An Honest Liar - Work-in-Progress trailer from Justin Weinstein on Vimeo.
When I was in my early twenties I found this book, and read it cover to cover.
Though somewhat dated now, at the time Flim-Flam was a groundbreaking book that helped to set me on a truth seeking path, and helped to instill in me the necessity of always questioning the reality of what I was told, or even witnessed, and to NEVER accept the supernatural, or fantastical, explanation often provided without studying the evidence provided thoroughly.
If the purpose of having this outsized brain, and ability to reason, is to better understand the world around us, then we could have few better role models than James Randi.
Just my opinion.
You can visit the website to learn more about this documentary here. They are seeking investors, so if you are a mind....
The James Randi followers have a slight problem imho...they are unable to see that the anomalies of 9/11 official story. The JREF people are like the Palinbot trolls. They infiltrate every 9/11 truth sight and cause trouble. I don't get it..these should be free thinking people. I think the foundation has an agenda, that is not good.
ReplyDeleteIMHO.
God bless James Randi! He's... well, he's just amazing! Splendid post, Gryphen. Randi's a true hero to skeptics and non-believers the world over.
ReplyDeleteJesse ? Why in the hell aren't you all over this story ??
ReplyDeletehttp://www.frontiersman.com/news/whs-sculpture-unveiled/article_49acd8f6-5abb-11e1-b0f4-0019bb2963f4.html
I suggest that the sculpture was put in place to honor past Palin women LMAO !!
Gryphen, thank you for your post.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest steps anyone can take is to admit when they're wrong. No, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about myself.
I was gullible, foolish, naive and way too dang trusting when I was younger. I wish I'd read James Randi's book when I was younger. I would have saved a lot of money, energy and time by not going on wrong paths.
Now, I found a copy of his book at a local library. I look forward to getting and reading it. Also to seeing this film when it's completed. As well as looking up other online information and videos about James Randi.
Thank you again for your blog and for what you share here with us.
I enjoyed the video.
ReplyDeleteTim Prowse, formerly United Methodist pastor for nearly 20 years, describes his loss of faith and how he sees the world now:
ReplyDeleteSince God is nothing more than our creation and projection, any talk of God is our reflection looking back at us. Hence, our morality begins with us anyway. My morality hasn’t changed for the worse since I left the faith. If anything, it is much more honest because I am forced to consider what is really going on in ethical decisions. Family, culture, beliefs and values, genetic tendencies, all play a role in shaping morality, but I’m not arguing an extreme relativism. While I do give credence to certain cultural influences on determining right and wrong, I believe that some issues are universal. Which is why, unless Rick Warren is truly demented, he wouldn’t begin doing heinous acts if his faith evaporated tomorrow, and if he did, it would be more the result of mental illness than lack of faith.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/02/leaving-the-ministry.html
I was naive most of my life too. I observed patterns of behaviors of certain people however was ignorant unable to accurately identify the behaviors. I chose to be an honest person so it was difficult to comprehend people who live a life of lies, practice deception to effectively cheat and trick people for their personal gain.
ReplyDeleteThey do it to so called loved ones too lying with ease, coworkers, so called friends preying on people masquarading as sheep to conceal the wolf within. They consistently lie others are wolves, the dishonest, guilty of their true personality.
I was wiser when the hockey mom governor was introduced. I checked out facts exercising is something true, not or maybe true? I did the same with others.
I notice alot of people do not want to know they were taken advantage of, swallowed lies, were conned, used and stabbed in the back played for fools.
I grasp now exposing such a person vanquishes the only power they practice and posess.
The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan was also very good. It's been awhile, but I have read both of those books.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle-Dark/dp/0345409469
OverMountainMan, wow! The first thing I thought of when I saw that sculpture was, 'that looks like a extremely large vagina.'. I can see why you thought it might be a homage to the Palin women.
I can't believe it is a $100,000 dollar piece of artwork that they put in front of Wasilla High School. Apparently from the article, I'm not the only one who thought it looked like female genitalia.
There is no doubt that James Randi has done a great service is showing how easy it is to bamboozle people.
ReplyDeleteThere is also no doubt that this is a universe far more vast than our understanding or our wildest imaginings. For instance, according to our understanding of physics etc, the bumblebee can't fly. Lucky for him, he never got that memo. Obviously there are still principles of flight we haven't uncovered yet.
A healthy skepticism is a good thing; it's (duh) healthy. Randi's skepticism is more of the rigid, inflexible he knows what he knows and there's nothing that will change his mind. And that's that.
Kind of like a Palinbot.
I remember when James Randi systematically exposed spoon-bending, telekinetic wunderkind Uri Geller for the charlatan he was. It was great. Geller had, for a time, been successful in impressing gullible people. Randi also did everyone a service by debunking faith healers and other frauds. He had his own limitations, but he accomplished a lot too.
ReplyDeleteNan C @ 8:39
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point about physics. Astronomer Fred Hoyle converted from atheism to belief in God as a result of his own ground-breaking work on the birth of stars in the cosmos. He wrote "a super-intellect has monkeyed with the laws of physics" and other sciences as well.
