why are skeptics so into the paranormal?

Question

I don't spend my time telling people Santa isn't real.

more specifically psychic phenomena

Answer 1

They have nothing better to do with their time.

Answer 2

What's Santa got to do with the paranormal??? He's the most normal person in this crazy world.
I can't answer for skeptics. I know that when I didn't have any proof of ghosts etc...I was still interested in paranormal things. Doesn't mean I believed it...just meant I was open to both sides. I just want the truth. If skeptics can show that there's an explanation for the paranormal things that happen...then I'm open to it. Just like that girl...when the lights went out.
EDIT...BTW...I'm AGAINST "calling up" spirits , mind control , and a lot of paranormal things. But that doesn't mean they don't happen. Skeptics want to deny that this happens. I want to say IT HAPPENS....but STAY AWAY FROM IT.!!!

Answer 3

I have two possible ideas about this question.
First, I think people can be fascinated by any topic regardless of their particular philosophy in life or their opinions about it's reality. So, there are as many reasons as there are people about why someone is interested in psychic phenomena.

Second, there is something in the realm of philosophy/psychology called the "Rational Man Mistake" This idea proposes that most people expect people to be rational. In other words when a person is presented with evidence that meets the criteria (and often surpasses) the evidence of all the social sciences and medical research you would expect that person to be swayed by the evidence (just like people accept that aspirin may help prevent heart attacks, in fairness not everyone believes this but most practicing physicians accept the evidence) and accept the findings.
However, if the findings contradict the beliefs (or previously learned knowledge) the person does not accept it but instead the new evidence actually reinforces the persons old beliefs (knowledge) and they defend their position even more vigorously.
Again in fairness this can happen when a true believer is presented with the possibility of normal explanation as easily as it happens to a skeptic confronted with research that contradicts their beliefs.

In my opinion.

Answer 4

You already have excellent answers but still I would like to add my two cents worth.

A skeptic is not always a non believer, but merely someone who will not believe without hard evidence. Way too many people in the paranormal field of interest today are true believers but claim to be skeptic and this is not what I consider a skeptic.

To me the skeptic if presented with hard facts and evidence will be a believer but they demand the hard evidence and facts. I myself am a true believer and am not ashamed to admit it. i do not see the paranormal in everything do or everywhere I go and some tell me I am a skeptic but that is not so I am a firm believer in ghosts and the paranormal.
BB

Answer 5

Im no longer lots a skeptic as i'm curious. I do have an rather open innovations advert am keen to objective something a minimum of as quickly as yet i like to be waiting to instruct issues (regardless of the undeniable fact that i do understand that some issues only can't be explaind). I even have been examining intuites, mediums, sensitives, psychics, ect. and have chanced on that many human beings do exactly no longer posses this means that they say they do. yet I even have additionally chanced on that some human beings do have an strange and intruiging means that would easily be logically studied. Im attempting to locate a scientific reason of their skills and why they have a means that different human beings dont. yet to answer your question, ive never extremely been a skeptic, purely fairly intruiged. i like questioning issues, exceptionally the magical. yet I even have met many those that used to me skeptics yet are no longer anymore.

Answer 6

You asked a good question why is it so important for skeptics to try and disprove the belief in the paranormal my only answer is that some people have to have something staring them in the face or shown to be fact by science .I think this is taken to far when a person tries to disprove an others belief in something just because a person has not experienced the paranormal does not mean that the millions of others that have are wrong in their belief it is not our job to prove to skeptic that the paranormal exists. there are countless documented reports and evidence of the paranormal gathered by credible people. I have seen it first hand I have experienced it . people have a right to their opinions and beliefs and it is good that we can share them.
I think it is wrong to ask another person to prove why they believe the things they do that is there right I read all the time the remarks by others criticizing this subject and the placement of the paranormal phenomena in the science and mathematics section keep this in mind the paranormal community did not make that choice take it up with yahoo. If we are going to take this from a scientific standpoint we are all off the subject matter.Showing skepticism or belief or trying to prove or disprove a persons beliefs has nothing to do with science now does it? I would also say that KBW3 use of jim jones and charles manson and osama bin-laden in comparison to believers in the paranormal is used in poor taste what do they have to do with the gentlemans question or better yet the paranormal? or science in general? And refering to god as the biggest paranormal scam of all is out of line and insulting to others who choose to believe in god I was once bothered by skeptics in this forum for their thinking but I have come to respect and appreciate their input I enjoy reading Zachs and Peters responses because they are respectful of the people who ask their questions even though they disagree with it they provide their input respectfully and it is appreciated what a person believes in is their choice and their choice alone and is not the responsability for others to insult or disprove. there are frauds in all areas of society in almost all professions. It is a sad but true fact.So with all this said we should all be respectful to all in here whether believers or non-believers lets keep it that way

Answer 7

First, read what KB3W said. I'll wait, it's a long comment, but it's worth reading in its entirety.

