Daily Blend: 04/29/13

James McCormick

Canada is apparently eager to show that it can pass horrible and repressive laws in the name of “national security”, too.
(via @ioerror; RT: @ggreenwald)

A win for reality: James McCormick ^[pictured], who made millions by selling completely useless “dowsing rod”-style bomb detectors, is finally convicted of fraud (after hundreds have already perished).

LGBT history milestone: NBA center Jason Collins becomes first active US big-league sports player to come out as gay.

And finally, Glenn Beck tragically wins wrong kind of Darwin award.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Another Venn diagram of irrational nonsense

Just two weeks after Crispian Jago gave us the Venn Diagram of Irrational Nonsense (a variant of Jago’s Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense, which itself recently got upgraded), Imgur user dehydrationstation now presents an even more detailed and comprehensive version with “An Organized Collection of Irrational Nonsense” (previous versions here):

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There’s something reassuring to the fact that no matter how wide the variety of ways these bollocks can be classified, Scientology will always have its spot of (dis)honor right in the middle of it all.

(via Friendly Atheist)

The Venn Diagram of Irrational Nonsense

Crispian Jago once again shows us how it’s done (classifying irrational nonsense, that is):

[full size (984×1075)]

I think I want a poster of this even more than of his “Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense”. Though, I have to quibble with some of the overlapping (or lack thereof) – isn’t all pseudo-medical quackery a part of pseudoscience by definition, with all the bullshit explanations drawn up to bolster them (and excuse their invariable failure)? And Christianity’s “faith healing” component should arguably grant it a spot right by Scientology’s side. But I’m just nitpicking at this point.

Seriously, posters. Make them happen.

(via Friendly Atheist)

Daily Blend: Sunday, January 20, 2013

Phil Plait

Phil Plait ^[pictured] explains the many problems with education vouchers: They’re basically thinly veiled attempts at inflicting anti-science garbage upon impressionable young minds.

Isn’t it interesting how those who try to tarnish scientists’ credibility always end up destroying their own instead?
(via @BadAstronomer)

Difference between Islamist extremists and anti-feminist cranks: The former throw acid in women’s faces, while the latter just joke about it. (To his quasi-credit, Conlon later apologized.)
(via Pharyngula)

And finally, here’s why the Oxford comma isn’t all bad:
(via @normative; RT: @radleybalko)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

New Jersey “ex-gay” group sued for fraud

In an interesting and perhaps slightly promising first, a group of gay men in New Jersey are suing a “gay deconversion” organization for allegedly luring them in with promises of a “scientifically proven” method to eliminate homosexual leanings and instead presenting nothing but quack-tastic garbage:

Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), a Jersey City-based non-profit organization, falsely claimed to be able to eliminate the four men's homosexual desires through a scientifically proven process, according to a complaint filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey.

JONAH clients would pay a minimum of $100 for weekly individual counseling sessions and another $60 for group therapy sessions.

The plaintiffs charge that during therapy sessions they were sometimes ordered to remove all of their clothing; in other sessions they were told to beat effigies of their mothers with tennis rackets or were subjected to homosexual slurs, according to the complaint.

Another JONAH client was instructed to break through a human barricade to retrieve a pair of oranges, drink the juice from them and place them down his pants to symbolize the recovery of his testicles and, by extension, his heterosexuality, according to Michael Ferguson, one of the plaintiffs.

That “ex-gay therapy” offers nothing but pseudoscientific nonsense is expected, with every reputable medical group under the sun from the American Psychiatric Association to the World Health Organization labeling it a discredited and harmful sham perpetrated by (usually religious) homophobic cranks … but I have to admit that sucked-dry-orange-testicles gimmick is a new one.

There’s no word on what legal merit the court may find in the case, but with a little luck, this might just get somewhere on the path to further relegating such repressive quackery to the shitcan of history.

(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

Daily Blend: Sunday, November 25, 2012

Ac Tah

PZ Myers explains why evolutionary psychology fails to explain behavioral differences between men and women (it mangles genetics and doesn’t consider cultural upbringing).

Could it be that this Mayan elder ^[pictured] is deliberately trolling in order to undermine “Doomsday 2012” believers? The idea that he might be serious is almost too painful to bear.

