Christopher Maloney: still lying

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Michael

You all know Christopher Maloney, the quack with a history of lying. For quite some time he has remained pretty quiet, unlike Andreas Moritz, thus preventing himself from appearing on FTSOS too much. Unfortunately, I just came across some of his lies.

2/25/10
Michael Hawkins’ blog was offline for all of four days, including a weekend that involved a general wordpress failure of many sites. At this point it is clear the entire skeptic charade was a lot of screaming about nothing but standard software error. I don’t expect an apology anytime soon.

First, my site was down for 6 days. Second, Maloney is trying to say that the reason my site was down was because WordPress had technical difficulties. Those difficulties lasted a short period of time and were unrelated to the suspension of FTSOS that happened. But does anyone expect a scummy person like Maloney to be honest?

Michael Hawkins of Augusta ran a blog attacking me for a few months. In the process he began arguing with his webhost, got himself suspended, then argued with them again and got kicked off.

He flatters himself. There was one post of a letter I sent to the editor in response to Maloney. That letter was too strongly worded, so I sent another and posted that. I then responded to the responses that raised. I then responded to an email that threatened legal action from one of Maloney’s fans. (There was also one more post that merely mentioned Maloney, but was not about him.) He makes it sound like this blog is all about him. It isn’t. Most of the topics are far more interesting, and in fact, there were over 75 other posts made over the time I mentioned Maloney.

Of course Maloney has to conveniently forget all the details, right? He says that “in the process” of my posts about him I began arguing with WordPress. That isn’t true. I only made a post about “Mark” from WordPress being a simpleton after I got a warning from WordPress (as well as a brief suspension, what with this host’s shoot-first policy). I was pretty much done with Maloney at that point. But, of course, what Maloney doesn’t mention is that he was emailing Moritz back and forth; Moritz, armed with false information about Maloney’s status in Maine, had gone to WordPress. Does anyone else believe this makes Maloney innocent?

But there’s more!

My deepest apologies to my friends and neighbors who received the “Without Apology” hate mail.

Michael Hawkins is someone I have never met. He is not a patient, does not know any of my patients, and is only interested in attacking me because he wants attention. Today he waited until I was away from my home before stuffing his hate mail inside my screen door, which gives a pretty good sense of him as a person.

As I noted in my post about that edition of Without Apology, I specifically tried avoiding Maloney’s home. There were two houses which had lights on inside, but the outside light was too low for me to see the numbers. Since I don’t like approaching homes while people are awake at that time unless I can throw my paper from a distance (I’d rather not scare people), I did not get close enough to check the exact address. Maloney’s house number is 4, so I thought I was avoiding house 4 and 6 or 4 and 2. If anything, I was disappointed that I couldn’t risk giving all his neighbors my publication. Apparently he did get a paper, which is great, but I specifically tried avoiding giving him one because he sent me an email telling me not to contact him, his family, friends, or neighbors. He has a legitimate request on the first two counts, but his friends and neighbors are not off-limits. The fact that he mentioned them (not that I know any of his friends) is why I went to his neighborhood.

But my favorite part of this is that he thinks I know when he is and isn’t home. How? Does he think I stalk him? That’s the first time I’ve ever been on his small road. Hell, I wasn’t even sure which house was his. And I certainly didn’t “stuff” anything in anyone’s screen door. I would never open someone’s door like that because 1) that’s creepy and 2) it would make a lot of noise. It’s possible that I placed a paper in the handles of some doors, but I doubt it since the papers are small and would have just fallen out. I pretty much just throw the papers on porches or some other visible location.

I encourage any and all neighbors to contact the Augusta city police department if they see him lurking around. The department is already very familiar with him because he spent one of his “newspaper” issues attacking them after he received a parking ticket.

Lol? Yes, lol.

I walked around his neighborhood in light colored khakis and a red shirt. I’m not sure how that is lurking.

