra emphasised. (Well, it being accused of crimes by someone I Legal representation would be, wouldn’t it?) Then there didn’t even know? I felt sick. Luckily, I trotted down to our legal depart- was verbiage about the stealing of I shared my problem with a friendly ment. They had just moved offices, documents. The Father, Son and manager in the Faculty of Science. and I accosted a bewildered-looking Holy headed a list of people, She looked thoughtful. “Yes, don’t bloke surrounded by cardboard with Petra in second spot. (I wasn’t you remember,” she said “earlier this boxes. I explained my problem and on that list: I think it was good guys year I think it was. She wrote pages he was uncertain: it looked personal, only). Sherry Turkle, a distinguished of stuff about you. I sent it all to the he thought. Still, he’d put a case to American academic, was mentioned,

Page 16 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 to no purpose I could fathom. the University did, and that money well. Still, perhaps the Scooby-Doo Breaches of Contract, Boston Uni- comes from taxpayers and students. slogan is appropriate: be afraid, be versity3 . . . what on earth did it all My own losses were minor. sort of afraid. Or at least, be a little mean? I was chilled to note that a bit careful. Paranormalists may be young woman colleague of mine was The perils of unrestrained simply people with mistaken ideas. I mentioned as well. I hoped she How much worse could it have been? suspect, though, that there is a con- wouldn’t be dragged into this. Well, contemplate the case of Alfred tinuum among believers. Some are Then we were called to the court, Russel Wallace, the co-discoverer of fairly normal, some are weird, and and in we went. I hid behind my evolution. In a weak moment, he some are much worse than that. solicitor, peeking out while she ex- accepted a challenge from a flat- Although the paranormal is our plained that there was no chance of earther named Hampden, who of- quarry, it sometimes turns and bites. mediation. The magistrate was a no- fered £500 to anyone who could And its teeth can be rabid, as nonsense bloke. He heard my solici- prove the Earth’s surface was Wallace found out. tor out, then turned his gaze on curved. Wallace and Hampden Petra. He advised her that her ac- agreed a test, taking sightings over a Notes tion was based on a misconstrual of long straight canal. Wallace won, 1. I wrote about some of these ear- the law. It was marked on the file and pocketed the £500. Then, for lier (Bridgstock 2004) that it had only been accepted be- many years he was plagued by 2. Short, Punch and Greatorix, they cause she insisted. He told her that Hampden’s abuse, denunciations and were called. I especially liked the if she lost, as she probably would, threats. His wife received letters ‘Punch’ bit. she would be facing large bills. He saying things like: 3. I have never been to Boston Uni- advised her to withdraw and seek versity, nor had any contact with If your infernal thief of a husband is legal advice. anyone there. brought home some day on a hurdle Petra was not happy. She had 4. Obviously, I’d dispute this. How with every bone in his head smashed evidence she said. Boston University. can I be a parapsychologist when I to pulp, you will know the reason. Professor Bridgstock was a known am unconvinced of the very existence Do you tell him from me he is a lying parapsychologist4. But yes, she of psychic phenomena? And I don’t infernal thief and as sure as his would seek legal advice and with- hold the rank of Professor, much as name is Wallace he never dies in his draw the case. Apparently on the I’d like to. bed. way out she gave me a glare that 5. Wallace (1905) has given a good would have melted metal. I was Wallace struck back with all the account of this, and Shermer (2001) unmelted, not being a psychic. And legal means he could, but Hampden summarises the main points very that was that. I shook hands with leavened craziness with cunning, well. my lawyers, and headed back to and the persecution went on for work. Neither I nor my colleague nearly two decades, costing Wallace have heard from Petra since. many times the original sum of References money5. He regretted he had ever A result Bridgstock, Martin (2004): “Teaching accepted the challenge. Skepticism at the University: a personal The obvious point that comes out of account”. the Skeptic 24:3, 12-14 The wash-up all this is that it could have been a Shermer, Michael (2001) The Border- great deal worse. Recently, my case entered what I lands of Science. Where Sense Meets Non- My University stood by me, and hope is its final phase. A psychiatrist sense. Oxford and New York. Oxford Uni- the magistrate squashed the ridicu- called from a Gold Coast hospital. versity Press. lous charges very promptly. Still, it He was startled when I mentioned Wallace, Alfred Russel (1905) A Chapter was nerve-wracking, and cost hours Petra’s name immediately — who on Money Matters, in Alfred Russel of my time that could have been else could it be? I filled him in on the Wallace My Life. A Record of Events and spent doing something useful. And if background, and we talked a little. I Opinions. London, Chapman and Hall. I hadn’t been a member of the Uni- gathered she was under medication, Vol II, 360-381. versity, the cost of the lawyers would and would probably be out of circula- have been substantial. tion for months. Relief all round: Of course, nut-cases have rights Petra was getting the treatment she under the law, just like anyone else. needed, and I would not be bothered On the other hand, it is worrying any more. that their obsessions can be trans- What moral should we draw from lated into legal action which can this? Skepticism is important, and require highly expensive lawyers to spreading the key ideas is not only rebut. I did not pay for my defence, valuable, it is usually enjoyable as

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 17 Comment Fractured Fundamentalists Rats in the Ranks and Bats in the Belfry

. One problem with the term ‘Chris- As our Prime Minister is supposed A close look at the disparate tian ’ is that it con- to have said, where politics is con- elements of the “Religious veys the impression of a monolithic cerned, disunity is death. So exactly Right”. ideology and a correspondingly how united is this Christian funda- monolithic political organisation. mentalist ‘bloc’? Let’s begin with Another widespread opinion about that litmus test of commitment to fundamentalist political action in true fundamentalism, namely crea- this country is that it is highly suc- tionism. cessful, as evidenced by restrictions on the rights of gays and increased Creationism levels of censorship. It would be difficult to conceive of a Without wishing to underestimate more divided house than the modern the significance of the threat, I will creationist movement — and we all argue here that both of these impres- know what happens to houses di- sions are exaggerated and that Aus- vided against themselves. The tralia’s Religious Right is Young Earth Creationists (YEC), (a) seriously fragmented on a who believe that the earth was cre- number of different levels; and ated within the last 6,000-10,000 years, spend much of their time at- (b) unlikely in the longer run to tacking Old Earth Creationists achieve any of its major goals. (OEC), who don’t share this belief. ‘But wait a minute’, I hear you YECs also enjoy attacking each say. ‘What about all the fundos in other, as witness the longstanding Federal Parliament, and the rise of hostility existing between Australia’s Family First, and all the nut-cases two premier creationist groups, An- whose letters I read in the paper swers in Genesis and Creation Re- every day, not to mention talk-back search. radio?’ Yes, I agree that there are a And when they run out of nasty lot of them out there, and that they things to say to each other, YECs can be very noisy indeed, but to what start having a go at the Pope, whom Brian Baxter is a writer and teacher with a extent do these people represent a some people might mistakenly re- deep interest in religio-political movements. powerful political movement? gard as a natural ally of the Reli-

Page 18 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 gious Right. But you see, in 1996, them and simply won’t pull together ‘pandemoniums where exhibitions Pope John Paul II ‘got it wrong’ by in the same direction for very long. worthy of a madhouse or a collection officially defending both the evidence This problem has bedevilled the of howling dervishes are held night for evolution and the consistency of Australian Religious Right from its after night’. The meetings caused ‘a that theory with Catholic religious beginnings in the 1960s and 1970s. heavy toll of lunacy and infidelity’. doctrine. Some glorious YEC effu- Protestant doctrinal purists have (Vinson Synan The Holiness-Pente- sions followed the papal pronounce- been quick to condemn Fred Nile’s costal Tradition [2nd ed., 1997], 146) ment: Festival of Light and similar groups While these comments were made for their ‘compromise with error’ ie many years ago, most Christians The Pope’s declaration that Charles their accommodating attitude to- still regard the more extravagant Darwin’s theory of evolution ‘was wards the Catholic Church. One manifestations of Pentecostalism more than a hypothesis’ … is an pastor even felt that members of with suspicion and even contempt. I insult to all true Christians. Firstly, organisations like the Festival were remember once speaking with a de- Charles Darwin did not come up what the Bible called ‘workers of vout Baptist woman who suddenly with this so-called theory … He had darkness: from such turn away’. formed the (mistaken) opinion that I no original scientific data … Scien- Perhaps feeling slightly unwelcome, was a Pentecostalist. She turned tific population statistics disprove conservative Catholics have rarely white, stammered something about evolution, yet equate to our current been prominent in the Australian ‘works of the Devil’ and scurried world population based on just movement and have sometimes ex- from the room — of course, it could 4,300 years [of human existence] … pressed concern about certain of its have been my aftershave. I have Most scientists agree [that ‘special policy positions eg regarding the since noticed that mentioning scientific creationism’] is a far supe- treatment of asylum seekers. (They Hillsong or one of the other large rior model ... One can only come to are, however, very strong on issues Pentecostal congregations in gather- the conclusion that the Pope is ill- like abortion and censorship.) ings of more moderate Christians informed, has taken leave of his Some individuals manage to walk will always elicit a loud groan. senses, or both. (R.P. Holt, letter in the Protestant-Catholic tightrope With regard to the Pentecostal- Melbourne Herald Sun, 31 October with a fair degree of skill, but these based Family First Party (FFP), I 1996) people are quite exceptional. Bill simply note that its performance in As well as providing a good exam- Muehlenberg, a Baptist, has held the recent Federal election was ple of internecine warfare on its own senior positions in the Catholic- greeted less than ecstatically by the account, creationism is the elephant dominated Australian Family Asso- Religious Right press. There are in the Religious Right’s living-room. ciation for many years. But from a several reasons for this. Firstly, the It is a belief that can neither be gen- conservative Catholic viewpoint even party was actually expected to do erally trumpeted, for fear of alienat- he fails the ‘litmus test’, being a firm much better than it did. Secondly, its ing public support, nor openly de- creationist, and I suspect he’s a tiny major success in landing a Victorian nied, for fear of alienating bit shaky on the role of the Virgin Senate seat was due to what many ultraconservative Christian support. Mary, too. Perhaps someone could Christians regard as an unprincipled Leaders of emerging groups such as ask him. preference deal. Thirdly, it will not the Family First Party should al- be forgiven for ‘undermining’ Fred ways be asked to state publicly and Pentecostals vs The Rest Nile’s Christian Democratic Party clearly where they stand on the issue Politicians anxious to increase their (CDP) campaign in NSW. Fourthly, of creationism. appeal to the Christian community no-one yet knows how strongly it is as a whole should be wary of focus- prepared to push core issues like Protestants vs Catholics ing solely on Pentecostal churches, trying to ban abortion and having Alliances between fundamentalist as speaking in tongues is regarded creationism taught in schools (the Protestants and conservative Catho- with disdain by a large proportion of party is viewed by some fundamen- lics always remind me of the Nazi- evangelicals. Many of them would talists as especially ‘weak’ on the Soviet Pact: there might be short- join with respected preacher Dr G. evolution issue). term tactical advantages to such Campbell Morgan in describing the And lastly, FFP is seen as a mob arrangements but they’re never go- Pentecostal movement as ‘the last of Pentecostals — enough said! ing to work in the long run. Rev vomit of Satan’. Dr R. A. Torrey even Jerry Falwell of America’s Moral claimed that the movement was ‘em- Calvinists vs Arminians Majority discovered this when he phatically not of God, and founded ‘Calvinists vs Arminians? What, free tried to fashion a political organisa- by a Sodomite’. will and predestination and the rest tion out of far right-wing Protes- Another leading commentator, H. of it? Surely that was all sorted out tants, Catholics and Jews. The A. Ironside, denounced Pentecostal ages ago!’ horses in this troika have centuries practices as ‘disgusting … delusions Not for these folks it wasn’t. Any of discord and bitterness behind and insanities.’ Their meetings were grouping of evangelical Christians

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 19 Fractured Fundamentalists which includes some conservative within the required standards that long term. (‘ACL Supporters: Are Presbyterians and other Calvinists is have been established by New Life you committed to consolidating lumbered with a gaping ideological over many years. One point that Christian influence in politics?’, fissure, akin in some ways to the especially offended readers was that email dated 22 October 2004) Protestant/Catholic fault-line. You Calvin’s influence was totally unfor- Wallace goes on to say that he can always paper over these cracks, tunate in the history of the Christian plans to move the ACL’s National but because they involve a bedrock church … [T]here will be greater Office to a more prominent position level of division and mistrust they care taken in the future. near Parliament House, Canberra; tend, more or less gradually, to sub- establish offices in each state; and vert long-term alliances. (New Life, 16 September 2004) increase his staff and publishing This was brought home to me While these critical differences in capabilities. If he secures the finance recently when I read a book review religious doctrine can be downplayed necessary to achieve these objec- in the evangelical weekly New Life (9 in the short term, and while a politi- tives, the ACL will become Austral- September 2004). This journal has cal movement has no real power, ia’s pre-eminent Religious Right been an outspoken supporter of Reli- they are always bubbling away be- organisation, far better-led, better- gious Right causes and organisations neath the surface and tend to mani- connected and better-resourced than for many years. The review of some- fest themselves at the most embar- any of the others. Whether Wallace thing called Why I am not a Calvin- rassing and unexpected times. can actually pull this off remains to ist was written by one Bill James, Basically, ultraconservative Calvin- be seen, but of one thing he can be and I was immediately struck by this ists despise ultraconservative non- sure: he won’t be getting much help paragraph: Calvinists and temporary political from like-minded groups with their alliances over issues like bioethics It is impossible to ignore Calvin’s own financial needs and priorities. and gay rights will not alter this importance, but that doesn’t mean fact. we have to like him. In fact, a few Other issues years ago when my wife and I had Organisational conflict When they’re not tangling over cen- some hours to spend in Geneva … we tral doctrinal issues, members of the For its size, Australia has far too toyed with the idea of going out to Religious Right happily squabble many Religious Right groups. They the cemetery to spit on his grave. about a whole range of minor ques- maintain a surface politeness to- tions, just like any normal, non-God- The review went on to complain wards each other, but there are ordained political party or group. about the way in which ‘Calvinists many personal and group rivalries Should women be pastors of manipulate language to evade the and animosities. The emerging CDP churches? Depends on which brand plain teaching of Scripture’ and vs FFP struggle, mentioned above, of fundo you’re talking to. Should ‘evangelise with their fingers crossed may be seen as one of these. Broadly, children be allowed to read Harry behind their backs, because they are however, many conservative Potter? Ditto. Is it possible in good holding out a universal offer of sal- evangelicals tend to view the CDP conscience to vote for the ALP or the vation which in fact only [a limited and associated Festival of Light as Greens? Strangely, some very con- number of people known as “the old hat, the Australian Family Asso- servative Christians will answer elect”] can in fact accept’. James ciation as insufficiently Protestant, ‘Yes’. Mel Gibson’s movie The Pas- concluded that the book incontro- Salt Shakers as too strident, crea- sion of the Christ, while initially vertibly demonstrated that ‘Calvin- tionist bodies as too narrow and the well-received in fundamentalist ism is irrational, immoral and Pentecostal-based groups as too … quarters, is now coming under criti- unscriptural’. well, as too Pentecostal. cal scrutiny for its reliance on spe- Many New Life readers undoubt- Jim Wallace’s Australian Chris- cifically Catholic sources: edly agreed with every word of tian Lobby (ACL) is currently trying James’ review, but the Board of Di- to rectify this situation. It has re- … 35-40% of [Gibson’s] material rectors had a fit and prominently cently advised its supporters that it does not come from any canonical featured ‘an unqualified apology’ in has now: gospel, but from traditional Roman the very next issue: Catholic portrayals. In six or seven … seen the realisation of its three- major scenes the material is from … This newspaper has never taken year objective, [namely] that [the the mystical writings of Anna an exclusive denominational ap- 2004 Federal] election should see the Emmerich (1774-1824), a Roman proach and has consistently re- Christian vote and opinion acknowl- Catholic mystic (and anti-Semite). spected the differing theological edged … [ACL] is playing an essen- (New Life, 26 August 2004) views of its readers and contributors tial role in the return to more Godly [N.B. as long as their views are government. However, all this has When you think about it, it would neither ‘liberal’ nor ‘Romish’]. On 9 created opportunities that we must be very strange indeed if fundamen- September a book review was pub- be prepared and able to take if we talist Protestants, in particular, lished with statements that were not are to … realise the victory for the could ever be persuaded to march in

Page 20 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 lockstep. These people believe in a regarding refusal of medical treat- anything to go by. This is enough to personal relationship with God, un- ment and even euthanasia rather gain occasional parliamentary repre- fettered by the injunctions and inter- more humane today than it was in sentation in houses elected by pro- pretations of church, state and even the 1960s? portional voting systems, although their best friends. You’re supposed to I suggest that the answer to all the faces keep changing: support establish your approach to issues, these questions is: Yes. In saying used to flow mainly towards the including political ones, by praying this, I am not underestimating the Christian Democratic Party, flirted about them. Does that sound like difficulties still being faced in all of briefly with One Nation, and may much of a recipe for unanimity? these areas, nor am I asserting that now be shifting to the Family First the battles have been won forever. Party. Sometimes, parties of this sort Achieving the goals However, if the Religious Right had may exercise the balance of power, A ‘modern’ Religious Right has been had their way, abortion would have although in practice there are strict operating in Australia since the been virtually or completely banned, limitations on the amount of mis- early 1960s, emerging from its em- divorce rendered extremely difficult, chief they can make. They need to bryonic phase a decade later with the status of women and the level of gain the support of a major party for the establishment of bodies like Fred censorship left as they stood in the any particular measure of theirs, Nile’s Festival of Light. What has 1950s, homosexual behaviour by and they know that oblivion awaits the movement, with its thousands of either sex strictly prohibited, crea- any politician deemed by the public active supporters, achieved in that tionism taught in government as ‘irresponsible’. It’s really quite time? schools, and as for the refusal of amazing how little Fred Nile MLC To help put this into perspective, medical treatment and euthanasia has achieved in a parliamentary ask yourself these questions. Are … career lasting over twenty years. abortions and divorces reasonably As matters stand, however, funda- While it’s always worth keeping easy to obtain in Australia? Have the mentalist and other ultraconserva- an eye on these people, their track social positions of women and homo- tive Christians have made little or record is generally unimpressive. sexuals significantly improved in no progress in these areas, and don’t Christian fundamentalism in Aus- this country over the past 35 years look like making any significant tralia is not the monolithic force and — on the whole, and taking set- gains in the foreseeable future. This which it is often claimed to be, nor backs into account — do they con- is mainly because what they are are many of its political manifesta- tinue to improve? Is evolution taught really fighting is the nature of mod- tions greatly to be feared. Even as fact in the vast majority of educa- ern life, in other words, a ‘social’ or within the general Christian commu- tional institutions? With the excep- ‘socio-historical’ rather than a purely nity they form a minority group and, tion of child pornography — which, political enemy. as far as I can judge, are held in incidentally, was banned as the re- rather low regard. Despite the aspi- sult of media and police campaigns Conclusion rations of Jim Wallace and his rather than the feeble and belated Fundamentalist Christianity will friends, the major political objectives protests of the Religious Right — are continue to influence the political of the Religious Right should remain censorship restrictions considerably attitudes of a small minority of Aus- unrealised. lighter today than they were 35 tralians, something around the five years ago? Is the practical situation per cent mark if election results are Theological Dispute

Good Samaritan Man About to Leap Off Bridge Stop! Don’t jump! Why not? Well, there’s so much to live for! Like what? Well ... are you religious or atheist? I’m religious. Me too! Are you Christian or Jewish? I’m a Christian! Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant? Protestant. Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist? Baptist. Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God,or Baptist Church of the Lord? Baptist Church of God. Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, orReformed Baptist Church of God? Reformed Baptist Church of God. Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915? Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915! Then die, heretic scum! Pushing him off the bridge

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 21 Article The False Bits From Humbug

Delving deeper into dodgy During Jef’s long-service leave from The initial “piece of the action” Griffith University in the second se- claimed by the Office for Commer- arguments mester of 2003, he extensively re- cialisation was 56% of the net. That wrote and expanded a book originally is, 56 cents in every dollar earned written by both Jef and Theo. Our through future sales of the book (af- book has been known by its short title ter costs). That figure was the “pub- of Humbug in its various manifesta- lisher’s return” (of 2/3) on the 85% of tions and revisions, and portions of the manuscript contributed by Jef. our book, and aspects of its history However when the OFC discovered and development have now featured that chunks of Humbug had been in four issues of the Skeptic (five in- published inter alia in Jef’s and then cluding this one). We offered the book Jef and Theo’s articles in the Skeptic, to a major publisher in April of 2004. they recognised that they could It was looked upon with favour, and hardly claim copyright over material we expected a successful outcome that had already been published in pending further negotiations. this way. But at this point (May 2004) After some more “comic-opera” Griffith University’s Office for Com- argy-bargy, the OFC dropped their mercialisation asserted Griffith copy- claim for a “piece of the action” to right over 85% of the book (the pro- 28%. This figure was not justified portion written by Jef — largely with any quantitative evidence, so we during his long-service leave). We can only assume that the OFC is en- have been in dispute with the Office gaged in a diminishing series of for Commercialization ever since, and claims based on an infinite regres- cannot publish our book while the sion. As each new issue of the Skeptic dispute continues. The details of the is published, it apparently triggers an dispute are fascinating, but it is not iteration in the series. Each iteration appropriate to canvass those details leads to a halving of the percentage here — except to say that we dispute claimed. So after this article is pub- any claim by the Griffith Office for lished, we assume their claim will Commercialisation to any of our halve to 14%, and thereafter to 7%, work. Our arguments turn on many 3.5%, 1.75% and so on. In a few years grounds, but the Office for Commer- or so, Humbug will once again belong cialisation (at the time of writing) to the creators of Humbug (except for Jef Clark is a lecturer at Griffith University and concedes only one: prior publication. that niggling and ever-diminishing Theo Clark is a science teacher. They are This is where our association with the remnant which will approach, but descended from common ancestors, in Jef’s Skeptic has paid off handsomely. never actually reach zero). case one fewer than Theo.