And finally, for free hugs, go to kitty:
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

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If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

What “teaching the controversy” looks like in Louisiana

You know, with quality educative material like this …

Transcript: (click the [+/-] to open/close →)

[−]

Fact or Theory?

Man makes judgments about the evidence of fossils based on his beliefs. A man who believes God’s record of Creation and history will look at fossils in one way. A man who believes in evolution will view fossils in a different way.

When men write about fossils, especially fossils of dinosaurs, they usually will say things that show what they believe. Understanding what view a writer has is important. The Bible says that Christians should be discerning. That means that Christians should understand what is right and wrong.

In this activity, you will be given several books or articles to read. You must evaluate whether the writer is writing from an evolutionist viewpoint or Creationist viewpoint. Use the following chart to help you.

Creationist Viewpoint	Evolutionist Viewpoint
God crated the heavens and the earth.	Earth and space are a result of a sudden explosion.
The earth is thousands of years old.	The earth is millions of years old.
Fossils are probably a result of the great Flood recorded in the Bible.	Fossils show the great geologic ages of the earth.
God created all the kinds of animals in the beginning.	Different kinds of life have gradually evolved over long periods of time.
Man is God’s special creation. He is different from the animals because he is created in God’s image.	Man is the highest level of animal.

[34]

---

What the Bible Teaches Us

Dinosaurs were “discovered” in the early 1600s by an English scientist named Robert Plot. He found the bones of an animal that had clearly been huge. But long before Plot found these bones, the Bible talked about unusual animals that were very likely dinosaurs.

Evolutionists believe that dinosaurs and man never lived on the same earth at the same time. But the Bible says that God created all the land and sea animals during the fifth and sixth days of Creation. And He created man on the sixth day of Creation. So dinosaurs and man would have lived at the same time. God’s Word is always accurate. We can trust it to be true even in areas of science.

We also know that God spared some of the dinosaurs during the Flood. Genesis 7:15 says that “two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life” went into the ark. So after the Flood, some dinosaurs must have survived for a time.

In Job 40:15–19, the Lord talks about an animal that He called Behemoth (bih HEE muth). This large, grass-eating animal had a “tail like a cedar.” The animal also had […]

[48]

… I just cannot for the life of me figure out why some U.S. states fare so abysmally low that they’ve all but turned the country’s education system into an international joke.

Maybe it’s ’cause of all ’em elites I keep hearing about. Them and their godless, knowledge-y ways …

(via @RichardDawkins)

Daily Blend: Saturday, October 27, 2012

Andrew Messina

Interactive map shows details on every single drone strike in Pakistan under the Obama administration. One wonders how many “militants” were actually military-aged male civilians.
(via @ggreenwald)

Horrible: Cherokee County, GA parents call police asking for negotiator to help their suicidal 16-year-old son ^[pictured]. Cops arrive with a tank and a sniper, who then shoots and kills the boy. Parents maintain he never acted aggressively and are planning to sue.
(via @radleybalko)

It’s getting hard to maintain any respect for the good done by the Cato Institute when they go and pull bullshit stunts like this.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

The Thinking Atheist visits Ken Ham’s Creation “Museum”

The always enlightening godless YouTuber Seth Andrews, better known as The Thinking Atheist, recently went on a tour of Kentucky’s notorious Creation “Museum”, that monument to religious delusion owned by Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis. Below is a summary of the ten lessons he learned during his little escapade into Christian fundy-land:

Summary: (click the [+/-] to open/close →)

[−]

Seth “The Thinking Atheist” Andrews goes on his first tour of Ken Ham’s “wretched hive of dumb and villainy”, the Creation Museum near Petersburg, Kentucky, on Friday, October 05, 2012. He first meets up with a few other skeptics from around the region who are also curious about the Museum. On their way over, Andrews disagrees that the Museum is a “literal interpretation of what Scripture says”, saying it’s rather a “literal interpretation of what Ken Ham says” and that there are other kinds of Biblical Creationists than Ham’s version of Young-Earth literalism.

LESSON ONE: Drop the coin.