But again with the lies. My article about the Augusta Police was not merely over a parking ticket. It was about an officer who did not understand that he needed to hand over certain records under the Maine Freedom of Information Act. The ticket was from years ago and played a small role in the motivation for asking for the records. (The bigger motivation was course requirement for a journalism class I happened to be taking.) I eventually received a written and signed apology from the chief of police over the incident.

On a side note, I’ve been surprised no one has asked me what I’ve been doing this whole time. I know people have seen me in various neighborhoods, but no one has asked me what’s up. Granted, other than once when it was freezing, I always wear fairly bright clothes, but it seems like the “Neighborhood Watch” signs should mean something.

But sure, tell the police that you see me. If I continue with the paper, I’ll even be sure to let them know when I’m going to be distributing it so they don’t have to waste their time asking me for ID over something that is not illegal. I mean, Christ. I have my name all over the paper, I know the police have seen it (I personally dropped it off at the police station), and I even have contact information included.

My understanding of him is that he is a desperately lonely UMA freshman who has fallen in with a group of atheists online and this hate mail process is a bit like trying to join a gang for him.

Well, it’s not like anyone has ever thought Maloney has much understanding of anything.

Aside from being a senior (who will have a Liberal Studies degree next semester, followed by a Biology degree shortly thereafter), I find it unfortunate that Maloney is trying to ‘win’ his case by using “atheist” as if it’s a dirty word. Atheists are some of the brightest people around, especially those who are in the limelight, so I ought to be taking this as a compliment. And really, wasn’t it atheists who helped me get my blog back? Thanks again to PZ, Richard Dawkins, and all the others who sent emails of support and made anti-quack posts on their sites.

Hawkins’ whole group has targeted me as someone small enough that they can attempt to bully me.

Really? PZ Myers dealt with the whole uproar over Crackergate. Richard Dawkins is one of the most famous atheists in the world. Simon Singh, who also sent me an email, recently beat the quackery of chiropractors in the U.K. Is this really about bullying or is it just that Maloney practices quackery?

I’m not sure if they’d like me to simply shut down or to cease to exist. I have been providing them with a steady stream of medical studies supporting what I practice, but for the most part these “scientists” are more interested in swearing at me than engaging in conversation.

Here’s another instance of someone undeserving of respect demanding he be given it. It’s pathetic. Oh, and Dr. Steven Novella had a pretty good take down of all those studies Maloney was abusing.

Christopher – you are just going through all the CAM logical fallacies, aren’t you.

Now you are playing – I have bad evidence, but so does regular medicine.

There is simply no comparison. We have already demonstrated that your ability to asses the evidence is incompetent, and you have not answered any of the direct questions. You cited irrelevant research, and you partially quoted an abstract drawing the wrong conclusion. You might as well just make it up.

The level of evidence for elderberry and garlic is so slight that the reliability is close to zero – this is almost as good as no evidence at all.

You cannot defend your position, so you trot out all the canards against mainstream medicine.

And to answer Maloney’s curiosity, we would like you to shut down. Your existence is okay.

I have been unimpressed by the level of scientific knowledge displayed and find myself having to explain the basics of medical research.

Again, Mr. Novella:

Christopher,

You are making excuses. There is not a difference between practice and science – practice should be based upon science. You simply cannot really know what works without scientific evidence. It is naive hubris to think otherwise.

Update: I guess I missed some more lies.

(Series of unfunny junk written without a bit of irony.)

Maloney also posted that on Pharyngula. Here is a rather succinct response.

No, the Qwackster is not a Poe. Just an idjit. Somehow, he thinks he becoming an authority via his repetative posts, so we will believe his malarky. That isn’t working, and he looks more desparate and deluded with each post. If he had even a smidgeon of intelligence he would just fade into the bandwidth, and quit wasting his time.

Double update: PZ has a new post.

Filed under: Pure bullshit | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments »

I told you he read FTSOS

Posted on April 26, 2010 by Michael

Jack Hudson is a bit like Ken Ham. Both are Christians. Both are creationists. Both routinely fail to defend positions. Oh. And both refuse to link to those who criticize them.

