Why the skeptical community is important.

Hey folks, I know it's been a while, but I'm back, at least for now. There's been a subject that I've heard come up occasionally in various conversations that I've been trying to put words to for a while. The topic basically breaks down to "Why do we even need a skeptical community?" It's been brought up in blog posts, podcasts, and even in casual conversation, so I thought I'd give my opinion on the matter.

 On episodes 3 and 4 of "The Blue Ball Skeptics" for example, Damion and Chas spoke to Matt and Sharon Madison, a couple that have been involved in skepticism for quite a while (before the founding of  the JREF or CFI). They seem to feel that there isn't really a need for a skeptical community, and during the course of their interview, they state the reasons they feel that way. (To hear the entire interview click this link). 

One of their main concerns deals with a "Cult of Personality" forming around a few key members in the movement (Randi, Shermer, Harris, etc), and dividing the community into various camps for or against various people. I actually agree with them on this fact. We've seen this happen with Rebecca Watson, Michael Shermer, and various other "Skeptical Leaders", for lack of a better term. They become popular in not only the skeptical communities, but also noticed by the various religious and pseudoscience groups, and even main stream media. These people have some very vocal opponents, so any indiscretion is quickly jumped on. By the same token, you have the proponents of these personalities that will verbally rip you to shreds if they think you've written anything disparaging about their favorite skeptic. All I'm going to say on this matter is that skeptics are only human, and we screw up from time to time. I'm not excusing any alleged behaviors, nor am I placing any blame. I do not know any of the major players in our community personally, nor do I have all the information to make an informed opinion one way or the other. I'm simply saying don't elevate someone above reproach, nor reprimand another for speaking their mind, without making sure you know all the details first. Even our heroes should be approached with a skeptical mindset. 

Another issue that they have is the term "skeptical movement", which they state, and I also agree, sounds like a politically driven group. However, I don't have a problem with skeptics being involved in policy making. We have as much right as any other group of people to have a say in the rules under which we live. Religious organizations, alternative medicine, and other such special interest groups have some very powerful lobbyists working for them to push their agendas to the politicians, so why shouldn't we? At least we have research, critical and rational thought, and science backing our claims, versus their wishful thinking and 2000 year old books. Unfortunately, we don't have the same level of financial backing that they do.

Back to the main point of my post, "Why do we need a skeptical community?" I know that people that are much better writers than I am have written on this topic, but I feel the need to add my 2 cents on the matter. I feel that we need a skeptical community, and a skeptical movement, to help show people that they aren't alone. Growing up in the middle of Oklahoma, where you can see a homeopath next door to a psychic, and both go to the same church across the street, you tend to feel very lonely, and slightly frightened if you would rather trust science than have faith. When  looking for others that share your views, you sometimes have to be very careful how you phrase things, especially if you live in a rural area. A skeptical community helps people find others that share common interests and ideas, without the constant fear of being isolated from society. Sometimes you just need to talk to someone that's been through, or is going through, the same things you are. A skeptical community or movement can also show a unified front when dealing with some of the bull that is currently being proposed in the various states legislatures. Normally, there may be a few random people writing to senators or congresspeople to complain about a certain bill, These are usually sent a pacifying form letter and promptly forgotten. However, if there is a group of people that write in expressing similar concerns, politicians will usually take notice. Awareness of the issue may be all that's accomplished, but it's a start, and this is much more easily achieved as part of a group than as a solitary person. 

Another reason for a skeptical community is the sharing of information. Yes, the internet, journals, and books are great sources, but sometimes just being able to talk to someone that knows information that you don't is the best way to learn it. This allows for the quick and instant exchange of ideas and information that message boards, blog posts, magazine articles, or Youtube videos just can't duplicate.

The community doesn't have to have a strict hierarchy, it can just be a loose association of people with a few common interests that sometimes get together to talk about various topics while enjoying a variety of beverages. A loose organizational structure can possibly prevent, or at least slow down, the development of the "Cult of Personality" that seems to have risen in the larger, more organized groups.

I personally feel that the skeptical community is a valuable part of society, and as time goes on, it will become more important and more influential. It also has a bit of an advantage over many other types of communities in that we aren't as driven for fame or recognition as other groups. If we were, more skeptical bloggers would be using their real names and flashier headline grabbing posts. Yes, fame and/or recognition is great, but from what I've seen, most skeptics do what they do out of a genuine love of humanity.

Until next time, be good, be skeptical, and be sure to finish your brussel sprouts.

