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Boardwalk :: Forum List pennfans.net Skeptic
mindme
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Karma: 44  
Whoa Penn is a skeptic? - 2006/07/26 03:29 I remember years and years ago I was familiar with Penn as a kind of flashy magician guy. He seemed, at that time, so "Hollywood". This was around the time all of Hollywood was all taken with Shirley McClain and Ramtha 'n' crap. Nancy Reagan was getting her astrologer to name space shuttles 'n' crap.

Anyway, I remember being totally blown away that this cool "hollywood" guy was also a skeptic. I mean geez weren't skeptics people like me? Kind of unlayable geeks? Penn (and Teller) being skeptics, and damn cool people, just kind of made skepticism take on a whole new level.

In retrospect, I can see how so many magicians are skeptics. They have to see so many people like Uri Geller passing off simple slight of hand and other stage magic tricks as genuine psychic ability that it has to piss them off to no end.
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teen
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Re:Whoa Penn is a skeptic? - 2006/07/26 07:21 My interest in magic and hence penn & teller started because I wanted to understand everything about the universe and how it could be manipulated to perform those amzing feats. As you start to learn more about magic you start to realise how much bulls hit is out there!

For me this manifested itself in a "whoa everyone is really stupid!!!" kind of hate for the world... thanks to Bullshit! I've changed me perspective on that to teach people about what isn't possible, which can be difficult for a lot of people to accept...
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Lucretius
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Re:Whoa Penn is a skeptic? - 2007/01/18 11:28 You HAVE to have a sense of humour about the b*llshit in this world. Otherwise you badly risk going postal!
Also, I think it's important to reserve the rage and hatred for the "psychics", ghost hunters, healers, chiropractors, paranormal investigators, conspiracy theorists &c; and have compassion for their victims (even if they're naive, ignorant, credoulus, plain stupid or all of the above). Often, the victims are in a vulnerable situation, with acute health problems, grief for a lost family member, or by some other cause desperately in need of hope or comfort.
If you're a skeptic and hate the "true believers", why aren't you taking their money writing their horoscope or pretending to commune with their dead parents? Because you're a GOOD PERSON with empathy and love for your fellow humans, that honestly and straightforward tell them how stupid their superstitions are!!!
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Pentomino
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Re:Whoa Penn is a skeptic? - 2007/01/18 18:09 I like to think that P&T did for skeptics what Conan O'Brien did for pale people: he made us sexy by association.
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jsuplp
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Karma: 1  
Re:Whoa Penn is a skeptic? - 2007/11/08 17:52 Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
Philip K. Dick, "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later", 1978
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Boardwalk :: Forum List pennfans.net Skeptic

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