Anyone who regularly reads Pharyngula knows that Ken Ham and his Creation ‘Museum’ people will not link back to PZ’s articles. It’s a cowardly passive-aggressive sort of thing. They have made a habit of referring to PZ as an “atheist professor”, a “professor from Minnesota”, or some other similar name, but they won’t mention him directly. Now it looks like Jack Hudson has taken out a page from that play book for use on me.

After getting up in a huff over something someone else said to him, he left FTSOS, vowing never to return. Okay. But it has been clear that he still lurks around here. His articles have often been based upon links posted here, and his remarks have often been thinly veiled responses to comments made here (and a couple times even to comments made on Facebook…sort of like how he referenced his Facebook discussions when he texted my cousin).

You know, I can’t deny that I’ve had conversations with friends that have resulted in posts here. It happens from time to time. Of course, if I’ve made specific responses to a person, even if written in a generalized voice, I’ve always sent on a link to the person. It’s just common courtesy. And really, why would I want to hide from what I’ve said? I said it in the first place because I want people to listen.

Jack has had at least three responses to FTSOS. The first was an update to a post of his that was pro-bigotry while vaguely featuring some infantile libertarianism.

An Addendum:

It’s a bit of a myth that this wouldn’t have happened to a heterosexual married couple; in fact, this does happen to elderly married couples.

This was in response to my post about an elderly gay couple that was separated by the state. The two men had about as much legal documentation as they possibly could so as to avoid the hardships of current end-of-life care in the United States which disregards their humanity. But it didn’t matter. They were separated and had their belongings stolen and sold by Sonoma County in California.

Jack thinks that’s the same as another older, heterosexual, married couple who was forced into a nursing home. While that is superficially similar (the gay couple was also forced into a nursing home), the fact is that this all hinges on marriage. Someone blinded by pure bigotry dressed up in lies isn’t likely to see this: the gay couple was separated and not allowed to see each other, despite the lack of any sort of conviction for alleged abuse (which was alleged by known liars), much less the presence of any charges. A married couple would have been given better than that. And, in fact, the married couple in the second story, while in a deplorable situation that was and is an abuse of power by the state, were not separated, the only reason being because they were married. Honestly. One friend (who will be getting this link, incidentally) recently told me that this whole thing is about “the legitimization” of gay relationships, suggesting that there are ways gay couples can get rights “without calling it marriage”. That’s crap and this is just another piece of evidence that separate but equal can never be equal. Oh, and gay relationships already are legitimate, gays already act as the heads of households and families, and no denial of equal rights is going to change that fact.

But that isn’t the only passive-aggressive attack.

To that end I need to make clear a few simple rules I have here – one’s that I have always had, but didn’t feel the need to make public before, but now feel compelled to.

First off I filter foul language – if you can’t say anything without dropping the f-bomb or referring to a body part in the crudest of terms, then it won’t get posted here. It is a pretty simple rule for most to follow, but some can’t seem to help themselves.

This is in response to posts of mine which occasionally have featured th-th-th, gasp!, the F-bomb!

There are three reasons I don’t stop anyone from saying “fuck” all they want on my website. One, I’m not a child. I can deal with it. Two, censorship is mostly crap. Three, it is an immature view of language to think it a good thing to curb any of its use. Words should be elastic, allowed to move and flow with the times, context, and even emotion. Sometimes a good go fuck yourself is the best available terminology; the magic is in its simplicity. I often intentionally use very simple, straight-forward titles for my posts to get my point across. Was anyone confused about what I was saying when I titled a post Andreas Moritz is a stupid, dangerous man? Was anyone befuddled as to where I was going when I said Deepak Chopra is not an intelligent man? I like to think I was pretty clear. And that was the whole point behind those titles. Sometimes simple words are needed when what’s behind the meaning is simple. There is no need to be an obtuse, pompous douche when there is so much more clarity in being short. But then there are times when a pretentious title is needed. For instance, when I wrote about the tenability of unsourced claims as they pertain to objective morality, I wasn’t trying to convey that an easy read was ahead. Philosophical styles differ markedly from most other ways of writing – and not in a way that makes them a breeze to peruse. For anyone who actually gives a rat’s ass about writing, it is abundantly clear that it is a mistake to unnecessarily corner language and only allow what feels good. Language is expression; express it.

