Looks like I can post about a bit of New Year's Eve "skeptic" (as opposed to actual skeptics) fireworks and narrow-mindedness.
I have apparently been blacklisted from posting comments at SkepticBlog, one of the allegedly top blogs for alleged skeptics. Anyway, that's what WordPress tells me when I try to post comments there. (And, I checked again today; other people have posted comments since then, so this is not a generic WordPress error. The only other possibility is that WordPress doesn't like this dial-up ISP. But that doesn't make sense.)
Apparently, my last comment on libertarian and selective skeptic Brian Dunning's latest blog post, trying to poo-poo the idea that biopiracy exists (sorry, no links if you're going to blacklist me), including a snarky aside about Dunning's upcoming court date on civil and criminal fraud allegations, was too much.
I will, speaking of that, give you this link though, to a previous blog post of mine about Dunning's legal woes and their connection to his libertarianism and selective skepticism. I'll also give you this link to a blog post of mine about how I apparently had a comment on another post of Dunning's deleted a couple of months ago.
That said, Dunning's not the sole proprietor of the blog. In fact, it's theoretically headed by his fellow libertarian and selective skeptic, Michael Shermer, editor-in-chief of Skeptic magazine. So, any "block" decision ultimately falls on his hands, theoretically.
As for the "snark" of my comments, there's been more personal attacks there by other commenters in the past, including some directed at me.
So, this is a tolerance and open-mindedness issue.
And, speaking of Shermer ...
He's now a gun nut, too, while ignoring that John Lott's been refuted more than once, many more times than once, across a full decade. I'm actually glad to be banned from Skepticblog with stupidity like this, and it reminds me ever more than "professional skeptics" ... aren't; in fact, they're the equivalent of Gnu Atheists.
So, just as Gnu Atheists are a reason I don't primarily identify myself as an atheist, libertarian selective skeptics like Shermer, Dunning, magicians Penn/Teller and many others who deliberately conflate libertarianism and skepticism are another reason.
But, there's yet another reason.
More generally reasonable skeptics, like Daniel Loxton, have too narrow a definition of skepticism.
On this blog, I identify myself as a skeptical left-liberal (in U.S. terms, at least, I'm a left-liberal). That is, I apply skepticism to my own political stances and views. But, folks like Loxton don't want to apply skepticism to politics, or even too much to psychology or sociology, instead focusing on claims testable within the "harder" natural sciences only.
And, in addition to that, folks like Loxton are generally thinly informed on the history of Skepticism the philosophy. Were this not the case, and they had a deeper grounding in Philosophy 101, they wouldn't have such a narrow view of what "skepticism" is or should be.
That said, that's one blog to scratch off my reading list again. I went back there regularly about two years ago because friend Leo Lincourt said Shermer was posting less in the way of libertarian stuff there.
Well, he started again, and Dunning made up for that in spades.
And, you Skeptic's Guide to the Universe readers, you wonder why I wonder about Dunning? Or Shermer?
And, I didn't think I'd have anything to blog about more than a trip to Austin (nothing big) or Iowa caucus thoughts
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