There’s a coin funnel near the entrance that encourages visitors to “drop coins” and “watch the fun!”, which Andrews characterizes as “very telling”.

LESSON TWO: Kids love dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs (and other prehistoric beasts) are everywhere at the Creation Museum as skeletons, statues, animatronics and photo ops.

LESSON THREE: Dinosaurs love kids!

According to the Museum, dinosaurs – including carnivores like raptors – “coexisted with human beings” in the Garden of Eden “like pets or companions”. (A carnivorous dinosaur is depicted as grazing through vegetation.) The further they advance through the Museum, the more they see everything seems designed to appeal to children and “mold the[ir] minds”, and the message presented throughout is crystal clear:

LESSON FOUR: God is under attack!

Andrews wonders why an omnipotent and all-powerful God would be concerned about any human “attack”, but the Creation Museum folks seemed “pretty alarmed about it”. The Museum blames this on modern scientists who advance claims and theories that contradict the Bible, pitting “Man’s Word” against “God’s Word”, which disagrees with the notion of evolution and an old Earth and Universe. Instead:

LESSON FIVE: Humans descended from a dirt-man and rib-woman about 6,000 years ago.

Once upon a time, Adam and Eve enjoyed the beautiful Garden of Eden along with lambs, penguins and vegetarian dinosaurs. All was well, until …

LESSON SIX: Don’t listen to the snake!

Adam and Eve “angered God” when they fell victim to the Serpent’s temptation and ate the Forbidden Fruit, at which point they were evicted from Paradise and “the whole world went to shit”. Because:

LESSON SEVEN: When you disobey God, the whole world goes to shit.

Adam & Eve’s “single act of rebellion, thousands of years ago, is the reason we have starving children, predatory animals and wars, pain and crime and death the Nazis”. A&E’s sin even “destroyed the vegetarian diet”, even amongst the animals (and dinosaurs). In addition, adding to the “mountain of self-inflicted Cosmic Pain”, A&E’s sin is also responsible for:

LESSON EIGHT: Original Sin created weeds!

Then again, the global infestation of both weeds and humans “shouldn’t be a problem for us”, as …

LESSON NINE: God’s plan involved incest.

A sign reads: “Genesis 5:4 teaches that Adam and Eve had sons and daughters. So, originally, brothers had to marry sisters,” and, “All humans are related. So whenever someone gets married, they marry their relative.” Unfortunately, the evil of humankind would eventually boil over into the Global Flood. The Creation Museum spends a lot of time teaching visitors about Noah’s Ark, from how it was built to how the fossil record supposedly “proves” the Flood happened, along with showing how the stalls inside the Ark were maintained (showing more dinosaurs aboard the Ark). Everyone was invited to put together God’s plan to wipe out the vast majority of life on Earth “like a puzzle”.

LESSON TEN: Everything is our fault.

One recurring theme – “outside of how evil the teachings of Evolution are” – is that “God’s Word [is] never to be questioned, ever”. The phrase “God’s Word” is everywhere in the Museum, demanding trust and obedience, whilst discouraging visitors from relying on “Human Reason”, as our minds are “merely a conduit for misinformation” and “thinking for ourselves is what caused all of our troubles to begin with”.

Andrews summarizes his experience at the Creation Museum as “jarring”. He is sickened by how the “thousands of impressionable, insulated children brought there by religious parents” get brainwashed, and he’s angry that the Museum presents its deluded nonsense as “legitimate science”. The other skeptics are of the same mind, decrying how the Museum is so slick and well-made that it seems to hide the “terrible story” that festers within. They are similarly outraged at how many young children were running around inside the Museum, excited by all the dinosaurs and flashy visuals, possibly being led to believe the garbage information they were being fed was truth. They expressed their worries about what the existence of such a house of lies could mean for the future of scientific ability in the United States.

Ultimately, Andrews labels the Creation Museum a “slick, fanciful, high-dollar guilt trip” and “a church decorated with dinosaurs”. If he had been the one to name “this particular Kentucky attraction”, he would’ve called it “Jurassic Lark”.

