Reason Rises in the Valley of the Sun with Newly Established Phoenix Area Skeptics Society

The majority of the content in this particular post was inspired in light of the 2007 article by Canadian writer, illustrator, and Editor of Junior Skeptic magazine Daniel Loxton titled, "Where Do We Go From Here" [PDF]. This also helped serve for some background on the purpose of the newly established Phoenix Area Skeptics Society (PASS). It clearly lays out the future of skepticism and some of the reasons why, "skepticism is a movement with a mission: to organize an effort to discover reality, to expose fraud — and to help people."  

“Our underlying interest is not the paranormal per se, but the larger topics and issues such as how our beliefs in such things arise, how our minds work to deceive us, how we think, how our critical thinking capabilities can be improved.” (Loxton 2007)

In the end,

• We can decrease the total number of scams and help clear up confusions. 
• We can reduce the total amount of harm suffered by victims and potential victims. 
• We can make things less profitable or more difficult for specific kinds of scam artists." (Loxton 2007)

How Science Changed My Life

Belief is a strong feeling in something that often cannot be explained. However, being the inquisitive minded person that I am, often that is not good enough for me. Faith is a word that I rarely use, but that was not always the case. As a young person, I was taught certain things that were “gospel”, so-to-speak. I did not question those particular things, nor was I in any position to do so. But, as I grew into a more confident and well equipped individual through school, I made it a point not to sway in that initial inquisitive nature. Being an artist gave me the reason to embrace and harness this quality in myself. I knew this was a unique trait that not everyone shared and even if it made me an outcast to whatever social click, somehow I knew this was a special ability that would lead to great things and possibly even greater understandings.

"The Healthy Skeptic" Gets A Healthy Dose of Skepticism

A couple of weeks ago, I came across this site by a self proclaimed "skeptic" promoting health and nutrition called, 'The Healthy Skeptic'. At first, I was enthralled to find another skeptical podcast that could be a potential source which I could listen to about nutritional information from a scientifically inclined perspective. As I began listening to a podcast episode, it did not take me very long to notice a few instances of my skeptical "spidey sense" going off. Upon closer examination, I saw that the main website had some interesting claims about acupuncture under the special "myth busting" section. Chris Kresser is a licensed acupuncturist who calls himself the "Healthy Skeptic", so I was more than intrigued to learn more about his premise that "everything we’ve been taught about Chinese medicine in the West isn’t accurate and is a functional, flesh and bones medicine based on the same basic physiology as western medicine." (Kresser 2010) Of course I wanted to see the evidence, after all, he does have the word "skeptic" in his title and it was provided for me in a series of six separate sections titled "Chinese Medicine Demystified". The following is a great example of some common logical fallacies, that ANY intelligent person can make, and includes my critique of what I encountered upon reviewing each section.

Why Do Native Americans Celebrate Indepedence Day? Should They?

For most Americans, the Fourth of July is a time for getting together with friends and families. Much like any other holiday, often the meaning behind these celebrations get lost over time. When placed under closer scrutiny, it appears that Independence Day is not a celebration for quite everybody. Many tribes of indigenous people lived on this land for generations before any of the Founding Fathers even thought about writing a Declaration of Independence. For some Native American people, it marks the decline of their own people’s unique culture in America.

De Omnibus Dubitandum

“All is to be doubted, of everything doubtful be", or "question everything” a motto often attributed to the French philosopher, Rene Descartes. This also falls in line with another motto, one of skepticism. Part of being a teenager going through the difficulties of adolescence begins with this process of questioning everything, especially if that thing is authoritative, intellectual, or political. This is also the primary process of any serious inquiry into education. Unless you just happen to be a skeptical thinker by nature, which is not usually the case, this is not going to be your way of reasoning.