Page 22 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 So, without further introduction, Example proverb to support the opposite point we present to you, more of Humbug Glenn Tropicana is an investment of view, viz: “too many cooks spoil the which will forever remain out of the adviser and he is giving a sales pitch broth”. The latter proverb invokes a clutches of the commercialisers. Our to a couple of prospective clients, common experience of some large selection this time is the subset of Sheila and Dennis. Glenn is trying to teams — separate agendas, lack of fallacies in Humbug which begin persuade them to sign up for a regu- coordination, “too many chiefs, not with the word “False”— hence the lar monthly contribution to an in- enough Indians”. title of the article. vestment scheme. The scheme may The fact that many proverbs are or may not be suspect — that is not directly contradicted by other prov- False Analogy the issue here. During his spiel, erbs is an indication that reliance on Glenn states: “You know what hap- proverbs or analogies in decision- Other Terms and/or Related Concepts pens with a steady drip of water into making or resolution of issues is Misuse of analogy; metaphor as a bucket... before you know it the fraught with danger. We might (for argument; cliché thinking. bucket’s full. If you invest only $200 example) be presented with an excit- a month, in no time you will have a ing once-in-a-lifetime business oppor- Description great nest-egg”. Dennis replies: tunity. We mull over the decision. A series of proverbs come to mind... A false analogy occurs when an advo- “that’s all very well, but what if opportunity only knocks once; make cate presents an example of a phe- there’s a hole in the bucket that we hay while the sun shines; seize the nomenon and implies that the exam- don’t know about”? day; strike while the iron is hot. We ple either proves or compellingly Comment invest. We go broke. Reflecting on our illustrates something about another financial disaster, another set of prov- phenomenon. An example might be Glenn has met his match in Dennis. erbs comes to mind... look before you an argument that access to firearms Glenn attempted to use his analogy of leap; act in haste, repent at leisure; should not be severely restricted, as water dripping into a bucket as a haste makes waste; there’s many a access to kitchen knives is not se- compelling illustration of the wisdom slip twixt the cup and the lip; don’t verely restricted and yet like fire- of making a regular contribution to count your chickens before they arms they are sometimes used to kill the scheme he is promoting. However hatch. innocent people. This analogy delib- Dennis is clearly a critical thinker and a skeptic. He recognised the flaw erately ignores critical differences False Attribution between guns and kitchen knives. in the analogy. When he recognised the flaw he could have simply said Such an example might have some Other Terms and/or Related Concepts value as a figurative analogy (the “investments are a lot more complex purpose of a figurative analogy is than water dripping into a bucket — Unreliable source; fabricated source illustrative and metaphorical) but it you’ll need to present me with a bet- (also cf appeal to authority). is obviously flawed if it is intended ter argument”. However he chose to as a literal analogy (advanced as a use Glenn’s analogy against him by Description proof). extending it, and introducing a con- This flaw in reasoning occurs when founding variable — the possibility of an advocate appeals to a marginally a leak in the bucket. relevant, irrelevant, unqualified, A common problem with the use of unidentified, biased or even non- analogy to support an argument is existent source to support a claim. that another analogy can usually be The advocate may in some cases found to support the opposite posi- have a “half-hearted” degree of faith tion. For example, there are many in the alleged source (he or she may metaphors, proverbs, clichés, tradi- have a dim recollection of having tional homespun sayings etc in our read something somewhere about own culture which seemingly contra- the topic), or he/she may deliberately dict each other. Consider a situation fake knowledge of a source which he/ where someone may try to make a she knows doesn’t exist. case for increasing the number of workers in a project team by citing Example the venerable proverb “many hands Simon Murmurgut and Jenny Peri- make light work”. The proverb seems stalsis are selling home-made herbal to be self-evidently true, and supports extracts at the local market. They the notion that an increase in the size have a sign at their stall advertising of the team would be a reasonable a “special slimming mixture”. The position to take. However someone main ingredient is paspalum juice. else could use a plausible counter-

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 23 Humbug

They are challenged by Kevin Jaded, often be assured by the advocate that events, he or she needs to give a a skeptical bystander. He says: “how he or she has read some compelling plausible reason beyond simple asso- do you know it works?” Simon imme- facts about the topic under discus- ciation. There are two possible “lev- diately says: “there has been a re- sion. Facts which unequivocally sup- els” of false association: cent study published in the Medical port the advocate’s position. The ini- 1. The relationship may simply be Journal of Patagonia which shows tial response of a seeker after truth to apparent rather than real (eg “coin- that eating four grams or more of apparent dissembling of this kind cidence”). In this case the error is a paspalum each day results in the should be a courteous request for a “false cause” because there is no loss of up to 500 grams of body fat specific citation. This request should causal relationship. per fortnight”. not be in the form of a provocative challenge if the skeptic wishes to 2. There may be an actual link, but maintain a positive emotional cli- the claimed “direction” of cause and mate as the discussion proceeds. In effect is in error. In this case the making the request, the point should flaw is “correlation error” because be made that “going directly to the the cause and effect are reversed, or source” is always more reliable than indirectly related. a second-hand report. The skeptical seeker after truth will not reject the claims a priori. Nor will he or she accept the claims a priori. He or she will reserve judg- ment on the issue, and will ask the advocate for the details of the source — with a view for reading it for him or herself. Note that this request for a citation so the skeptic can read the alleged information for him or her- self will not usually resolve the ques- tion on the spot, so the question may remain open. However the more dedicated may decide to Comment pursue the issue beyond the particu- If Simon did in fact read such an arti- lar discussion as a matter of princi- cle, and if he is truthfully reporting ple. If the skeptical opponent subse- the findings, he is not guilty of false quently finds out that false attribution. However, if he only re- attribution has taken place, he or she calls that Jenny once mentioned could take the trouble to contact the about a month or two ago that she advocate (perhaps even several Examples had read somewhere in a South months after the initial discussion), 1. False Cause: Terry Towelling is American journal that eating some and would then point out that the complaining to his friend Jody paspalum each day results in the loss advocate’s source doesn’t exist, or the Farnarkle about his lack of success of some body fat, then he is guilty of interpretation was in error. in the job market “the last three job false attribution. In this case, he is interviews I’ve had, I didn’t get deliberately misleading Kevin about False Cause; Correlation Error hired... it’s a real puzzle because I his own degree of certainty about the would have thought I’m a shoo-in. supposed “facts”. If however, Simon is Other Terms and/or Related Concepts But I was thinking about it, and I’ve just realized that all three inter- just inventing the reference, then he Post hoc ergo propter hoc (after this, views were on a Friday. I’m not nor- is guilty of the most reprehensible therefore because of this); false as- mally the superstitious type, but I’m form of false attribution — deliberate sociation; superstitious belief. deception through the citation of a never going to an interview on a fake source. Description Friday again”. The deliberate or inadvertent fab- 2. Correlation Error: Aaron Fibre- This flaw is the result of the common rication of source information is a glass is writing up his report on the human tendency to associate events common feature of vigorous discus- link between self esteem and obesity. which occur in sequence and to as- sion. It is a tactic often used in des- He concludes: “there was a correla- sume that there is a causal link. peration by an advocate when he or tion of 0.8 between morbid obesity When an advocate claims that there she feels that the argument is about and low self esteem. We need to raise is a causal relationship between two to be lost. The seeker after truth will the self-esteem of obese people to

Page 24 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 help them overcome their weight False Compromise tained cannot be used to prosecute problem”. the suspect”. Other Terms and/or Related Concepts Comment Comment In the first example, Terry is prob- Splitting the difference. It is a safe assumption that neither ably not really convinced about the Wolfgang nor Jason is satisfied with link between Friday and his lack of Description the compromise wording of the sen- success at job interviews. Neverthe- The advocate asserts that because he tence. Neither of them actually be- less, he is taking no chances, even or she doesn’t understand or accept lieves that the stop, question and though he has virtually acknowl- the opponent’s views, in fairness the search policy they have come up edged that to take any notice of the two should agree to “split the differ- with is the best one. Yet the reader of day of the week is essentially super- ence” and agree on a middle position. their report might make the assump- stitious rather than rational. Fur- Such an approach to addressing an tion that the view expressed is a ther reflection might have enabled issue is more about mollifying the consensus reached by the authors. To Terry to discover the real problem parties to a disagreement, rather than avoid this misperception, Wolfgang with Friday interviews — he plays a arriving at the truth of the matter. and Jason should make it clear in regular game of social squash on the wording of their report that their Friday morning and he usually goes conclusion is a compromise rather to Friday job interviews directly than a consensus position. Their from his squash game without hav- compromise then would be open, ing had a shower. Terry’s error is rather than concealed. trivial rather than serious. There is a more intellectually re- However the “false cause” error spectable alternative to an open com- can have very serious consequences. promise. Wolfgang and Jason could For example, the false cause error be quite explicit about their disa- during the European dark ages led greement, and make it clear that to the widespread belief that illness, they came to different conclusions as famine and personal misfortune was a result of their study. They could caused by black magic and sorcery. indicate that they have “agreed to Such beliefs led to ‘witch-hunts” (lit- disagree”, and they could state their erally) and unfounded but widely separate conclusions. This would believed accusations of sorcery. The then leave it up to the decision-mak- absence of skepticism in communi- ers who read the report to decide on ties wallowing in led to a final policy. This alternative would the burning to death of innocents be the one favoured by the seeker falsely accused of witchcraft. In the after truth. present day, the false cause error has If they adopted this approach, Example led (for example) to premature or both Jason and Wolfgang would pre- unnecessary deaths of cancer pa- Jason Typeface and Wolfgang Von serve their integrity, and they would tients due to diversion from effective Volkswagen are senior bureaucrats be free to argue vigorously for their treatments (to ineffective or harmful in the Department of Justice, and own favoured position. This ap- treatments offered by quacks or they have been engaged in a pro- proach is common in public docu- frauds). tracted discussion on the wording of ments such as reports of parliamen- In the second example, Aaron a sentence in their jointly-authored tary enquiries, where a “minority claims low self-esteem causes obes- report on police “stop, question and report” is commonly included when ity. However on the evidence pre- search” powers. Jason has come to consensus cannot be reached. sented, causation could be in the believe that police effectiveness in Part of the problem with this is- opposite direction — obesity could be drug law enforcement is dependent sue is the emotional loading associ- the cause of low self-esteem. Or both on an absolute power to stop, ques- ated with the term compromise. In could be caused by a third, unidenti- tion and search at their own discre- almost all contexts where the word is fied variable. To a skeptical scientist, tion. Wolfgang believes that any used, it carries either a positive or such a strong correlation between questioning or search of suspects negative connotation. In the context obesity and low self-esteem is poten- should only take place in the pres- of peace talks, industrial negotia- tially of great interest, but a series of ence of legal representation. They tions and the like, to compromise is sophisticated follow-up studies agree to split the difference and the to put aside “selfish” considerations would be needed to determine the final sentence reads “police may stop in the interests of a “fair” outcome. nature of the correlation and the and search suspects at their own In the context of principled decision- direction of causation. discretion, but any evidence so ob- making, a person who compromises

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 25 Humbug is seen as morally deficient. The of the Collective for Smashing of Many individuals are unhappy seeker after truth is always prepared Post-Colonial and Patriarchal Op- with ambiguity and complexity. Such to entertain the possibility of a com- pression) to comment. She states: individuals prefer to characterize an promise, but in doing so, he or she “there cannot be any censorship im- issue as “black or white”, as they will be candid about differences, posed by the State...anyone should find dealing with nuanced shades of while putting differences aside in the be able to hear or see anything they grey unsatisfying or confusing. The interests of fostering a pragmatic like... any level of censorship is op- seeker after truth, on the other and workable outcome. pressive”. hand, should not attempt to over- simplify any issue in order to bring it False Dichotomy Comment to a premature or unjustified resolu- Margo is portraying the issue as tion. It is much more acceptable in Other Terms and/or Related Concepts censorship versus “freedom of principle to decide that an issue has Excluded middle; black-and-white speech”. She is attempting to put one to remain unresolved, rather than reasoning; false dilemma; polariza- issue up against the other and she is oversimplifying and drawing the tion of debate; forced choice. hoping that her version of the issue wrong conclusion. prevails in the “contest”. The flawed Description belief at the core of this strategy is False Dilemma The advocate presents an issue as that censorship is “all or nothing”. In “black and white” when it is in real- fact, the degree and nature of censor- Other Terms and/or Related Concepts ity “shades of grey”. The reasoning ship which might be exercised in any False linkage (of choices); concocted put forward is unjustifiably “all or society is subject to multiple vari- dilemma. nothing” rather than subtle and ables. It is perfectly reasonable for measured. Debates about emotive example, for standards of what con- Description issues such as euthanasia, GM foods, stitutes obscene or violent material This is the error of portraying one criminal justice, race relations etc to change over time along a con- choice as necessarily excluding an- are often polarized in this way. tinuum. The debate should be about other, even though there is no neces- how far along the continuum and in sary connection. For example, an which direction the standards should advocate might make the following shift — not on whether standards statement: “they should solve world should be abandoned or raised to a poverty before they try to put hu- level of complete repression. mans on Mars”. While this may In the present example, and if sound superficially plausible, the Barbra were an effective interviewer, unstated and bizarre implication is she would challenge Margo on her that the advocate believes that if “all-or-nothing” stance and either money were not expended on a Mars dismiss it as an unworthy contribu- expedition, it would be diverted to tion to the debate, or probe her posi- the alleviation of poverty. This is tion with examples which would be clearly false. problematic for her. For example, she could ask her whether she would be in favour of live broadcasts of executions on free-to-air television, or the removal of doors and screens from public toilets. Such challenging examples would be an appropriate use of reductio ad absurdum by Barbra to point out that it would be Example ludicrous to apply Margo’s views During an election campaign, the without qualification. Such a chal- incumbent Attorney-General, Frank lenge might provoke Margo and lead Payne appears on television and to her indignant exit from the de- makes his case for a review of cur- bate. But it’s also possible that it rent censorship laws affecting televi- would function as a reality check sion broadcasting. He states that the and cause her to modify her position review of the laws will be informed and engage more effectively in the by broad community consultation. discussion. Whether she leaves or The interviewer (Barbra Twining) moderates her position, the debate asks Margo Blarneypickle (President would be more fruitful.

Page 26 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 Example Note that increases or decreases in Example Dr Harry Oversteer is an epidemi- the expenditure of scarce budgetary Harry Cackleberry has just taken ologist with an interest in health resources on government programs is the floor during a public debate on statistics. He is having a conversa- a legitimate topic for political debate the teaching of evolution in schools tion over dinner with Sally Butt, an and social commentary. It is also true “These evolutionists would have us old school friend. He remarks that that the total “cake” available for believe that our great-great-great men’s health generally is in a much allocations to programs is necessarily grandparents were nothing more poorer state than the health of limited. At times, increasing budget- than monkeys. They say that one women in general. He points out ary allocations to program ‘X’ may day, hundreds of thousands of years that on almost all measures of mor- have a clear link to a decrease in ago, a monkey gave birth to a hu- tality and morbidity — from suicide budgetary allocations to program ‘Y’. man. Now I ask you ladies and gen- to heart disease, men fare signifi- If this is the case, a genuine dilemma tlemen, how can a monkey give birth cantly worse than women. He specu- may be argued, and the benefits of to a human”? lates on whether there should be one program can be directly com- Jim Flakehammer, an evolution- more health promotion programs pared and contrasted to the other ary biologist with a research insti- targeted specifically at men to ad- program. The seeker after truth will tute, challenges Harry from the floor dress this anomaly. Sally bristles be able to distinguish a false dilemma and says: “You are giving a false and forcefully states the following: from a genuine dilemma, and will account of the evolutionary explana- “It’s taken the better part of a cen- make his or her case accordingly. tion of human origins. The way you tury to have women’s health taken put it, evolution is an easy target to seriously by a male-dominated medi- False Positioning be knocked down — the idea of a cal profession and public monkey giving birth to a human is policymakers, if we embark on the Other Terms and/or Related Concepts quite ludicrous. However the real course you suggest, women’s health Straw man; false target; aiming off; account given by evolutionary theo- will take giant strides backwards”. caricaturing a position; misrepre- rists is far harder to dismiss. The senting a position. current view of scientists working in Comment my field is that humans and mon- What Sally is saying, without any Description keys are related through a common evidence or compelling logical reason, The advocate attacks a weakened, ancestor from which both species is that a focus on men’s health will exaggerated, over-simplified or oth- have evolved gradually by natural necessarily lead to reduction of health erwise false or distorted form of the selection”. services to women. This is clearly not opponent’s argument rather than the Comment a sound coupling of events. It is even real one. Commonly, the advocate possible that an increased focus on presents a simplified caricature of Harry may genuinely believe that men’s health will lead to better tar- the opponent’s argument, then de- his simplistic version of evolution is geted health programs across the molishes this ‘straw man’, which is the one held by evolutionary scien- board. In the example given, a more nothing more than a falsely con- tists. In which case he is committing reasonable response from Sally might structed target of the advocate’s own the “false positioning” error in igno- be: “I can see the anomaly you’ve invention. rance. However it is often the case pointed out... the issue that needs to that the false positioning error is a be addressed is how men’s health deliberate rhetorical device designed outcomes can be improved, while at to “wrong-foot” an opponent. the same time ensuring that there For the purposes of analysis, we aren’t any adverse effects on women’s will assume that in the present case, health. We need a response which is Harry is being deliberately disin- acceptable to the whole community”. genuous. He is fully aware of the Sally’s error arises from the suppo- actual claims of evolutionary scien- sition that there is a fixed health tists. However he is uncertain of the budget, and that an increase in dis- strengths of his argument against bursement of funds to one group — ie the real theory of evolution. He men, necessarily results in less re- therefore conceals his knowledge, sources going to another group. Sally and advances a hackneyed carica- is right to alert Harry to the possibil- ture of the theory of evolution in ity that increased health promotion order to create an easy target for targeting men may lead to diminu- scornful comments. His motives are tion of emphasis on women’s pro- to win the argument on the day, grams. Her error is in asserting that it definitely will lead to this outcome. Continued p 31 ...

