I would add another reason for not using it more often. I think it is effective in part because people genuinely believe that they are getting something helpful. If it is widely known that doctors are prescribing placebos then it loses it’s efficacy because people would no longer believe as strongly that it will actually help.

Yup, that object is flying and is as yet unidentified. Definitely a UFO.

Here’s a good way to end a war against religious zealots: simply quote bible verses at them. After all, our God (being, you know, actually real…unlike theirs) will surely smite them and end the war a lot quicker, right?

This must be the thinking behind stamping references to bible verses on US military rifle scopes.

This video is making the rounds on atheist blogs all over the blogofractal.

It’s meant to be funny, and of course it is. And yet, like a person with PTSD I find myself almost hating it because it gets it too perfect. I’ve wasted hours, even days in these kinds of circular arguments, where any point that I effectively rebut is dropped only to be restated later as though it were never addressed.

And it’s not just creationists for whom this problem exists. Anti-Vaxxers, AGW Deniers, Cdesign Proponentsists, Moon Hoaxers, 911 Truthers, UFOlogists, and pretty much any Conspiracy Theorists have this penchant for continually stating and restating their talking points without ever acknowledging that any attempt at rebuttal was ever even made.

Here’s a philosophical question for you. If you present evidence and I never look at it, does it actually exist?

If you’ll allow me to paraphrase the interview a bit (BO = Bill O’Reilly, BH = Brit Hume):

BO: *shows clip of Brit Hume urging Tiger to become a Christian* Was that proselytizing?

BH: I don’t think so. All I was doing was pointing out that Tiger should seriously consider changing his religion from Buddhism to Christianity. That’s just trying to get him to convert to my religion, not proselytizing.

BO: But wouldn’t he just be accused of pretending to be Christian so that people would leave him alone like so many people before him?

BH: Praise be unto Jesus, most holy. His gaze does pierce through all deception. His light shines forth from all who bless his name, and the light is truth that we shall not be deceived. Praise Jesus!

BO: What kind of reaction have you gotten?

BH: I’ve gotten all kinds of email from good, kind, and gentle people who agree with me, to evil, hateful, violent people who said nothing but mean, spiteful things to me. I was just stating facts. I wasn’t belittling Buddhism.

BO: What do you think drives people to persecute you for being a Christian?

BH: I don’t know. All I know is that being Christian means being persecuted. All I did was make the simple statement of fact that Buddhism is a fart in the wind compared to Christianity, and instantly I’m persecuted just for being a Christian and nothing else.

I don’t know that there is an introduction that can do this video justice. My brain hurts.

Update: I’ve never really listened to or watched Ann Coulter myself, though I’d heard about her from many. I guess I thought this was an outrageous video of her being especially stupid, but after looking through a bunch of old YouTube videos, I’m finding that it was actually pretty representative. If you still want to see the video you can see it here, otherwise I think I’ll just avoid Ann Coulter videos in the future.

I find this video hilariously ironic. Don’t get me wrong, I think Faux News is a steaming pile of bias like most sane individuals. But this video is chock full of exactly the kind of scare mongering that it is accusing Faux News of delivering. I can almost hear an announcer saying “They’re worse than Hitler because they accuse Obama of being worse than Hitler!!!”

When the hacked emails first came out, I said they would be a quote miners heaven. I was right, but to a much, much lesser extent than I would have thought possible, which is saying a lot. It’s amazing how little material the climate deniers have actually found to backup their claims of conspiracy.

And then someone goes and makes a video like this, blasting the two most “damning” quotes out of the water.

As usual it’s not looking good for the deniers, and I’m sure that as usual they’ll simply ignore that fact and continue to proudly proclaim their “victory”.

(Thanks to Pharyngula for this one)