Essentially, his visit reaffirms what every rational being already knows: Ken Ham’s pseudo-scientific farce is no more than a disgrace to human reason doubling as a trap for impressionable children who go there for all the pretty dinosaurs and leave with minds filled with bullshit. “Jurassic Lark”, indeed.

(via Friendly Atheist)

Daily Blend: Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Charles Carreon

A case study in bad science (or, why the argument for circumcision’s “health benefits” is still complete bullshit.)
(via Pharyngula)

150 fed-up Mormons quit the Church en masse. Good on them.

About time: Charles “someone criticized me on the Internet, so I’m gonna sue animal and cancer charities!” Carreon ^[pictured] finally reaches bedrock.

Six famous symbols that originally meant something totally different. (Or, why your Jesus Fish and heart-laden Hallmark cards suddenly turned weird.)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: circumcision • infant circumcision • Mormons • Mormonism • Mormon Church • Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints • LDS Church • Charles Carreon • The Oatmeal • Matthew Inman • FunnyJunk • Cezary Jan Strusiewicz • Cracked.com • Jesus Fish • heart symbol • peace sign • barber pole • rabbit's foot • mistletoe

Daily Blend: Thursday, May 17, 2012

Carlos DeLuna

Texas executed another innocent man ^[pictured] in 1989. One wonders how many more such revelations it will take before death penalty supporters start to reconsider their selective trust in the government.
(via @radleybalko)

Maybe someday, James O’Keefe will do something that won’t leave him looking like an incompetent, lying dumbass. Maybe.

Insightful video on the importance of vaccines and the threat of antivaccination bullshit.
(via @BadAstronomy)

Smithsonian blogger stomps a hole of science right through the heart of the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens. (cc: Jen McCreight)
(via The Daily Grail)

Ottawa museum forced to raise age limit for sexuality exhibit after underestimating how prudish people are.

48 things that make you realize you’ll never never feel young again.
(via Joe. My. God.)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Texas • Carlos Hernandez • Carlos DeLuna • capital punishment • wrongful executions • Los Tocayos Carlos • Columbia Law School • James O'Keefe • voter fraud • antivaccination • antivaccine • antivax • antivaxxers • Dana McCaffery • Ancient Aliens • History Channel • Brian Switek • Giorgio Tsoukalos • Science and Technology Museum • Sex: A Tell-All Exhibition • Yves St-Onge • Institute for Marriage and Family Canada • BuzzFeed • nostalgia

Daily Blend: Thursday, May 03, 2012

Gov. Nathan Deal (R-GA)

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) ^[pictured] signs “fetal pain” bill banning most abortions after 20 weeks into law.

FBI heroically stops yet another of its own terrorist plots: Anarchists edition.

The ridiculously mundane origins of five famous urban legends.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Nathan Deal • Georgia • fetal pain • Federal Bureau of Investigations • FBI • terrorists • anarchists • Cracked.com • urban legends • myths • Illuminati • Nesta Webster • the grays • aliens • Betty Hill • Barney Hill • alien abductions • El Chupacabra • Species • El Dorado • conquistadors • Paul is Dead • The Beatles • Paul McCartney • Tim Harper

Daily Blend: Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Pres. Barack Obama

PZ Myers debunks an incredibly shoddy Salon article claiming that science has explained near-death experiences (NDEs).

President Obama ^[pictured] lies about lying about breaking his campaign promise to stop federal prosecution of legal medical marijuana providers.
(via @radleybalko)

Five gender stereotypes that used to be the exact opposite (often until only recently).

The responses to Greta Christina’s call for sex worker testimonials are utterly fascinating. General theme: The biggest problem with the sex industry isn’t sex work, but all the “anti”s and abolitionists who give sex workers a hard time.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: PZ Myers • Salon.com • near-death experiences • NDEs • Mario Beauregard • neuroscience • Barack Obama • medical marijuana • medicinal marijuana • stereotypes • gender stereotypes • gender roles • gender norms • heteronormativity • Cracked.com • sex workers • prostitution • stripping • sex industry • Greta Christina • abolitionists

Daily Blend: Friday, April 13, 2011

Joe Muto

Where are all the black cats we were promised? I call false advertising.

Well, that was fast: Gawker’s Fox Mole ^[pictured] exposed and fired – and still blowing the whistle.