Secondly, I don’t post personal attacks or responses to them.

Really?

You know Michael, I almost never feel compelled to deal with anyone physically, but you are very lucky your puny little bank teller body is in Maine, because i would kick your butt from one side of the room to the other if you said that to my face. Of course you wouldn’t because you are a coward.

And along with that readers should know I never call or email strangers or people who I interact with online.

Again, Jack is directly responding to material from FTSOS, but he’s pulling the ol’ Ken Ham. He doesn’t want to link others here and get any exchange moving between users, I suppose. Fortunately, while Jack has a handful of creationist milling about his page, I have a bit of a larger audience. I encourage everyone reading this to venture over to Jack’s site and start leaving comments. Don’t spam the guy’s stuff, but make him actually response to something intelligent. I recommend starting with this incoherent post about atheism, but feel free to tear apart whatever seems appealing. Unlike Jack, I don’t want to pretend I’m your boss.

And finally:

Recently I saw an atheist claim that ‘spiritual beliefs do not equal religious beliefs’. This may be true, but for an atheist to say so is a bit like a vegetarian lecturing on the best way to prepare a steak.

Surprise, I’m that atheist.

This analogy is just so awful. First, an atheist has no religion. That does not mean an atheist has no knowledge of religion or is unable, like Jack, to tell the difference between a real world phenomenon and a nebulous term that always needs to be defined before being used. Second, aren’t theists always claiming that atheism is a religion? In Jack’s bad analogy, atheism is very unlike religion. Isn’t it amazing just how often these people undermine their own silly claims?

So a quick wrap-up (because this post is way longer than I ever intended): Jack is a creationist like Ken Ham who refuses to link back to those who criticize him; he does not understand how to parallel socially important issues because (also like Ken Ham) he is a bigot; and finally, he apparently does not pay close enough attention to FTSOS. Say something stupid loudly enough, like Christopher Maloney or Andreas Moritz, or cross me in a magnificently stupid way like Rawn and Judy Torrington or Lt. J Christopher Read, and I have no issue posting and posting and tearing apart what I see as a wrong on my website (and for all five of those people, publishing and distributing stories all around my hometown, including Maloney’s own neighborhood). I mean, honestly. Have I not been clear? Has there been confusion as to what I am willing to do to get my point across? Do people not realize that to do something for the sake of science does not simply mean to act in a way that shows passion for science because science is good, but it also means to stand up to bad actions, bad behavior, lowly thoughts, and dishonest methods?

Filed under: Atheism/Humanism, Creationism, Misc, Religions, Same-sex marriage | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Lawrence Stowe is a horrible human being

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Michael

I hate snake oil salesman. I hate them with an ever growing passion. They take advantage of innocent, sick people for nothing more than money. They make the world a worse place and ought to be jailed. Lawrence Stowe is one of the worst.

Con men used to travel town to town hawking medical remedies said to be made of Chinese snakes. Snake oil was useless and dangerous. So the FDA was created to put a stop to it and other food and drug scams.

But, today, quack medicine has never been bigger. In the 21st century, snake oil has been replaced by bogus therapies using stem cells. Stem cells may offer cures one day, but medical charlatans on the Internet are making outrageous claims that they can reverse the incurable, from autism to multiple sclerosis to every kind of cancer.

Desperate people are being bilked out of their life’s savings.

We’ve been looking into this surging crime and we found there is no better window on how it works than the practice of a man who calls himself “doctor,” a man named Lawrence Stowe.

Stowe has been unaware that, lately, some of his patients have been working with 60 Minutes.

I wish 60 Minutes could look into every quack out there, but there are just so many.

Stowe told our MS patient that he can reverse her disease with his program of herbs and vitamins to boost the immune system, custom vaccines and stem cell injections. Medical experts say it’s nonsense but it’s the same pitch that we secretly recorded again and again as Stowe claimed to reverse cancer, ALS, MS, Parkinson’s disease and more.