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 27 Investigation The Psychic Skeptic: Part 1

Our intrepid investigator While psychics can describe them- ciation estimates that there are chances her arm on “the selves as ‘skeptical’, can a skeptic be some 3000 services currently in ex- psychic? Is psychic ability in the eye istence. Psychic hotlines have other side” of the beholder? evolved into a multi-million dollar These questions arose when I industry. From its inception, the stumbled across a job opportunity for industry was completely unregulated psychics, advertised at (see “Operation Termite”, the Skep- careerone.com.au. Job sharing, tic, 14:4). Today, nothing has casual work and second, even third changed. Anyone can establish a jobs are necessary evils in today’s telephone psychic business (or in- world. Some ‘replenish stock’ in su- deed any psychic venture) and any- permarkets at night, others one can work as a telepsychic … or telemarket or work behind a bar. so I assumed. Only the very few can earn a few extra dollars as a psychic. That The company would require a specific skill, Absolutely Psychic is operated by wouldn’t it? But what kind of skill? ACM Entertainment, a company Psychic ability or cold/warm/hot whose very name suggests the so- reading skills and a glib manner? lemnity with which we should view The job advertisement was a call the entire industry. The company from an “ethical psychic network in recruits ‘psychic associates’ online, the US, as seen on TV”, seeking psy- advertising in chat rooms, on mail- chics and tarot readers (“pros only”) ing lists and job boards, seeking staff to work from home for chat room, from as far away as telephone and email readings. and the UK. Interested parties were The telephone psychic industry urged to submit an application via emerged in Australia during the an online form. Professing no psy- Karen Stollznow is a linguist who is currently early 1990s with the advent of 0055 chic, nor indeed any paranormal pursuing further studies in the USA. A member numbers. This incited a trend gener- abilities whatsoever, I wondered how of the NSW Committee, she has conducted ating thousands of hotlines. Simon far I could push an application be- many previous investigations for the Skeptic Turnbull’s Australian Psychic Asso-

Page 28 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 fore I would be revealed to be a reading test. Finally, success at all of awareness’ so I applied the tried and skeptic posing as a psychic! the previous levels would lead to a tested formula. gruelling ten minute telephone test. As a child, my family often ex- Absolutely Psychic’s standards are The assessment procedure would be claimed at my remarkable resem- extremely high: Our clients immedi- a psychic survival of the fittest. blance to an elderly family member ately notice that all readers are care- The application form issued a known to have psychic powers. This fully handpicked. We are very ‘picky’, caution to those who had worked for was a portent that I was to become a and we’re proud of it! Unfortunately, the competition, who fall beneath second generation psychic. From an 94.3% of most applications are their lofty standards: early age, I could predict when the turned away. Ask around, we’re not phone would ring and the identity of kidding! DO NOT list PRN/Ms Cleo and/or the caller. Soon, I saw images of fu- “book-stores” that fall under this Surely I had no chance of infiltrat- ture events and began receiving company. Yes, we know every reader ing the ranks. Why, even if I did pur- messages from the deceased. I on the Globe has worked for this port to have psychic abilities, they started giving readings, just for fun, company. And yes, we know why you only accept 5.7% of applicants! As to family and friends who were as- are no longer there! We’ve heard a they repeatedly claimed: tonished with my accuracy! They 100 Gazillion times! If this is your nurtured my gift and news of my We staff ONLY THE BEST PSY- only experience, please reapply after abilities spread uncontrollably by CHICS. you have acquired more experience. word of mouth. The criteria became even more Our statistics show these qualifica- stringent: tions never passed our evalua- Areas of specialisation tions. Again, we only staff [We are] only interested in readers professionals with solid professional I was required to state my reading with actual reading experience. Ac- accurate reading skills! specialties from a list of options, I tual reading experience is defined as selected those topics about which I professionals that have experience Well might Absolutely Psychic was best informed: ‘psychic’, ‘spirit giving readings to clients either via disassociate themselves from the guides’, ‘/channeling’, a Professional Psychic Network or infamous ‘Miss Cleo’ crowd. In a ‘dream interpretation’, ‘angels’ and private practice. Professional read- skeptical success story, where typi- ‘past life regression’. I dared not list ing experience is NOT defined as cally money talks rather than ethics, astrology as a specialty: the Miss Cleo group were sued for experience giving a once in a blue For Astrology: Please note that since moon free reading to a friend or false advertising, fraud and other unlawful business practices. The are [sic] supported by leading Astrol- family member. Professional experi- ogy Organizations we only staff ence is not defined as having a deck group advertised “Find the answers for free — free three-minute psychic Astrologers that continue to present of tarot cards laying around some- our image for providing excellence. where. Though interests do lead to readings”. This ‘freebie’ comprised of a non-billed period of three minutes Therefore, a separate evaluation is growth, please, only contact us when given for Astrology. To be considered you have attained growth. during which a phone attendant would note the caller’s contact de- for Astrology you must be able to The Australian Skeptics has a tails. The unsuspecting caller was pull up a chart for any birth place number of talented cold readers on then transferred to a ‘psychic’ and on the globe and dissect it in less board but with no magic skills or instead of receiving a free reading, than 50 seconds. This is not some- reading experience, professional or were immediately billed without thing many are able to do. amateur; I am no Ian Rowland or being advised of the charges! The Absolutely Psychic specialise in Derren Brown. I would be relying company was also exposed for per- astrological readings at astronomical upon a credible demeanour but forming scripted readings. A copy of prices, offering $US90 ‘electional surely a ‘professional’ would know one such script is shown at: charts’ to set the date, hour and the difference? www.courttv.com/news/feature/cleo/ minute when a client should sched- script1. Other scams among the “94 ule their wedding, surgery, business The requirements violations” included billing deceased deal, etc. Their web sites notes that The application would be a rigorous people for calls. The company slogan psychic Joan Quigley (unrelated to four-stage selection process of test- was “Miss Cleo – Keepin’ it real!”. Absolutely Psychic!) “set many times ing. Besides psychic ability, the only With no experience at all, cold and dates” for Ronald and Nancy other requirement was a typing reading or otherwise, I had to bluff Reagan. speed of 30 wpm. Firstly, the online my way through the application Absolutely Psychic were clearly in application form would sort the form. Given their strict selection search of celebrity psychics. wheat from the chaff. Then would criteria, I assumed they would me- “Do you have any special certifica- follow an email reading test and a ticulously verify my work history. I tions?” the form asked, non-specifi- fifteen minute online chat room had to sum up my initial ‘psychic cally. ‘Yes’.

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 29 The Psychic Skeptic

“Do you have any eral reading on clips of Media Love & Business/ appearances you Money. Birth Infor- have made?” I mation not avail- thought of my able. various media I knew I could appearances as a easily follow the skeptic, chuckled directions and give and ticked ‘yes’. the appearance of “Have you written professionalism but any books, news- was certain that paper articles, my lack of psychic columns, and ability would be magazine articles exposed. I selected on Psychic, Astro- as a subject ‘Alicia’ logical or Tarot as her profile some- phenomena?” what resembled Have I ever! ‘Yes’! that of my mother. I figured I would “Do you refer engage in a ‘warm clients to Candles/ reading’, employing psychology, ‘spe- Witchcraft/Santeria/Spells/Voodoo Email test cific generalisations’ and telling and do you advise on death/health them what they would want to hear. issues or making a lover return?” Bright and early the next morning, I thought I could make some as- ‘No’. The internet abounds with there was a special email awaiting sumptions based on the subject’s tales of ‘phony psychics’ who delve me. Without fanfare, the email listed gender, age and the subjective, in these practices, promising to the details of step two, the email vague ‘clues’ provided about her ap- remove curses, cast spells, offering test. I had obviously passed the first pearance. The instructions stipu- ‘psychic protection’ and generally round! I feared this was on the basis lated that the reading must be com- manipulating vulnerable clients for of my trumped-up application. Now I pleted within 24 hours of acceptance financial gain. had to demonstrate my supposed abilities. Surely now they would see into the second round of tests. “Most I guessed that Absolutely Psychic through my ploy! of our readers can easily do a 600 would want to distance themselves The email test instructions were word email reading in 7 minutes from litigious ‘majick’, given the as follows: with their eyes closed while horror stories of exploitation con- typing.” So I mustered all of my pow- This email reading test will first be nected with these practices. ers of generality and set to work, reviewed for 3 things: psychic abil- “How do you rate your accuracy as producing the following over a 40 ity, following directions, and profes- a psychic?” 96%! This sounded like minute period of time. an impressive yet modest figure, in sionalism. If you pass we will keeping with their high expecta- contact you for an live one on one Dear Alicia, tions. Moreover, I could provide nu- chat room reading test with a live merous testimonials attesting to my person. I feel as though you are preoccupied precision. After filling out contact with a current relationship. It may information and answering numer- SELECT ONLY ONE — EITHER be a new or potential relationship or ous questions about computer re- ROBERT OR ALICIA. an ongoing one in which you have quirements I encountered the follow- recently found a renewed sense of ing final message: ROBERT — He has Blue Eyes, happiness and purpose. In the past Brown Hair (full head of hair) 5’10, you have been troubled by love and We thank you for your interest in 155 pounds, 33 years old and very always unsure about taking it to the Absolutely Psychic Network. Due to good looking (in case that next level. I can feel a sense of excite- the amount of requests we receive, helps). General reading on Love & ment for the future, one that you, we cannot provide feedback/follow Business/Money. Birth Information and that special someone, will share up information. not available. together. You now know that you are I honestly didn’t expect to ever loved. People are smitten with your hear from them. ALICIA — She has Brown Eyes, Red beauty, both inner and physical. You Hair (from a bottle). Very attractive take great care of your appearance (in case that helps.) Early 50’s. Gen- and other people notice you.

Page 30 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 You like to surround yourself with ity in your future, but if you take had ever been given in all of my friends and loved ones. You like to care to tie up some loose financial years of investigations! have close female friends but also strings. If you wait for the good I emailed the reading to the ‘test have a bit of a tomboy streak in you things in life, they will come to you. I co-ordinator’ and within hours re- too! Sometimes you feel as though see a large financial bounty in your ceived the following response: your friends demand too much of life. It could be your employment, or Thank you very much for submitting your time. You love them but some- it could be even bigger! Keep an eye your email reading. You did a fine times have trouble saying ‘no’ to on the stock market. I feel your job. We would like to issue a 1-1 them. Sometimes it feels as though chances might be there. online chat room test reading in our you are the one offering all the ad- chat room. vice and no one will listen to your I see positive changes in your em- problems. There is a shoulder for ployment that will allow you to fulfil I had passed the second test! A you to cry on and she is closer than your personal goals. There are some chat room test was scheduled for the you think. areas that need clarification, espe- following day. Although I had com- cially with business partners or key pleted the application and email Health is an issue of major impor- people. Watch out for inside rivalry reading in my own time, could a tance right now. You are very con- because someone who is less quali- skeptic pass a real-time psychic test scious of your health. You fied, but more cut-throat than you under pressure? have experienced a recent health might try to jeopardize this. To be continued… scare that has encouraged you to focus on your own health and that of The main thing to remember is to your family. Try to clear your envi- always follow your own intuitions. ronment of anything toxic or irritat- Life is mysterious and not always ing. I know you are sick of sickness black and white like some would itself and don’t want the medication lead you to believe. As long as you but it will work. You do need to be stay close to your feelings, your life vigilant of your situation and follow will always be exciting! In closing, doctor’s orders but worrying won’t your future is bright and full of ad- help and you know you’re in control. venture. Never take second best be- You know you need to take more time cause I feel only the best for you and out to relax. Indulge yourself more your future! ... Humbug from p 27 often and make time for that holi- Always finish on a positive note! day! You need to be kind to yourself The broad reading was intended to rather than to genuinely explore the as well as thinking about family and bombard the testers with images, issue. friends. ideas and promises. It needed to Note that the term “Straw Man” — one of the alternative terms for resemble the traditional notion of a You can always depend on your in- “false positioning” (given under reading and appeal to the reader. It ner resilience to make things happen Other terms and/or related concepts had to be based on stereotypes that for you. In the past you have been above) is at times used to mean the reader would either relate to or taken off your mark, but I feel a something quite different to false rationalise to fit in with their own future of confidence and happiness if positioning. This can sometimes lead life. you take care of your health and to confusion. The alternate meaning I applied generalisations about your romance and remember to not is roughly equivalent to “bogeyman”. love, friendship, health and finances let negative influences get in the way That is, a scary apparition which is that covered many possible situa- of your success. apparent rather than real — some tions and scenarios. I had a bob each imagined problem or consequence of way — saying one thing then imme- Financially, you are quite comfort- an action which is conjured up by a diately saying the opposite and any- able but would like a little more party in a dispute to stop a proposed thing in between. The reading was a action. This usage is similar to the money to fulfil a few plans you have confusing mish-mash of flattery, expression “paper tiger”. The impli- underway. You try to be responsible obvious statements, clichés and non- cation is that although a conse- in your spending but like to splash specific advice, all delivered with a quence of an action looks fierce (or out often and treat yourself! Hold caring demeanour. Despite this, I difficult), in reality it is nothing to be back a bit now for that special pur- still thought it was more comprehen- concerned about. chase. Right now you are looking to sive and better than any reading I your future financial stability. With maturity comes security. I see stabil-

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 31 Nutrition Myth #7: Cellulite:

a build-up of food toxins

Smiting the enemy, It was back in 1993 that I received a be the root cause of the disorder” and letter from Professor Terry Ryan, that cellulite “all begins with the hip and thigh Clinical Professor of Dermatology, stagnation of the blood in capillar- Oxford, England. I had read the arti- ies”. I thought blood stagnated only cle by him and Sergio Curri on sub- when you are dead. It was even re- cutaneous fat in women. Their de- ported in an advertisement that scription of cellulite (referred to as cellulite was “undigested food” which panniculopathy) and potential cures had anatomists searching for the was far too esoteric and erudite for tube connecting the duodenum to the my brain. His response to my re- thigh through which lumps of sand- quest for a simple answer was: wich and biscuit could travel. So far as treatment is concerned, it The beginnings is helpful to avoid obesity. It is also helpful to maintain fluid clearance It is difficult to find the origin of the from the adipose tissue and this is word ‘cellulite’. Scherwitz and aided by exercise and gentle mas- Braun-Falco claim that it originated sage. Everything else is hocus pocus! in French medical literature around 1816. Rossi and Vergnanini claim Had anything changed in the last that the term was first used in the decade I wondered? There was still 1920s. Well-known quack-buster the claim that cellulite was a build- Stephen Barrett says that the idea of up of toxic waste, primarily from a cellulite being a problem took off in ‘bad diet’, hence cellulite was forced 1973 with the publication of into my professional territory. Cellulite: Those lumps, bumps and Creams and machinery are still bulges you couldn’t lose before by promoted to banish the orange peel, Nicole Ronsard. or cottage cheese, appearance from In Australia, women were tar- women’s thighs and hips. Brochures geted by Conley’s The Hip & Thigh tell us of the amazing properties of Diet and Cellulite Revolution by horsehair mitts, nutrition supple- Leslie Kenton who told us in 1992 ments and fat-absorbing soaps. that “as of this moment literally My interest in cellulite was origi- hundreds of medical references to nally sparked with the release of the cellulite exist”, which is literally Glenn Cardwell, a sports dietitian and public The Hip and Thigh Diet, by Rose- hundreds more than I can find with speaker on the subject, writes a regular mary Conley in 1988. She claimed a Medline search today. But then, a column for the Skeptic. that: “faulty circulation is thought to medical reference to one person

Page 32 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 might be an unsubstantiated, non- Cellulite often increases with age, that breaks down cellulite, to vibrat- peer reviewed article to others. possibly compounded by female sex ing-belt machines and wooden roll- hormones and overweight, and cer- ers to move up-and-down the thighs. Definition tainly has a genetic component per- In 1999 a product called Cellasene What is cellulite? “A non-technical mitting women to blame their moth- sold dramatically on the premise term for subcutaneous deposits of ers for yet another aspect of body that it would remove cellulite. It was fat, especially in the buttocks, legs shape. Cellulite is more common in no surprise that in March 2003 the and thighs” according to my Taber’s white women than black or Asian Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 19th women. the USA made the manufacturers edition. “Cellulite is an alteration of The cellulite effect may become cough up $US12 million in compen- the topography of the skin that oc- more obvious: sation to disgruntled consumers be- curs mainly in women on the pelvic ♦ In overweight women as fat cause the claims for Cellasene were “false and unsubstantiated”. The region, lower limbs and abdomen. It cells enlarge and the fat begins to FTC website details many other is characterised by a padded or ‘or- bulge from the fat cell compart- cellulite scams. ange peel’ appearance”, say Rossi ments and Vergnanini. Professor Ryan told One product that has been inves- me “cellulite is a gradual degenera- ♦ With high salt diets as the tigated is Endermologie, a hand-held tion of the connective tissue support- sodium may cause more fluid reten- massage tool that compresses the ing fat cells. It is age-related and tion (deleting salt at the dinner affected areas between two motor- accelerated by interstitial fluid col- table may not help as about 80% of ised rollers. It progressively smooths lection, excessive fat load as in obes- all salt in the diet is added by food out the adipose tissue over the treat- ity and possibly by female sex hor- manufacturers). ment course. It was originally devel- mones”. No expert has found toxic oped about 30 years ago in France to ♦ During the week pre-menses chemicals or undigested food in soften scar tissue, especially from cellulite. Although there is wide with fluid retention. burns. The treatment procedure agreement that cellulite is primarily entails 10 minute sessions and some body fat, it is still not well under- Why don’t men get cellulite? research subjects complained that stood why the lumpiness should take Men have a different connective tis- the treatment was painful. One effect. sue pattern on their hips, thighs and group (Chang et al) found the treat- Why does cellulite appear? buttocks making it unlikely to ever ment useful with a reduction in There seems to be structural differ- create small bulges of fat cells. Men thigh diameter after 14 sessions, ences between ‘cellulite’ fat stores also have thicker skin (there’s got to while another group (Collis et al) and regular fat stores. Fibrous con- be a one-liner there), hence the skin found no effect. The latter group also nective tissue separates the fat cells remains smoother and is less likely found little effect of a cellulite cream into clusters. Much of the connective to sag. Of course, men rarely suffer containing aminophylline. tissue is collagen, a protein. With fluid retention. A man’s ‘cellulite’ The most popular remedy by far age, extra collagen is formed to comes in the form of a single bump has been the cellulite cream. It is change the structural geography of on the abdomen, or the shirt-stretch- cheap and efficient to manufacture the stored fat. There is evidence that ing ‘beer gut’. and transport. It may even offer a blood flow in the cellulitic areas is temporary effect. The process of slower (not stagnating, Rosemary), Is cellulite dangerous? massaging the cream into affected but the role this plays is not clear. We must not confuse cellulite with areas could force some fluid drainage These changes encourage a mild obesity. They can exist independent into the lymphatic system and away oedema in the area, with the extra of each other. Some women will be a from the cellulite, thereby causing a water giving rise to the orange peel healthy weight, yet have cellulite. In temporary reduction of the dimples. look. Further pronouncement of the these circumstances, cellulite is not Massaging the cream into thighs cellulite occurs if the fat cells enlarge a health threat. Once waist circum- twice a day could improve the ap- and the skin loses elasticity with ference of women exceeds 90 cm (100 pearance until a couple of days with- time. Certainly, there appears to be a cm in men), then the risk of health out massage reveals that the effect is greater amounts of fluid associated concerns increase, due to the rise in only temporary and not worth the with cellulite areas when compared abdominal fat and not to any attend- $39.95 (+ $4.50 p&p) for each jar. to other areas of body fat. One ant cellulite. Nine out of 35 subjects in the Collis theory is that cellulite has a higher paper suffered a skin reaction from level of proteoglycans, molecules of Therapy the aminophylline cream they used. Some time back I did speak to two proteins and polysaccharides com- Even if cellulite is of little interest to plastic surgeons in WA who said that bined, which have high water-at- you, you will have seen many ‘cures’ liposuction may help improve the tracting properties. promoted. From soap that absorbs appearance of cellulite, but both fat from your body and pantyhose

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 33 Cellulite agreed that cellulite just looked like Free e-book Barrett S. ”Cellulite” removers. fat on the operating table. www.quackwatch.org/ If you have got some value from 01QuackeryRelatedTopics/ reading about nutrition-related 1.1 million solutions offered cellulite.html myths, then you are welcome to Unfortunately, you will not find download my free e-book that dis- Rosenbaum M, Prieto V, Hellmer J, much balanced information about cusses a range of myths. Some of Boschmann M, Krueger J, Leibel RL, cellulite and its treatment. It is a these myths have already appeared Ship AG. An exploratory investigation lucrative business and there are over in the pages of the Skeptic, others of the morphology and biochemistry of 1.1 million websites that would love haven’t. My plan is to update the cellulite. Plast Reconstr Surg 1998; you to invest in their particular rem- book every month or so. Naturally 101: 1934-9 edy. Whenever successful cellulite readers are welcome to send the e- Stone A. Cellulite (letter). Plast reduction is reported, it seems to be book to others who may find it use- Reconstr Surg 1999; 103: 1095 more likely when there has been ful. It is available from concurrent body fat loss through www.glenncardwell.com (just click Lotti T, Ghersetich I, Grappone C, Dini better eating and exercise. This com- on ‘free e-book’). G. Proteoglycans in so-called cellulite. plies with a common weight loss Int J Dermatol 1990; 29: 272-274 belief system that has the following References & Bibliography formula: Chang P, Wiseman J, Jacoby T, Salis- Ryan TJ. Personal communication. 15 bury AV, Ersek RA. Non-invasive me- Product A + low joule diet = body fat August 1993 chanical body contouring: loss: Therefore Product A causes (Endermologie) a one-year clinical out- body fat loss! Conley R. Hip and thigh diet. Arrow Books 1988 come study update. Aesthetic Plast Surg 1998; 22: 145-153 QED Kenton L. Cellulite Revolution. Ebury Press 1992 Collis N, Elliot L, Sharpe C, Sharpe My tip DT. Cellulite treatment: a myth or re- Curri S, Ryan TJ. Panniculopathy and ality: a prospective randomised, con- This article is not intended as a com- fibrosclerosis of the female breast and trolled trial of two therapies, prehensive review of cellulite. I am thigh. Clinics in Dermatology 1989; 7: Endermologie and Aminophylline not qualified to do that. I have only 107-119 Cream. Plast Reconstr Surg 1999; 104: attempted to make some sense of the Scherwitz C, Braun-Falco O. So-called 1110-1114 topic. I don’t think that anyone can cellulite. J Dermatol Surg Oncol 1978; dispute that cellulite is dimpled body Ersek RA, Mann GE, Salisbury S, 4: 231-234 fat, and that virtually all commercial Salisbury AV. Non-invasive mechani- ‘cures’ are scams. In this world, Rossi ABR, Vergnanini AL. Cellulite: cal body contouring: a preliminary merely the selling of hope will gener- a review. J Eur Acad Dermatol Vener clinical outcome study. Aesthetic Plast ate funds. Exercise and healthy eat- 2000; 14: 251-262 Surg 1997; 21: 61-67. ing may reduce the size of the bumps and dips. As yet, there is no simple and effective way of eliminating cellulite. The greatest treatment I can think of is to accept your body, be happy and live well. That way you can spend your money more con- structively.

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Page 34 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 Article If It Sounds Like a Duck...