Debunking more climate change denialist nonsense from 49 former NASA employees (who aren’t climate scientists).
(via Bad Astronomy)

Meanwhile, Vox Day predictably parrots anti-global warming claims without mentioning how that research has been grossly misrepresented.

Roger Ebert reviews Bully.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: The Fox Mole • Gawker • Fox News • Fox News Channel • Joe Muto • Shawn Otto • NASA • National Aeronautics and Space Administration • global warming • climate change • denialists • Middle Ages • Zunli Lu • Medieval Warm Period • Vox Day • Theodore Beale • Bully • Roger Ebert

Scientist renounces his own notorious “ex-gay” study

Dr. Robert Spitzer

If there’s one thing that cranks of any flavor (be it anti-evolution, anti-global warming, anti-gay, etc.) just love, it’s research that they claim confirms their delusions, regardless of how much they need to twist and cherry-pick the results they like and ignore all the rest that contradicts them. One such study that homophobes just love citing is this notorious 2001 paper by Dr. Robert Spitzer, which claimed that gays can just wish and pray the gay away if they try hard enough. The study was quickly riddled with criticism on a variety of levels, but that didn’t stop Christian-conservatives everywhere from referencing it exhaustively as “proof” that gayness really is just a lifestyle choice that anyone can abandon anytime they like.

There’s just one problem, though. Over a decade after the study’s publication, Dr. Spitzer himself has now come forward and admitted the whole thing is bullshit:

In a move that serves as a significant blow to "ex-gay" programs and anti-gay organizations, Dr. Robert Spitzer repudiated his much-criticized 2001 study that claimed some "highly motivated" homosexuals could go from gay to straight. His retraction occurred in an American Prospect magazine article that hit newsstands today. Spitzer's rejection of his own research, which was originally published in the prestigious Archives of Sexual Behavior, is a devastating blow to "ex-gay" organizations because it decisively eliminates their most potent claim that homosexuality can be reversed through therapy and prayer.

"Dr. Spitzer's repudiation of his 2001 study is an earthquake that severely undermines the validity of 'ex-gay' programs," said Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen, who criticized the study in his 2003 book, Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. "Spitzer just kicked out the final leg from the stool on which the proponents of 'ex-gay' therapy based their already shaky claims of success."

Spitzer's 2001 study was a surprise and created a media firestorm because he had previously led the charge in 1972-73 to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association.

According to today's American Prospect article:

"In retrospect, I have to admit I think the critiques [of my study] are largely correct," Dr. Spitzer told the American Prospect in an article by Gabriel Arana titled, My So Called Ex-Gay Life. "The findings can be considered evidence for what those who have undergone ex-gay therapy say about it, but nothing more."

Spitzer asked for a retraction of his 2001 study, "So I don't have to worry about it anymore?"

Tennessee Senate passes anti-science education bill

Redux

Tennessee apparently hasn’t learned its lesson from its landmark 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial – and what’s more, it’s now extending the same ignorance-based approach to education that led them to that crushing courtroom defeat in the first place to other scientific domains as well:

The Tennessee state Senate passed a bill Monday that protects teachers who allow student to question and criticize "controversial" scientific theories like evolution.

The Senate voted 24-8 for SB 893, which would allow teachers to help students "understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories" like "biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming and human cloning."

"The idea behind this bill is that students should be encouraged to challenge current scientific thought and theory," Republican state Sen. Bo Watson told The Tennesseean. Watson is the bill's sponsor.

The proposal also instructs teachers on how to comfortably and appropriately "address students' concerns about certain scientific theories" within a curriculum established by the Board of Education. The bill would not affect the state's science curriculum.

Sneaky as ever. See, they’re not changing or corrupting science education in schools; they’re just allowing kids to ask questions about myths and rank pseudoscience … and encouraging teachers to answer with lies. But the curriculum itself is totally safe!

If so, then how come …

The National Association of Biology Teachers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, the American Institute for Biological Sciences, the Knoxville News Sentinel, the Nashville Tennessean, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, the National Earth Science Teachers Association, the Tennessee Science Teachers Association, and all eight Tennessee members of the National Academy of Sciences

… are all against this bill? Gee, maybe it wouldn’t preserve the integrity of science classrooms after all.