Honestly. I cannot understand how these people live with themselves. Stowe charges exorbitant sums of money so he can insert IVs into people in some dank, run-down building in Mexico. One family sold their home to pay for Stowe’s bogus treatments. Others have paid tens of thousands of dollars of their savings with no results. This guy is a piece of work.

Everyone who reads FTSOS knows I rag on Andreas Moritz over and over. A very small part of the reason is that he’s just too dumb to stop showing up on my radar, but far, far, far more important than that is the fact that I view him as legitimately dangerous. I’ve managed to divert a few specific individuals from his potential harm (and I will not mention any specifics because I do not want Moritz contacting and conning them), but I suppose I can at least give him credit for not charging massive sums of money for his ‘services’; his style is to play small ball and take small amounts of money from desperate people. And even though that’s just one of a depressing number of horrible traits that man holds, he’s nothing compared to Lawrence Stowe; there is no comparing the two. Stowe is in a league all his own: if Moritz is Mario Mendoza, Stowe is Babe Ruth. (I would say Ted Williams but it would pain me a little too much as a Red Sox fan.)

Watch these two videos. Every person needs to be aware of the scams that are out there.

Lawrence Stowe is a scumbag part 1.

Lawrence Stowe is a scumbag part 2.

Filed under: Pure bullshit | Tagged: , , , , , | 9 Comments »

Thought of the day

Posted on April 17, 2010 by Michael

Andreas Moritz insists on raising my ire over and over. Christopher Maloney, on the other hand, has remained pretty quiet. And who gets post after post after post about him on here?

Congratulations to Maloney for being smarter than Moritz. It isn’t much of an accomplishment, but I suppose it’s something. (And, hey, unlike Moritz, I bet Maloney knows what DNA is.)

Filed under: Misc | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Ol’ scummy Andreas Moritz

Posted on April 14, 2010 by Michael

I recently got a notice from Facebook that there were copyright issues with “various posts” on the Fan Page for For the Sake of Science. I naturally accused Andreas Moritz because he’s such a flaming retard who can’t take the fact that educated people know he’s full of shit. He’s just a greedy moron who has no detectable education.

It turns out I was right.

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your email. As you know, we received a claim of alleged rights infringement regarding the removed content. Per Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, users are prohibited from posting infringing content on the site.

If you believe that we have made a mistake in removing this content, then please contact the complaining party directly with the following information to resolve your issue:

Notice #: 21512613
Contact Information:
Name – Andreas Moritz
Email – andmor@ener-chi.com

If both parties agree to restore the reported content, please ask the complaining party to contact us via email with a copy of the agreement so that we can refer to the original issue. We will not be able to restore this content to Facebook unless we receive explicit notice of consent from the complaining party.

Thanks for contacting Facebook,

Kieran
User Operations
Facebook

I have no idea what the content is they removed. I post links to that page and I may have uploaded a satirical picture of Moritz, but I’m not even sure about that second part (though the picture is there now – not that Moritz has rights to it, anyway).

But none of that matters. Facebook apparently thinks it makes sense to cave to any and all complaints. They allow for counter-claims, but those obviously play no role since they send out these generic sort of responses that offer no help to the person who originally uploaded the content.

Of course, it’s possible to send Facebook frivolous complaints about the content of Moritz’s Fan Page, too. Or, someone could easily do a WhitePages search of Moritz, find out all his personal information, and write him letters encouraging to be more reasonable.

Andreas Moritz
9 Night Hawk Way
Landrum, SC 29356-3406

(864) 895-6285
Household: Stephen C Maresch, Lillian S Maresch

This is all publicly available information that took about 4 seconds to find. (That part is for WordPress to read when Moritz whines about this.)

I’m not recommending anyone harass Moritz. No, no, no. I’m just saying that as an alternative to the email address provided by Facebook, someone might prefer to write a friendly letter to the guy. Let him know that his complaints are getting tiresome. Or better yet, let him know that the stupid bullshit he believes will literally kill people.