The Skeptical Okie

Creation of a skeptic

No intro today, figured I'd just jump right into my little rant/opinion piece, but as a warning, it is fairly link heavy.  What I want to talk about today is the creation of a skeptic. This one basically comes from my appearance on the BlueBalls Skeptics, hosted by Damion and Chas. I'm just going to lightly touch on some of the topics as I've either already written about them, or I'm in the process of writing a stand alone article on them.   And yes, this entire article is anecdotal and from personal experience.

I grew up in a fairly religious family.  My parents are a mix of  Methodist and Baptist, which are possibly the 2 most popular sects of christianity in Oklahoma.  The small town in Arizona I spent the first 10 years of my life was evenly divided between Catholic and Mormon beliefs.  We prayed in school before first hour began and we prayed before lunch. It was officially called a minute of silence, but the teacher normally led the class in a prayer.  Keep in mind this was a public school in the early 80's, so it wasn't actually that unusual.  I went to summer bible school every year, when I wasn't spending the remainder of the summer with grandparents in another state.  I went along with everything I was told, like most kids that age.  Santa Claus was the deal breaker.  I remember looking at a globe in the school library wondering how big the planet was.  I've always wanted to know everything, and have been intensely curious about how things worked.  I asked the librarian how big Earth was.  She very kindly told me it was huge. (Lot of help there, but then again, I was 5 or 6)  I looked at the globe and realized there was no way 1 man could get around the whole thing and give a gift to every kid.  I realized my parents had lied to me about him, and probably the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, and Christopher Columbus.(Ok, they got one partially right)  I quickly became the most hated kid in class because I had to tell everyone what I'd figured out.  Needless to say. it was safer to stay in class at recess than go out to the playground for a while.

When I was a bit older, I began reading encyclopedias from beginning to end. (This is before the internet, in the early to mid 80's) I really don't know why I did it, except I wanted to learn everything I could about everything, and as I said, it was safer for me to stay in the classroom during recess.  I would tell my classmates about what I'd read, and they'd walk off talking about whatever sport was being played at the time.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed sports.  I played football, baseball, soccer, basketball, and I was on the wrestling team.  I was just more interested in knowledge, which is why I probably sucked at sports.  It is also around this time I began paying attention to the things that adults said.  When we studied the moon landing, and I told my parents about it, my dad said it was a hoax, and he could prove it.  He showed me pictures of Armstrong on the moon and asked me "If he's the first man on the moon, who took the picture?" (Never mind that there were other people on the mission) He also showed me how the shadows were wrong, the lighting was strange, and some oddities in the pictures that he said were from them actually being done on a movie set.  He was an amateur photographer, so I thought his explanation was reasonable.  He also said that the astronauts couldn't survive the radiation out in space.  When we learned about the Kennedy assassination, he simply said there was more than 1 shooter.  I have an idea of what he did during his deployment to  Vietnam during the war, so I thought he must know what he's talking about.  Again, as I got older, his ideas got stranger.  He talked for a while about the New World Order, the Knights Templar, and the Free Masons. Once I went to college, and had access to better research material, as well as that new fangled internet, I looked into his claims.  That is when I went down the dark path for a while.  I began to find a lot of information that normally began with "What they don't want you to know!" in an enormous font with flashy lettering.   I believed it all.  Then, somehow, I was able to drag myself out when I realized all these conflicting ideas couldn't all be true.  I began to actually look into the details.  I learned that the astronauts had placed reflectors on the surface of the moon, and you can shine a laser at them and the light will bounce back.  They also brought back samples from the moon. Neither are things that can be done on a soundstage.  I've seen reconstructions and forensic analysis of the Kennedy assassination that show a single shooter could have done it.  I decided that if I want to know something, or find out the truth, I either need to do the research myself, or find an expert in the field and talk to them about it.

