Two Examples of How You Can “Prove” Anything with Low Standards of Evidence

A lot of wacky ideas seem to be supported by evidence, but when you look at what’s used as evidence it often amounts to a bunch of unimpressive coincidences.

Take the following two examples:

1. Kubrick’s “The Shining” is his confession for staging the moon landing. Some of the “evidence” given:

We have to begin to understand Kubrick’s story from his use of symbols. As I like to say: if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a symbol is worth a thousand pictures. For it will be through the use of symbol that the real story of The Shining can be revealed.

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A cold winter storm has now blown over the Hotel. The oncoming storm is a symbol of the Cold War between Russia and the United States. Of course the Cold War is also one of the driving forces for the entire reason for faking the moon landings.

…

As Danny stands up, the answer is revealed in an instant. Danny is wearing a sweater with a crudely sewn rocket pictured on the front. On the rocket clearly seen on Danny’s sweater are the words: APOLLO 11.

The audience watching the film literally sees the launch of Apollo 11, right before their eyes, as Danny rises from the floor. It isn’t the real launch of Apollo 11, it is, of course, the symbolic launching of Apollo 11. In other words – it isn’t real.

…

May I humbly suggest that the word “All” in this repeated sentence actually stands for “A11” that is: “A-One-One”, or Apollo 11?

“A11 work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

May I suggest that the nickname, or the code name, for the faking of the Apollo Moon Missions was A11?

Accepting that this is true we can see what Stanley is really telling us:

“Apollo 11 work and no play makes Jack (Kubrick) a dull boy.”

I’ll give him one thing, though, Jack Nicholson and Kubrick do look a lot alike!

2. Lady Gaga is an Illuminati Puppet:

The symbolism surrounding Lady Gaga is so blatant that one might wonder if it’s all a sick joke. Illuminati symbolism is becoming so clear that analyses like this one becomes a simple exercise of pointing out the obvious. Her whole persona (whether its an act or not) is a tribute to mind control, where being vacuous, incoherent and absent minded becomes a fashionable thing.

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“Gaga” is probably the easiest word to say in the English language, as it is often the first sound emitted by babies trying to imitate speech. So her name basically says: I’m a lady and I’m empty-headed. This empty head can filled with any crap you want. Imitate me young people. This state of mind is achieved after successful mind control.

…

You only need to look at a couple of Lady Gaga pictures or videos to notice that she is constantly hiding one of her eyes. Most people will simply interpret this  as ”a cool thing to do” or a “fashion statement”. Those who have passed the 101 of Illuminati symbolism know that the All-Seeing Eye is probably its most recognizable symbol. The gesture of hiding one eye, usually the left one, goes way back in occult orders.

The comments  under the Lady Gaga article are hilarious, you have to read them.

These articles are both entertaining reads, but ultimately they’re just picking out anything that fits their theories. Using their standards for evidence I bet I could easily prove that Barack Obama is a Muslim or that there are hidden messages in the Bible or that Paul McCartney is dead. Oh wait…

It’s Been a Year Since I Lost My Religion

A year ago today my life began to change in a big way. On October 3, 2008 Bill Maher’s movie about religion, Religulous, was released in Canada. At the time I was a Christian, but I decided to see the movie because I was intrigued by the previews. I had never been exposed to such outright criticism of religion.

I didn’t know who Bill Maher was (honestly…people find this hard to believe), so I didn’t know what to expect. What I saw was a crass, in-your-face dump on faith. But rather than feeling offended I felt inspired by the closing scene of the movie. Maher said:

Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking…keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunacy and distruction.

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The only appropriate attitude for man to have about the big questions is not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt.

I started to allow myself to doubt my beliefs, and to consider that the Bible was probably just a fairy tale.

A short time after I had seen the movie I was in a book store and noticed Christopher Hitchens’s book God is not Great, and decided to pick it up. By the time I finished reading the book I was an atheist, and wondering how I ever believed in a god in the first place!

I was now very fascinated with the topic of religion, and picked up Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion. Dawkins introduced me to the world of skepticism of all sorts of beliefs. I discovered that there was a whole online community of skeptics.

I filled up my iPod with podcasts that allow me to learn while I’m working:

The Atheist Experience
The Conspiracy Skeptic
Hunting Humbug 101
Point of Inquiry
The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe
The Skeptic Zone
Skeptoid

I also got into reading blogs that kept me up to date on the big stories in the atheist and skeptical communities:

Bad Astronomy
Friendly Atheist
NeurologicaBlog
Pharyngula
Skepchick

And I’ve been doing my best to get a fairly well-rounded understanding of science. Some of my favourite books:

The Elegant Universe – Brian Greene
Death From the Skies! – Phil Plait
Quirkology – Richard Wiseman
Trick or Treatment – Simon Singh
The Selfish Gene – Richard Dawkins

I’m being opened up to a whole new, fascinating, mind-boggling, incredible, inconceivable, evidence-based, beautiful and awe-inspiring universe.