Someone needs to knock some sense into this guy. He’s going berserk because he hates that other people don’t actually like it when he promotes the spread of disease while exploiting the sick and dying.

Filed under: Pure bullshit | Tagged: , , | 5 Comments »

Thought of the day

Posted on April 9, 2010 by Michael

I have no idea why Andreas Moritz insists on making me post shit about him. Why. Why is he so genuinely dumb.*

*This is part question, part statement.

Filed under: Misc | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

A quick quack reminder

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Michael

Every once in awhile I’ll get a notice from Facebook that some stupid shit got deleted for some stupid reason. In almost all cases, it comes back to Andreas Moritz (hi, Andy!*). He’s a quack. He wants money from sick people and that makes him a giant pile of shit. And just to compound the problem, he has no education in any science or medicine. (Hell, I doubt his education level exceeds the 9th or 10th grade. He’s a frackin’ moron.) And since he’s a greedy POS with no real education that takes advantages of the ill, I will sometimes reflect that on Facebook (though not as much as I do here). Recently, a few items were deleted from my Facebook fan page. Since there’s little rhyme or reason to which posts from here I stick up there, it’s nearly impossible to know just what was deleted; Facebook only told me “various posts”. I am, however, relatively sure that this one was deleted. I won’t know until they get back to me on my copyright appeal.

So since Moritz is actually thankful for all the attention I give him (which undermines his entire bullshit, charlatan threat of suing – because he’s just that smart), I thought I’d put out a reminder. And even if he isn’t the reason for the recent content issue, he’s still a greedy POS that takes advantage of sick people because he has no moral compass, so this is justified anyway.

*A double reminder: Moritz is obsessed with learning all about why he’s a quack, so he actually bothers to read FTSOS frequently, hence the greeting. Unfortunately, it’s likely he is seeking better ways of hiding his general evil from those he will harm with his ignorant, inane, sans all qualifications ‘advice’.

Filed under: Pure bullshit | Tagged: , , | Leave a comment »

The quack that wouldn’t die

Posted on April 5, 2010 by Michael

All the hub-bub with king quack Andreas Moritz (hi, Andy!) keeps causing link after link back to my posts. One of the most recent ones is worth a read.

Moritz also claims that every cell and organ in the body has its own aura and that the trillions of little auras comprise a big aura for each body. The body’s aura “goes beyond physical parameters, yet it influences physical life more than anything else.” How he knows any of these things is anybody’s guess, but it sounds like he graduated from the school of MSU (making stuff up).

Our aura also affects the atmosphere of the Earth with specific encodements [?], both positive and negative. Thus, negative thoughts and beliefs, emotional trauma, and other experiential episodes get caught up in the ionosphere of the Earth, possibly triggering major global disturbances that affect the population, wildlife, and climate of the planet as a whole.

No wonder climate science is so difficult. It has to take into account the effect of gazillions of cells on the ionosphere! Moritz has the answer, however: he has six ener-chi paintings “designed to heal the Earth and her environment.”

No way! Moritz is only making shit up so he can sell his crap to gullible people? Crazy.

Filed under: Pure bullshit | Tagged: , , | 3 Comments »

Matt Mullenweg

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Michael

Matt Mullenweg is the big honcho around WordPress. When my blog got shut down, I left him a message on his Facebook fan page informing him that he had been had by a stupid, dangerous man. I also cited his own complaints over censorship from several years earlier. I never did get a direct response, but my blog was quickly reinstated.

This left me with a taste of curiosity. Was it just coincidence that I got my site back shortly after sending the big guy a message? I had sent countless emails to “Mark“, so it was plausible that those combined with the big hub–bub across the Interwebblings was what did the trick. But since I never got any response or notification, it was impossible to tell. Until now.

It does look like Mullenweg was the one who fixed everything. Look at February 22 on his fan page. There is one post there praising him for reinstating my blog. But what is not there is what’s more interesting. Notice there is no post from yours truly; there’s no point where I tell Mullenweg that he was had. There should also be two other posts telling him roughly the same thing from two other people. He clearly saw all the posts. This is certainly evidence that he was aware of my situation; this plus the timing of the reinstatement of FTSOS indicates to me that he was the one who fixed the error made by “Mark”.

