Why do paranormal skeptics spend so much time answering questions about a subject they know nothing about?

Question

Could it just be fear of the unknown or do they just enjoy belittling others?

Answer 1

Ohhhhhhh, please enlighten us, if you are so knowledgeable.  I read something you posted on here recently that said that ghosts are more powerful at night and suck energy from humans to manifest themselves.  Please tell us how you came by this information so we all can benefit from your great knowledge.

Answer 2

A few people in here have never had a paranormal experience.

And the way they respond to certain questions really amplifies that fact.

And not all of us will agree how to handle a poster's situation.

Some use their religious beliefs.

Others utilize a more analytical point of view.

Bottom line is that if the poster is already assuming they have a demon in their closet, they will only retain information given to them by others that believe in that as well.

So in retrospect, wouldn't that make everyone a skeptic?

Answer 3

A little of both of those, plus the idea that they think they know more than the people who have had experiences in paranormal activity. It's also because they don't believe that anyone knows anything about it... which is true, because they themselves are not willing to analyze it.

And then we get PhD's in experimental physics who prove that "little balls of light" (which are both witnessed and recorded on many dozens of occasions) are responsible for crop circles using a point source model for the distribution of electromagnetic radiation, with a 100% perfect match to the most elementary model... go fig. Science has hope after all. But there's still no evidence that it's space aliens... the little balls of light could be another phenomenon at work.

EDIT: Skepticism's burden of proof is in examining the evidence as evidence, rather than discarding it part and parcel... the proof has been offered on multiple occasions and rejected without review because it's not been proved. Gotta love the circular logic, there.

Maybe I should go make people prove their case in other sciences... on the order of "prove that plants actually grow!" Or better yet, perhaps I should answer authoritatively that it can't possibly work that way. For a believer, this is how a skeptic sounds.

Degrees don't mean a thing when there's no qualification in the area you're responding.

The point is, anyone who experiences it is going to believe something happened, and it's the duty of science to arrive at the truth using every means possible. If you aren't willing to listen to both sides of the equation, then the truth will evade you, skeptic and true-believer alike.

EDIT (another round): Incidentally, I'd love to see someone duplicate the magic trick of that ghost in a high school on August 1st (and which made CNN), for an unprepared camera in a place like that. As a former potential applicant for the International Brotherhood of Magicians (I withdrew for personal reasons), I still hold to the code and wouldn't reveal anything other than that it was a trick.

Answer 4

Hi

Why don’t we all try something new? How about everyone working together and testing the questions and theories?  Everyone wants the same thing - answers.  Everyone has something to offer in the paranormal and parapsychology area.

Everyone is interested -that much we can all agree on. The negativity of labeling is a defeatist response.  ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€ÂœSkeptic” or “Believer” = makes no difference. If you have something to offer to the community-share it and keep an open mind. If someone is experienced in a certain discipline of study their opinions are very helpful.

We should not be so hasty to dismiss each other. Let’s remember that the human brain and the study of -is a new science.  For all we know we may not be using the correct testing techniques in investigating the paranormal and parapsychology.

Things happen to people of all races, cultures, and religions.  Much cannot be explained right now but we should never dismiss anyone’s accounts or experiences nor reject any possibilities.

Answer 5

Because once in awhile they give a meaningful answer. They're not trying to convert us or they'd be nicer to us and they'd use a little psychology about it. Just don't read their answers. Just ignore them...or thumbs down them so you won't have to look at it. I love it when they come up with something that makes sense...but it 's so rare and then sometimes they will ruin it with a rude or insulting remark and that takes it all away. I like to know both sides...but not in the way they give it most of the time. I guess it's just a game to them. I'd give them BAs if they  really came up with something good and really tried to help...but that just doesn't happen much...so I try to just ignore them . I got tired of fussing at them. lol You'll get tired of it too eventually and finally just let it roll off your back.

Answer 6

Because paranormal non-skeptic evidently know even less.

The burden of proof is on the side of those who believe: bring us *something*, anything.

Edit: sorry to disappoint you, but there is not ONE shred of evidence that stands to scrutiny. Claiming that there is evidence is not the same as showing evidence. Again, I ask: where is your evidence?

Edit 2: look, I just went and checked one of your recent answer to someone who asked if anyone witnessed a real paranormal event, and your answer is "Yes, without doubt". I am sorry, but this leaves a lot in the area of convincing anyone. It is unqualified, dogmatic and lacks a description that could convince other people. Care to be a bit more descriptive and less formal; I mean, the lack of doubt implies that you are 100% convinced that paranormal exists, and that is something we like to call blind faith; and that has no place in science. Asking us scientific skeptic to be more open has to be accompanied by just as much critical sense on YOUR  side, shouldn't it?

