Skeptics Corner: Teaching Pigs To Sing
My skeptic friends tried to warn me: “Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.”
So says Harriett Hall in her article Teaching Pigs to Sing: An Experiment in Bringing Critical Thinking to the Masses, where “A skeptic encounters psychics, astrologers, and other strange creatures and discovers firsthand how they react to science and reason. Included: a fable about testing the Tooth Fairy.”
Excerpt: A couple of years ago, I saw an announcement for an astrology presentation to a local discussion group called Mingling of the Minds. My first reaction was, “Surely, nobody really believes in astrology anymore! At least not in my well-educated community.” I decided to go “mingle my mind” and find out.
It was the beginning of an odyssey that introduced me to a strange race of people who believed in angels but not in germs.
Harriett’s article is a hilarious romp through her experiences as the resident skeptic for a group that she ultimately discovered was quite happy with its superstitions. Among the more enlightening quotes from the group:
- “Truth doesn’t matter.”
- “What’s true for you may not be true for me; it’s okay if we disagree.”
- “We create our own reality.”
Harriet finally “had to recognize that these people did not inhabit my universe.” She concludes with the aforementioned fable about testing the Tooth Fairy, a metaphor for the futility of challenging unfounded beliefs.
Harriet Hall is a retired physician who lives in Puyallup, Washington, and writes about alternative medicine and pseudoscience.
Tags: medium, medium nbc, psychics, skeptics, tooth fairy
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POSTED IN: Skeptics Corner
3 opinions for Skeptics Corner: Teaching Pigs To Sing
J. Clerkin-Whitcomb
Oct 19, 2006 at 11:46 am
It sounds like Ms. Hall was resident skeptic for
the church my rabid born-again in laws go to.
Interesting to remember that during the Reagan era, government policy was decided upon using astrology.
Sheila
Oct 19, 2006 at 1:09 pm
I had forgotten all about Nancy Reagan and her psychic! Thanks for the reminder. Or STOP REMINDING OF BAD AND SCARY THINGS. I’m not sure which.
JCW
Oct 19, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Yes, Ron & Nancy actually had several regular
astrologists. That I know of, only the late Jean Dixon also claimed to be a psychic. I’ll say this for Dixon… unlike many contemporary folks claiming psychic ability, I think that old broad actually believed she had the gift.
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