Trawling the far fringes of This is the text of a presentation This lack of a sense of humour given to the 2004 Annual Conven- may explain the continued existence pseudomedicine. tion of Australian Skeptics on No- of some of the claims and cures of vember 13, 2004 and to the 2004 alternative medicine, simply because Annual Conference of the Manly they are so ridiculous that it is al- Warringah Division of General most impossible not to laugh when Practice the following day. first meeting them. The sad thing is that not only do some people fail to When I give these talks I introduce see the humour, they actually take myself by mentioning the three parts them seriously. The sites mentioned I play in the skeptical world. I am below illustrate this. These sites are the Vice President of Australian drawn from the collection of oddities Skeptics, the Boss and Chief Deci- at Quintessence of the Loon sion Maker of the RatbagsDotCom (www.ratbags.com/loon/), and all Empire, and the Executive Officer of were alive on the web on November the Australian Council Against 11, 2004. Health Fraud. One thing I have noticed over the Horse Iridology years is that the followers of alterna- tive medicine and the believers in (www.equineiridology.com) woowoo and the paranormal gener- I have spent a lot of time around ally seem to lack a sense of humour. racehorses. They are delicate ani- An example of this is that there have mals, so delicate in fact that the been several comments about me merest hint of the weight of my assuming the title of “Boss and Chief money on their backs can cause Decision Maker”, as this apparently them to run slower than usual. Like indicates that I have a colossal ego most gamblers, sorry —track inves- and am extremely self-important. tors — I like to go down to the sad- These claims may indeed be true, dling enclosure to check out the but most people would assume that withers, hocks, fetlocks, gaskins and the title was meant to be amusing. I croups, and after I have inspected always respond by saying that as I Peter Bowditch, as he confesses in this article, the jockeys I look at the horses. I am the only inhabitant and em- is a man of many accomplishments, however, must admit that I have never paid ployee of the RatbagsDotCom Em- he modestly refrains from mentioning his fame much attention to horses’ eyes, ex- pire, I can call myself whatever I as a fashion plate. cept for those times when one of the like.

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 35 If it sounds like a Duck animals gives me one of those supe- after the light turns green can seri- faith. Where is the evidence to back rior, baleful looks to remind me that ously disrupt the holistic you. up claims such as these? That is the when I am walking home because I According to this web site, you can problem with making such claims don’t have the bus fare, he will be now have remote attunement as well when they are unprovable. I can riding in an air-conditioned van. Not as healing, although there seems to make claims. For example, i could to mention how each of us are going be some controversy in the Reiki claim that the space aliens started to spend our retirement years. community about this. The conven- reiki millennia ago, buy shooting Iridology is not the only quackery tional orthodoxy is that healing can humans with their Reiki Ray Guns practised on horses. There are acu- be done remotely but attunement which focused cosmic energy on puncturists who somehow manage to needs physical proximity. The author them. In reality when you doodle thread their fine needles through the of this site believes that the matter when talking on the phone you are tough skin of horses to reach the has been settled scientifically, and he subconsciously linked to the space vital meridians inside, but my fa- presents evidence (with novel spell- guys and they are giving you new vourites are horse chiropractors. A ing intact): symbols! And I can say that i know racehorse is a well-trained athlete, cause I channeled them while on the Some, like William Rand, (see his with all that means for muscle condi- phone and they told me. Barring article on Reiki Distant Attunement tion and density. The muscles be- objective evidence, this has exactly at his site at www.reiki.org ) feel tween a horse’s spine and the top of the same validity as anyone’s claims that distant attunements might the horse are quite substantial, and regarding distant attunements. This work, but his clairvoyants feel that seem to be adequate for supporting is more about faith and belief than distant attunements do not contain the spine even when the horse is anything else. all the “frequencies” of energy that carrying 55Kg of jockey, saddle and the regular attunements contains. lead shot. Horse chiropractors claim However, having said that, we must (Although how they could determine to be able to manipulate the verte- evaluate what evidence we do have. this I cannot imagine, especially brae of horses, but I certainly would Countless thousands of reiki practi- there is no known or reliable method not like to shake hands with anyone tioners and masters have been at- of determining the strength or com- with that much strength in his tuned distantly. In the final analysis pleteness of anyone’s reiki. Perhaps thumbs. (Especially if he is a Ma- — barring any way to objectively they invented a Reiki-Om-Meter to son.) measure the energy or process — we measure the energy?) Clairvoyants must examine whether or not they that i know tell me that they have Reiki Attunement can do reiki. From what i can tell, watched both Distant and Hands- and a lot of people with much much On attunements and they see the (http://angelreiki.nu/reiki/distant.htm) more experience than I, the answer same thing occurring in both. So is to that is “Yes, they can”. A couple of years ago I took a course this a case of my clairvoyants are to become a Reiki practitioner (it better than yours?!! Or perhaps we took three days), but I haven’t been might take into account that Urine Therapy keeping up with progress in this clairvayancy has never been the healing modality. Reiki heals by the most reliable of practices. If we (www.universal-tao.com/article/ practitioner channelling some higher through intent do an attunement urine_therapy.html) power, and apparently it can be done hands on or distant, then we should It’s a real nuisance when you need to remotely, such as by telephone. trust that the creator, the source of get some pharmaceutical supplies As well as Reiki Healing, which Reiki will ensure that everything is late at night and the shop’s closed. fixes all the usual things that alt- exactly as it is supposed to be! Of course, the inconvenience level med heals, like cancer, arthritis and depends on what you wanted to buy piles, there is also Reiki Attunement Many people in the Usui/Tibetan and what you planned to do with it, which aligns the chakras and gener- schools of reiki are taught that the but we are talking about medical ally gets you feeling good. (This is “reiki guides” do the attunements emergencies here. If it is something best explained by analogy to a car, (this is not a belief held by the ma- minor then perhaps it can wait, but where replacing the gearbox is heal- jority of reiki practitioners). If your if you have just discovered, for exam- ing, but getting a tune-up is teachings/beliefs are that the “reiki ple, that your hippocampus is in- attunement.) The problem is that all guides” do the attunements, is it not flamed then something needs to be the time and money spent at the an inconsistent belief to think that done real quick. Similarly, it is dis- attunatorium can be wasted if you since they do them that they can couraging to turn up at the ER with get stuck behind a Volvo and in front certainly do them distantly? a raging case of hangnail only to find of a road-rager at a red light on the that the victims of an explosion at a way home, because what goes on Fundamentally it has to come down pickle factory are getting all the at- to a question of evidence, proof and tention.

Page 36 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 Isn’t it lucky, then, that you can Biophotonic Therapy ventricles and pumps air? I’ll bet you carry a first aid kit around with you thought those models of molecules all the time? Not only that you can (www.biophoton.com/bt/ you see in museums are just meta- do it, but that you do do it. I’m re- biophotonic_therapy.htm) phors, but if you look through a mi- lieved. There seems to be a large croscope you can see real molecules, overlap between those who believe The use of coloured lights has a long and they have little red, blue and that urine is good for trauma treat- history in the annals of quackery. black dots in them. The black dots ment and those who claim that hu- Sometimes it takes the form of shin- are metals. Did you know that the mans have not evolved to eat cooked ing lights on people to fix what ails liver chews things and then sends food of any kind, and we should all them, but this is different. kelp or alfalfa to the thyroid gland eat nothing but raw vegetables. The Biophotonic Therapy involves taking and penicillin to the salivary glands? extremists of the raw food movement a sample of the patient’s blood, ex- Bertha is one of the great loons of promote a system called “Natural posing it to some exotic energy the ‘net. No collection of kooks and Hygiene”. It was one of these people source and then putting it back into loons is complete without a reference who came the closest I have ever the patient’s blood vessels. Once to her, but she has the unnerving seen to getting supporters of alterna- inside it increases the chemilumines- habit of occasionally disappearing. tive medicine to challenge an alt- cence of the red blood cells. This can When this happens, calls are made med claim when he said: only mean that it makes them glow to loyal web site visitors to find the in the dark. new location of her site and eventu- [M]enstruation as most of us experi- The value of this is not immedi- ally it is found and everyone can get ence it is neither natural nor ately obvious, but it could be that the back to normal. The other unnerving healthy. Ovulation does not depend glowing erythrocytes transport the thing about Bertha is that she has on it. And it can be changed very magical healing powers of light to all followers who think that she knows much for the better — even to the the hard-to-reach parts of the body. something. Here is another quote extent of not experiencing it at all yet One obvious side effect that I can see from Dr, Bertha L. Veronnuau, remaining healthy and fertile. How is that this would suffuse your body D.D.,D.Sc: this can be done has been known with a pink glow when the lights and written about by health practi- were out. I imagine that this therapy At this time of life of the intelligence tioners for centuries, and practised would require hospitalisation, as it of the Cosmos, we understand the just as long by women willing to would be quite disturbing to house- Molecule (Ion, atom) to be the basis make the simple but significant hold pets and small children to have of all chemical substance, A chemi- lifestyle changes involved. So why someone wandering about the house cal substance can be a monad, or a haven’t most of us heard about this looking like a pink nightlight. In kenetic grouping. A determination of before? hospital, though, it would make it the quality of the substance is deter- easy for the night nurses to check mined by the molecule as seen in the It is because the lifestyle improve- vitals, because they would just have microscope. Is it of the human body, ments involved, although simple, are to look over the curtains to see if or is it toxic to the human body? quite a change from most modern your aurora was still reflecting off This is important to know. Are we women’s habits of living and eating. the ceiling tiles. consuming foods and medicines, or No drugs or even nutritional supple- (If you think that this is nonsense applying lotions to our bodies that ments are required, but what is es- and could only be on a web site and might case deterioration. When a sential is the adoption of what not anywhere in real life, consider product has a side effect it is de- health writer Leslie Kenton calls a this: after I gave this presentation to stroying something in your physical ‘high raw way of eating’. the Australian Skeptics convention, self. We need to learn to renew our That’s right — women only have one of the interstate visitors told me bodies... rebuild. You cannot rebuild periods because they don’t eat right! that there was a Biophotonic the body with toxic substance. The cessation of menstruation seen Therapy conference taking place I should mention here that, just in anorexics is evidence of an ad- that very day in the hotel where he as I am a qualified Reiki practi- equate diet! This really would be was staying.) tioner, I also hold the degree of Doc- funny if it wasn’t so stupid. As I said, Dr. Bertha L. Veronneau, D.D.,D.Sc tor of Divinity. Well, I will after I this gave even hardened alternative send in the $25 final payment. supporters something to think about, Another wonderful loon who (http://aquarianctr.org/altmed/) although none of them in the par- shares with Bertha the quaint trait ticular forum where this was posted Do you remember the science you of vanishing without trace and then could actually bring themselves to learnt at school? It doesn’t matter if popping up again after everyone has declare it nonsense. I suppose get- you have forgotten it, because it was despaired of ever seeing her again is ting them to ask “Are you sure about probably all wrong. For example, did Nancy Luft. Nancy doesn’t have a lot that?” was at least a step in the right you know that the heart has seven to say about alternative medicine, direction.

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 37 If it sounds like a Duck but as she believes that the entire tions to bee stings and even bee dan- awarded to the living, but I am going world is run by a network of con- der. Bee stings are comparatively to suggest to the appropriate au- spiracies she probably thinks that rare (I have only been stung once in thorities that he be immortalised by the pharmaceutical companies are my life) and it is possible for some- the concept of Benveniste’s Number. connected to the great CIA con- one to be highly susceptible and not This is Avogadro’s Number raised to spiracy. Her speciality is telling us know it until the first sting happens. the power of Avogadro’s Number, and about how the conspiracists use sat- I doubt that a naturopath’s office is represents a limit to dilution which ellites (she always calls them “sput- the location of choice for someone’s could make even the most ardent niks”) to beam messages into our first experience of anaphylactic homeopath start to think about what brains. shock. But, of course, alternative is possible. She says that the explosion of medicines are all natural and have Now things start to get personal. Mount St Helens was not volcanic no side effects. In August 2004 an item with the but was caused by a sputnik missing title “The Evil Works Of Peter Bow- its target. I have seen the hole in the DigiBio ditch” appeared in an Internet forum side of the mountain with my own related to alternative medicine. It eyes and all I can say is that the (www.digibio.com) quoted an article by an Australian target brain must have been ex- One criticism directed at alternative journalist, Eve Hillary, and came tremely dense or protected by a very medicine is that it is not backed by from a site owned by a man named good tinfoil helmet if that much en- science. The usual response to this is David Icke. He is famous for his ergy was needed to rearrange it. to point to Dr Jacques Benveniste theory that the central committee of the Illuminati, the world’s most pow- Amber Rose and his body of work showing that dilution beyond Avogadro’s Number erful and secret society, are all liz- does not remove the effect of solu- ards and regularly change shape (www.amberrose.com/) tions of chemicals. I was saddened to (the process is called “shape-shift- When I first saw this site it was talk- hear that Dr Benveniste passed ing”) to reveal their reptilian charac- ing about “beesting therapy”. I mis- away on October 3, 2004. He was the teristics. Known members of this read this as “beasting” and thought man who came up with the idea of group are the British Royal Family for a moment that I had stumbled on water having a memory, thus provid- and the US royalty of The House of one of those web sites from Belgium ing much encouragement to Bush. or Holland that the moralisers keep homeopaths who used this to claim Reptilian Agenda talking about. It now talks about Bee that there was some scientific evi- Acupuncture, which seems to have dence for their fantasies. He later (www.reptilianagenda.com) two possible modes of operation. One claimed that it was possible to ex- would be to grind up the contents of tract this memory and store it in an There are certain characteristics a beehive, smear the mixture of electronic form, and to then transmit which help to identify the lizard peo- honey, wax, dead bees and bee excre- it to other places where it could be ple. One of them is Rh negative ment over the patient, and then stick installed in different water. Almost blood. I am AB negative, but there’s needles through it into the flesh be- exactly five years before his death, more to the story. From the earliest I neath. The other would be to train Dr Benveniste wrote to me to say: can remember, my favourite word bees to sting patients at acupuncture has been “lizard”. When I was a Our experiments have been recently points. surfer, I always liked to sit on a flat reproduced in a major American A major problem with the training rock at the end of the beach rather University and several labs in regimen would be that the bees die than on the sand. I was born on an France. We should be launching after stinging someone, so the train- equinox, the perfect time of the year momentarily the international repli- ing would have to be only up to the for exothermic creatures because in cation by 10-15 other labs world- stage of the bee locating the relevant summer your flat rock can get too wide. ... Upon completion of the meridian and then walking along it hot to walk on and in winter you can present replication job, a scientific to the desired acupuncture point. become as sluggish as a creationist’s report will be submitted to a major The bee could then be annoyed by an brain activity. Not only was I born on journal. external stimulus to make it drive in a suitable date, but it was following the stinger. Perhaps it could be con- I am still waiting for the results to a major flying saucer sighting, and nected with a couple of tiny electrical be published. I hope someone goes one of the theories is that the lizard wires and the therapist could press a through his notes and gets his work genes were introduced by aliens to button to give it a shock when sting- into a form where it can be released establish a fifth column for when the ing time came. It all sounds very to overthrow the current paradigms visitors return to take over. (I have complicated to me. of physics and chemistry. Dr tried to discuss these things with my To get serious for a moment, many Benveniste is no longer eligible for a mother but she just looks embar- people have violent immune reac- Nobel Prize, as these are only rassed and tells me not to be silly.) I

Page 38 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 was a failure at catching games like makes it clear that those displeased appear to be ludicrous, but for every football when I was at school, and enough to consult a lawyer about one of them there are people who apparently it had something to do defamation will have their law believe what is written there. If peo- with the articulation of my shoulders firms; “immediately placed on the ple can be deceived by such obvious making it difficult for me to catch arseholes list and linked from this nonsense, or by the ridiculous con- the ball. site. spiracy theories put about by people like David Icke and Eve Hillary, then David Icke Medical Archives Normally, Bowditch, the website it is no wonder that they can be and the Skeptics could be dismissed taken in by the seemingly legitimate (www.davidicke.net/medicalarchives/) as just another group or a byte in quackery sites which are full of sci- Not only does David Icke have web cyberspace, were it not for the fact entific words and pretend research, pages about the reptiles, but he also that their spur leads into the corri- or by the fearmongers talking about has a site about medical conspira- dors of political power in much the the dangers of vaccines, or by cies. It was here that the article same ways as Steven (sic) Barrett’s pseudoscientists who claim to have mentioning me was published (it is Quackbusters do in the US. the only correct answer (which is on some other non-Icke sites as My only comment is that the way suppressed by the orthodoxy to pro- well). At this point I should mention that my “targets” are “not accorded tect turf and income). that Eve Hillary, who wrote it, often the right of reply” can be seen at The people who are deceived by has material published in Australian www.ratbags.com/rsoles/files/ these quacks are not stupid — they alternative health and lifestyle mailbox.htm. simply do not have the scientific magazines and is treated as if she is When I talked about my knowledge or even the critical think- a serious journalist. In this piece she lizardness before, I assume that eve- ing skills to separate truth from non- refers to research from 1995 showing ryone took it as a joke. Remember sense. It is the duty of doctors and that 18,000 people die each year how I said that alternative medicine skeptics to not only oppose quackery from medical mistakes in hospitals, believers have no sense of humour? but to educate consumers and pa- but a year earlier she had been cit- Here is another quote from Eve tients about what is possible and ing a 2000 paper by the same re- Hillary’s article: what is not. This will not be an easy searchers and saying that it said task, but difficulty is no excuse for Bowditch also has a link to a re- 10,000 (it didn’t). Apparently, she giving up the fight. stricted access discussion group that assumes that her readers will never is only open to ‘approved’ members. check her “facts”. The discussion group, Here is a quote from the article: QuackbustersOfTheIlluminati, The Australian Skeptics group has states its purpose as being: ‘This is a spawned a number of offshoots. meeting place for the anti-alterna- Peter Bowditch, a ruddy faced man tive-medicine committee of the with a blunt military manner is the Illuminati, where we can meet and vice president of the group. He keeps consider our attack on health free- busy running a number of websites, dom within the broader agenda of one of which is www.ratbags.com/ world domination.’ It is not known Convention Moment rsoles. Not one to trifle with social what relationship Bowditch has niceties, he has compiled an exten- with this group, why it is secretive or sive list of persons and organisa- why it was formed. tions that he states on his website I emailed Ms Hillary and invited are, “a collection of a thousand her to join the secret society, al- arseholes”. Among those targeted are though I told her that she would Christian websites, anti-vivisection have to serve a probation period and animal welfare organisations, before I could introduce her to the alternative medicine and environ- Queen, the Pope and Bill Gates and mental groups. He invites anyone to that I was not high enough in the contact him by e-mailing “The organisation to go further than that. Proctologist”. His targets, however, She would have to speak to one of are not accorded the right of reply. them if she wanted to meet Rupert Bowditch makes no apologies; “own- Murdoch. She never answered my ers of sites linked to from here may email. be offended and feel that I am hold- I would like to finish on a serious ing them up to ridicule by calling note. The sites I have shown may them arseholes.” Furthermore, he Paul Willis waxes lyrical

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 39 The Cadena Interviews Skeptical, Comical and Very Rational

A funny man with his feet Lawrence Leung is not your typical skeptic. He is young (26), Asian, a Richard Cadena: Can you talk firmly planted comedian, writer and performer, and about your shows, how you choose in reality while he does have a beard, it is them? black. Lawrence performs comedy, has appeared on TV and radio, and Lawrence Leung: When it comes performs solo shows. His solo shows to writing solo shows I like to tackle are best described as documentary topics and themes I’m intensely comedies that blend stand-up with interested in. My first show was multimedia and personal storytell- about con artists and confidence ing. games. The psychology about how In 2001, he debuted Sucker, a people are deceived. My follow-up show exposing the psychology and show, Skeptic, was a show about techniques of confidence artists, how people deceive themselves. I swindlers and card cheats. It played studied psychology at university, in Melbourne, , Sydney, which is, of course, what I’m inter- Edinburgh and Dublin. At the 2003 ested in. When it comes to doing a Melbourne International Comedy show about the nature of belief and Festival, Lawrence debuted his fol- skepticism, because I’m a comedian, low-up show Skeptic, a comic docu- I try to talk about these issues in a mentary that traced his childhood way that is entertaining but also fascination with , psychics and educational. scepticism. Part science-lecture, part RC: How did your first show come boys-own-adventure, Lawrence used about? a slide show presentation of his re- cent ghost hunting exploits around LL: It is the same thing about de- and clever statistical analy- ception. Trying to work out why do sis to debunk popular TV psychic people believe certain things. John Edward. RC: Did you get conned at some I saw his one man show, Skeptic, point? Richard Cadena, our globe-trotting interviewer, at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and has returned from his native USA and is now interviewed him at his home base of LL: No, no, no one conned me but I domiciled in Adelaide. Melbourne. did a lot of research into the way