Done?

I'm not "into" the paranormal. But I do find it worthwhile to tell people that the paranormal isn't real. If it was, it wouldn't be paranormal: It would be real.

If, as someone asked one time, what if a magician was doing real magic, it would be a bit scary, but also it would be INCREDIBLY EXCITING: It would change how we do science forever. It would mean that some things that we have come to accept as laws in science might need to be changed, and yadda yadda. Only here is the thing - these laws? They have been figured out over the past thousand years. And those who have said they were exempt from these laws? They have always and every time been shown to be either wrong, or lying, or misguided.

Answer 8

What would you say to someone who told you that not only is Santa real, but he is also responsible for vivid dreams and things that go bump in the night?

I, a skeptic, am into the paranormal because I too once believed in ghosts and ESP. I too was once lied to by those fools like Sylvia Browne and John Edward. I was taken in by spooky stories. I am not one to simply declare it's fake and just write it off as something silly that people do and are free to believe in. I don't care what you or anyone else believes. It's a basic human right to come to terms with the world in your own way. However, I do take a keen interest in preventing those who are undecided from hearing explanations from only one side of the aisle. I am also unwilling for some people to speak of the unsubstantiated as if it were fact.

My skeptical position is not dogmatic. I have no sacred cows. My position stands on its own. It is based on fact and on what is in the observable world. It is not the result of a biased, subjective and personal interpretation of the world, but results directly from the evidence at hand. It requires no fanciful explanation or any need for interpretation. It is not a *belief*, but an objective acknowledgment of what is there.

Answer 9

I stay out of Religion and Spirituality and Folklore and Myth.Here in Science and Math,it's a little different.I don't want the paranormal legitimized as a Science.For someone just passing through this section,they could get that idea.If there were no other points of view.I've been interested in the paranormal since I was a kid.I just reached different conclusions then you.I like horror movies,but I don't believe they are based on fact Do we really only want an amen chorus?Are we asking questions or just wanting to exchange spooky stories?Besides, isn't it more fun this way?
Edit.Dave,Don't call me bud.

Answer 10

That's a very fair question and it deserves a fair answer. In 1974 there was an evangelical faith healer named Jim Jones. He took his entire congregation of believers down to South America and founded this camp he called Jonestown. He sat around all day in his pavilion with a microphone preaching and brainwashing his people. He was their king, their Messiah. But there were armed guards, and relatives at home were afraid for the members. They wanted to know if they were staying there voluntarily.
So congressman Leo Ryan went down in 1978 to see what was going on. He was polite and non-intrusive, but as he was leaving, Jones ordered a hit squad to murder him and those with him at the air strip. He then ordered his entire congregation to commit suicide, and they did. They were nice enough to kill the kids first. 909 people died. If they weren't so gullible, if they used a little reason, this wouldn't have happened.
Not all silly beliefs are as potentially threatening as this one, or Charles Manson, or David Koresh, or Heaven's Gate, or Osama Bin Laden. But many are perpetuated by those who profit from the beliefs of the gullible. It's a big industry of fraud and misrepresentation.
I am disheartened that people seem to need so much more than life has to offer and will believe in anything. This world, the real world, is more amazing and wonderful than we can ever know. Even the most avid learners among us never run out of things to be in awe of.
If there are such things as supernatural or paranormal, scientists would be most interested. If there aren't, then some of us feel we have to share our knowledge. I probably know more about UFOs than 99.9% of the people who believe in them, for example. We aren't eager to spoil people's dreams, just help them differentiate between what is real and what is not.
Oh, and I forgot to say: skeptics are here because this is a science forum where believing in something because you like it or think it's cool, is a poor reason for believing.

Tannum, most of the skeptics I know are atheists. It follows. God is the biggest paranormal scam of all.

Answer 11

sometimes it feels like if they cant prove it fake or have some normal reason for it,then fear sets in and every thing that modern civilisations has been taught,goes out the window.and I'm pretty sure that the facts are pointing to that the unexplainable is more factual than they can except.arrogance is part of being sceptical....only the pure mind and spirit can accept the fact that all things are possible and we are in the mist of learning that.There are things that go bump in the night,in the day,and everywhere you least expect it....whether its a good bump or a bad bump.....well that's all in the education of the experience......Blessed be!