If a Picture Speaks a thousand words...

I am really sick to death of paranormal groups and pages on facebook sharing the following meme:

Could you picture a more condescending and contemptful image?  It immediately sends a smug message. "We know ghost exist.... don't you? Oh dear, how ignorant of you."

Infuriating. Can you imagine skeptical groups sharing the same image captioned "My face when someone tells me they believe ghosts exist." That group would quite rightly be labelled douche bags.

The latest group to share this meme particularly irritated me. Ghost-Hunters-West-Vlaanderen-Belgie, claim to be a "research service". I'd question what kind of research they are conducting, because sharing this image distinctly gives the impression this team have already made their minds up. Ghost exist and they can be communicated with. "How dare you question this concept? How ignorant of you to believe that the absence of empirical evidence suggests the contrary!"

Perhaps instead of taking this condescending and arrogant attitude, this "research service" should present some of the research they've  been conducting, because there isn't a shred of it on their FB page, which mostly consists of commonly shared memes that you find on any common paranormal page. Where's the research guys? You must have some really convincing stuff to be so confident.

A visit to the team's website likewise yields little to no actual research. In the gallery section of the site can be found one snatch of supposed EVP and two sub-fifteen second videos, of which I have no idea are what they are meant to show. This isn't research. Its clear that this group is going into people's homes judging by the statement from their home page, clumsily translated below, and doing the usual paranormal investigation shtick judging by the videos and audio in their gallery.

So where are the write-ups of these investigations? Where is the collected data?

I decided to check the teams "reviews" on their facebook page, in the hope that some previous clients have perhaps left some comments or even data from investigations conducted in their homes by the team. What I found was unsurprising and indicative of the paranormal scene on social media at the moment.

The reviews section almost entirely comprises of 5-star reviews left by other pages and groups, either requesting return "likes" or thanking the team for their "like". If you are adverse to back-slapping skip the next few images:

This mutual love in continues through almost all the 54 reviews. There isn't a single comment from someone the team helped and crucially, not one person asking where the team's research is.

This is paranormal unity for you. Its a like farm. "You like my page... I'll like yours. You ignore the fact I offer nothing in terms of evidence...."Rather than "unity" the paranormal field should take a leaf out of the book of mainstream science. Peer Review. Several groups are doing this, and well, but they are treated with hostility in most cases.

This is leading to an area of interest, a field, where ideas are no longer challenged. This unity and mutual support is also leading to a smugness amongst some of these groups. They shouldn't be claiming to do research, for them the conclusions have been reached and there are hundreds of other groups with thousands of members to back them up!

Hooray for unity!

Get ready to see that arsehole meme a lot more. Perhaps the greatest irony about it is that it features the portrayal of one of pop-cultures' most famous scientist/inventors. I wonder what Tony Stark would actually think about the methods used by ghost hunting teams in general?

Anyway.  Here's what I've been posting in response to the meme:

Sure, its a bit juvenile to respond in this way, but it makes me feel a bit better about being condesended to.

As for Ghost-Hunters-West-Vlaanderen-Belgie, they just got their first one-star review on FB asking why there's no trace of any research on their page, why its a carbon copy of almost every other paranormal page on FB with recycled memes and posts. Hopefully they take notice, echo-chambers aren't the most interesting or challenging dwelling places.

Bullshit Top Trumps. Sharing Science With Believers.

Part of the problem with the paranormal/supernatural believer community is that it is simply too easy to claim expertise in a field. How often on these pages and websites do you hear claims such as "I have psychic abilities...." or "I'm a medium...." or my personal favourite "I am a demonologist!" I absolutely love it when people claim to be "demonologists! Why? Because anyone, and I mean anyone, can claim to be an expert in something that almost categorically does not exist!  The reason these people do this is to gain an air of authority in discussions with other believers. I've seen countless discussions that run like this:

Believer A "Well I think x is a ghost!"
Believer B "You are wrong! It's a demon! I should know... I'm a demonologist!"
Believer A "Well I'm psychic so....I say ghost."

Its like Bullshit Top-Trumps. Demonologist trumps believer. Psychic trumps demologist.

Ed and Lorraine Warren: A demonologist and a psychic. Why? Because they say so! Also not a bad hand in bullshit top trumps!

A common result of this posturing is that the people making these claims have to shelter their "authority" from scrutiny. That means they become quite hostile towards people who have actually STUDIED an academic subject.  This threatens the fragile sense of achievement they have built for themselves, the level of aggression I have personally experienced from experts in their own lunchtimes has been truly shocking, especially if you ask them to display their expertise, or test their abilities. Frankly, they don't like being put on the spot because they fear their hollow boasts will be exposed. Their game of bullshit top trumps is ruined, when any actual academic disciplines are brought to the table.

This is actually quite a shame, when I talk about science, I don't do this to run anyone's nose in the dirt or threaten their self-made status... I do it because I am passionate about science and I want others to be passionate about it too.

Unfortunately, these debates often provoke the same response in casual observers "Well everyone has an opinion, and they all are equally valid!" Well this may be fine when arguing about "...was it a ghost.... or a demon... or a chupacabra?" Things that all in probability don't actually exist, but this limp post-modernism simply doesn't hold when discussing science. There is no democracy in science, not all opinions are equally valid. It isn't fair, and nor should it be! As Richard Feynman said:
"It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong!"The consequence of this is the science advocate can often come across as rather strident, unrelenting and uncompromising when discussing science with a paranormal believer. That means that if you chose to discuss science in these circles, you're not likely to win much support, you are likely to anger and offend the less secure participants in the circle, and your stay is likely to be short and not end well. It doesn't matter how civil you are, talk about science on these sites and dare to be confident in your assertions... and you will be gone, probably after you've been accused of bullying and harassment, all while being exposed to the sort of prejudice and discrimination that would never be tolerated if it were directed at someone based on race, gender or sexual orientation.

This is what has happened to me countless times, a recent encounter resulted in a complete idiot commenting on every single post I made despite her having nothing of any value to add, and attacking me for sharing a link to a science site so people could check what I was saying. To a lot of believers, the greatest offence is encouraging others to think for themselves. Ironically, one of this woman's frequent claims was that I, and others, were "juvenile, yet she happily goes by the name "Debbie Doo Doo's". Hardly the apex of maturity. The admins of these groups will almost always be biased towards the believer, they set these pages up to shelter their beliefs from scrutiny in many cases.

So, with all this said, why keep going back? Why submit to more abuse? Well, the answer is, the paranormal community DESPERATELY needs people who aren't afraid to talk about science and the scientific method, the skeptic is a vital voice when discussing these matters. Also, remember, when you talk to these people about science, you may well be banging your head against a brick, but there could well be a lot of fence sitters reading that conversation who you ARE getting through to. Maybe they haven't thought about science since leaving school, maybe  they haven't learnt how to examine paranormal claims scientifically. These people need your voice! That is why I do it. That's why some of them will. maybe. start doing it too.