As a child, I was also exposed to water dowsing, cryptids, faith healing,and wearing either magnetic or copper bracelets for pain relief,  as well as herbal, all natural, or native treatments.  My mother, who always took great pride in stating that her grandmother was "a half-breed" (1/2 caucasian, 1/2 native american), would try anything she heard that native peoples used for medicine.  If it worked, she would say it was because natural cures work better than modern medicine. If it didn't, the patient must have done something wrong. Looking back now, when the "cure" would work, it was more than likely either due to the placebo effect, or the natural course of an illness.  I was a rather rough and tumble kid, so I had my share of broken bones (left arm twice, right arm once, right leg once, right collar bone once, various fingers and toes, fractured skull once, the nose and ribs too many times to count), and she would actually try to heal them by the laying of hands.  Sometimes she claimed the spirit of god would help her heal me, other times she would also claim she could do it because she was Native American.  Of course, we'd end up driving to the nearest doctor to get the bones reset and either splinted or put in a cast. She would also try this when I got a severe sunburn, which happens a lot when you haul hay for a summer job.  She would claim to be drawing the pain out of me into herself.  After a few minutes of being very uncomfortable, I would look at her smile, and lie my head off, telling her I felt great.  As soon as I could get away, I would slather on the aloe vera gel to ease my misery, as well as raid the liquor cabinet and for the next couple of weeks, no one in the family would see me without a shirt on.  Both of my parents wore copper bracelets to help with their various aches and pains, and as much as I hate to admit it, I did too.  I never personally noticed any kind of improvement, but I thought it looked nice.  In the late 90's, they'd moved on to magnetic bracelets to help with circulation and other problems.  By this time, I'd already looking into things in a more proper, scientific manner, so I've never worn one, though I have been given several of the things. They don't look as nice as the old copper bracelets, though.

My grandfather was the one that initially exposed me to dowsing. For those that don't know, this is an old practice where you take either brass or wooden rods and use them to locate metals, oil, or water.  Grandpa would take me out when he was hired by his neighbors to help them locate water so they could put in a new well.  He would walk around with a forked willow stick, and when the tip would suddenly drop down, that's where he would tell them to dig.  In high school, I learned that much of Oklahoma sits on top of a major aquifer, and if you dig down about 65-70 feet, you're more than likely to hit water)  I later learned about the idiomotor effect, which is basically an uncontrolled muscle movement.  I will admit that I have witched water wells for people, mostly to help earn some money to pay the bills. After college, and learning about the idiomotor effect, I have quit doing it, even though on rare occasion, I still have people ask me if I would come out and dowse for water. At $200 a pop, it can be pretty tempting. He's also the one that initially told me about Bigfoot and other local monster stories, which I initially took as the truth.  Later, as I looked more into these, I realized the improbability of creatures like this existing.

As I've talked about previously, my wife is the one that introduced me to the larger skeptical community.  It started with podcasts like the Skeptics Guide to the Universe and Skeptoid, and later on the Geologic Podcast, Herd Mentality, and a lot of history and science podcasts.  I also began reading skeptical and science blogs and articles.  I then began this blog, and began looking for skeptical groups in Oklahoma.

In 39 years, I've gone from a gullible child, to a full blown conspiracy theory believer, to carefully walking the very fine line between being a cynic and being a critical thinker.  It hasn't been an easy journey, and I'm no where near the end (I hope), but it has definitely been worth it.

Until next time, just take it easy, and have fun, but always be skeptical.

The Skeptical Okie.

Now taking requests. Please comment.

I'm still around folks, just trying to make a living, so unfortunately, the blog had to be put on the backburner for a bit.  I do have a question for anyone that is still reading this.  What topics are YOU interested in?  Cryptozoology, conspiracy theories, alternative medicine, urban legends, mythology, or something I've missed?  Let me know and I'll start researching and writing.  I've got so many ideas that they are just jumbling up and I don't know where to start, so I'm asking for your help.  Let me know what areas you're interested in, and I'll start covering them.  Thanks, and until next time, be good, be skeptical, and be rational.

Skeptical Okie

Cured by vibrating jewelry?

Hey folks, how have you been.  Yes, I'm still alive, just been very busy with work, and family.  The list of things  I want to talk about has grown to the point I'm having to cull a few items because everyone else has already covered them pretty thoroughly.  I do have a topic today that falls under the banner of Project Bullshit!  What I want to talk about today are the:

Tuning Element Bracelets TM  (dun dun dunnnnn).  (The story is a bit long, so if you want, skip down to the claims and background.)

