#Healthy Skepticism

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Angel Eduardo

Published: Sep 12, 2022

Once, when I was home sick from school, I noticed something odd: none of what was on TV was meant for me. The programming was either cartoons for kids under four or talk shows and soap operas for adults way older than me. I wasn’t the target audience for the advertising, which allowed me for the first time to observe things more critically. I began to see the ways bright colors, an ebullient announcer’s voice, and fast and flashy editing were being used to get young kids to want this or that toy. I saw the different ways those same tools and tactics were employed when trying to get adults to want products that I, being about ten, couldn’t have cared less about.

Something cracked open in my mind that day, and I could never close it again. Whenever I watched TV from that point on, I couldn’t help but notice the ways I was being influenced. I wasn’t totally immune to it—I still wanted all the toys and gadgets other kids wanted—but I did start to recognize the subtle manipulations being used to hijack my thoughts and desires, and I began to resent them.

This was the beginning of my skepticism.

In the years that followed, I called out lies and inconsistencies in my parents, teachers, and peers with increasing confidence and indignation. I questioned every fact I was told, every rule I was expected to follow, and every norm I was meant to hold sacred. I also actively sought out people and art that did the same thing: George Carlin; Rage Against the Machine; Fight Club. And it was good for me. My skepticism allowed me to abandon my religious upbringing. It gave me the ability to recognize the oversimplified history I was taught in school. It got me to see the ways our systems often worked against our interests despite being designed to help us.

My skepticism opened my mind, and I became addicted to it. Anything that defied convention, anything that flouted authority, anything that exposed a hidden reality that “they” didn’t want me to know, I took to like a moth to a flame. I use that cliché intentionally, because the very same fire that had set me alight when I was a kid ended up burning me as a young adult. See I didn’t just question authority, I rejected it entirely. I didn’t just keep an eye out for bullshit, I actively wanted there to be bullshit. Rather than make me a true skeptic, this tendency made me credulous—more credulous, even, than many of those I scoffed at for “believing what they’re told.” I saw Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 and accepted everything without question. I read Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code and thought it was revealing real secrets, despite the disclaimer on the very first page noting that it was a work of fiction. I was hopelessly drawn to “secret knowledge” and “hidden truths,” to the point where I ignored and avoided evidence against my suspicions—even if they were staring me in the face.

It took seeing a more extreme version of who I’d become to finally shake me awake. One night, a group of friends and I watched the 2007 movie Zeitgeist. It was broken into three parts, the first of which seemed almost tailor made for me. It railed against religion and religious belief, using clips from George Carlin routines to bolster its criticisms of Christianity and dispute the historicity of Jesus. The second part, though, focused on September 11, 2001, and asserted that it was either orchestrated or allowed to happen to justify the War on Terror. I was willing to believe that political opportunists took advantage of the attack for their own gain, but I struggled with Zeitgeist’s portrayal, which went much further. I lived just over the river from New York City. I knew people whose family members died that day, and I had trouble believing anybody would or could—in the case of the comically inept Bush administration—intentionally manufacture or allow such a thing, no matter how much they stood to benefit.

Despite this, it was really the third part of the film—which all but advised viewers not to pay their taxes and alleged that the Federal Reserve System is run by international bankers who have orchestrated global disasters to further their nefarious agenda—which lost me completely. It all seemed too insane, too convoluted, too convenient. And I’m grateful that it did. Something cracked open in my mind again when I sat through that movie. I started to see more clearly the way it used its music, editing, structure, and even appeals to authority (with the inclusion of Carlin, one of my counterculture heroes) to influence me. This was just another version of the daytime television I’d learned to see through as a kid. The movie was giving me something I wanted—rebellion, secret knowledge, a reason to be angry and cynical—and using that desire to do to me what it wanted.

