Enemies of Skepticism 2009 – The Top 10 Offenders
24Dec. 09
What’s popular on the internet? Disliking things. Also, lists of things. So in that spirit, here is my list of those who earned the largest amount of dislike from me as a skeptic in 2009. The frauds, the true believers, the complete and utter manic anti-science spazmos.
It’s been an interesting and eventful year. Simon Singh’s legal battle with the British Chiropractic Association continues, but he’s rallied an unprecedented amount of support, and the case may end up being the catalyst for major libel reform in the UK. The anti-vaccination movement seems to be gaining ground, and the issue is shaping up to be one of the biggest battlegrounds for skepticism in the coming years. And as usual, people saw aliens, found remains of monsters, talked to Jesus, hunted ghosts, exposed climate change as fraud and refused potentially life saving treatment for their children based on their religious beliefs.
Bear in mind, this list and its order is only my opinion. I’ve no doubt there are many more who are as bad or worse that did not make it on to the list on account of the fact I had nothing to say about them or was not aware of them. Add your personal favourites in the comments below.
10. Deepak Chopra
Look at this guy. What a jerk. Ok, so his particular brand of new age scienticianism probably doesn’t cause much direct harm, and it would be virtually impossible to quantify anyway, but seriously. What the hell have you been talking about, Deepak? Actually, don’t answer that. Just stop talking.
9. Ray Comfort
Ray makes the list for his strange attempt at undermining the education of evolution by distributing copies of On the Origin of Species to US universities with his own personalised 50 page creationist introduction. I seriously doubt he won any converts, but he still makes the list because really, he is pure heavy duty weapons grade Stupid.
8. Jeff Peckman
This is the guy who managed to gather enough signatures together with a ballot initiative to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver, Colarado. As amazing as it sounds, it looks like this thing will be going ahead. Can you think of a better way to waste money? Send your suggestions to me with your bank account details.
7. The Huffington Post
Most newspapers have a pretty obvious political slant – liberal, conservative, ultra conservative and neo conservative are the usual categories. But few are so overtly and painfully anti-science as The Huffpo. And it looks as though they’re getting progressively worse (as opposed to simply ‘progressive’ which is what they seem to think of themselves). This was their worst year yet. Deepak gets published there. I don’t like them.
6. British Chiropractic Association
When Simon Singh, author of the totally awesome book Fermat’s Last Theorem which I recommend to everyone, wrote some purely factual words about bogus claims made by the BCA in 2008, they responded not by providing evidence to back up their claims but by getting all suey instead. We all know the story by now, and there has been ups and downs during the year but they make the list by causing us all so much grief and frustration along the way. The battle continues.
5. Oprah
When Oprah endorses something, people listen. Problem is, she endorses any kooky crap, and far, far too many people listen. She is an unstoppable juggernaut, and she will destroy us all. Mark my words.
4. The Australian Vaccination Network
There are plenty of anti-vaccination organisations out there, but these guys get special mention because a) they’re local and b) they cynically and manipulatively disguise themselves as a neutral, unbiased information source, when the truth is they’re anything but. This is their official site, but don’t waste too much time there. I had a look and threw up in my mouth a little.
3. Bill Maher
Bill Maher recently won the Richard Dawkins award for a movie he made about how stupid religion is: Religulous. The movie was alright, a little shallow in my opinion but entertaining enough. Unfortunately it turns out that he’s far from the rationalist one might have initially thought. In fact, when it comes to medical science he’s a complete nut, and he spouts dangerous anti-scientific views regularly on his US panel show Real Time. The fact that he has tricked so many into believing he’s pro-science is what gets him so high on the list.
2. The Pope
The Pope sensed Skywalker’s presence when overseeing the last stages of construction of the second Death Star. After Vader convinced him that Skywalker would be of great value if he could be turned the dark side, the Pope tried to tempt him by appealing to his fear for his friends. Skywalker refused, so the Pope tried to kill Skywalker with lightning from his fingers. I just don’t understand Catholics.
1. Jenny McCarthy
I don’t want to sound alarmist or reactionary or anything, but Jenny McCarthy kills babies.
On that positive note, that’s my list and me for the year. Happy holidays everybody, I’ll leave you with a little Christmas cheer (it’s sentimental, I know).
Alister Fuller
Tags: dangerous idiots, Idiots
June 30th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Troll, surely?