The bill now heads to Gov. Bil Haslam (R) for an almost-certain signature. Thank god for those liberal activist judges who will (even more certainly) slap this silly law down the first chance they get. It seems somewhat upsetting to me that people should rely on the criminal justice system to know better about what should be taught as proper science than the lawmakers elected to make those very decisions in the first place.

Coincidentally, new research is in: Global warming is still real and temperatures are still rising. One wonders what Tennessee teachers will have to say about it once SB 893 hits the rulebook.

(via @radleybalko)

Tags: SB 893 • HB 368 • Tennessee • Tennessee Senate • Bo Watson • Monkey Bill • teach the controversy

The History Channel: A brief history (of devolution)

So true – and so sad:

[full size (970×937)]

Also available in video form:

I seriously hope the people behind the Discovery Channel have enough brains and self-respect to remain focused on shows with actual educative content in the long run, even if some bits of pseudoscientific fluff do get through every now and then. (Such as the myth that big brawling bikers have anything the fuck to do with science or discovery – put that garbage on TLC already, where it belongs.)

(via @donttrythis)

Tags: The History Channel • Adolf Hitler • World War II • WWII • pseudohistory • UFOlogy • doomsday scenarios • Nostradamus

Daily Blend: Friday, March 02, 2012

Michael Arena

Note to Rush Limbaugh: I think I understand your thinking behind saying that college women need to take more birth control pills the more they have sex. That’s why you need your bottles of Viagra when you go visit Dominican hookers, after all.

Maryland officially becomes 8^th state do let gays do the hanky-panky with wedding bands. Opponents predictably vow to put it up to a vote.
(via @BreakingNews)

Man ^[pictured] convicted at 16 on child molestation charges based on lies and ridiculously crap “pedophile test” now appeals his 20-year sentence.
(via @radleybalko)

Holocaust-denying, Hitler-celebrating, neo-Nazi insurance salesman running for Congress in Illinois.
(via RichardDawkins.net)

How to turn anyone (especially celebrities) into atheists: Get Christians to demonstrate their “love” at them.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Maryland • gay marriage • same-sex marriage • marriage equality • Martin O'Malley • Michael Arena • child molestation • wrongful conviction • Arthur Jones • Republicans • Republican Party • Nazis • neo-Nazis • neo-Nazi Party • Holocaust denialism • Jews • Adolf Hitler • PZ Myers • Miley Cyrus • Lawrence Krauss • Christians

Daily Blend: Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Bill Donohue

• Could the US right-wing get even crazier after 2012? A chilling prospect.

• Oprah finally signs off, and doctors everywhere cheer.
  (via The Daily Grail)

• Why is the G-Spot still such a mystery? Jen McCreight explains: “To put it simply? The current research sucks.”

• Bill Donohue [pictured] now kvetching about how San Antonio, TX mayor is ignoring his whining about a satirical play he doesn’t like. Also still has no idea what “hate speech” actually is.

• Good thing I don’t have a “don’t feed the trolls” rule for this blog, or I’d be guilty of high treason by now.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Supplemental tags: Bill Donohue • Stupid • Random

The Chaser’s War on Everything takes on The Secret

Following my earlier revelation that I once entertained vague ideas about things like karma and even The Secret^* (aka the “Law of Attraction”, a belief that’s as guff as they get) before finally becoming an atheistic skeptic, I was shown this bright little parody from the Australian satirical show The Chaser’s War on Everything where The Secret is treated with every bit of respect it deserves:

As they say: Some beliefs are just too utterly ridiculous to merit a serious critique and should be handled with no more than the mockery they inspire in normal, rational people.

(via Evan McHugh McAwesome)

* In my defense, this was only after my sadly woo-believing mother had me going for a little while, though I never truly believed in it as she does. It often perplexes me how a generally rational and intensely anti-religious woman like her can hold so firmly onto such bizarre notions. I guess it just comes to show you how the brain really is hardwired to believe in some form of supernaturalistic crap or other, thus making the struggle for skeptical thought all the more important.