How The Internet Works
Whenever I have a thought, or an idea, or a question, and I go to the internet for guidance, it is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I can probably find the answer or information I'm looking for. A curse because I have to sometimes look so damn hard.
And I don't look for much, really. But it's the people of the internet that really bother me.
Lately, I've been somewhat interested in pseudo-sciences such as homeopathy. Interested, as in, "prove it to me". It seems whenever I see a pro-pseudo-science article, it is on some website that is so obviously biased and slanted towards the subject that it loses all credibility from the get-go. And then upon reading, I see that it's mostly a lot of hyperbole, flowery language and not a lot of facts. You know, those annoying little things that make things believable. That allow claims to stand up to heavy scrutiny.
That's not say I am the most qualified to scrutinize. I, like anyone else, can be fooled, if I am foolish enough to take things at face value. I try not to. But sometimes it's so overwhelmingly hard to take any pseudo-science seriously. A usual argument on any given forum might go like this:
Pro-PseudoScience (PPS): Leading research has shown that babies evolved from dinosaurs from mars! NEVER have children, as the adverse side-affects are shown to cause great decay to ones molecular structure. Studies and clinical trials have shown that babies also keep their parents from ever becoming super heroes!
ProScience(PS): Sources? Also, whether one has a baby or not, there is no way to prove they would have been a superhero. If someone has a baby, one can easily say that person would have been a superhero, but can not prove it, as they now have a baby. And for those that do not have children, why are they not superheros?
PPS: Geez PS, you come in here and try to push your pro-medical establishment on us with your high-and-mighty attitude. The pharmaceutical companies WANT you to have children so they can sell you baby cribs and bottles and all of that rigamaroll. And then do the same for your children - it's pretty obvious when you think about it. There have been dozens of proven studies, you just need to look around on the internet, or are you too blinded by big-pharma drugs to ever question their authority?
PS: Well, maybe I am blinded, but you still haven't shown any studies to prove any of your claims. In fact you simply began to result to name-calling and various forms of fallacious to get around the question.
PPS: I have plenty of evidence - but I wonder, why are you afraid to find it yourself? Do you always need everything spoon-fed to you? Here is one:
http://www.babies-are-evil.com/pharma_wants_to_kill_you.html
PS: Without even looking I can tell you that that article is 1)biased and 2) not going to have any cites, sources, or facts.
Anyway, I guess my point is that it seems there are always two sides to every story: those with an agenda to show that everyone else has an agenda, and those that rely on facts and science. It's actually really frustrating because I would just ONCE like to see someone show some intelligence when they make crazy claims. PPS in the example above will never stop to consider they are wrong, and instead will believe that it is PS that is not considering the possibility that they are right. And they ALWAYS resort to slander and name-calling. Sometimes it's rather veiled but it's always there.
I am just sick of the internet.