I went home that night disgusted, both with the movie and myself. I had been duped, and worse, I’d been duping myself for years. I suddenly saw all the signs I’d ignored: the disclaimer at the beginning of The DaVinci Code; the things Fahrenheit 9/11 clearly exaggerated or got wrong; the ways Rage Against the Machine oversimplified much more complex realities. I realized that all this time I hadn’t really been skeptical at all, because I had never stopped to be skeptical of myself. It finally struck me just how wrong I’d been about everything despite my unshakable confidence, and I was humbled by it.

Skepticism is a valuable thing, and self-skepticism is probably its most critical manifestation. We are hard-wired for pattern seeking and pattern making. It’s an ability that has brought us great fortune, but which misfires far more than we often like to admit. In the realm of empirical knowledge, we’re fortunate enough to have devised science as a tool to mitigate our subjectivity. But in the social and interpersonal arena, where mere data can’t hold the kind of sway that a good story does, humility is the thing we really need to help see us through.

As a result of my misadventures, I’ve come to develop a near-physical aversion to certainty. The moment I think I’ve got something or someone figured out, I stop, consider all the possible ways I could be misunderstanding, and proceed with that caution in mind. It’s been long enough now that, when I see the colossal levels of smugness and condescension some people have—particularly online—I can barely fathom their bravado. At this point, I’m all too aware of how easy it is for us to fall into old habits and patterns of thought, to think we’re too smart to be taken for a ride, and for that to be the very reason we get taken completely.

From conspiracy theories to mistrust of others to denying objective reality, there’s no limit to what we can convince ourselves of if we aren’t careful, no matter how smart we are. Some of the most brilliant people I’ve ever known have also been the ones who succumbed to the most ludicrous ideas I’ve ever heard. I’m trying my best to constantly check myself and avoid being one of them. I’d advise everyone reading this to do the same—especially if you’re smirking right now thinking, “I’d never fall for any of that.”

Are you sure? I was.

==

Keep your skepticism consistent.

[impulsivelycontentious]

WHY IS IT PEOPLE TAKE PERFECTLY ORDINARY ANECDOTES OF PEOPLE DOING ORDINARY BUT FUNNY THINGS AND ACT LIKE IT COULDN'T HAPPEN? Why are you like this? The story isn't even improbable. What the actual fuck. Did you not yet learn that fiction has nothing on reality? Does being mean spirited feel good to you? The story asks nothing of you, has no morals. It's just someone's story. Do you act this way ahen people give anecdotes in person? Have tou forgotten Internet people ARE people?

Healthy scepticism is good online. HEALTHY. As in you look at what it asks of you and what it tells you about the world and consider that carefully. Not 'everything online is fake'. That's not healthy! That will rot your brain! Consider that if it doesn't matter if it's real or not it doesn't need your input about it beinf fake simply because it'a a humorous anecdote online! And that you need to get a hobby that helps you meet people and actually TALK to them so you can remember how buck wild reality is.

Fun family story: when my aunt was marrying her wife everyone was really excited but also dreading it because my aunt is known for her insanely long speeches so everyone knew her vows would be like 9 hours long so when it came time for her to say her vows she had a shit ton of cue cards in her hands and even her wife started groaning and my aunt took a deep inhale and then unravelled all the cue cards which were taped together and they all just read ‘HOT DAMN’ in giant letters and those were my aunts vows.

[alohapromisesforever]

Thought For the Day: The Wisest Man Is He Who Does Not Fancy That He Is So At All

“The wisest man is he who does not fancy that he is so at all.” – Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux, poet and critic (1 Nov 1636-1711), in Satires, also known as Satire 4 (1716) The most authentic wisdom is humility, which recognizes one’s limitations and the limitations of others, too. In these days of instant social media access, arrogance is a blinding factor. The humble remain open to gaining new…

[fivecornerroom]

Watch what they do, NOT what they say.

