• Mick

    How to Debunk Quotes 

    by
    Mick
    Published on May 23rd, 2011 12:14 PM
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    Quotes are a very effective means of getting a message across. You can say "you know that Ghandi said ..." and it gives what you are saying an air of authority.

    But frequently quotes are not what they appear. They are sometimes fake, sometimes subtly paraphased, and nearly always taken out of context. In short they are frequently bunk, and they need debunking.

    Debunking a quote is a straightforward process.
    0. Check to see if it's already been debunked.
    1. Find the original source
    2. Establish the context of the quote
    3. Establish the meaning of the terms, allusions and references in the quote and context
    4. Explain the meaning of the quote
    5. Give a single sentence debunking (which you can back up the the above)
    Optional Steps
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    Abusing Statistics about Homosexuality 

    by
    Mick
    Published on January 26th, 2011 11:55 AM
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    The topic of same-sex marriage is highly charged. The religious right are strongly opposed to it, and seem to feel so strongly about it that they think it’s okay to suspend the ninth commandment: “thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour”

    One lie in particular is quite blatant; the claim that heterosexual married couples have practically no problems of domestic violence and partner abuse, while for homosexual couples the problem is pervasive, even hundreds of times more pervasive.

    Widely referenced to support this claim is the US Department of Justice 2000 report Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence. Now this initially seems like an odd report to quote, as it does not support their claim, it actually says:     ...
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    What the Bible says about Debunking and Skepticism 

    by
    Mick
    Published on January 4th, 2011 02:12 PM

    I was raised Catholic in England. I realized at around age 15 that there was not actually any good reason for believing in God, so I stopped.

    But I've always been interested in the influence the Bible has on the lives of people. It's really a mish-mash of mixed messages, often quite horrific messages in the Old Testament. But many people claim to use it as the foundation of their philosophical and moral world view. Yet I feel that the most effective argument against Christianity for many people comes from a full reading of the Bible from beginning to end, so you can really get a sense for what's going on in there. The stories on exchristian.com have several examples of this.

    What I was wondering, is what the Bible's advice or opinions on Skepticism and Debunking might be. So I had a trawl. I'd noticed in 2 Peter 3:3 that the word "scoffer" or "mocker" (Greek ἐμπαῖκται, empaiktai = mocker or deciever), was used for one who demands evidence of the second coming. The bible writer here seems to be warning against those who would doubt what it says. Jude also repeats this.

    It's interesting then to see all the instances of this word, and what the Bible is saying. In many instances it reminds me of debates between believers and skeptics - and more often of discussions that believers have amongst themselves.
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    Dead Bird Panic - How Media Focus Distorts a Subject 

    by
    Mick
    Published on January 4th, 2011 07:55 AM
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    The dead birds that cropped up in Beebe were unusual. But the only unusual thing about them was the sheer number and the proximity to people. While birds dropping dead is nothing new, having 5,000 drop dead, and having it happen over a town, is pretty rare.

    Most of the US is uninhabited, so normally when these things happen, nobody notices, except maybe a farmer. The bird carcasses are quickly consumed. It's like it never happened, regardless of how large the flock of birds happened to be. This time of course, a very large flock of blackbirds met an unexpected end, and it just happened to be right over town, so lots of people were disturbed, making an interesting story for the media.

    As with any such story, once it goes big, the media gets a taste for it and becomes hyper-sensitive, and will willingly report on any related topic, no matter how small, even up to the national level.

    Thus the "dead birds" stories begin to show up:
    ...
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    Hairless Animals Look Like Chupacabras 

    by
    Mick
    Published on January 3rd, 2011 04:27 PM
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    Over and over the press gets a hold of a story about some weird creature that can't immediate be identified, because it's lost its hair.Is their reaction "animals without hair are hard to identify"? No, it's "Mysterious Alien Chupacabra Mutant found dead!!!!!".Media, please stop. It's just an animal that has lost its hair because of death or disease. That's it. If you would wait a few days then you can put up a front page story about "hairless dead dog found in river", should you think that's a reasonable story. Here's the very latest in this venerable line of stories, from Jan 3rd, 2011.
    LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife has determined the mysterious hairless animal we first told you about last week in Nelson County is a hairless raccoon.Fish & Wildlife officials made the connection by matching biological features.They don't know why the raccoon lost its hair, but say there's no question about the species.
     ...
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    Dead Blackbirds Fall From Sky, Prompting Bunk 

    by
    Mick
    Published on January 2nd, 2011 12:04 PM
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    On January 1st 2011, thousands of dead birds, mostly red-wing blackbirds, were found in Beebe Arkansas. The cause of this sudden rush of bird deaths is unknown, but there were several plausible explanations.
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40874105/
    Commission ornithologist Karen Rowe said that similar events have occurred elsewhere and that test results "usually were inconclusive."
    The birds showed physical trauma, said Rowe, who surmised that "the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail."
    The agency also said another possibility is that New Year's Eve revelers shooting off fireworks in the area could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress.
    Note what she said: "similar events have occurred elsewhere".
    ...
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    Pseudojournalism 

    by
    Mick
    Published on January 1st, 2011 03:55 PM
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    The skeptical community is very familiar with the phenomenon of pseudoscience. Pseudoscience (from the latin pseudo - fake) is something that claims to be science, but in fact does not follow the principles of science. There are many well followed topics in pseudoscience: perpetual motion, zero point energy, hexagonal water, ESP studies, intelligent design, and many more.