Page 40 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 people are fooled. And then it struck ence’. Which is also what I’m trying souvlaki and you’re drunk and eve- me: con artists — how did they do to do. ryone is talking about ‘Is there a their thing? So I did a lot of reading, God?; ‘is there this and that?’. They Other audiences who are made of made up a few scams myself. get into really deep and meaningful middle age women who come along conversations about pyramids or Right in the middle of my re- because they go; ‘Aw, this is a show whatever and I would always take search, this van pulled beside me about psychics and ghosts’. They the skeptical point of view, even and these two guys were trying to giggle away throughout the stories when I was not in my best physical sell me speakers through the win- and then I start debunking John state (laughing). I was still able to dow of the van. One of them had a Edward at the end and they go all talk about things from a critical clipboard to make it look all official. quiet. I’ve had psychics turn up to point of view. If you don’t actually They said, ‘We’re overstocked and the show and at the end of the show have any evidence for that, be care- our boss is going to be so angry with say, ‘I loved it and here is my card, ful when you latch onto any expla- us unless we can off-load this stuff, I’m a psychic’. I say to them, ‘But nation no matter how wonderful we so well sell it to you for cheap’. I shouldn’t you be seeing the media as wish it would be. said no and they drove off but in hind- RC: Do your friends sight I should have refrain from men- said, ‘what you are tioning paranormal doing is a derivative beliefs to you or do of the old gold brick they tend to be skepti- con, which started in cal? the goldfields of Cali- LL: Some are skepti- fornia. Let me explain cal but a lot of them it to you because you aren’t and we do are doing the modern have challenges. I incarnation of it. The think they kind of old speaker scam get sick of me always through the window having my skeptical of a van’. point of view. ‘Oh, RC: What has been what does Lawrence the response to your think of THAT?’ Well show Skeptic? actually, it is funny you should say that, LL: It has been very, because correlation very positive. The does not necessarily best thing to talk Lawrence Leung and friend. mean causation, just about is where the because those two things happened audience comes from because I had the enemy’? ‘No, no, because no one doesn’t mean they are related. ‘Oh, no idea how to pitch my show to a ever does shows about us’. there is Lawrence again with his particular market. I perform a show Then there are a lot of young peo- correlation doesn’t equal causation in the Adelaide Fringe, Edinburgh ple as well who are there just for argument’. I say, ‘But listen to what Fringe and Melbourne Comedy Fes- laughs. OK, its a comedy show, he is you’re saying’. ‘Yeah, but...’. I think tival. Sometimes the audiences are doing a show that is not the usual people want to believe. I don’t lose made up of what I’d term the stere- stand-up; lets see what this one’s friends because I’m a skeptic. If otype of the academic/skeptic, 50 about. They leave the show saying, anything it just makes the conversa- year old male with the big beard, that was really good, I haven’t re- tions more excitable. greying, spectacles, sitting with ally seen a show about something their arms crossed and nodding RC: Sounds like you have been a like this before. their head in approval. They tend to skeptic since you were born? be the audiences that don’t really RC: How have your friends re- LL: Yes, (laughing) from the mo- laugh. But having said that, I’ve sponded to your show or you being a ment I was born. I think when I was met a lot of wonderful skeptics who skeptic? little, I always read books from the see it and then say, ‘Yup, that is LL: A lot of them were not surprised library. Got childrens’ books about, what should happen. We should because I used to be a devil’s advo- how to be a ghost hunter, get a have young people talking about cate in conversations. You know torch. As kids, you are always inter- these issues for a mainstream audi- those 3am conversations after a ested in dinosaurs, UFOs, or what- long night, when you’re eating

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 41 Skeptical, Comical, Rational

ever. I was always the one who read undecided or slip and slide between They’d say, ‘people don’t want to see everything but I didn’t so much different worldviews. And people are a show about skepticism. They want believe it. My friends were like, like that these days, they choose to to see something funny’. ‘The show ‘yeah, yeah, ghosts’. I don’t believe it believe one thing strongly but an- is funny’, but if you say, ‘Do you but I still love the area. other thing they are quite able to want to see a show about ghosts and say, ‘come what may’. psychics’, then you’ve got their in- I realised towards my teenage terest. Then they say, ‘What is it years, when you get into these argu- RC: Do you run into a problem of about?’ and I say ‘It’s ghosts and ments with people and you get re- people viewing your skepticism as psychics and me trying to find the ally passionate about it. You realise cynicism and if so, how do you deal truth’. That sells the show better it comes down to how people believe with that? than saying this is a show about in things. It is the how and why. skepticism. I’ve found that quite That is probably why I got into interesting because what I’m saying studying psychology because I is, ‘I’m not going to give you my wanted to see what is was that point of view until you come along made one person see the pencil and see it for yourself’. On the other move and say it’s a ghost and an- hand, it’s interesting to see that other person says it’s the wind. Why, ... sometimes people are more interested in the for the same event, can two differ- ‘What if?’ aspects of ghosts and psy- ent people see it in two different psychology chics than they are to see something ways? that is about science and skepti- RC: Have you come up with an an- is just cism. swer? RC: Obviously you have an interest LL: I guess it is different people common sense in skepticism but why did you have different worldviews of what choose ghosts and John Edward? they are willing to believe about a LL: Ghosts came about because I locus of control. Where is everything with was in Scotland at the time and controlled? Is it from within you? Do everyone was telling me that Scot- you blame everything else or do you statistics land was the most haunted place in see you had a part to play in the the world. Edinburgh has so many situation? Some people think, ‘we ghost tours. OK, this is a great place can’t control everything so there to start my journey. Taking photos, must be something out there’. Eve- meeting people, talking to believers, ryone decides where this locus of LL: Being a sort of performer, come- and talking to people who conduct control is. It is a basic human need. dian and writer, the first thing I had the ghost tours. Its real interesting, We need to find control in our lives, to think of, especially for this show on the one hand, the tour guides our environment and also where we (Skeptic), it had to be not just edu- believe it, but on the other hand are heading in our lives. How do we cational but entertaining. Once I they have more stories about the control it? Is it bad decisions, bad realised it is easier to get the mes- believers on the tours than about luck, fate, outside factors? sage across when it is sugar-coated the ghosts. When you ask them they RC: What do you think would move in a very humorous form. talk about how much money they someone from one view to another? have made out of it (laughing). ‘Oh, You get the message across a lot so you are a failed actor but you’re LL: Probably things that could be more easily but also it strikes a conducting this ghost tour and you described as profound life events. chord with people more because make a lot of money out of people’s Death is a classic one. you’re not hammering them over the belief systems and curiosity, very head with YOUR ideas, YOUR opin- RC: So you don’t think you could interesting’. ion, and YOUR point of view. You argue one out of a worldview? are saying, ‘this is what I believe RC: Do the tour guides tend to be LL: I don’t really think so. I think a and you decide for yourself’. believers or they don’t care they are skeptic can be just as headstrong as just doing a job? When it is done with comedy it is a new age believer can. You can’t like political satire, finding and LL: From the ones I’ve met, they really change someone’s point of exaggerating the absurdity of an are very cynical and it is just a view once they’ve decided that is issue. When I was explaining the means to an end. They can be quite how they are going to see the world, show to the different festivals, I’d hammy as in ham actors during the unfortunately. What we can do is say it is a show about skepticism. ghost tour and afterwards at the educate the people who are either

Page 42 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 pub when they are sitting and chat- because I wanted to poke fun at something which clearly can’t be ting it is, ‘That’s another night hard-nosed skeptics as much as I measured. Everyone is quite differ- done’. I say, ‘You’re not scared of wanted to poke fun at psychics. I ent. Also what it did was take all ghosts?’ ‘No, we are just doing this found that was quite successful. the different ideas and theories thing.’ It is great to see someone People could see I was laughing at from psychology and located it in its who is trying to create a world, a myself. It is quite an absurd thing historical context and you found out reality and undercut themselves to do, to go out to look for ghosts. If I where all the biases came from. straightaway after the tour. It is could do this in a fun way, everyone That was the type of course that quite funny. is enjoying it, the skeptics, psychics, had to be a prerequisite. It shouldn’t and the undecided. For myself, this RC: And John Edward? just be an elective subject, that area of skepticism boils down to me should be a compulsory subject. LL: I needed to find something for enjoying what it is about human Courses like that in the show to get my point across nature that makes people believe are going to be helpful for society in about skepticism and belief but I things and not believe other things. general. also had to find something the audi- RC: Other than your shows, how ence could relate to. John Edward RC: So what do you think of psy- could you get younger people inter- was on prime-time television in chology? ested in skepticism? Australia and he also toured right LL: I came through the other end before I was to perform the show. I LL: It probably has to start in the thinking, that sometimes psychol- thought that would be a great thing schools. When I went to school there ogy is just common sense with sta- to do, to go along to see his show was science and religious education. tistics. and explain to the audience what There should be something which is happened in the show and also sta- closer to maybe philosophy or psy- RC: So what is next for you after tistically go through what he did in chology. A critical thinking course your show? the show. Debunk what he does, his which looks at how things are por- LL: I have written and performed cold reading. trayed in the media, with a critical weekly segments for a comedy TV eye, looking at how people go about RC: Have you heard of the Austral- show called In Siberia Tonight persuading the masses and how we ian Skeptics? (SBS) in which I make amusing five as human beings believe things minute documentaries and social LL: Yes I have. I’ve met some after because it suits us at a particular experiments. I also appear on my shows in Melbourne and Ad- point in time. I think that would be breakfast radio on 3RRR Mel- elaide. I think they would prefer me a really healthy course for second- bourne, with a regular segment to go deeper. They say, ‘Great, it was ary students to look at things from a called The Truth, where I debunk really entertaining but you should critical point of view. common myths and misconceptions. have torn them apart’. When I studied psychology, there I’ve also got a screenplay, which is RC: Could you have done that and was one unit called “Histories and based on my first show Sucker and remained entertaining? Theories of Psychology”. For some is currently being developed by a film producer. LL: You could, but it is not what I reason it was the lowest attended wanted to do. My point of view is stream of psychology and the follow- RC: Great, we’ll keep an eye out for where I find this area very fun and ing year they got rid of it and other you and thanks for your time, Law- exciting. Those grey areas. I do find subjects. It was the most enjoyable rence. these arguments enjoyable. Where course because it was a psychologist there is an argument, you see a getting up there and just basically skeptic and a psychic arguing about bagging psychology. Talking about something they clearly can’t agree where the fundamental principles on because they are talking in two and assumptions came from and very different languages almost. what the problems were for all of And that to me I find very humor- them. I looked at it and I just went, ous because it shows something this is the best course in psychology about human nature. because it asks: what is psychology? Is it a science at all or is it really In my show I wanted to show that closer to astrology than it is to phys- as well, so that is why I kind of ics, for example. It is trying to cat- made fun of myself as a skeptic egorise people along dimensions of

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 43 Interview Confronting Creationism

Defending science against Professor Eugenie C. Scott has dedi- inaccurately, present it as a weak superstition is a cated her life to battling the crea- theory that has been challenged by tionism movement, especially the these new observations they keep full-time job push to have a creationist point of bringing up. view taught as science in US public We have a T-Shirt with Darwin on schools. I first meet Eugenie in Octo- the front and on the back the 1st ber 2004 at the Berkeley public li- amendment of the US constitution brary when she, as part of the Bay which says: Area Skeptics, hosted my talk enti- tled “And You Thought The Duck- Congress shall make no law respect- billed Platypus Was Strange!” in ing an establishment of religion, or which I gave an overview of some of prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or the Australian paranormal investi- abridging the freedom of speech, or of gations, of which regular readers of the press; or the right of the people the Skeptic are well aware. At the peaceably to assemble, and to petition time I asked Eugenie if I might in- the Government for a redress of griev- terview her for the journal. ances. Eugenie is based in an office in This means that the government ‘The National Center for Science schools have to be rigorously neutral. Education’ located in Oakland, Cali- You cannot promote religion in the fornia and it was there I went to schools and you cannot denigrate reli- conduct the interview. gion in the schools and that’s the way it should be. If you are promoting bib- lical creationism, you’re violating the RS: Are the creationists making a 1st amendment and this is the grounds mark in the science text books? that we on our side of things have been ES: Actually it’s more subtle than using to challenge the fundamental- that. We don’t have creationism in the ists for the last 30 years. text books. What we have to watch out for is efforts to weaken the presenta- RS: It’s a pity that you have to use Richard Saunders, when he is not investigat- tion of evolution in the text books, to this tactic instead of using the science ing mysteries and making videos, is President water it down, disclaim it, present it of the argument. of the NSW Skeptics

Page 44 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 ES: Yes. The good RS: How do they get news is that the on with the more tra- scientific and the ditional creation- education commu- ists? nities are solidly ES: It’s an uneasy behind the teach- relationship. It’s sort ing of evolution of like ‘the enemy of and there is no my enemy is my wavering whatso- friend’. Answers In ever. The problem Genesis has a page is that in the on their web site we that criticises the have unusually high degree of de- people for being centralisation in ‘insouciantly Bibli- the education sys- cal’. The creation tem. There is no science folks are national curricu- miffed that the ID lum as each state people are not has its own, but bringing the argu- even these are not The author in California with Phil Plait and Eugenie Scott ment back to the obligatory. The big Bible. At the same decisions about what is taught and have been around a long time. They, time, the ID people like to keep the who is hired are made at the local however, have had major losses in the people at arm’s length, level. The district sets the curriculum courts and are now no longer trying as as they know they don’t have any and can leave evolution out if they hard to get creationism taught in the credibility in the academic or science want. So even if the teachers want to schools. What they are doing is trying community. The ID people get apoplec- teach evolution, if there is a lot of pres- to stop evolution being taught. Basi- tic if you call them creationists. But in sure at the local level from parents, cally they repackage their creation the end they both believe in special then evolution just won’t be taught. arguments and call it ‘Evidence creation. Against Evolution’. If you ask them RS: Are there people who are fooled what they call evidence against RS: So ID is a masquerade? by the use of the word ‘science’ in ‘Crea- evolution they use the same old, ‘gaps tion Science’? in the fossil record’, ‘the second law of ES: That’s right. Although the ID thermodynamics’, same old same old. movement is the bigger circle so to ES: It can be used as an excuse. We speak and the creation science is re- are following one case at the moment The second group is ‘Intelligent De- ally a sub-section of that. There are in northern California, where a geol- sign’. They are far more clever as they supporters of ID who are not Young ogy teacher told her class that there have learnt that they cannot make it Earth creationists nevertheless they are two scientific theories for the age obvious that they believe that ‘God did are serious, they believe they have got of the Earth. One is that the Earth is it’. If you have creation science then good science, they haven’t convinced billions of years old and the other that you must have a creator and therefore the rest of us yet. Their science is aw- Earth is 6000 years old. Not that one advocate a religious point of view and ful! is a religious view at all — but that that’s failed in the courts. What the they are both scientific views. Intelligent Design people do is not to RS: How are you treated by these two claim any agent. They say that they groups? RS: Are the creationists a unified are agnostic about the agent, that’s not force? important. They say that there are ES: I get on quite well with the crea- tion science people, but have a more ES: There are two types of creation- some things in nature that cannot be testy relationship with the ID people. ists. One is the traditional ‘Young explained by a natural cause. There- I do work hard to keep it civil. I do not Earth Creationists’ like Answers In fore (whispers) a cause! feel very kindly towards Jonathan Genesis, Ken Ham etc, who believe So this is a much subtler form of Wells, who is very well trained in evo- that everything was created about creationism, you have to dig down sev- lutionary biology. I know the people he 10,000 years ago by God and that eral layers before you see that this is took courses from; he got a PhD from there was a great flood. They are the special creation. They have been much the University of California, Berkeley, largest group, very well funded, and more successful lately.

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 45 Confronting Creationism

in cellular molecular biology. I know able to have this kind of support. They RS: Does the scientific community he understands this material. In my showed that it was not a case of ‘sci- take you for granted? “It’s all OK, we’ll opinion, he is misusing the education ence vs religion’. let Eugenie handle it?” that he received to deliberately leave ES: That was the case about ten years out aspects of the explanation to mis- RS: How is the near future looking for ago. We now have this division of la- lead people. I cannot respect that. your centre? bour, so to speak. We do the grass roots ES: We are running as hard as we can but the larger scientific groups can RS: Do you know of a creationist who to stay in the same place. But you publish to a great extent with book has come to the conclusion that it’s just know, we put out a hell of a lot of brush reviews etc. We found out that the ID plain wrong? fires. Ultimately this is all about edu- people were going to be presenting a ES: Yes. There are some very poign- cation. What is science, what is briefing to the Congress in Washing- ant stories. One man, a former Young evolution — there is so much misun- ton, to a science committee. This was Earth creationist who is one of the few derstanding out there. There is mis- a real jaw-dropper. We notified the people for whom understanding the understanding that you have to choose members of the big science associa- scientific evidence was sufficient to between science and religion. tions in Washington and they were convince him that the world is very old. able, at very short notice, to get some- However he is still a creationist, in the RS: What about the longer term? Do one in there to take notes. These notes sense that he believes God created you think with the rapid growth of sci- were send out to everybody! It was a everything. entific understanding that these crea- wake-up call. ‘The ID people are talk- tion groups will still be going strong ing to Congress!’ WHAT? So it’s a good RS: There is a feeling in Australia that in 20 – 30 years? collaboration with us doing a lot of the in order to gain more support for our ES: It’s not a question of scientific edu- ground work. side, we should seek more support cation, it’s a question of religion. This from mainstream churches. Is that the will never be solved by throwing sci- RS: Thank you Eugenie. feeling here? ence at it. People need to think they ES: Absolutely. When I was a college are not losing anything by rejecting I left Eugenie with several copies of professor in Lexington, Kentucky, I creationism. People of faith feel very the Great Skeptic CD2 as it contains was involved in a controversy when a strongly that if they accept evolution many articles and books on creation- local group, ‘The citizens for balanced they have to give up religion, then for- ism from an Australian point of view. teaching of origins’ came to our school get it… it’s not going to happen, they board and ask that creation science be won’t do that. This is one reason we Contact The National Center for taught. Needless to say that ‘up with try to work with the moderate and Science Education this we would not put!’ We formed a mainstream religions. A lot of folks out http://www.ncseweb.org coalition with the local clergy who did there in the mainstream churches still not want biblical literacy taught in don’t know that evolution is OK. science class. It was extremely valu-

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Page 46 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 The Good Word Words from Beyond

More thoughts on the Tongues of men and aliens languages. Where a word exists in wisdom in words Gary Anthony and I have continued inflected forms in the source lan- to examine linguistic claims associ- guage, the citation (dictionary) form ated with UFOs. One aspect of this is virtually always the one which involves the spellings used for alleg- appears here. There is no grammar. edly alien words. Some of these In fact the sequences do not really spellings seem designed to support a exemplify language in use; they are claim. For instance, one such word is lists of words. spelt ghanasvan or similarly. Note Potter translates the ‘messages’, the initial digraph gh. This is rare in adding grammar as it suits him. English and thus suggests exotic They are mostly warnings of im- origin generally, but more specifi- pending doom, often through the cally it is reminiscent of Indic or Sun surprisingly going nova. His Celtic, which are language sub-fami- own attitude to learning can be seen lies from cultures popular in New in his web-site remark that any chal- Age/fringe thought. And in fact the h lenges to his ideas ‘will be ignored is redundant: the spoken word as with great aplomb’! But is there per- reported orally commences with [g] haps a plausible source for these as in go, and ganasvan would have texts that involves no aliens…? worked fine. Maybe someone who doesn’t actually On a broader front, we had some know Greek or Latin but has diction- interaction with Paul Potter, who aries and a conversion table for the upholds the veracity of the very Greek alphabet like the one at the strange ‘messages’ which well-known start of Greek For Beginners? Why abductee Betty Andreasson (now would aliens communicate like this, Luca) reportedly received from alien anyway? If they know Latin and entities. Those which are not in Eng- want to prove it, they can write in lish are simply strings of words fa- Latin, surely? miliar or otherwise, drawn or seen There are in fact other cases in- Mark Newbrook is a linguist who writes from as drawn (often with some distor- volving UFOs where a string of the the wilds of The Wirral. Sometimes, when his tion) from Latin, Greek and other citation forms of words taken from a computer is working, the words get through. foreign language is presented as if it