[cedarlili]

Ask Questions

I find myself a little frustrated and annoyed today. I had been given a Christmas giftcard by my boss, for Amazon. My immediate thought was ‘I’ll buy a book!’ because it would enable me to spend a bit more on a book than I’d ordinarily spend on myself. These days, when I buy paper books, I’m generally looking at research books. I’m also contemplating the next step in career, given I’m almost a…

[zrribbonz]

This fellow and his team ROCK.

i do think theres something sad about how largely only the literature that's considered especially good or important is intentionally preserved. i want to read stuff that ancient people thought sucked enormous balls

[evenstarfalls]

WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK

[troncelliti]

@scamarchive thank you for shedding light to all of us here on @tumblr i thought she was being genuine. @support @wonderflyers

Capture of the scam blog 'wonderflyers / wonderflyby' and its pinned post.

Scam evidence in capture:

The Paypal thru-link says 'PH' for Philippines (where Philippine Pesos are used), despite the post being in USD/CAD

The post asks people to send money through Paypal's 'friends and family', because it doesn't have scam protection

The paypal, jamiej425, is reused from multiple previous scams (each word is a different link)

The avatar/icon is reused from at least one of their previous scam blogs

You can report this blog with 'report something else', 'unlawful uses of content', then 'phishing'. For a comprehensive rundown on how to identify a pet scam blog, read this post.

[boinin]

i need to take a walk after this did they do this before each and every match. that boy is traumatized TRAUMATIZED i'm gonna start filling in a lawsuit - @bluelokk

Volunteering to help with the research for your suit 🥲🥲🥲

Ramble time. For me, Blue Lock is mostly a funny, silly action manga. It generally isn't that serious. The few times it tackles dark themes, it's a punch to the gut. But I'm normally cool enough about it. Hiori's backstory or the story of Snuffy & Mick are the ones that impacted me most.

Anyway, today I've witnessed my favourite character be utterly dehumanised by the coach he is under the care of, told to throw his own ego away—repress himself—be a worse athlete, for the sake of fulfilling Ego's sick experiment. Not even for his own sake—but to egg his fellow players on.

Ego did all of this to Kunigami, without ever believing him capable of emerging as the best striker.

🙃

So, not the usual funny, silly leaks day. But I am intrigued to see where they're going with Kunigami's arc, and whether Ego will ever face consequences for Wild Card.

tl;dr

fuck this guy and his blasé noodle slurping

[vinelark]

wait did they really kill jason again???

[spoilers] someone somewhere on the internet posted pictures from the upcoming batman #148 that seems to imply jason dies in the issue; that's about all i know! i've been mostly following this arc and immediately have like two different theories on how it could be a fakeout of some sort, but no idea yet til i read the full issue, or possibly the one after depending on how long they stretch it out. (either way it'll take a lot for me to buy it being a real or lasting death, considering [waves at dc canon], but also who knows with them. maybe they think it'll stick this time.)

[jankwritten]

i think one of my biggest gripes with TSATS is the sentence structure and the way that things are phrased.

Sentence structure: the book is CONSTANTLY using ", and", or "then", or "but" instead of splitting up a phrase into two separate sentences. Once I noticed it, I couldn't stop noticing it. In some places it works fine, but right out the gate, as the first line of chapter one, it 1) caught my attention in a negative way and 2) felt immediately clunky and awkward.

The way that the book demonstrates action also feels unnatural and doesn't flow as well as it could. Things are described as happening "now", such as when Kayla takes her lolipop out of her mouth and holds it at her side, the book narrates it as "now holding the lolipop at her side". We didn't SEE that action occur, we're just being described the RESULT of the action, does that make sense? As a reader, you want to SEE the action, you want to SEE her tug the lolipop out of her mouth, see her hand hang by her side as her expression pinches with anxiety over the discussion. We don't want to just be told that "now" her lolipop is out of her mouth, y'know?

There are also sentences that just feel flat out unedited, phrases that have too many words for what they want to accomplish, or with a structure that doesn't make sense - like on page 56, the sentence "They raced up the steps to the platform, Nico easily outrunning his boyfriend, though that was mostly due to Will having to get his land legs again."