It has been quite a year! I’ve been taking in so much information that I needed to start this blog in order to articulate some of my thoughts, and to try to take part in what others in the skeptical community are doing. I’m learning and growing every day, and I can’t wait to see where I’m at in a year’s time.

If any of the people involved in the podcasts, blogs and books I mentioned above happen to stumble upon this blog entry, I just want to say thanks!

I think that the best thing that I’ve learned in the last year is the importance of science. Science is the most useful tool that we have, and I’m excited every time I see someone promoting it to the wider public. It seems to be on the increase and that’s so encouraging.

I’ve rambled on long enough, but I just felt the need to reflect on the past year. Thanks for reading!

Charlie Sheen Writes an Open Letter to Obama…about 9/11 Conspiracies

Here’s a weird example of why we shouldn’t be looking to celebrities as a source of information…

Charlie Sheen has posted an open letter to President Obama on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones‘s website.

Well, it’s more of a transcript of an interview Sheen did with the president…an interview that happened in Sheen’s head…yes, Charlie Sheen, the Two and a Half Men actor, has written a fictional account of himself telling the President the “truth” about what happened on September 11th.

It’s long, but worth reading simply for the wacky entertainment value of Charlie Sheen’s fantasy world. My favourite part was the end (PBO = the President, CS = Sheen):

(The Senior aide appears again beside the President whispering in his ear. He then quickly moves off).

PBO – Well Charlie I can’t say this hasn’t been interesting. As I said earlier you’ve showed up today focused and organized.  Regardless how I feel about the material you’ve presented, I must commend your dedication and zeal. However, our time here is up.

(the President rises from his chair , I do the same).

CS – Mr. President! One more second!

(The President starts towards the door – I follow him quickly step for step).

CS – Mr. President, I implore you based on the evidence you now possess, to use your Executive Power. Prove to us all Sir, that you do, in fact, care. Create a truly comprehensive and open Congressional investigation of 9/11 and its aftermath. The families deserve the truth, the American people and the rest of the free world deserve the truth. Mr. President –

(He pauses. We shake hands).

CS – Make sure you’re on the right side of history.

(The President breaks the handshake).

PBO – I am on the right side of history. Thank you Charlie, my staff and I will be in touch.

(I watch as he strides gracefully out of the room, the truth I provided him held firmly by his side; in the hand of providence.)

Charlie Sheen writing his masterpiece

You know, I just wish actors would stick to acting. He has a successful show, why does he have to bring the crazy???

9/11 was not a home-grown conspiracy. I recently stumbled upon this YouTube channel, which is debunking the 9/11 conspiracy theorists’ claims one by one. It’s fairly easy to see that the conspiracy theorists are pretty much wrong about everything.

It’s not a coincidence that this letter was put out only a few days before the 8th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. It’s despicable that these conspiracy kooks are using the anniversary to draw attention to themselves. Instead we should be remembering the victims and the brave heroes that died that day.

Air France 447 Conspiracy Theories Have Begun

Air France flight 447 from Brazil disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean this morning with 228 people on board. It’s not sure exactly what happened yet, but it’s thought to be some kind of electrical problem or lightning.

As soon as I heard this story I knew the conspiracy theories would soon follow, and godlikeproductions.com‘s forum did not disappoint:

“This is the area that has the large geo-magnetic hole. I wonder if that could have something to do with it.”

“Aircraft are struck daily, it is extremely rare for one to suffer catastrophic damage as a result. They may be getting an early start on planting a meme. Any geomagnetic or cosmic-ray events of note last night?”

“im guessing it was in the bermuda triangle correct?”

“Have you ever seen that movie or read the book. ‘The langoliers’

I think this is what happened. They hit a portal that opened up and now are in a complete other dimension or on a world where everything is 110% different.”

“There is something strange about this situation. I have never heard of planes disappearing unless they flew into another dimension such as has reportedly happened over the Bermuda triangle.Noone has ever proven it but there are those that believe that there is an Atlantean crystal of huge proportions hidden on the sea floor there that has the capacity to perturb the dimensions in the srea given the correct barometric and electrical conditions!”

“Now I’m thinking about the 50 beached whales in South Africa, could the magnetosphere have affected the instrumentation of the plane and confused the whale’s sense of direction?”

I predict a plausible explanation will come to light in the next weeks or months, but paranoid conspiracy theorists will ignore the evidence.

It’s a terrible tragedy, my thoughts are with the friends and families of the people on board.

Edit: I noticed that this post has been getting a lot of traffic, welcome! While you’re here please leave a comment, whether it’s your own conspiracy theory or if you have some relevant information to share. Are you a believer in conspiracy theories or a skeptic? I also invite you to have a look at and comment on other posts on my blog, which range in content from science to skepticism to religion and everything in between.