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 47 The Good Word were a meaningful sentence. One even have this order anyway! are very similar), which they de- such case arose in the Garden Grove Stewart’s linguistics is even weaker. scribe as ‘especially simple’ (on the abduction case of 1975, later ac- Covey has now begun to argue (if basis of one feature!), could not pos- knowledged as a hoax. The sequence we are understanding each other sibly be derived from that of San- (allegedly channelled) was nous laos correctly; I am still not totally sure skrit, which they regard as an hikano (early Greek: ‘mind’, ‘people’ that he knows what I am referring unnecessarily complex and ‘primi- as in we the people, ‘[I] come’). A to) that ‘Native American’ languages tive’ language; gloss ‘I come in the mind of man’ was as a group are an exception to the (b) that only 10% of its vocabulary is offered; but all three forms are cita- well-established theoretical and of Sanskrit origin (this figure is tion forms, and the grammar has methodological principles determin- arrived at partly by deriving many merely been added by the translator. ing whether alleged correspondences such words from cognate forms in ‘I come in the mind of the people’ between forms in different languages Persian, which they find more con- would be eis ton noun ton tou laou (showing ‘genetic’ relationships or genial as it is the language of an hikano (or similar, depending on the contact) are likely to be genuine or Islamic country); dialect). not. If valid, this would justify at least some of his loose comparative (c) that phonological elements in Central Asian Navajo? methods. But there is no precedent Urdu borrowed from Arabic are in John White’s ally Cyclone Covey at all for such an exception to these fact ancestral; etc. (remember ‘EMSL’?) endorses vari- principles, which are partly Well, no. ous extreme diffusionist linguistic grounded in sheer statistics and (in 2) In her revisionist books on claims. Some of them involve alleged general terms) have repeatedly been early Christianity, notably Jesus The incidents demonstrating the mutual confirmed around the world. I have Man , Barbara Thiering claims that intelligibility of surprising pairs of asked for evidence. (But when I a number of New Testament Greek languages. Fringe works report asked Covey for evidence of links place-names refer in different places many such incidents but the evi- between Mixe and Chinese, proposed to different locations. In each case, dence is never forthcoming. Covey’s by him in his previous letter, he said one location is as normally under- leading case involves early-mid C20 that he was unable to provide any, stood, the other is associated with Navajo and Uighur (Turkistan). He inviting me to identify it myself! So I the Qumran complex developed by believes (with Ethel Stewart and am not all that hopeful… It should the Essene sect and now famous for others) that some (non-Inuit) ‘Native also be pointed out that, if such loos- the Dead Sea Scrolls. At times American’ groups such as the Navajo ening of procedures really were Thiering simply asserts the truth of actually left Central Asia only in the shown to be legitimate in respect of a this view, but she does mount vari- last 1000-3000 years and that their specific group of languages, it is ous arguments — none of which has languages are therefore still close to likely that many rival analyses of convinced the scholarly mainstream. some Asian ones. I suggested he ar- the data in question would emerge One of them is in part linguistic: the range a test. Oh no, he thinks it is as roughly equally well supported; so NT text displays both singular and up to the linguistics establishment to a firm decision that Covey or any of plural forms of the name Jerusalem, do that — and in any case a negative his allies was correct on the specifics and Thiering claims that the former result would not persuade him, be- would still be precluded.) refers to the real Jerusalem, the cause of (alleged) recent linguistic latter to the ‘new Jerusalem’ at divergence. More philological and epigraphic fun Qumran. But in fact the name ap- In fact, only someone trapped in (and related matters) pears in three forms, two singular early C19 methodology — as many 1) Readers may remember the claims and one plural; and it is not at all ‘epigraphists’ are — would recognise of Oak and others regarding the glo- clear that Thiering is right about any evidence for non-prehistoric bal historical primacy of Sanskrit — what they signify. links between Navajo and Uighur, the ancestor of the modern Indic Of course, Thiering is not on her let alone mutual comprehension. languages such as Hindi — and Hin- own in reinterpreting aspects of the Covey uses the usual impossibly duism. In something of a reversal of language of the NT. I have previ- loose criteria, throughout. For in- that view, some are now claiming ously referred to ‘Dave’ and his bi- stance he believes in links (of some that it is the main Islamic version of zarre reinterpretations of NT Greek kind; he is unclear) between Sioux Indic, Urdu, that should be seen as morphology; and then there are writ- and Greek, because both sometimes basic. On the basis of grotesquely ers such as Jordan Maxwell and the use Object-Verb-Subject word order. feeble arguments, they claim: well-known John Allegro who pro- But so do very many languages. And (a) that the grammar of Hindustani pose novel philological origins for his own Greek example does not (Urdu and Hindi together; the two key religious vocabulary. I have dis-

Page 48 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 cussed Maxwell’s nonsense before; gal believe (against international Godwin, Paget, Tomatis etc) who for his part, Allegro traces many opinion) that the world was exten- writes as if largely unaware of the Semitic (Hebrew, Aramaic) and sively explored by Portuguese navi- linguistic mainstream. Such authors Greek words to common ancestors in gators before 1492 but that this was either miss the insights of linguists (guess!) Sumerian, but as usual pro- kept secret. Indeed, this ‘Portuguese altogether or re-invent strange vides no adequate argument. I am Policy of Secrecy’ is taught as fact in wheels. Newham for his part makes grateful to Daryl Colquhoun for Portuguese schools. And one of the only fleeting references to most rel- bringing this case to my attention. most one-sided and unsatisfactory evant aspects of linguistics and some 3) Another Sumerian fan is Paula papers in the diffusionist literature of his claims are false or Sten, who also argues that ‘compara- is a 1992 piece re-analysing indemonstrable (eg that song tive analysis’ shows that ‘man has Columbus himself as Portuguese emerged before speech). He does had two phonetically recognizable (and denying the right of anyone demonstrate a good knowledge of the written words from 40,000 BC’ [sic!] who is not a Portuguese specialist to physiology and physics of speech and had more not long after, and assess the issue). Portugal punched sounds; but the use he makes of this that there are links between Basque well above its weight in early mod- knowledge is more dubious. Drawing and Algonquin (more Fellian ern times and (once again) pride in inspiration from traditional ideas diffusionism). I had heard of Sten its history is wholly legitimate; but it around the world, he argues that from Covey (q.v.) – he promotes her, is all too easy to be seduced into attention to one’s voice leads to pro- as he does Ethel Stewart and others over-glorifying one’s own ethnicity found psychological benefits. Along — and then found her quoted on a and thus talking nonsense — be one the way he accepts some very sus- Melungeon web site devoted to the Greek, North Indian, Portuguese or pect linguistic claims made by Jung affairs of this Appalachian commu- whatever. and even some (not all) of the non- nity which appears to be partly Por- I have subsequently seen more of standard claims of Reich; he also tuguese in origin (though this has Sten’s work, sent to me by the ad- writes with a measure of approval of been disputed). The editor seems to miring Covey. Her ideas about lan- the bizarre and linguistically have believed that Basque is, or at guage are mostly very strange and untutored ideas of Peter Brook about least was, spoken in Portugal. she presents her philological and the development of a ‘universal lan- Several other pieces on this web epigraphic theories extremely guage of sounds’. And one looks in site present extreme views on the inexplicitly and densely and without vain for the results of controlled status of the Portuguese (eg one sug- anything resembling adequate argu- studies supporting his own theories. gests that the Portuguese population mentation. Unless these faults can Newham’s ‘Voice Movement Therapy’ is so distinct genetically that issues be addressed, she does not warrant may have some value but it clearly arise in the context of organ trans- much attention. needs stronger support. plants). Indeed, Portuguese national- ism looms large in many discussions The Singing Cure of the early settlement of the Ameri- Paul Newham is another non-main- cas (a point which will not be lost on stream phonetician (compare Australians). Most people in Portu-

Seen at the Convention

Audience reaction to Peter Bowditch’s new shirt.

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 49 Article The Science of Religion

Suggesting that the In 1946 Maurice Cornforth1 wrote: ever-expanding revelation of the workings of the real world which is supernatural is just The rapid and brilliant development gained by scientific investigation. natural after all. of modern natural science seems defi- nitely to confirm and justify the mate- All in the mind rialist view of the world. The natural explanation of all things, which such The science of neurophysiology has ancient thinkers as Thales, provided a much clearer understand- Democritus or Epicurus could estab- ing of the link between the world lish only speculatively and in very around us and the world of compre- general outline, is being established hension inside us, than was available scientifically and in ever growing to Cornforth’s great thinkers of the detail and comprehensiveness by the past. Our connection to the outside advance of natural science during the world can now be seen as the result of past three hundred years. the ebb and flow of chemicals and electricity in the body’s nervous sys- Continued investigations in the tem and, in particular, in the multitu- almost six decades since those words dinous interconnections between the were written have continued to con- cells of the brain. The light, heat, firm Cornforth’s statement. Every sound waves and touch of our envi- phenomenon and every thing in this rons provide the stimuli to generate a world of ours is the result of the picture of the external world in our enormously complex interaction of mind and all our interactions with physical, understandable, entities. the external world are determined by That includes religion and all other our responses to that image. Fortu- aspects of human behaviour. nately for us the image is usually There have been attempts, includ- 2 correct. If I see a chair and sit down ing that by the late Stephen J Gould in it and it keeps me off the floor then (a founding Skeptic) to keep religion it is truly there. In that way I repeat- and science apart and he, in particu- edly confirm the correctness of my lar, regarded them as belonging to image as I go about interacting with two separate non-overlapping the other objects of my world. magisteria, to which he gave the Unfortunately the formation of the acronym NOMA. That approach was John Warren is a retired horticulturalist and image can also go wrong. The chemi- no more than an attempt to isolate long-term Skeptic subscriber, who lives in cals in drugs upset it; physical dam- and protect religious belief from the Sydney. age to the brain upsets it and some-

Page 50 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 times something innate in the mecha- tabolism. There can be no physical the chosen individuals. Their com- nism of the brain distorts it. There is evidence of an incorporeal God or mands, formulated from their own a vast number of reports in the litera- anything else which is incorporeal, human desires, were given with all ture of psychology, sociology and neu- that is, emits no light or sound, can- the awesome majesty of the gods. We rology of what the mind “sees” or not be touched. The image of a god have more or less passed the stage of “hears” when the image does not cor- does, however, exist in the human the absolute monarchs who had that respond to external reality. All the brain and it is represented by hu- second-hand authority, but the apparitions and voices which are the mans in pictures, sculptures and priestly caste still retains the same stock-in-trade of the religious vision- words. How, without any physical power over a great mass of the peo- aries have been more or less dupli- reality on which it could be based, ple. Their special raiments, ceremo- cated in other people as a result of have those images of God or gods nies and incantations to their par- brain disturbances arising from natu- taken hold in the human brain? ticular god betrays their origin as ral causes. How can one assess magicians and witchdoctors but their whether the image is a true represen- God has an evolutionary history authority is increasingly being con- tation of the external world? Again, The scientific groundwork for an tested as the transparent human as with the chair, only by attempting answer to that question was laid in base for their edicts conflicts with to manipulate or use the external 1890 when J. G. Frazer published the real living needs of their sub- world as pictured by the image. the results of his anthropological jects. It is very hard to maintain that Images are held or being generated study of magic and religion in his God says no to condoms in the face of in the brain all the time. When we book The Golden Bough. With an AIDS. are asleep we have dreams ranging overwhelming collation of data, Once scientific investigation re- from the ephemeral to the “lucid” Frazer showed that the idea of God veals, as it has done, the natural dreams of such intensity that it takes had an evolutionary history. It all evolutionary origin of religion and its some time after waking to recognise started with the earliest human be- gods and its role in society as well as that the experienced image was in ings attempting to control their envi- its confinement to our brain activity, fact a dream. Even awake some peo- ronment by magic. If you want rain the veil of mystery has parted. The ple apparently experience startling then splash water around. If you “agnostics” can now make up their images in their minds. Some believe want to have success in the hunt minds. God exists but only as a prod- that they have actually met aliens; then dance the desired result or uct of the evolving mind. been operated on by them; have been draw the imagined successful scene. Far from science and religion be- taken into their spaceships. It was not a great jump to believe ing separate magisteria they are in The images some people have had that the things that humans could fact separate aspects of the one hu- of being contacted by aliens are ac- not control, but which happened man endeavour to control the world cepted as no more than brain distur- anyway, were controlled by even in which we find ourselves. The ide- bances because there is never any more powerful but unseen humans. alist path of belief in the supernatu- acceptable physical evidence and the These became the spirits or gods. ral led through magic to religion and idea is quite inconsistent with all we Indeed the earliest of these God and a deadend of endlessly in- have otherwise confirmed about the superhumans were very human, had terpreting and re-interpreting words speed of light and the distance to the families and exhibited all the charac- to adjust to the changing demands of nearest star system. Indeed, if the teristics of normal humans such as society. The materialist path led image of alien contact in one person’s anger, revenge, love and ambition. from experience and testing of the brain were to be accepted widely as Truly the gods were conceived in the natural world through science to evidence of the real presence of al- image of humans. unending understanding and real iens, there would be widespread The people who could tap the control. panic and the mobilisation of mas- power of the gods were, for that rea- sive defence forces. That reaction son, very powerful members of the References doesn’t happen, the report is ignored, community. They were the medicine- 1. Cornforth, Maurice, Science versus it is imaginary. men and witchdoctors; they also Idealism, Lawrence & Wishart 1946 Why then do other reports of star- evolved along with society in which 2. Gould, Stephen J, Rocks of Ages, Sci- tling visions gain acceptance? They they lived. As Frazer3 commented ence and Religion in the Fullness of Life, have no more physical evidence of from his studies of culture in Africa: The Balantine Publishing Group, New their reality than those of the aliens. “and here the evidence for the evolu- York, 1999 All the evidence points to the fact tion of the chief out of the magician, 3. Frazer, J.G. The Golden Bough, that the image in the brain arises and especially out of the rainmaker, abridged edition, p111. Macmillan & Co. from its response to an external is comparatively plentiful”. From London 1957 physical input or from the internal simple magician to chief and on to interactions between the various king or queen, the role of conduit to processes involved in 24-hour me- the gods gave great secular power to

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 51 Review The Unreal State of Real Estate

Tricks of the real estate Don’t Sign Anything! How to pro- it for the “easy” money. Getting tect yourself from the tricks and around $10K per sale sure beats trade examined traps of real estate. Neil Jenman, commissions from persuading people Rowley Publications, Sydney, 2002 to switch from Telstra to Optus and back again ad infinitum. “Being skeptical is your first protec- But it is not that easy. There are tion against the lies in real estate,” many agents, there only are so many Jenman cautions. Nevertheless, properties for sale and competition is knowing the tricks of the trade can- fierce. This is where the conflict of not hurt. interest arises. It is in the interest of According to Jenman, the funda- the real estate agent to: mental problem in real estate arises 1) Get the seller to assign him the because of a conflict of interest be- job of selling her property (called tween the professional and the con- getting a listing) sumer – always a recipe for disaster. 2) Sell the property before the Take dentists, for example: the con- agreement with the seller expires. sumer wants good teeth, but dentists While it is the primary goal of the benefit most from expensive dental seller to: work1. Of course, dentists are dedicated 3) Sell the property at the best pos- professionals who spent four plus sible price years honing their skills and are no A seller usually interviews several doubt sincere about trying to save us real estate agents before picking one. from our teeth rotting habits2. The easiest way for the agent to win However, real estate agents only a listing is to play to Goal 3 by over- require four weeks of training. It is estimating the price that the prop- not too much of a stretch of the im- erty is likely to fetch. Jenman calls agination to suppose that some this the Quote Lie. The agent thus agents who enter the industry are in achieves Goal 1 — but how to achieve Goal 2 with an unrealistic price? 1. This might explain why my childhood Apparently, the industry has come dentist rewarded me with sweets after up with a clever solution that will Michael Lucht is a mathematician with a every visit. seem familiar to anyone who ever philosophical bent. He’s from N-W Tasmania. 2. After all, for all I know my dentist worked in the public service — activ- could be a subscriber. Hi Brendan!

Page 52 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 ity takes the place of progress. The Open Inspections However, there are other types of agent hopes that in this way, when auctions. Jenman advocates the According to Jenman, another condi- the property fails to sell at the prom- Sealed Bid Auction in which every tioning tool is the open inspection. ised price, the consumer will believe interested party makes a bid without After all, why not simply show seri- it is the fault of the market and not knowing what the other buyers are ous buyers around whenever they the agent. Jenman calls this process going to bid and without the chance want? Beyond the ulterior motive of Conditioning. to subsequently raise their bid. The generating activity, there again is an According to Jenman, condition- party with the highest amount in über-ulterior motive — people who ing has been institutionalized to the their sealed bid wins the auction. are thinking of selling their property extent that the whole periphenalia of To be fair to Jenman, according to often visit open inspections to check the industry — advertising, inspec- the case studies he collected, English out the real estate agency. This gives tions, auctions — are perverted to its Auctions attract unethical behaviour the agent the opportunity to make cause. This also explains why real in the way that Star Trek conven- more listings. estate agents like to sign up sell- tions attract young men wear- ers for three to four months or ing glasses who know what longer — squashing dreams takes J2EE4 stands for. time. One of the tricks of the trade is dummy bidding in which Advertising Bonanza representatives of the agent or Besides generating the appear- seller bid merely to raise the ance of progress, real estate ad- price. Clearly, Jenman is correct vertising is a great way for agen- — dummy bids are nothing cies to advertise at zero cost. short of fraud. Besides being Some enterprising agents even unethical, it undermines the make a profit on advertising by whole point of an English Auc- pocketing kickbacks from the tion (to which I will shortly newspapers; it is like paying an come). agent not to sell your property! Some Real Estate agents Even a hardened skeptic might argue that dummy bids are start believing her house was at necessary to raise the price to the vertex of a particularly inaus- the reserve. Jenman responds, picious cluster of earth rays. why not start at reserve and One question immediately avoid dummy bids altogether? springs to mind — how to sell He provides his own answer — without advertising? Jenman many reserves are utterly unre- claims that paying for advertising alistic because of the Quote Lie. when one already pays a commis- The real estate agent’s goal is to sion to the real estate agent is get the best possible price below absurd. reserve and then pressure the seller to accept it. Going to a real estate agent and This is helped by the fact being asked for money so that the that in English Auctions the agent can find a buyer makes as Auctions participants are under pressure to much sense as going to a butcher Saying that Jenman does not like make irrevocable decisions in sec- shop and being asked for money to English Auctions is like saying that onds, allowing the agent to lean on find a cow. Shirley MacLaine is just a tad weird. buyers and sellers alike to produce a Even if one disagrees with Apparently, English Auctions not result. With the ability to “sleep over Jenman, it is far from obvious why only never fetch the best price; they it” removed, an English Auction can the address and basic information of even played a role in the collapse of be dangerous, unless one is lucky a property should not suffice to at- the Roman Empire! enough to posses a generally disa- tract genuine buyers. Or are there Before commenting on the merit greeable personality; Bobby Fischer really people who buy based on a of this, let us first consider auctions should be safe5. picture and a description like, “A in a little detail. In an English Auc- 4. Java 2, Enterprise Edition. Tragically, bonanza of rewards lie behind the tion, bidding starts low, buyers keep the author has yet to attend a ST conven- front door of this bonanza beachside raising their bids, and the last (and tion. located home”3? Ah — the poetry! highest) bid wins. When a real estate 5. And John McEnroe. ‘You want me to agent mentions ‘auction’, he usually sell my house for $20,000 below reserve? 3. The Advocate Property Guide, 8 July means English Auction. You can not be serious!’ 2004, R12

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 53 Real Estate

Up to this point, it is hard to ar- So, for example: More Good Stuff gue with Jenman. Where he comes ♦ If you want to sell your home At least with respect to conditioning, unstuck is by stating that an English to an owner-occupier, and your house the consumer shares some of the Auction — by its very nature — will has features (location, design, gar- blame by selecting the real estate get a lower price than a Sealed Bid den, etc.) that make it unique in agent who gives the most creative Auction. The truth is a lot more manner significant to buyers, then a quote — naturally selecting against complicated. English Auctions have Sealed Bid Auction is the way to go. honest agents. However, there are one advantage over Sealed Bid Auc- ♦ If you want to sell your unit, other real estate practices that make tions — they reveal information which is one of many nearly identi- conditioning look positively virtuous. about other people’s valuation of the cal units, to an investor, then Eng- Jenman explains the bonus commis- sale item, thereby allowing lish Auction is worth considering. sion swindle, investment property valuations to change on-the-fly. So contrary to what Jenman says, scam, bait pricing, and the use of Dummy bids sabotage this mecha- English Auctions are not intrinsi- death notices to find new listings. He nism because bidders can no longer cally evil. also clarifies the machinations of Get be certain that the competing bids Rich Real Estate Gurus and explains are genuine. Conclusion: Auctioneers The Harm Done by Conditioning “Hydraulicing”7. who support dummy bids are not Jenman states that homebuyers The worst frauds are the ones where only unethical, but ignorant as well. spend on average of 85 days looking the con men are in cahoots with So which is better, English Auc- for a property. This means that one (more or less) respectable lawyers tion or Sealed Bid (assuming com- has to wait three months to have as and banks. Jenman sensibly recom- plete honesty)? Auctions fall within a many potential buyers for one’s mends focussing the tarring and branch of mathematics/economics house as one has during the first feathering on the “respectable” par- called game theory. week. So contrary to what usually ties, rather than the scammers who Research into auctions has uncov- happens, one should expect proper- are accustomed to being driven out ered the following results6: ties to sell fast. of town. Jenman also covers negotiation strategies for Property is wanted for per- Property is wanted for even- both buyers and sellers. sonal use. The bidder does tual re-sale. The bidder This is not advice for not care about valuations takes valuations made by those who are looking for made by others. other people into account. a “steal”. Jenman is a proponent of wholesome values — “The basis of all Bidders does not mind Sealed Bid and English will An English Auction is likely ethical negotiation is that loosing the property fetch about the same. to fetch more $ than Sealed both sellers and buyers (Other similar properties Bid are available.) get a ‘fair deal’ ”, “low debt and careful living equals happiness” and Bidder very much wants A Sealed Bid Auction is Game Theorists raise a “always finish your broc- this property (Property is likely to fetch more $ than small white flag. coli!”8. unique in a way significant English to the bidder.) Conclusion It is good to have people willing to question the Imagine that the “For Sale” sign accepted “wisdom”. (Well, at least as was put up yesterday. If one fancies long they are reasonably rational.) 6. The table is a modified version of the the house, perhaps one should make In the real estate industry, the ac- summary table from “Auction Strategies” a high offer quick, before someone cepted wisdom includes the assump- by Kate Reynolds (http:// snaps it away. tion that we need to engage real www.agorics.com/Library/Auctions/ Conversely, imagine that the plas- auction8.html ) who took it from "Going, estate agents to sell properties, and Going Gone: Setting Prices with Auc- tic of the “For Sale” sign is fading that advertising needs to be sepa- tions" by Loretta J. Mester, Federal Re- and spiders, at least, found a suit- serve Bank of Philadelphia Business able home because of it. What could 7. No, Jenman stops short of advocating Review (March/April):3-13. (Disclaimer: be wrong with this house? Are the the drowning of those pests. The author is not an authority on Game owners asking for too much? Theory. Follow the given advice at your Hence, Jenman argues, the condi- 8. Correct, the last quote is fictitious. It own risk. Or, to put it another way, tioning process, by delaying the sale, shows just how easy it is to rebel against please don’t sue!) actually lowers the price of properties. wholesome values.