    I was looking into a taxonomy of the sources of bunk, and of course pseudoscience was one of them. But I felt something was missing. There was no category in which to put the work of Glenn Beck, Fox News, or overly enthusiastic Local TV stations. While their stories sometimes fell into the usual categories (alternative medicine, pseudoscience, paranormal, etc), there were many that were obviously bunk, but more so because of the way the story was presented, rather than the actual story itself.

    For example, the stories about the "ground zero mosque", constantly contained many factual inaccuracies, statements that were not verified or were taken out of context, and blatant insinuations. It's a pattern of inaccuracies designed not to rise to the level of conspiracy theory. It's designed to resemble journalism, so that it seems credible. But it does not follow the basic principles of journalism.

    It's pseudojournalism.
    ...
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    The Case for Preemptive Debunking 

    by
    Mick
    Published on December 30th, 2010 05:40 PM
    Fema Coffins

    Skeptics and debunkers often take a reactive role. When something crops up that's got some bunk in it then they take some time to explain what the problem is, pointing out where the believers are in error. The amount of effort put in by the skeptical community is proportional to the amount of exposure a topic gets. High profile topics like 9/11, homeopathy, and UFOs get a lot of attention from skeptics, but low profile topics like chemtrails and FEMA coffins get far less attention.

    This is partly because the topics seem such obvious bunk. Chemtrails are just persistent contrails, and FEMA coffins are just stored grave liners. However the people who believe in these various theories seem to take them very seriously, and are going to quite considerable lengths to promote the theories.

    Such topics are easy to dismiss when they exist outside of the mainstream, when nobody has heard of them. But if they make the leap out of obscurity, and suddenly acquire a mass of mainstream coverage, then they grab their claws into the minds of millions more people. And once those millions of people start to suspect a theory, it's very difficult to turn around.
    ...
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    Contact 

    by
    Mick
    Published on December 28th, 2010 04:04 PM

    A Guide to Debunking 

    by
    Mick
    Published on December 28th, 2010 03:54 PM
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    Debunking, according to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary
    “To expose the sham or falsehood of a subject”
    When you debunk an assertion, you are demonstrating that the reasoning, or the claimed facts, behind that assertion are false. You look and see what they are claiming, you identify which bits are true and which are not, then you explain this.

    Debunking is NOT about taking one side of an argument, and then using whatever means possible to convince someone that you are correct. A good debunker is a good scientist. If there’s information that contradicts your position, then don’t ignore it, instead you should alter your position. ...
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    Privacy Notice 

    Published on December 28th, 2010 10:24 AM

    The following discloses the information gathering and dissemination practices for Metabunk.org's ("Metabunk") website (the "Site"). We reserve the right to modify the information contained herein at anytime without prior notice. If we do make changes to our privacy policies, we will modify this page accordingly. Check this page periodically for amendments. This site and all information and materials on it are provided to you "AS IS" without warranty of any kind.
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    Digital Millennium Copyright Act Policy 

    Published on December 28th, 2010 10:16 AM

    Notice and Takedown Procedure

    It is our policy to expeditiously respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This page describes the information that should be present in these notices. It is designed to make submitting notices of alleged infringement to Metabunk.org ("Metabunk") as straightforward ...
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    Website Terms of Use 

    Published on December 28th, 2010 09:48 AM

    PLEASE REVIEW BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE - IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE, DO NOT USE THIS WEBSITE.

    General Description

    Welcome to the Metabunk.org (Metabunk). The mission of Metabunk is to provide educational resources for individuals and organizations including research and advocacy on science, scientific skepticism, accuracy in the media, and debunking, (the "Services") through our website available at metabunk.org (the "Site"). To provide the Services, we have to set out some ground rules for using the Site in this document (the "Terms"). By accessing, using, or contributing to the Services or the Site, and in consideration for the Services we provide to you, you agree to abide by the Terms.
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    Why use the word "Debunk" 

    by
    Mick
    Published on December 28th, 2010 07:23 AM
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    Why do I use the word "debunk", and not "skeptic"?

    Because "skeptic" is not a verb.

    This site is about doing skeptical analysis, about skeptical activism, about skeptical investigations. It's about the best ways to find and present the best evidence, and the soundest scientific work and theories. Debunking is an active verb - debunking is about doing these thing. Simply being skeptical just sounds too passive.

    Now "debunk", one might argue, has got a bit of a bad rap. Some people use the word "debunker" to mean someone who dishonestly argues for a particular position, regardless of the actual facts. Such a person might, in conspiracy culture, be described as a government or corporate "shill".
    ...
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