Edit 3: a few things need to be pointed out. Ever heard of the crack of a whip? Do you know why it cracks? Because the tip is going supersonic. The first whips date thousand of years; so science has never claimed it was impossible to go faster than the speed of sound, since even before the speed of sound was measured, there were mand made things that went faster. As for the other stuff: Bermuda triangle (which was completely debunked, the original claim had ships that actually sank in the *PACIFIC* included as mysterious Bermuda disappearance), telepathy, ghosts and hunting: the world still waits for some phenomenon that could be studied.

As for the definition of paranormal, here is the one from Bartleby:

"Beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation."

and here the one from Merriam Webster:

"not scientifically explainable"

Note the distinction: it is not "not currently scientifically explained" but "not explainable", i.e. science would never explain it, as it is beyond the range of science. That is the definition. Now, if you want to argue the finer point of these definitions, I suggest you take it with the people writing dictionaries.

Answer 7

Is it paranormal that not a week goes by without someone asking this question?  

Yahoo answers is for everyone.  I can post whatever I want within the community guidelines, as can you.  If you dislike this, you are welcome to join a website that is more restrictive of free expression.  

If you had a question about sailing, would you ask someone who had gone on a 15 minute boat ride, or someone who had never gone on a boat but was intelligent, had read many books on sailing, and was experienced with the basis of ropes, pulleys and sails?  Having an experience doesn't make you an expert.

Offering a natural explanation for a supposed paranormal event is only belittling if you're emotionally invested in the fact that you experienced a paranormal event.  In this case you are not thinking clearly.

Edit: 'lacks an obvious scientific explanation' -which means you have to exhaust obvious scientific explanations

Someone recently posted an experience where they thought they had traveled faster through time because they had drove home from a destination so quickly.  I, applying basic science, math, and logic, explained that if this had indeed happened, the speedometer on the vehicle would have shown an abnormally high speed.  (same distance/less time)   You don't need paranormal training or experience to apply common sense and math.

Answer 8

I'm putting my own feeings on this aside for a moment to point something out. do you realize you're doing exactly the same thing to them that you hate them doing to you?? Why can't we all just agree to disagree?? Why must we all argue?

Neither is right, neither is wrong. It's all about perspective. Respect your fellow man, love him, and he will love you in return. Show him disrespect and you get what you asked for. The sour apple in the group, whose soul purpose it is to unrest the whole apple cart? Ignore him and he goes away. Negativity begts negativity. Light begets light.

Live and let live.  

Answer 9

If a magician can fool us, why to believers of the paranormal not think nature can as well?

This is a disingenuous “question” that presumes a foregone conclusion… and it was only presented as a deliberate attack to promote your erroneous beliefs but I will attempt to present one (more) argument to counter it.

It has often been interesting to me the passion some have to promote that which they have poor reason to claim. As to any “paranormal” conditions, this is often the case. There is no evidence to suggest any of the wild claims made by “believers” concerning the paranormal are valid.

This is not to say that these people are lying, it is pretty certain that most have experienced an actual stimulus and are simply misattributing the CAUSE of that experience through a variety of logical fallacies (for a more thorough explanation, please see 25 ways thinking goes wrong - my first reference) or simply through mistaking their own perceptions (see my second reference which includes illusions to provide some support to the claim that we really can’t trust our senses without further validation).

The most common errors are usually done through mistaking correlation with causations, false dichotomies, confirmation bias or simply hastily drawn conclusions: a failure to understand that we just don’t always have all relevant data to make a proper conclusion.

Feel free to peruse my third reference concerning a multitude of pseudoscientific and paranormal items for more detail. (I fear greatly that you won’t, but I present these as both support of my arguments here, and in the hope that perhaps others might use these important resources)

Lastly, and quite telling in this argument is the fact that nearly every “paranormal” experience claimed by individuals can be replicated by a “real” magician on stage. As in, a fellow who will honestly tell you he is about to fool you and does so in exactly the same way as the “psychic” (see my last references where Derren Brown and James Randi essentially perform psychic wonders via mundane psychology).

The point here is that humans naturally try to find patterns in their world; as much as we’d like to think we are, we are often not very logical in our decisions; we have preexisting biases that often make us think information pertinent even when it isn’t and our senses can be easily fooled.