Page 54 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 Notice rately paid for. Jenman not only is rational, but has also collected an impressive array of data to support A Plea from Nigeria his case (documented in a legion of footnotes). His book has some faults. At times it is a little repetitive, as if some of the chapters were written to stand For some time now, we have been than is required in Australia, and we on their own, and not as chapters of bringing to you in our pages the would like to assist the small band of a book. Moreover, Jenman’s descrip- writings of Leo Igwe, who heads up Skeptics there. tion of how exactly a sale should be the Nigerian Skeptics. Most Austral- We received the following message handled is a little unclear. Should ians know little of the largest coun- from Leo recently and are delighted one, for example, set a firm closing try in Africa, apart from it having to give it publicity here. Australian date for the Sealed Bid Auction? given its name to a particularly per- Skeptics is planning to donate books, Jenman is rightfully angry about the sistent financial scam, but Leo has CDs, DVDs and other items to their abuses of English Auctions, but a alerted us to much more that is hap- library. We can only urge any sub- more objective study of the pros and pening in his country. scriber who would like to assist them cons of the various auction types It must take a great deal of courage with his work to contact Leo at the would have been useful. to be a Skeptic in Nigeria, far more address below. Jenman has started his own real estate system, which like ISO 9000 tries to standardise quality. Unlike ISO 9000, I think his system could be a good idea. The Jenman system is non-brand specific. For example, Today, more than ever, Nigerian Skeptics need your support to “The Professionals” in Burnie follow the Jenman system, but most mem- defend reason, science and critical thinking. bers of “The Professionals” chain do In Nigeria, belief in superstition and supernatural nonsense not. is alarmingly high — and continues to rise with disastrous con- An essential part of the Jenman sequences on the people and the society. Generally there’s a na- system is the Real Estate Guarantee tional reversion to primitive irrational beliefs and pseudo- (given in the appendix in his book9) which is an excellent consumer pro- science. Nigerian Skeptics are waging a fierce battle against tection device. Show it to your (pro- this dangerous trend while striving to enthrone the values of spective) real estate agent, sit back enlightenment and intellectual rebirth. with a glass of red wine and watch With the support of the (US), Nigerian him squirm as he attempts to wrig- Skeptics secured an office apartment with a library. But we gle his way out of it10 . Jenman gives explicit permission for every con- need your support to fully run and operate the Center. sumer to use his guarantee — with There’s a lot happening in Nigeria today that needs skeptical any agent. Arguably, the best guar- action and intervention and it takes resources to wage this bat- antee is that if the property sells tle against the forces of irrationalism and superstition. below the lowest price for which the We urgently need your support in the world’s least skeptical agent thinks the property will sell, the agent forfeits his commission — country. effectively protecting against the Quote Lie. Help us spread the word In short: real estate involves big bucks; spending $29.95 on Jenman’s We look forward to your donations book will be a sound investment.

9. It can also be downloaded from: http:// Nigerian Skeptics www.jenman.com/index.php PO Box 25269 10. This, admittedly, is not an altogether wholesome source of pleasure. Mapo Ibadan NIGERIA 200002 [email protected]

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 55 Review Out of the Mouths of Babes

Using science to find Descartes’ Baby: How the Science formative evaluation of what we of Child Development Explains might be able to tell about souls. out about us. What Makes Us Human; Paul Renε Descartes, the seventeenth- Bloom, Basic Books. century French philosopher, seems to have gotten it wrong, but his We have handled with equanimity views have been extraordinarily the concept that the Earth is not the influential. That may be because center of the universe, though some Descartes’ views are, as Bloom good fellows who championed that shows, natural ones. Descartes pro- idea when it was new suffered moted “dualism”: the body exists, mightily for doing so. Most of us, and it is a machine of meat which, even the redoubtable Catholic when it is alive, is coupled with an Church, have accepted that evolu- immaterial soul. As we have come to tion explains animal diversity, and know better about what brains do, even the emergence of humans, al- and what broken brains cannot do though there are some who for reli- that whole brains can, and what gious (not scientific) reasons are computer programs can do that kicking and screaming in refusal. brains cannot and vice versa, science Science cannot itself take on the is approaching what Frances Crick existence of gods, for that is not a called “the astonishing hypothesis”: scientific question, nor is the exist- what makes me me and you you is ence of an afterlife. But souls; now nothing more than brain processes. there is something that science, and There is always the possibility especially modern neuroscience, that religious believers will “one up” might go to work on. In this book, this explanation; as long as there are Bloom takes an even more basic ap- any gaps in it, they can always say proach, hardly mentioning such that souls are what fill the gaps, just technological wonders as the scan- as they used to think the soul was ners that show brains at work. He circumscribed more and more until it examines a wealth of clever experi- had to be located in the pineal gland. ments on babies and children to an- (That was another of Descartes’ mis- swer about babies the question posed taken ideas.) Not only are the more often about disreputable politi- neuroscientists chipping away at cians: “What do they know, and anything mystical that goes on in when do they know it?” The answers our brains to make ourselves us, but Rob Hardy is a US psychiatrist and regular provide an entertaining and in- Bloom argues that evolution itself reviewer for the Skeptic

Page 56 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 has made us into dualists. We are manifestations that involves. We got What’s more, they will be more effec- wired to perceive material objects the physical part of it as right as our tive in understanding and raising and mental manifestations as sepa- development needed for it to be, and children, and so the behavior will be rate entities, and so naturally we then eventually we developed passed on. think of the two as separate realms. enough to see that we were looking Bloom is clearly a materialist, not That might be used by some as a at the physical world with physical a dualist, but wisely avoids any at- justification that the two views and blinkers. tempt to prove the issue. What he dualism are the right ways to look at Our tendency to divide the physi- has done instead is not to examine if the world, but Bloom shows that our cal world off from the mental (or dualism is justified, but merely why innate knowledge about such things spiritual/soul) one, Bloom asserts, belief in it is so prevalent. The belief often betrays us. Wonderful experi- comes as an accidental consequence that objects are not really solid is ments described here show how baby of brain functions that we use to just as fundamentally unnatural as minds grasp physical nature. If a interpret the thoughts and behavior the belief that mind is an emergent baby sees something unexpected, of other people. Babies might stare physical property of the brain. This like a box hanging unsupported in with surprise at a floating box, but if could be heavy stuff, and philoso- midair, the baby will look at it for the box sits on the floor, they want to phers have argued heavily for centu- longer than if the box were simply look at something else. They do not, ries one way or the other. But Bloom sitting on the floor. We can tell by however, treat people the same way. has a diverse array of interests, and such experiments that babies expect Babies confronted with a formerly includes discussion of such subjects a thing to stay where it is, or to move animated face which becomes still as slapstick humor, autism, modern in a sensible fashion. But we evolved and expressionless become antsy. art, and disgust. Those familiar with a knowledge of the physical world From the very beginning, then, ba- Noam Chomsky’s claim that we have that has broken down as we got bet- bies treat the world as dual. Bloom special “language organs” in our ter at examining it. goes on to explain experiments that brains that make us linguistic crea- The Sun coursing over the sky, to show that children have inborn tures will find that idea mentioned make the same orbit the next day, knowledge of fairness that is at the here, but vastly expanded to show led us, with our inborn understand- heart of our ability to get along with our “physics organ” and “social or- ing of physical events, to think that others. “From this perspective, our gan”. the sun was doing the moving, but moral feelings are no less adapta- Throughout Bloom has illustrated we have learned better. Even as ba- tions than our taste for sweet foods his arguments with summaries of bies we also had an understanding and our perception of solid objects.” his own or others’ experiments on that solid objects move in certain We are from an early age able to babies. Those who would expect a ways and affect each other by con- empathize with the pain of others, materialist also to be a pessimist tact; it turns out that such solid ob- which leads to compassion and to will be disappointed; he declares jects are really not solid at all, but helping them; it’s all commendable himself to be a “morally optimistic mostly empty space interrupted by behavior, and no less so because we materialist,” and gives examples of tiny whizzing particles. Babies have come into the world hard-wired to moral improvement (like the Univer- reasonable ideas of cause and effect, perform it. sal Declaration of Human Rights) but such linkages have come apart We perform it because it pays to that would have made little sense to in the minuscule world of quantum perform it, and it simply gives us a our forebears. Not bad for a bunch of mechanics. We evolved in a universe reproductive advantage. Empathetic natural-born dualists. where there was no need to deal people (and those with altruism and with such ideas, or with the possibil- other laudable traits described here) ity of moving at close to the speed of are most successful at working in light and all the counterintuitive societies, and we are social animals.

Time to Renew? If you received an enclosed Renewal Notice, it is. If you didn’t, it isn’t.

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 57 Review Thoughts of Freethinkers

Great Freethinkers – Selected Quotations The State is the altar of political not forget prominent humanists who by Famous Skeptics and Nonconformists. freedom and, like the religious altar, include Arthur C. Clarke, Richard Edited by James C. Sanford. Metacomet it is maintained for the purpose of Dawkins, John Dewey, Sidney Hook, Books. 2004. 250pp. pbk. human sacrifice. Paul Kurtz, Walter Lippmann, Iris Emma Goldman, US anarchist, Murdoch, Karl Popper, Carl Sagan, This is a handy reference book for all atheist, 1910 Edward O. Wilson. Prominent agnos- sceptics, humanists, rationalists and tics include Thomas Carlyle, Confu- other freethinkers. The quotations To talk of immaterial existences is to cius, Clarence Darrow, Charles Dar- cover a wide spectrum: as well as reli- talk of nothings. To say that the win, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, gion there is ethics, knowledge, moral- human soul, angels, God, are imma- George Eliot, E. M. Forster, Stephen ity, psychology, nature, science, the terial, is to say they are nothings, or Jay Gould, J. B. S. Haldane, Thomas arts, politics, society, economy. that there is no God, no angels, no Henry Huxley, Henrik Ibsen, John Quotations that rang a bell with me soul. I cannot reason otherwise. Keats, D. H. Lawrence, Sinclair Lewis, included: Thomas Jefferson, US President, W. Somerset Maugham, Marcel Proust, The greatest tragedy in mankind’s political theorist, theist, 1820. H. G. Wells, Virginia Woolf, Emile history may be the hijacking of mo- Zola. Although freethinkers have always rality by religion. Among prominent atheists there are been in the minority it is pleasing to Hannah Arendt, Simone de Beauvoir, Arthur C. Clarke, the British sci- find so many of world repute so identi- Jeremy Bentham, Annie Besant, ence writer and humanist, 1991 fied. Amongst the sceptics are Bertolt Brecht, Charles Bradlaugh, Averroes, 12th century Arabic philoso- I believe in life everlasting but not Samuel Butler, Albert Camus, pher; Charles Baudelaire, 19th century for the individual. Friedrich Engels, Ludwig Feurbach, French poet; Eugene Delacroix, 19th Anatole France, Sigmund Freud, George Bernard Shaw, British play- century French painter; Gustave Emma Goldman, Rosa Luxemburg, wright, critic, sceptic, 1950 Flaubert, 19th century novelist; Galileo Karl Marx, William Morris, Freidrich Galilei, 17th century Italian astrono- My plainness of speech makes them Nietzsche, Emmeline Pankhurst, mer, physicist; Joseph Heller, 20th cen- hate me, and what is their hatred Pablo Picasso, Jean-Paul Sartre, tury US novelist; Ernest Hemingway, but a proof that I am speaking the Arthur Schopenhauer, Leon Trotsky, 20th century US novelist; , truth? Kurt Vonnegut. 18th century British philosopher; James Finally there are unconventional Socrates, Greek philosopher, uncon- Joyce, 20th century Irish novelist; theists such as Aristotle, Joseph ventional theist, 4th century BC Niccolo Machiavelli, 16th century Ital- Conrad, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, ian statesman, political theorist; Convictions are more dangerous William Hazlitt, Oliver Wendell Henry Miller, 20th century US novelist; enemies of truth than lies. Holmes, William James, Immanuel Michel de Montaigne, 16th century Kant, Abraham Lincoln, John Stuart Friedrich Nietzsche, German phi- French essayist; George Orwell, 20th Mill, Paul Robeson, Socrates, Walt losopher and atheist, 1878 century British novelist, social critic; Whitman; deists including Benjamin Dorothy Parker, 20th cenury US writer, The final test of truth is ridicule. Franklin, James Madison, Thomas critic; Salman Rushdie, 20th century Very few religious dogmas have ever Paine, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Adam British novelist; Gertude Stein, 19th faced it and survived. Smith, Voltaire, Mary Wollstonecraft; century US writer; Mark Twain, 19th and materialists such as Anaxagoras, H. L. Mencken, US journalist and century US writer, humorist; Oscar Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius. social critic, agnostic, 1918 Wilde, 19th century British playwright, Freethinkers can not only find many critic; Ludwig Wittgenstein, 20th cen- Such is the nature of men, that how- pearls of wisdom in this collection but tury British philosopher. ever they may acknowledge others to also feel a glow that we are part of a Then we have many rationalists; be more witty, or more eloquent, or great group of people who contributed among them Ambrose Bierce, Niels more learned, yet they will hardly so much to a humane society. believe there be many so wise as Bohr, Noam Chomsky, Marie Curie, themselves. Havelock Ellis, Julian Huxley, Ernst Mach, Bertrand Russell, Margaret Thomas Hobbes, British political Sanger, Percy Bysshe Shelley. We must James Gerrand philosopher, sceptic, 1651

Page 58 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 Forum Two Cheers for Alternative Medicine!

The common view of ‘alternative’ be made to feel better by something medicines among skeptics seems to that has no biochemical impact? But be that they are merely useless; junk once we recognize that there are a produced and marketed by ruthless lot of things which irrationally profiteers to take advantage of sick make us feel better — a smile from and anxious people. Ten years ago I a passer-by, having a hurt finger shared that view whole-heartedly; kissed, nearly getting the right lot- but the experiences of parenthood tery ticket number — placebos don’t and middle age have softened my seem so outrageous. I think of them views somewhat. I believe now that as drugs for the unconscious mind alternative medicine has a legiti- — and since the mind is the organ mate place. which contributes most to how we By ‘alternative medicine’, I am not feel, placebos can be very potent referring to systems like homeopa- indeed. thy, which are inherently irrational, Of course, it has to be the right or to treatments like massage and placebo. The unconscious mind is reiki, where a practitioner is directly simple; it’s not stupid. Tell it that involved: I refer chiefly to the kinds cheap sugar pills will cure your of tablets and capsules that can be impotence and it will laugh at you. bought off the shelf at pharmacists But find a placebo with the right and supermarkets. Rather than dis- price (cost = potency), the right missing these treatments out of name (‘horny goat weed’) and im- hand, I believe we should take up an pressive antecedents (‘used by attitude of experimentation and es- Latvian shepherds to promote lamb- tablishing consensus. Here are my ing in their flocks’) and the subcon- reasons why, and some of the experi- scious mind can be tricked into ences that shaped them. doing its stuff. And why not? I’ve The placebo effect had several battles with my subcon- scious mind. I’ve found it a powerful Even if we assume for a moment ally and a dangerous enemy. If it that all non-pharmaceutical prepa- takes trickery to get it on my side, rations are totally inactive, there I’m all for it. would still be a place for them, be- Jon Jermey is an indexer and computer trainer cause of the placebo effect. Sceptics People are different have a lot of trouble coming to who lives in the Blue Mountains. Other My family has a genetic sensitivity publications include numerous articles on terms with the placebo effect — I know I did — because it just seems to peanuts, which varies from per- computing and the Internet and co-authoring son to person. If I eat fifty peanuts, the definitive book on Website Indexing. so wrong: how can a rational person

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 59 Forum

I suffer a mild discomfort. If my Right now I am trialling a treat- Conclusion daughter eats one, it could be lethal. ment called ‘Macu-vision for eye So what should a skeptical approach It’s transparently clear to me now health’, to see if it clears floaters in to alternative medicine look like? It that people have different the eyes. My tentative conclusion is could begin by distinguishing be- biochemistries. So if we react differ- that it doesn’t, but just like paid tween treatments that could in prin- ently to peanuts, why not to researchers I have to allow for con- ciple have some effect and those that echinacea, or St John’s Wort? The founding conditions: new glasses, a can only ever be placebos. It could fact that it didn’t work for you, or stiff neck and a case of the ‘flu. I’ve acknowledge the role of the uncon- for your sister, or for ten people in a trialled charcoal tablets for irritable scious in responding to treatments medical study, is suggestive, but not bowel syndrome (conclusion: works and practitioners and recognize its conclusive. Perhaps your genes are like magic!) and gingko biloba for importance in well-being. It could different. tinnitus (probably no effect). If I can recognize that people differ bio- get one in ten treatments to work I The results of medical testing, in chemically in their responses to will be delighted; even one in a hun- fact, often look like this: ‘Of fifty treatments, and that a treatment dred would still make it worthwhile. patients who trialled Treatment X, which works for one person in a hun- And any clues I can get to help me five reported a worsening condition, dred is still a treatment which are gratefully received. five reported an improvement, and works. It could acknowledge that, as forty reported no change. This was well as a minority of gullible people the same as in the control group, so Communication and consensus who need to be protected, alternative Treatment X was considered to have Among the earliest communities on medicine is used by people who are no effect.’ Fair enough, if you’re a the Internet — and still among the rational, well-informed and capable doctor. But if I was one of the five in busiest — are support groups for of making intelligent decisions. the group who showed improve- medical conditions. And much of the It could acknowledge the experi- ment, I’d want to know where I traffic back and forth is to do with mental way in which many users are could get more of the stuff — remedies for these. Conditions that testing these treatments, and the wouldn’t you? a typical GP would see once every generally clear and unbiased reports few years are explained, discussed they make to others around the Self-experimentation and debated on a daily basis. New world. Most importantly, it could treatments are described and re- recognize that while alternative A few years back I caught the ‘flu viewed. Web sites go up and are treatments are a gamble, for most and decided to try echinacea. Did it linked to. Knowledge is shared. people they are a relatively cheap work? No, so I stopped taking it. Did gamble that could pay off in a big I expect it to work? Not really. But I I had a dramatic demonstration of way. thought that it might. And for half the power of the Internet when I the price of a box of pharmacist’s began seeking medical help for tin- cold tablets, it was worth a try. Gen- nitus (ringing in the ears). To my Editor’s response erally speaking, people aren’t stu- doctor, tinnitus was synonymous pid. If they try something and it with hearing loss; she sent me to an I doubt if most of our readers would doesn’t work, they’ll give it up. If otolaryngologist, who cleaned out disagree with much of what you the condition continues to annoy my ears and sent me on to an audi- write, Jon. The placebo effect, al- them, they’ll try something else, and ologist, who told me I had perfect though not fully understood, is well- go on until they’ve exhausted the hearing. That was the end of the recognised as an important part of options or found something that line for conventional medicine. testing any medical product or proce- works. Luckily I was equipped to do some dure. The Skeptic’s main beef with If conventional medicine offers of my own research, and I found “alternative medicine” is not that options, they’ll probably explore material on the Internet indicating some of it doesn’t work or might be those too. But for the multitude of that tinnitus might result from a dangerous, it is that much of it relies conditions that conventional medi- crooked jaw. I went to a physi- on subjective anecdote and not on cine can’t yet help, why not experi- otherapist for some exercises and to any objective test of efficacy. ment? After all, it’s exactly what a dentist for a plate to hold my jaw It will be interesting to see if we doctors in pharmaceutical laborato- straight at nights. The tinnitus receive any comment on your article. ries are doing. They have larger reduced by about eighty per cent. sample sizes and more stringent Not ‘alternative’ medicine, to be controls, but I have one big advan- sure, but an unconventional ap- tage: I only have to find something proach that I might never have that works for me. thought of without help.