HuffPo featured quotes from scientists on God a few days ago. Some are atheists, like biologist Richard Dawkins, while others have firm religious faith, like Wernher von Braun, the rocket scientist. Food for thought.
To believe in God or not to believe involves profound complexities. Some people seem to see everything om black and white, missing the infinite shades of gray.
You have to be kidding, Gryphen. James Randi is as intellectually dishonest as any "true believer." If evidence doesn't fit his preconceived notions, he ignores it or trashes it and its believers.
ReplyDeleteAnd where have you heard THAT before?
For those who aren't as familiar with him as I am, Randi's just the flip side of the religionist coin.
And IMO, true NONbelievers are IMO every bit as obnoxious as the true believers like Santorums. In their world, it's either black or it's either white. Nothing in between.
Well, in my world it's grey.
That's why I have no more use for Randi and his ilk than I do for the Pope and his ilk.
Carl Sagan falls into the same category for me as well. He made plenty of pronouncements on subjects about which he knew NOTHING, but got credit for it anyway because he was a scientist.
Well, scientists are famously every bit as entrenched in their belief systems as the most hidebound Christian.
I broke free from the shackles of my Catholic upbringing. I'm sure as hell not going to fall into the trap of following someone as close-minded, dishonest, equally as charlatanistic in his own way as James Randi.
Obviously, if you do, Gryphen, that's your right. But please don't ever turn your nose up again at Bible thumpers because you're guilty of the exact same mindset.
Love the Amazing Randi. Was first turned on to him in early 80's when he was debunking the faith healing industry.
ReplyDelete@11:22
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing the kiddy fiddler priest that traumatized you taught science and had a beard.
I think you have Post Traumatic False Equivalency Syndrome.
Tennessee, Tennessee, that ain't no place I'd like to be.
Anon @ 11:22
ReplyDeleteTalk about seeing things only in black and white.
You do bring up some valid issues. In Cosmos and in some of his writing, Sagan did "regurgitate" (as described by Johns Hopkins chemistry and history of science Prof. Lawrence Principe) some egregiously incorrect points he should have fact-checked. I think he got carried away by his own ego.
And James Randi is wrong about global warming. Too much skepticism can make the mind just as narrow as simple gullibility.
You sound bitter. Maybe you're just having a bad day. Notice that Gryphen allows comments which disagree with his viewpoints, something most Bible-thumpers wouldn't do. (I know, I've tried.)
Give credit where credit is due.
12:56, you couldn't be more wrong, so please take your superior attitude and shove it. Although I have zero use for the teachings of the Catholic church, and consider myself a heathen, the education I received taught me to think FOR MYSELF, instead of blindly following phony, arrogant assholes regardless of their origin.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a senior in high school, the priest who taught my religion class routinely brought in representatives of other religious belief systems so we could question them and learn from them. This priest ended up being reassigned because he protested against Paul VI's encyclical against birth control. A "diddler" of me he was not, funny how your mind went disgustingly (and illogically) there first, though.
I have read a whole lot about James Randi in my 40+ year effort to find what else is out there. I didn't like what I read. He's got a lot of people bamboozled though. But NOT me.
But by all means follow the Amazing Randi yourself, that's up to you. Just don't hold yourself up to be superior because you do.
Because you're most definitely not.
You sound bitter. Maybe you're just having a bad day. Notice that Gryphen allows comments which disagree with his viewpoints, something most Bible-thumpers wouldn't do. (I know, I've tried.)
ReplyDeleteGive credit where credit is due.
+++++++
Wrong. I'm not bitter at all. Just sick and tired of people like James Randi and Carl Sagan being given what I feel is very undeserved credit and being held out as being superior to religious belief systems, when to me they are just another type of belief system.
Didn't know Randi was an AGW denier. Very disappointing.
ReplyDelete2:19 Methinks thou doth protest too much. Why was that priest reassigned again?
ReplyDeleteI think Carl Sagan stole someone's prom date.
ReplyDeleteJude @10:33 and Anon @ 11:22
ReplyDelete"shades of grey"
You two said it much better than I did. Thanks
@Nan C 8:39... what you said. I remember watching him on tv in the 70s I think,talking about his beliefs and while I agreed with a lot of his skepticism and I loved his exposure of frauds, he was just too rigid and inflexible. He was nearly as bad as fundys with his non-beliefs. I never thought of him as a charlatan but I really think that we all have the right to our own beliefs and people believe in what they are capable of understanding. The most important thing about people like him is to get people thinking and investigating for themselves instead of blindly believing crap.
ReplyDeleteHe's one of my personal heroes as well, especially while exposing "faith healing" and "Psychics" for the fraud they perpetrate with magic tricks and gimmicks.
ReplyDeleteBeing a hero doesn't mean one believes everything that comes from their mouths as true, he leaves us to think for ourselves... the shades of grey comments are spot on.