During a local county fair, I saw this booth displaying a lot of bracelets.  It had a very nice background, a pretty display case, and was manned by an elderly couple.  I saw this booth for 3 days straight.  (I'm not a fair junkie, I was helping my wife with her civic group booth.)  By the last day of the fair, I had probably seen 50-75 people talk to these folks, and at least half of them bought things.  I went over there and took one of their brochures and looked it over.  (I'll go into the details of the pamphlet later)  The older gentleman saw me walking around and actually called me over to him.  Curious as always, I went to see what he was about.  He looked me in the eye and asked if I occasionally have pain in my knees, mainly my left.  I answered honestly and told him yes I do.  In my head, I was thinking, "Great, he's going to cold read me.  This could be fun."  Full disclosure, about 2 years ago, I broke my kneecap and femur in a bovine related accident (not like that!), and I've had problems and pain since then with my left knee, including a mild to severe limp. I had been helping my wife with her booth, which was next to the "healing bracelets" booth,  for the last 3 days, and my looks are a bit distinctive, so the people had plenty of opportunities to witness me limping around.  The fellow that ran the booth sat me down in a surprisingly comfortable chair and began his sales pitch.  He told me that both he and his wife suffered from arthritis pain for years until they discovered these bracelets.  They were so impressed with them that they became salespeople for the company.  I had noticed the woman wearing one, and I realized while talking to him that his watchband was actually one of these bracelets.  (I'm not going to include any images because the manufacturer wouldn't give me permission by the time I published this.)  These bracelets are "vibrationally harmonized with the Earth" to help with healing.  When I asked him what the rate of vibration was, he looked at me and informed me that he wasn't completely sure (honesty right off the bat? Wow!) and even if he knew, it was proprietary information.  I did try to find out what the Earths frequency is supposed to be, and most of what I was able to find comes from New Age sites, so they were full of word salad, so as of right now, I just have to saw I don't know.  While I was sitting there and this purveyor of Woo was giving me anecdotes and testimonials, he had his wife open the case, pull out a rather attractive black metal bracelet, and he set it right above my knee.  He informed me it would take about 10 minutes to begin to take effect.  I was fine with this because, as I said, I'm a curious person, so we started talking about the properties of the bracelets.  During this conversation, I noticed almost immediately that he was trying to get medical history from me by making statements like "Most people with knee problems have hip and back problems too." and "A lot of guys your age get muscle pain."  I'm familiar enough with these tactics that I went along with them to see what he would do.  And wouldn't you know it, he basically took the info I gave him and fed it back to me, saying this "scientifically balanced" bracelet could help with my problems.  He also mentioned it could help with cancer, but because of the "damned" FDA, they can't actually say it will cure anything. (I'll discuss the actual claims in a bit.)  I asked how the bracelets were harmonized with the Earth, how they stayed in this state, as well as asking if there was any documented evidence of efficacy.  He informed me, once again that the entire process was proprietary, and the only evidence he could offer was more testimonials. I asked him what they were made from and he told me they were stainless steel.  the ones that aren't silver are plated in other metals.  I then asked about the prices.  The cheap ones, the plain silver ones with no adornments cost about $75.  The more elaborate ones, with the different coatings and laser engraved images, cost up to $300.  I think I just blinked at him when he casually gave me the prices.  About this time, he seemed to feel that the sales pitch wasn't working, so he went the friendly route.  He began asking me about what I do for a living, if I have a wife and children, if I have any hobbies, etc.  I told him I do animal control, as well as farm work for a living. Yes, I have a wife and child, at which point he asked me if she worked.  I said yes, she's a bio-chemical researcher.  The look on his face at this statement was odd enough, I had a hard time not laughing.  He then asked me about my hobbies.  I said reading, writing a blog, outdoor activities, and I'm part of a skeptical group.  As soon as I said this, the 10 minutes suddenly finished. (It was actually closer to 20)  He removed the bracelet and asked if I had any pain.  I told him honestly no at that moment.  He then had me stand up.  Upon doing so, my knee popped loudly enough to be heard from several feet away ( a normal occurrence if I've been sitting or standing for a while.)  He told me that sometimes it takes a while for the effect to be noticeable, and I should go ahead and buy one.  I told him I'd have to talk to my wife first, and I left thinking I need to write about this.

The Claims:

The overall claim of this particular type of product is that can help "bring our body back to it's natural frequency"  The manufacturer states that electromagnetic radiation  disrupts our bodies natural frequency, which in turn pulls the protons in our cells  out of their natural alignment and causes cellular dysfunction. (Waiter, I'll have the word salad with the house dressing, thank you.)  The brochure says that the bracelet will realign the protons so they spin or resonate in harmony.  It also claims that our "electronic technology" (and I have no idea why they have that in quotation marks) has hidden "pollutants" (More quotation marks) and our bodies absorb these.  Care to guess the pollutants that the maker of these bracelets is concerned about?  EMF's(Electrical magnetic fields) and ELF's (Extremely low frequencies).   According to the brochure, these are emitted from different tech, and when the body gets hit by these waves, to paraphrase them,it just completely fu!&s us up.  The top of the paper has the words Got Pain?  in 21/2 inch letters, with the following conditions:

• Arthtitis                                            
• Carpal Tunnel
• Muscular Pain
• Stress
• Hip Pain
• Knee Pain
• Back Pain
• Insomnia
• Colds/Sickness
• ADD/ADHD
• Joint Pain
• And many More

Under this, it has Need help with? followed by:

• Quality of Sleep
• Range of Motion
• Better Athletic Abilities
• Balance
• Flexibility
• Less Snoring
• Coordination
• Better Golf Average
• Faster Recovery Time
• Strength
• Energy
• And Much More

And of course at the bottom, it has the usual disclaimers about going to your doctor for health issues, this product has not been evaluated by the FDA, and results may vary.  As someone with knee pain and ADHD, if one product could take care of these, I would be overjoyed.  The problem is, to quote the Sawbones podcast, "If it sounds like a cure-all, it cures nothing".  A lot of the various pains that they list have to do with joints or muscular damage, while balance is controlled by the inner ear, and ADHD is a neurological issue.  No single thing can treat three very different systems.

How it works:
This product is supposed to work based on the principles of harmonic balance.  According to their website,(and no, I'm not going to link to them)  these ideas were created by Georges Lakhovsky and  W.O Schumann.  Lakhovsky created a machine called the Multi Wave Oscillator in the 30's and Schumann is know for Schumann Frequencies.  Both of these men's ideas are popular in alternative medicine as a means to treat people of various problems.  They both have too much history to go into here.  The companies description of what their product does is overly vague and almost magical sounding.  The problems it is supposed to treat, as well as their supposed initial causes are extremely similar to the  T-28 3G/4G Whole House Protection device I wrote about a while back.  It's supposed to protect you from EMF's and ELF's, which in turn are supposed to slowly damage every part of your body at the cellular level.  Every description of how this item works is so vague I can't tell if they are talking about a bracelet or pasta salad.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's supposed to work by magic and wishful thinking.  And your money.

The Problems:
The main problem with this product, much like the infamous Power Band and the  T-28 3G/4G Whole House Protection device, is that they just DO NOT WORK!  No one item can have a beneficial effect on every system (skeletal, nervous, muscular, cardiovascular, respiratory, etc.) at once.  If you look at actual medication, or medical therapies, while they have a beneficial effect on the given system that they treat, if you look at the possible side effects, they normally effect other systems that have a direct effect on each other..  Wearing something on your wrist will not have a effect on ADHD, unless it's shiny and can actually help you keep your focus.  The same product won't help with a cold and give you a better golf average. Another problem is how the hell do they know what frequency the human body is supposed to have, and who determined what is in harmony with the planet?  Do things in nature have the same frequencies?  Does pumice vibrate at the same rate as uranium, and does that vibrate at the same rate as wood?

Conclusion:
Do I really need to say it?  Okay, you asked for it, so I'm duty bound to do it.  This bracelet, while it actually is good looking, and I wouldn't mind wearing one for aesthetic reasons, it doesn't treat anything except for a heavy wallet or purse.  A piece of metal on any part of your body, unless it's a brace for a joint or back, won't treat a single medical issue, let alone everything under the sun.  When you consider that in 3 days I saw 30-40  people buying these at a minimum of $75 each, and I found very similar looking items at Wal Mart for $10 the next day, someone made out like a bandit.  Granted, I don't know the companies business model, and I'm not 100% positive what the markup is on these, but it's probably still a good chunk of money.

Until next time, Be Good, Be Skeptical, and Be sure you turned the stove off before you leave.

The Skeptical Okie

Margaret Sanger, a lesson in research and picking your battles.

This week, I'm just going to jump straight into the topic because it has got me so pissed off.  Lately, I've been seeing a certain picture popping up on my Facebook feed.  I'm sure some of you have probably seen this one too.  It's:

I have made the mistake a few times of pointing out that the quote on the picture is taken completely out of context from a book that Margaret Sanger wrote in 1922.  The first time I did, someone had mentioned what a horrible person she was for wanting to kill babies.  There were also a few comparisons to Hitler in the thread.  I did a little looking, mostly in Wikipedia and WikiQuote.  This quote comes from chapter 2 of her book "Woman and the New Race".  I found that she was talking about extremely large families where the infant mortality rate and the mothers chance of dying in childbirth increases with every child.  In 1922, the mortality rate among the youngest children of large families was as high as 70%.  Many times, the children died from starvation, typhoid ,or tuberculosis.  I also pointed out that Margaret Sanger was against abortion.  She promoted contraceptive use to prevent unwanted pregnancies and abortions. After making my point, the person that posted it said she hadn't realized this.  She just wanted to show what a wicked person Sanger was and the next day, we had a calm, rational, and informative talk (in real life no less) about the topic.

