Fake skepticism is a scourge. Yet I enjoy discussions with fake skeptics. Why? The same reason an entomologist studies bugs. To others, bugs are excruciatingly stupid, repulsive and boring but for whatever reason, the entomologist has developed a fascination with […]
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A few years ago the great “skeptic” Michael Shermer publicly committed a hasty generalization fallacy[1]. In his tweet he said: ‘Sandy Hook truthers (as bad as 9/11 truthers) vandalize memorial, taunt victim mother claiming it was a “hoax.”‘ What he […]
Continue reading »The Shill Gambit is a type of faulty reasoning in which a person’s argument is dismissed by proclaiming that the person is on the payroll of some agency. Such an argument definitely is fallacious. It is a form of ad […]
Continue reading »Imagine a violent neo-nazi skinhead spewing profanity-laced anti-Jewish statements on a Jewish Holocaust remembrance forum. Internet trolls are a serious problem. Putting it simply, Internet trolls are people that deliberately post offensive comments on-line with the sole intention of upsetting […]
Continue reading »On November 12 Steven Novella published a review of Deepak Chopra’s follow up article about what Chopra calls “The Rise and Fall of Militant Skepticism”.[1] Novella characterized Chopra as “intellectually superficial and careless, more interested in propping up his particular […]
Continue reading »The false fallacy fallacy occurs when a person’s argument is falsely claimed to be a logical fallacy when it is actually logically valid. This fallacy is a form of straw man argument. A straw man argument occurs when a person’s […]
Continue reading »Skeptic Magazine’s latest bumbling foray into promoting “science and critical thinking through the use of humor, wit, and satire” is the video called “You Can’t Handle the Truther”.[1] The gut bursting irony here is that the video consists entirely of […]
Continue reading »Critical thinking is a vital component of science and of true skepticism. Critical thinking involves conforming to scientific principles and engaging in rigorous logical reasoning[1]. Uncritical thinking then subverts the scientific process and uses illogic, usually in the form of […]
Continue reading »The argument from conspiracy fallacy occurs when an argument is proclaimed to be false or suspect solely because the argument involves a conspiracy of some kind. The argument from conspiracy fallacy is an informal fallacy because it does not have […]
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