Debunking the Debunkers, Part Two

Nowadays, I seem to be on a crusade against naysayers to the afterlife (I suggest reading the Part One posting before this one). I’m currently re-re-reading Victor Zammit’s book, A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife, who has done a ‘reverse Randi.’ For those who don’t know the story, a professional magician called James Randi has issued a one-million dollar challenge for anyone who can prove the reality of the paranormal … under rigorous test conditions. Of course, the devil is in the details, and no one could possible meet those conditions. It is said that Randi confided to a friend that he would always have room to wriggle out of paying up, which makes him a debunker rather than a skeptic, as he claims.

Zammit’s challenge is for anyone to rebut his evidence for the afterlife and prove there is no afterlife at all. You can see the terms of his challenge at www.victorzammit.com. For example, condition #8 states: “The applicant agrees that the level of proof required to rebut the evidence will be the Cartesian test, ‘beyond any doubt.’ This means that there has to be absolutely no doubt at all in the minds of the Committee that the 'evidence' has been rebutted.”

I’ve taken the liberty of quoting the Materialist’s Creed from Victor’s website so you know where they are coming from:

1.         I believe in materialism and only in materialism. I will not allow myself to believe in anything else.

2.         I do not believe in anything else unless I can touch it, see it, hear it, smell it or taste it.

3.         I will call myself a ‘skeptic’ even though I fully realize I am cheating and lying when I do this because a skeptic always allows for ‘doubt’ and for possible subsequent confirmation, whereas as a materialist, I do NOT allow for doubt. I am absolutely convinced absolutely nothing beyond physical explanation of the world around can exist.

4.         I regard secular orthodoxy and materialism as my gods and my salvation for this lifetime on this earth. As an extreme materialist I will always push selfishness to its extreme to attain maximum pleasure – even if I have to corrupt or prostitute my talents or exploit my position in life to attain all this.

5.         I do not believe in helping the weak, aiding the poor, helping those who cannot help themselves or in doing anything unless there is a direct benefit in it for me or for my own career- especially in psychology.

6.         I am strongly against spirituality, against religion, against ‘god’, and actively against anything else EXCEPT the ‘secular religion’ of materialism.

7.         I live only for materialism and will do anything in my power to work against the paranormal, psychic phenomena and anyone who tries to show the afterlife exists.

8.         I believe I will not be ultimately responsible for my negative actions, negative deeds, negative manipulations, negative conduct in any way.

9.         As an extreme materialist, I will maliciously do anything to attain my goal – I will lie, cheat, misrepresent, deceive, deface, desecrate anything which is fundamentally inconsistent with my extreme belief in materialism.

10.      Inevitably, I will always be a short term thinker and short term planner for my immediate gain with absolutely no thoughts past this lifetime on earth.

 

The last item says it all. Readers of this blog know they are one incarnation out of hundreds their soul will have in its cycle of Earth lives, and strive to do their part on behalf of their soul’s collective. And they know they are the beneficiaries of all the other lifetimes of accumulated wisdom their soul has gathered, to which they are also adding through their own life experiences.  This is the mature, long-term perspective that brings great wisdom, joy and happiness, and allows us to love ourselves, and hence others. It also encourages us to serve our fellow man, and the entire Soul Plane. We know we are contributing to the greater cause, for the highest good of all, which makes for a life of joyous service to the All That Is. Materialists, on the other hand, are in it just for themselves, in the ultimate “Me, Me, Me” game.

To Victor’s enormous credit, he offers the full text of his landmark book on his website for you to download. Yes, it’s 225 pages and takes a while to download, but once done, it represents some of the most powerful evidence for the afterlife you’ll ever read. In fact, I can’t say enough good things about Victor’s book and website, so just go look for yourself. You’ll be glad you did. And if you don’t want the bother, you can buy a hardcopy version for just $10 off the site. And it comes in seven other languages.

An organization was founded by genuine skeptics such as sci-fi writer Isaac Azimov and astronomer Carl Sagan named Committee for Skeptical Inquiry into Claims of the Paranormal, of CSICOP (see the website www.csicop.com). The website defines its mission, and that of its magazine, Skeptical Inquirer, as:

CSI's flagship magazine, Skeptical Inquirer, explores extraordinary claims from a scientific perspective. It examines what the scientific community knows about controversial subjects within the realms of the paranormal and elsewhere. The magazine exposes pseudoscience and provides expert commentary on hot button issues within society. It avoids the sensationalism often presented by the press, television, and movies and provides critical thinking tools to examine the information presented within the media and online.

Over time, however, the organization and its magazine have gotten hijacked and moved from skepticism to pure, outright debunking. To counter this kneejerk mentality, Zammit and others have formed SCEPCOP, or Scientific Committee Exposing Pseudo-Skeptical Cynicism of the Paranormal. Their website is: www.debunkingskeptics.com.

Their site states:

SCEPCOP is the world's first organized counter-skeptic group.  Back in 2001, I was the first to write a book length treatise debunking 30 primary arguments of pseudo-skeptics against the paranormal and anything that challenged orthodoxy.  Much needed at the time, it quickly became hailed in paranormal circles as a  comprehensive masterpiece and the first of its kind.  And now, as a protest to CSICOP, I've formed SCEPCOP.  After all, if the pseudo-skeptics can form organized groups to attack the paranormalists, why can't we form an organized group to attack them too?  They are not infallible, but in fact rifled with obvious fallacies and twisted ways of thinking that make no sense.  Thus it's justly due that they are exposed.

By the way, here's the SCEPCOP logo:

As with Victor Zammit’s own site, there are hundreds of articles to download and read … so gotta go. Why not join me there?

Comments

[Vinstonas]

Hi, this is Vinstonas of SCEPCOP. Just to let you know, we've changed the acronym to "Scientific Committee to Evaluate PseudoSkeptical Criticism of the Paranormal".

[Winston]

Hi Tony,
It's Winston of SCEPCOP. We have a new mission statement now on the home page. Here it is.

"SCEPCOP is a coalition of Paranormal Researchers, Investigators, Writers and Parapsychologists who have united to counter and expose the Pseudo-Skeptical movement for their fallacies, dismissal, denial, censorship, suppression, misinformation, bigotry and ridicule toward any evidence, experience or science that challenges orthodoxy or does not fit into a materialistic reductionist paradigm. We do not support every quack claim on the planet, but advocate true skepticism, objectivity, open-mindedness and fairness toward paranormal and unorthodox evidence, experience and data. We are the world's first counter-pseudo-skeptic group, providing resources, articles, books, videos and an online community exposing the fallacies and psychology of pseudo-skepticism."

Also I just put up a new promo video for SCEPCOP here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMWmTJf7l6E

Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for blogging about us. Glad to have you with us.

Regards,
Winston