Page 60 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 Letters

Anti-Immunisation His son was 6 or 7 years old and had the biggest and best teaching hospi- a large filthy infected laceration of one tals in Australia”. I paused for breath of his feet. The wound was leaking pus and shouted after him as he ran away, Brian O’Sullivan and his bare feet were ingrained with “If he gets tetanus and dies I will see Taringa QLD dirt and cowdung. According to the you go to gaol for murder”. father the boy had caught his foot on There was a happy result though; Between 1958 and 1967 1 practised in some barbed wire a week or so before next morning he, his wife and their a country town in the Upper Burnett and had had absolutely no treatment. four children lined up at my surgery region of Queensland and found anti- I organised the nursing staff to take to be immunised. immunisation existed and fell into the boy through to the treatment room various classes. where they scrubbed his legs, cleaned 1. As always immunisation was the wound, applied an antiseptic Editor’s Note dangerous. dressing, bandaged the foot and gave Dr O’Sullivan has written and pub- 2. Opposed by God. We would not be him a shot of penicillin. lished a book about his experiences as showing trust in the Lord if they Meanwhile the father was pleading a GP in outback Queensland in the had their children immunised. (It with me to give him a tetanus injec- 1950s, some of which have been pub- was Hillbilly country and there tion. We had a peculiar situation in lished in these pages. We will carry a were many branches of Christianity, those days as the Commonwealth paid review in a later issue. very strange sects.) grants to cities, towns and shires for immunisation campaigns but refused 3. These diseases did not exist and any funds to provide the various types immunisation was a scheme con- of sera at hospitals, certainly not coun- cocted by Doctors to make them try hospitals in Queensland. Even if I About depression rich. Doctors were rich already — had wanted to give the kid a shot I was everyone knew that, this evil unable to do so as the State govern- Nigel Sinnott scheme would make them richer. ment would not permit us to buy any Sunshine West, Vic. 4. Sheer laziness. tetanus toxoid. The father did not want a Tet Toxoid injection anyway he A year ago your Editor kindly pub- 5. They were too poor. wanted an anti-tetanus injection, the lished an article of mine on “Existing A lot of share farmers were very type made from horse serum and no with Depression”. I was pleased to see poor but the Shire Council ran regu- longer recommended as it was danger- it in print, and imagined it would at- lar immunisation clinics for tetanus, ous. I told the father this and said ‘Of tract a bit of comment, but I received diphtheria, whooping cough and polio- course he doesn’t need an injection as probably more feedback, mainly by e- myelitis free of charge for children and he would be immunised and would mail, about the article than about eve- a small charge for adults (25 cents, per have had his preschool booster’. ‘Oh! rything else of mine (put together) that injection). No! He has not had any injections of has been published during the past One morning a farmer sneaked up any type as we would not be showing forty years. I was particularly aston- to the hospital with his son where I trust in God if we immunised our chil- ished that all the comments on the was conducting an out patient clinic dren!” depression article were complimen- and requested I give the boy an anti- I am afraid I lost my temper and tary, as I was confident that one or two tetanus injection. I mean sneaked as said “Well you had better start pray- respondents at least would strongly he kept looking over his shoulder and ing. If he is developing tetanus neither disagree with me! I wish now that I refused at first to give his name and of the injections would work and most had printed and kept hard copies of address to the out patient clerk children still die from tetanus even in

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 61 Letters all the e-mails, as I lost most of them ing patterns, especially patterns of larly worthy of sharing. In discussing as a result of two computer software faces, it’s not surprising that the odd the credibility of miracles he says: corruptions in 2004. toasted surface has on it something ...it raises a question in the mind very A friend and neighbour spoke to me that could be construed as a picture of easily decided, which is, is it more recently and told me that in Novem- a face. probable that nature should go out of ber, while listening to the radio, she Ms Duyser’s toast had such a pat- her course or that a man should tell a had heard a report about recent re- tern, a pattern she avers is a repre- lie? We have never seen, in our time, search on exercise and depression. She sentation of the face of Mary of Naza- nature go out of her course; but we was unable to give exact details, but reth, the mother of Jesus. That itself have good reason to believe that mil- the gist of the report was that, al- is no miracle. What is truly miracu- lions of lies have been told in the same though regular exercise could be ben- lous is this; there are about 3,000 mil- time; it is, therefore, at least millions eficial for people with mild lion women in the world at the mo- to one [chance] that the reporter of a depression, exercise was often useless ment and about the same number miracle tells a lie. or counterproductive in cases of ma- have lived since humans dropped out That just about sums the whole jor depression. This seems to fit well of the trees and began their unrequited thing up for me! I don’t think I have with the point I made in my article search for intelligence and honest poli- heard it put any better by others over that exercise generally made me feel ticians. Not only has Ms Duyser sorted the past 210 years, even if his gram- worse, or even much worse, when I through the 6000 million women’s mar and punctuation are a little dated. was depressed. (In fact wanting exer- faces (plus those of a few cross dress- cise or being able to enjoy it is a reli- ers) to identify the one on her toast, able sign that my depression levels are she has managed to match it up with already very low.) I have searched a a face for which there is no contempo- number of ABC web-sites, but have not rary representation. Religion - hindering a more located the report. If anyone else heard Ms Duyser has astounding powers. moral society? it, I would be interested to know She should be in demand by police and where. security forces all over the world. It’s I would like to thank everyone who not her toasted cheese sandwich that wrote to me about the article, and I should be auctioned on eBay. It’s she Sten Bjerking am most grateful for the comments who should be auctioned. I’m willing Dunkeld VIC. and encouragement I received when to start the bidding at $3.50. writing and revising it from Leanne I have always found it irksome that Pethick (depressioNet), Maria every time some moral issue is being Prendergast, Barry Williams and Dr debated the media always trot out Phil Wood. some cleric or other to give their “ex- The article will very likely be re- A real Paine pert opinion” on the matter. printed, as an appendix, in a book on Along with many other skeptics I depression that has been written by Scott King believe that morality has nothing to Maria Prendergast and will be pub- St Ives NSW do with religion. I will even go further lished by Penguin Australia. and suggest that belief in a religious I am currently reading The Age of Rea- dogma compromises one’s ability to be son published by Thomas Paine in as moral as a secular person. To jus- 1794. This author and social reformer tify this I use the argument that it is far better to do good for purely altru- On toast was considered quite a radical and a bit of a “pain” in his day. While a de- istic motives than because of a fear of vout believer in God he took great de- God. Gavan O’Connor light in ridiculing the so called writ- I have recently observed a specific Wembley WA ten Word of God and also the example of how belief in the Christian institution of the Church that used it concept of God can hinder a more I want to bring to the attention of to promote its own power. In this sense moral attitude and consequent hu- members a genuine miracle. I think I have to give him at least an mane outcome in society. Considering Ten years ago Diana Duyser of Apprentice Skeptic guernsey. the way that people tend to judge oth- Florida made a piece of toast. Toast is He makes some very pithy observa- ers for all manner of digressions from lightly burned bread, where the pat- tions about the inconsistency between that seen as ideal my observation is tern of burning is more or less random. the doctrine of organised religion and that we can be very selective. Given the number of pieces of toast the true nature of God as he sees Him Nobody blames a person for being made in the world each day and the revealed in nature. But there is one physically deformed, mentally handi- instinct we humans have for recognis- point he makes that I consider particu- capped, or suffering from a debilitat-

Page 62 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 ing illness. There is no hesitation how- The consequence of treating those Many Christian Fundamentalists ever in blaming an individual for be- who’s behaviour is socially unaccept- believe that everything in the Bible is ing lazy, a bully, a criminal, or perhaps able, in a way that is consistent with the truth because it is in that book. even for being overweight. A clear dis- the above philosophy, may not neces- Some of your correspondents give the tinction is drawn here. On the one sarily mean that they are treated more impression that everything in the Bi- hand the former group are seen as leniently. If the only criterion regarded ble just has to be untrue because it is being afflicted by a condition over as acceptable for allowing a transgres- in that book. The only difference that which they have no control and on the sor back unfettered into society, is that I can see in these two groups of Bible other hand the latter group as not us- he has become or has been made “so- Bashers is in the colour of the blink- ing the controls they have. cially well”, then it may be that many ers which they wear to protect their We are quick to find excuses to ex- would never be allowed to return. As perceived truths from the profoundly plain the transgressions of those that things stand now a murderer or rap- profane processes of observation, ex- are close to us, however. Clutching at ist is released once he has “paid his amination and analysis. any possible explanation that will shift debt to society”, regardless of how so- One item which I would like to dis- the blame from the relative or close cially unwell he is. cuss is the origin of our particular spe- friend, we use excuses like “he was I have presented this argument to cies. Anthropologists have been telling abused as a child” or “ he came from a a number of people and the responses us, over many years, how much we broken family”, to explain the trans- have been interesting. Those that are have gained from our upright bipedal gressions. By this strategy the burden secular have generally been prepared stance. I would like to ask why no of guilt is shifted from the one we care to consider the logic of the argument other primates have emulated us. Is for to another party. and, although uncomfortable with the it because none have tried? Or is it be- Moving on from here in a logical inevitable conclusion, concede that it cause all who have tried failed? I sug- progression it is a small step to come seems correct and fair — perhaps a gest the latter. All other animals that to the conclusion that nobody is re- more moral approach. When presented seek their food during the day have sponsible for what they are as they to Christians however I have found the sexual intercourse during the day, were not responsible for making them- reaction to be a spontaneous and ab- those that seek their food during the selves or the character shaping envi- solute rejection of the argument. “God night have sexual intercourse at night. ronment they were placed in. If we gave us freedom of choice” I am told, Mankind alone seeks his food during accept the above argument then the and therefore everyone is responsible the day and has sexual intercourse way we as individuals and society as for their own actions. In other words upon retiring for the night! Could this a whole treats transgressors requires they are responsible for what they are. be the secret of our success? If our ar- some review. It would seem logical that I have not had the opportunity to boreal ancestors had not changed their to be consistent our motivation should present the argument to Muslims or sexual behaviour before descending be the same when treating a physically Jews but I suspect the response would from the trees, I believe that when deformed person, as a person who’s be similar to that I have experienced they went around in an upright posi- behaviour is socially unacceptable. from Christians. tion, after intercourse, there would be The motivation should be to make a very high risk that the sperm would them physically well on the one hand dribble out of the vagina before ferti- and socially well on the other. lising any ova. Although breeding Now this is a difficult concept for would not be impossible without the most of us to accept. Personally I am Questions about us change of sexual behaviour, I believe as angry and vengeful as the next man that the chance of success would have when I here of of a violent crime in- Eric Harman been very much less, and the chance volving innocent victims. I can see Darwin NT of breeding rate falling below that however that this is a flaw in my char- which is necessary for survival of the acter as I accept the logic of the pre- I joined Skeptics because I wanted to species would be very high. ceding argument. Although the word discuss certain items of which I am So how did this change of behaviour rehabilitation is sometimes used when interested with other persons who come about? Dian Fossey In one of her the treatment of criminals is dis- have an inquiring mind. After joining books tells us that in one variety of cussed. It is quite evident that this is I wrote to the local branch by both e- gorilla in Africa the males are strong not what the general public are inter- mail and snail-mail. I have had no re- enough to pull branches from trees ested in nor is it the primary focus of ply, they did not even have the cour- together to form a nest, the females our penal system. We hear much more tesy to say “Bugger off, we know the are not strong enough to do this. If our about “justice being done” and “pay- truth and do not need your opinion”. ancestors managed to perform this ing a debt to society” than rehabilita- (Our apologies; the Darwin branch is feat and the females could not, what tion. presently inactive. Ed) inducement could they offer the males

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 63 Letters

to share the nest apart from sex? Al- ately invented to make this point. (See More on Mead most all of their food grew on the trees, below on why it really does make this even the occasional high protein point.) Furthermore, Alan’s own exam- James Gerrand colobus monkey. Could this explain ple with 11 successive occurrences of Kew VIC why woman, alone among the animals, had is indeed valid. The only problem is sexually receptive at all times? is that this example, while intelligible Mark Newbrook’s letter “Anthropo- Why do several religions regard and grammatically standard, is a sin- logical controversy” must have been pork as unclean? Those of us who have gle sentence only in terms of punctua- written to test the reader’s skeptical eaten pork which was not cooked suf- tion, not in terms of grammar. It there- ability. Firstly a skeptic will note that ficiently know that it can cause sick- fore cannot be cited as a sentence Newbrook’s main argument to refute ness and diarrhoea. Anyone who ate (which is what David Kozubei was Clark’s article’s item on the Mead con- this meat raw would have a very good mainly concerned with), only as a piece troversy was that there were a number reason to call it unclean. Mankind as of running text. of anthropologists defending Mead. a species has been around for one and However, the main point here is Now a matter, particularly one of a half million years, we have only been that (as I originally stated) both Alan’s science, is not decided by a democratic using fire for half a million! That is example and mine involve ‘mention- vote but on the evidence. Mead ini- hardly enough time for the religious ing’ rather than ‘using’ linguistic forms tially had the whole public behind her bodies to adjust their bigotries. (describing this merely as ‘purely and claim, including that of Freeman. It Did Methuselah live 960 lunar simply correct use of punctuation’ is was only when Freeman began exam- years? This would equal something to that extent misleading). This is cru- ining the evidence that he changed his like 74 solar years. Did Lot’s wife die cial, because in the context of the rel- view, which he published in his two of syphilis? A disease in which the evant argument any mentioning of a books Margaret Mead and Samoa: The bones become soft and brittle, like form or sequence is a dodge. As can Making and Unmaking of an Anthro- chalk, or like a pillar of salt. easily be demonstrated, such a move pological Myth (1983) and The Fate- Thank you for your entertaining artificially creates the possibility of ful Hoaxing of Margaret Mead (1999 and enlightening epistle on the decline very many longer grammatical se- — which followed the coming forward and fall of the Skeptic Empire. Thank quences which would otherwise be of one of the two Samoan hoaxers with you also for showing a little more brev- ungrammatical, and it thereby under- her sworn statement). ity and levity than Professor Gibbon. mines the systematic investigation of Again Newbrook criticises the Mel- As I am no longer able to whip you syntax. Our examples differ from ‘Gen- bourne debate between Rubinstein with a horse or any other creature eral it consists stringing’ makes no and myself on the controversy only on larger than the reluctant rodent at- sense in that the sub-sequences men- the grounds that “many local skeptics tached to my computer, I suppose that tioned in them (had had etc) are them- were not even aware there was an I must enclose a cheque for another selves grammatical and meaningful. ‘anti-Freeman’ case which warranted years subscription. My club commit- The examples are thus less dramatic; attention”. What had that to do with tee insist that no-one else shall be but they are of the same general type. the debate (assuming it was true) as whipped on the steps of that salacious Had had had, read as three successive Rubinstein was there to put that case? asylum as the steps are already much instances of the verb form had in use, Another non-skeptical slant by too slippery from an excess of default- with no mentioning (and no name or Newbrook was to label Rubinstein as ers blood. other dodge), is just as a prominent Skeptic and Gerrand as ‘ungrammatical’ as ‘General it consists a fervent supporter of Freeman. I stringing’. think most skeptics would consider It should be noted that no one is try- Rubinstein as a fervent supporter of ing to ‘redefin[e] grammar and mean- Mead whilst myself was the prominent We’ve been had ing [generally]’ in order to make a se- Skeptic (founding Secretary of the quence like ‘General it consists Australian Skeptics and prominent stringing’ work. My point was rather Mark Newbrook over the years in exposing such false that certain particular longer se- The Wirral UK claims as , clairvoy- quences in which such sequences are ance, divining, mental ). I embedded — or in which there are sev- Alan Moskwa (24:3, p 62) comments believe I had an easy win in the de- eral successive instances of had — are on my example sentence with eight bate because I had all the evidence themselves redefined (as I would say, successive occurrences of the word had that Freeman had collected whilst unreasonably) by writers such as (24:2, p 44). He is right to say that one Rubinstein had practically none. Kozubei as being ‘grammatical’ and of these instances of had is a proper I consider noted science writer Mar- ‘meaningful’ in the same sense as these name. But of course I myself stated tin Gardiner pithily closed this contro- characterisations apply to uncontro- this. And I did not misinterpret the versy with his comment: sentence; it is indeed a spoof, deliber- versial sentences involving no men- tioned forms.

Page 64 - the Skeptic, Summer 2004 Margaret Mead’s admirers will con- or think Skeptically but do not choose ence system seems more appropriate tinue to raise howls of protest, but to become a ‘SF fan’ or a ‘Skeptic’. Sec- than declaring a single ‘Most’ or ‘Least’ Derek Freeman’s conclusions are un- ondly, we believe that collectively we Skeptical party ie, some ‘votes’ are shakable. Mead’s reputation will con- think more frequently, deeply and criti- worth a half, a third, or a sixth of a tinue to go downhill, and her most cally about SF or the paranormal than single ‘most’/’least’ nomination. Ex- famous book has become worthless. do most other people. Thirdly there are tending the ‘Skeptical state of mind’ The sad facts are all detailed in Free- ‘brand name’ issues with the media and image a little further suggests another man’s account of Margaret’s gullibil- public perception of exactly what a SF way of expressing a result. Assume ity. fan or Skeptic is. Depending on who that Australia had a ‘Skeptical State’ you ask ‘Science Fiction’ may be and an ‘Unskeptical State’. Starwars, Special effects movies, Uni- Their respective Senate representa- corn and Crystal Novels, Star Trek fa- tions would be; naticism or Teenage Witch and Demon The SKEPTICAL STATE’s Six GM or not GM infested TV shows. Skeptics are Senators (quotas) are, Liberals 1 seat claimed to be UFO deniers and close (1.17), Labor 1 seat (1.69), The Greens Gary Goldberg minded cynics etc. This isn’t how we 2 seats (1.87), Australian Democrats see ourselves and is a barrier to public 2 seats (1.87) Silver Spring, Maryland USA understanding of our interest. The UNSKEPTICAL STATE’s Six To date I have been encouraged to Senators (quotas) are, Nationals 1 seat In his article on GM foods, Scott received back nearly forty of the hun- (0.66), The Greens 1 seat (1.42), One Campbell made an interesting state- dred forms given out. Nation 1 seat (1.2), Christian Demo- ment: To stimulate a skeptical debate crats 2 seats (2.08), Family First 1 seat As long as the relevant experts are sat- about skepticism I offer these tentative (0.86), Australian Democrats no seat isfied that it is safe, people should be results, based on the political section (0.04) left to decide for themselves whether of the survey. Is there a notably Skep- How would you like to see the govern- or not to purchase it. tical or Unskeptical political party? ment trying to work with a Senate of Yet, proponents of alternative medi- The answer is, well ... perhaps. that make up? cines and dietary supplements de- The four most frequently mentioned Makes you think (Skeptically?) about mand unrestricted access to their ‘Skeptical’ parties were Labor (9), The how we skeptics are seeing the politi- products of choice WITHOUT such Greens (8), Australian Democrats (7) cal sphere. evidence while frequently campaign- and the Liberals (6). But, the four most If you didn’t get a survey at the con- ing against GM foods which HAVE frequently mentioned ‘Un-Skeptical’ vention, send me a stamped self ad- been tested. parties were Christian Democrats (11), dressed envelope and I will send you Family First (8), The Greens (7) and one. I hope to make available to the One Nation (6). Setting the two sets of Editor results from the rest of the sur- responses against each other and giv- vey in time for later editions of the A Survey ing Most Skeptical mentions a value Skeptic. of 1 plus and Least Skeptical mentions a value of 1 minus, you get an adjusted If you have a completed survey form Garry P Dalrymple an ‘Australian Skeptical Spectrum’ of please send it to me at: the following; Bexley North NSW Labor 8+ Garry P Dalrymple Post Office Box 2 We can all agree that a Skeptical state Australian Democrats 5+ of mind is a good thing, but what char- Bexley North NSW 2207 acterises a Skeptic? In the weeks be- Liberals 2+ Home Phone no 02 9718 5827 (after 7 pm) fore the Sydney convention I revived The Greens 1+ a survey previously used at Science The Editor is very glad that you are Fiction (SF) conventions. I wanted to Nationals, Socialist Alliance, CEC, not in charge of the Commonwealth see how alike or different SF fans are Unity, Aust Progressive Alliance (all Electoral Office, Garry. It’s hard from Skeptics, as this had recently on -2) enough trying to work out the re- been a point of debate in both commu- One Nation -5 sults of elections as it is. nities. Family First -8 SF fans and Australian Skeptics have at least three things in com- Christian Democrats -11 mon. Firstly, a conscious decision to As many surveys recorded several opt in and self identify as a SF fan or ‘most’ or ‘least’ Skeptical party nomi- Skeptic, ie, many other people read SF nations some sort of optional prefer-

the Skeptic, Summer 2004 - Page 65 Notices The Great Skeptic CD2

We all knew it had to come to an end similar sum to get this new and im- No you don’t — if you don’t already sometime, and now that day is upon proved version, even if you are includ- have one it will still cost $55, but if us — the Great Skeptic CD, that won- ing a set of steak knives? you were one of those adventurous in- derful compilation of all issues of the dividuals who got in on the ground Skeptic from 1981 to 2000 (plus floor, then we will let you have much more) has ceased to be. We the new improved Great Skep- have sold out. (No, not our princi- tic CD 2 (with hexachlorophe ples — the disc.) enhancers and polarised the- Don’t despair if you missed out, odolites) for only $25. however, because the good news How will we know if you is that the Great Skeptic CD 2 is have the old version? We could NOW on sale (detils on the web ask you to send it back — but site). It contains not only all the we’d rather you donate it to a text of the previous best seller, but local school or library — so another three years of the Skep- we’ll simply leave it to your tic, plus even more extra works, conscience. Trusting Skeptics, and it has been made even more aren’t we? user-friendly. (So friendly, in fact, And don’t forget, you can that it will almost certainly wag still get the Skeptics Water Di- its tail and lick your face.) vining Video Tape for $20 and Ah, we hear you cry, but do you the DVD for $30 (reduced to expect me, having forked out $55 clear). to buy CD 1, to again cough up a

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