 The next time I saw this, I simply said read the Wikipedia article or the Snopes article on it and I was thanked by several people.(Rationality for the Win!)

  The most recent appearance of this horrible amalgamation of photograph and quote, everyone in the comment thread was screaming (a lot of them seemed to have gotten their Caps Lock stuck) about how she was a racist.  I simply pointed out that the quote is taken out of context, and in fact, she helped set up the first womens health clinic in Harlem.  Then it got strange.  One person said he could prove she was a racist, as he had been in the Anti-abortion movement for nearly 40 years, and yet he offered no proof.  The next one pointed out that she was a eugenicist, and accused me of basically being insensitive.  At this point I realized that no matter what I said, all it was going to do was incite a flame war.  I don't have time for that crap.  All I tried to do was point out that an organization was taking one sentence from one book she wrote nearly 100 years ago and are using it in their marketing campaign.   If you look hard enough, you can pull the same damn stunt with Gandhi, Mother Theresa, or even your own parents.   I'll admit, she did believe in eugenics,and so did Winston Chuchill, Theodore Roosevelt, John H. Kellogg, Alexander Graham Bell, and George Bernard Shaw. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics#Supporters_and_critics and en.wikipediaorg/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States. )   The fact that most of the people seem to be missing is that in 1922, eugenics, which is essentially a human breeding program to improve the species, was a popular idea.  In fact, in the United States, there were 32 states with eugenic programs for criminals and people with mental and/or physical disabilities.  North Carolina didn't end theirs until 1977 and Oregon performed their last mandatory sterilization in 1981.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization#United_States and en.wikipediaorg/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States. )  Concerning the claims of racism, while she did view African Americans to be inferior, she did work with W.E. B.Du Bois to set up the first womens health clinic in Harlem. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger )

I found all this info in about 2 minutes, and yes, a lot of it does come from Wikipedia.  There are more "Sanger is evil" articles than there are "Sanger was a normal early 20th century woman" articles, but with a bit of looking, I was also able to find relatively unbiased biographies of her and corroborate them with the Wikipedia article, which also has links to the articles external sources.  She's not an angel, but she's not some spawn of hell either.  She was simply a woman that was doing what she could to help other women during a period of our history when what we consider strange ideas about race and sexuality were considered normal.

By todays morality, and yes, morality does change, she would be viewed as a bigoted, racist woman.  However, when you put the quote in the picture into context with the time it was written in, her views were the norm.  What this organization, the ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice) is trying to do is to apply the morals of 2014 to a statement from 1922.  It doesn't work.  As people and cultures change, so does the moral fabric of society.  20 years ago, homosexual men were either a joke or plot device in movies and television shows.  Now they are just another character.  In 1968, on the episode titled "Plato's Stepchildren"  Captain James T. Kirk kissed Lt. Uhura.  The day before it aired, an interracial kiss was unthinkable.  Now, most people don't really notice.  You can not apply something as malleable as morals to events that happened in the past.  The farther back the event occurred, the less that present day morals can be applied.   

And by the way, the ACLJ, from what I can determine looking at their website, is a christian law group that views freedom of religion and freedom of speech as inalienable, god given rights. (Their words, not mine)  So of course they would be anti abortion.  Some of the questions on their homepage are "Bible study in the workplace" (not really phrased as a question, is it?), and "Religious groups denied public access".  Under most popular are such pleasant titles as "Stop funding the United nations" and, wait for it...."Stopping abortion, Ending Planned Parenthoods Taxpayer Funds".  Yep, an unbiased legal defense organization.  

  I do try and take advantage of every teaching moment I can, but I also have realized recently that I have to pick my battles more carefully.  The people that will happily butcher and warp the legacy of a historical figure and the people that believe in their cause with every fiber of their being, are not going to be convinced by any facts that you present to them.  But, if they were to put as much energy and time into looking at the claims they are making (and yes, even if you just re post something on Facebook, you are making a claim, unless you have a disclaimer) as they do spouting their vitriolic drivel, then maybe they would be able to build a more solid foundation for their arguments.

Thank you for joining me on this little trip through my mind and what become an almost daily occurrence. Until next time, Be Good, Be Reasonable, and be sure to wash behind your ears.

The Skeptical Okie