I know this won’t do any good…but.
It is said that that people who profess an interest in the paranormal eat their own young. There is some literal truth to this! – In a metaphoric sense. What they mean is, many people who profess an interest in the paranormal eat ideas.
On the surface this might seem like a good thing. In science, ideas are tossed out and trashed with wild abandon. When a new phenomena is observed, say a new subatomic particle or a novel species of animal, people concerned with such things will throw out ideas (by submitting papers or some other means,) then the idea will be chewed on and criticized by their peers. In conventional science this is done all the time and it’s thought to be a necessary ingredient to the scientific process.
Now, enter people in the paranormal biz. Some of them apply the rigors of science to the paranormal, you don’t hear from those types very often. Why? Because people in the so-called main stream of the paranormal “biz” have little interest in ideas and certainly not new ideas. If something strange happens in a house, it must be a ghost. If you hear an odd noise in the woods, it must be bigfoot. If you see an unusual light in the night sky, it must be aliens.
It matters little that these ideas are overly complicated. Lights flashing inside of someone’s home are probably the result of faulty wiring. Strange noises in the woods are only strange if you don’t actually live in the woods and there are always oddball lights in the sky. Planets, the Earth’s Moon, comets, satellites, meteors , meteorites and aircraft all of them can look strange under some circumstances.
Then there is the propensity for some people to make up stories, tell tall tales as if they were real. Nobody cares about a new species of insect (unless you are an entomologist) but people will gather from far and wide to hear about stories of unknown mega-fauna like Bigfoot.
What does any of this have to do with hate or hatecrimes?
Nothing! Absolutely nothing!
So why does the words Hate and hate crimes, hatred etc come up so frequently in paranormal literature? Well it seems to be the dichotomy between the way people in the scientific/a
academic community handle criticism and the way paranormalests deal with it.
Science and academia = criticism = opportunity for improvement = lifeblood.
Paranormal studies, = criticism = hate = reason to hate.
Results?
Science and academia; unquestionable results , have advanced human understanding in a few short generations to heights undreamed of. Broad consensuses and proven results.
Paranormal studies ; no discernible results. Active paranormalests cannot even begin to explain in any meaningful way what their phenomena is all about or what causes it. Little or no consensus. Infighting and lack of standards make for a confusing landscape where little gets accomplished.
One of the striking differences between the two groups is not that one bickers and the other does not (heaven forbid! Academics and Scientists fight like cats and dogs! ) It’s the way they go about it. Most of the time, people in an academic debate refrain from using logical fallacies, not that they always succeed mind you but most of them do try to avoid them. Why? Because logical fallacies are the kiss of death in an argument.
Paranormalists – many of them… don’t seem to know what a logical fallacy is let alone avoid using one. Many of them don’t seem interested in discovering answers to the “splendid mysteries” that they propose. Many of them already have answers and seem determined to defend their ideas, their beliefs with a vigor that’s spectacular to behold. In fact the very level of emotion they invest into an idea seems to lend weight to it. If you can say something with conviction it must be more true! This is not true in academia or in science where a passionate argument can often diminish the weight of an argument.
But here is where we get into the “hate” part. I’ve noticed some people seem utterly aghast when someone like me comes along to poke fun at the antics of paranormalists. They sometimes react violently, much like cult members when confronted with “unbelievers.” This puzzles me because I think, if you are going to make a circus out of this subject, you better expect to have clowns (and elephants!) If people insist on behaving like nitwits, why is it wrong to point that out?
But trying to characterize critics as hate criminals is almost unbelievable. If there is a cautionary tale here, it’s that people who have an interest in the paranormal (or even fringe religious groups) should never ever run around yelling “hate-crime! Haters!” Etc if they hope for people to take them seriously. And it’s not that I think they are stupid people, I think they are behaving stupidly! Just as if I were watching a segment of Jackass on TV, I can enjoy the idiocy of the thing without making judgments of the people doing idiotic things.
I’d guess the people who make a mockery of the paranormal should not be surprised if they are n fact mocked. Most reasonable people feel that way but, as I am reminded from time to time, many people are not reasonable
Far from it as a matter of fact.
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