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Paranormal Skepticism/critical thinking

A contest you don’t want to win…

…is to be among the 5 most fraudulent psychics of all time. Still, this is as good an excuse as any to post one of my all time skeptical demolitions, namely that of Uri Geller on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson: Yeah, now that’s an oldie but a goodie. Still, I wonder: Who are […]

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Humor Pareidolia Religion Skepticism/critical thinking

Jesus dwells not in your heart, but rather…

If there’s one thing Christians tell us, it’s that Jesus is inside each and every one of us. Who knew that this was literally true? Don’t believe me? Take a look at this MRI: Apparently they’ve been wrong all these years when they said that Jesus lives in every man’s heart. He actually lives in […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Biology Complementary and alternative medicine Intelligent design/creationism Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

When right wing loons try to “do” science involving vaccines or HIV/AIDS…

If there’s one thing that has irritated me (one might even say, irritated me enough to start this blog), it’s ideology or religion trumping science. Perhaps the most annoying form of this disease is the tendency of the right wing whackosphere to do everything and anything it can to distort and twist science to agree […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

The danger of science denialism

Although this blog is not the Denialism Blog, there is no doubt that one of the overarching themes of Respectful Insolence has been, since its very beginning, combatting science denial. Go back to the very beginning and read a couple of my earliest posts, dating way back to 2004. In one of them I discussed […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Michael Specter on the dangers of science denialism

Michael Specter, author of Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives, on the danger of science denial: He also wrote an editorial to go along with it. Given that combatting science denialism, be it the anti-vaccine movement, the “alt-med” movement, or “intelligent design” creationism, maybe I’ll comment further […]