First of all - why are they running up the platform? In the previous line, where we're told their cab driver got them to the station with 6 minutes to spare, the specific choice of saying "to spare" makes it sound like there is plenty of time to make it to their train. In the sentences after, we even learn that Nico and Will wound up waiting for their train anyway, so, the fact that they're running when Will feels sick reads...weird, to me. If I was car sick, and then somebody forced me to run for no reason, I would not be a happy camper.

Second of all - The addition of the final third of the sentence, after the second comma, should be it's own phrase. It should be given it's own space, like "(though that was mostly because Will didn't have his land legs back yet)." because it's not important information, just an offhanded comment Nico is making.

Third of all - "though that was mostly due to" and "having to get his" are clunky and wordy. It could've just been "Nico easily outrunning his boyfriend, who didn't have his land legs back yet." It's a smoother sentence that doesn't get bogged down by the extra words.

And that's just one instance. This book is LOADED with moments like this, where action will get lost in a sentence's wordiness. The book tries to be quick and snappy, in Riordan's style, but it fails because it can't quite nail down the phrasing.

There are also moments where the only thing the characters are interacting with is each other, only grinning, grimacing, sighing, glancing at one another, etc etc, instead of doing actions while they speak. Fidgeting with their hands, shifting from side to side, looking away at their surroundings, that kind of stuff is how you convey a MOOD. Body language is important when writing character conversations!! Is somebody relaxed, or are their shoulders tensed up, arms folded across their chest with their muscles flexed, leaning back on one leg with their body halfway tilted away, as if they were ready to flee at a moment's notice? These are the kind of details that I'm missing in TSATS, the kind of things that feel like they're missing.

I also have a lot of gripes with the dialogue itself.

People don't talk like they do in TSATS. The content of what they're saying is realistic enough, sure, yeah, but the specific way that a lot of the dialogue is phrased? It doesn't feel natural. Try reading some of the sentences out loud without editing any of the words. It doesn't sound the way a human being SPEAKS.

THAT'S what I mean when I say these characters are OOC. The way that they're speaking is uncomfortable and feels as if they're being used as a puppet, or a mouthpiece for what somebody ELSE wants them to say.

[newbiealliance]

ok hiiiiii i discovered a few things

the address listed for parker leads to a gas station called "parkers"

interesting to note "friend" as the relationship between parker and charlotte

charlottes marked address isnt a real address

charlottes instagram account does lead somewhere (@cstern35 instagram) and it was made 1 day before the image was posted, it also seems to be fanmade but the timing seems too good to be a coincidence

on the instgram page (posted before the image) is a black screen that says "ONE season 3 16 June 2024." in dark grey text

also side note: brace yoruself before looking at that instagram page

bcs of the distance between contestants, the missing person report and the interview r prob unrelated

thank you for coming to my ted talk

HOLY SHIT??

i did notice the "friend" relationship but i didn't address it because i figured it was a given! i could be misinterpreting your point but i guess it's nice to know that parker still cares about her despite her major fuck up lol

charlotte's address being fake but parker's actually leading to somewhere is interesting to me too. maybe cheesy saw the opportunity for parker and took it, idk

also, now i know what you mean by "brace yourself..."

i agree that that the missing report and the interview are unrelated. i think cheesy is just putting out more lore about the side characters. but in my heart i like to that somewhere out there is a conspiracy nut who looks up cold cases and is like "whoa! these all happened on the same day!" and goes ham even if there's no real discernible connection coughs my oc coughs my friends oc coughs

[theyarebothgunshot]

.

[spookyeagling]

I do suspect I know a lot more about people than they might like me to by way of simple deduction and I do feel it when Elementary Sherlock is like "ugh what a drag it is to be able to figure shit out its a shame im not allowed to do heroin about it anymore"

[citizen-zero]

this video is even funnier in hindsight huh!

[oldxenomorph]

might need to surgically remove neve from da4 if the game turns out to be a mess…. i will save you beloved…. you deserve to be treated right queen….