Even though I appreciate his (silent) corrective action, I find little justification in his sanitizing of comments. Sure, we all get embarrassed from time to time, and criticism is occasionally unpleasant, but leave that sort of hide-your-follies-behind-the-delete-button-stuff to the quacks.

Fortunately, I have a blog where I can expose these minor embarrassments.

Filed under: Misc | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

I think he hit them all

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Michael

Dominic Speirs is a quack supporter. He’s been busy in the comments defending the greedy, immoral, scummy snake oil salesman Andreas Moritz, but he decided to branch out to Darwin.

Darwin didnt even believe his theory of evolution. And the word ‘evolution’ and ’survival of the fittest’ didnt turn up in his books until the 4th edition of origin of the species. (And both theorys were lifted from another man)
Darwin was influenced by his parents who were members of the Lunar Secret society. The Lunar’s agenda at that time was “to destroy in the mind of man the belief in god”. He was more easily convinced about the lack of a god/spirit by the death of his daughter.

But ultimatley he was a man of God/spirituality and by the end of his life believed firmly in God or some higher force which permeates the universe.

If this guy wasn’t in Andreas Moritz’s Facebook woo group, I might have to declare Poe’s Law. Not only does he trot out a mass of creationist misconceptions that have been addressed who-knows-how-many-times, but he gets the constant misspellings in there, too – it looks like he hit all the requirements of being a creationist. I’m thinking this sort of thing should become the gold standard for noting when a blog is starting to take off: once the egregiously cliche creationists start popping up, the blog is on its way.

But this always raises a question for me: how do people get this crazy? PZ Myers talks about Reality Rejection Syndrome.

It isn’t just creationism; those beliefs have a surprisingly high correlation with denial of climate change, denial of HIV’s role in AIDS, anti-vax nonsense, rejection of the Big Bang, dualism, etc., etc., etc. At the root of these problems is discomfort with modernity and change, resentment of authority, anti-intellectualism, and of course, goddamned religion, which is little more than a rationalization for maintaining barbarous medieval values. So, yeah, face the facts: creationism isn’t just a weird reaction to bad science instruction and those annoying godless liberal college professors — it’s just one symptom of a deep-seated mental derangement.

That seems to describe Speirs pretty well. He’s not simply into woo and silly creationist beliefs (read: lies); he despises all that is founded in science and modernity. He’s like a Republican without the nasty social libertarian streak (as he has thus far indicated; the night is young).

Mr. Jay Gatsby offers a similar analysis:

Instead, fundamentalist American movements seek to redefine and protect their culture in an age of mass culture and state-based morality creation. Especially after WWII the state’s role in the creation of the ideals of morality has expanded at a planetary rate. Fundamentalist groups, knowingly or not, reject this principle and use religion as a cultural basis.

The religious ideals on which Speirs rests are likely either Christianity or New Age, amorphous woo. The first is likely just based upon 1) statistics and 2) the fact that he embraces the crazy. But I lean towards the latter because these woo fans don’t like to be pinned down; they reside in vagueness. As MJG puts it,

What is most curious about fundamentalist groups is their lack of clear definition. Fundamentalist identity is not based on what is. Instead, the groups define themselves against the “other;” what is “not” takes precedent over what “is.”

This describes no group better than the generic woo-worshipers. As one said to me in an email,

I bet your spirit guides are really hopeing you will knock this off so you can just get on with your life.

“Spirit guides” is so vague, it would be impossible to mount a coherent argument against it/them. I don’t mean to indicate that religions are rational or anything – they aren’t – but the more learned followers of mass religion are able to at least mount a case for their crazy beliefs (however weak the case may be). The woo supporters aren’t even interested in doing that; their interests rest in rejecting what’s popular and embracing a minority…nothingness.

Filed under: Creationism, Pure bullshit | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

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