As to your latest comment that "no one has yet shown any reason why paranormal activity can't exist" you are correct no one can. However, this is a false dichotomy; your error is thinking that anyone must. You see, there is no reason to CLAIM that such an entity exists until given reason to do so or we would be a sorry lot indeed. All the skeptic need do is point out the errors in the reasons that formed such a conclusion, not the conclusion itself.

You miss the point that it is your thinking that is in error, not what you say.

Answer 10

Because we're scientists, and this is in the science section.  And yes, we know a lot about it, including the fact that there is no proof.  Anecdotes, experiments that can't be repeated, dreams, and blurry photographs are not evidence.  And if you really knew what YOU were talking about, you'd know that.  If you had any actual proof, science wouldn't be able to ignore you.  You'd have no trouble finding a scientist who'd love to win the Nobel Prize for proving physics wrong.  

No one is burning you at the stake.  We're just waiting for you to come up with something scientific.

The person who runs away yelling 'ghost!' is much more afraid of the unknown than the person who goes and checks it out.

SacMom - we come here because this is the science section, and many of us are actual scientists.  If they moved this to 'mythology', 'religion', or 'entertainment' we'd be happy to leave you to your superstitions.

EDIT:  "Luckily not all scientist think like you or we would still be living in caves!"  Better re-think where you got all that cool technology from that keeps you from having to live in a cave.  Hint - it was from scientists.

And my several degrees in science and several publications are what allow me to call myself a scientist.

Answer 11

Saying people "can't prove it doesn't exist" is really weak. You say it does, prove it. I can't prove your invisible freind doesn't exist. It is for you to prove he does.

You did indeed write definitively that ghosts suck energy. What energy? Which ghosts? How do you know they suck energy? If you read it in a book, how did they know? Who told them?

We may not be welcome when challenging some ideas but, honestly, if you could see how ridiculous some assumptions are! Can't 'Jane Doe' just be depressed? Does she really need to be beset by demons and negative ghosts? Will exercise and fresh air help or staying in reading fictional books on how she's

being haunted?

Be intersted in the possibilities and lifes weirdness but you shouldn't make statements over which you have no evidence.

Answer 12

Is it "fear of the unknown or do they just enjoy belittling others?"  That's only two possibilities, but there are more you're failing to consider. How about "Because this category is in the Science & Math section, answers from the scientific perspective are the most appropriate", or "Skeptics like to help others by answering their questions with using sound logic and scientific reasoning". I'm sure there are more reasons.

But I see in your question as well as your reply to Vincent that you are as guilty as anybody else in assuming and belittling. If you ask and watch, you'll find out that many skeptics here know quite a bit about the paranormal research that has been done to date, and also with their scientific knowledge they are in an excellent position to help questioners who are looking for answers. Sure, it's not great to make fun of people instead of answering, but the regular skeptics I see here don't usually seem to do that.

By the way, paranormal researchers haven't really brought forward much evidence of scientific rigor since they tend to be amateur ghosthunters with little knowledge of scientific experimental methods and controls, but parapsychologists have been working on doing just that. However, my review of the situation indicates to me that the quality of evidence is lacking and the conclusions tend to be based on dubious statistical methods or poorly controlled methods.  

EDIT:

Cosmic Toker said "Actual non-blurry video, photos, EMF, thermal, barameter and negative ion readings, just to name a few, present undisputable evidence, all in conjuction with one another on specific cases, prove without doubt that paranormal activity is a real occurance....Where is your proof for the big bang or even evolution? Talk about loosely based science!"

Alright, that's just too much to swallow. I declare shenanigans. This is a troll.  It's too over-the-top to be believable.

Answer 13

You could shut a lot of us very easily.All you have to do is show us that "mountain of evidence".I'm constantly waiting for one of you to even put up one shred of it.

Questioning unfounded claims and anecdotes is not belittling others.Telling spooky stories and expecting them to be taken as fact is.I've closed the door to nothing,It's always open to new ideas and facts.As soon as one of you come up with any.I'll be happy to accept them.

Edit I'd love to see some of those paranormal cases backed up by multiple sources of evidence.Provide us with links.

You're welcome,for the response.Please,now would you explain the point you have proved.

Edit.If you tell me the sky is blue,I will agree.Can you be as specific with the paranormal?If you can,let me jump aboard.I can't prove paranormal activity doesn't exist.Believe it or not,I don't want to.I'll keep an open mind until someone does.