By Norm R. Allen Jr.
Certainly, Black skeptics are to be found among members of such groups as the Black Skeptics. However, when many people think of skeptics, they think of individuals such as Michael Shermer, organizations such as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, or CSICOP), and publications such as the Skeptical Inquirer.
Such individuals, organizations, and publications are primarily concerned with examining paranormal claims such as beliefs in ghosts, ESP, astrology, Earthly visitations from extraterrestrial aliens, cryptozoology (supposed creatures such as Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster), telekinesis, UFOs, etc. To a lesser extent, these skeptics are concerned with critiquing fringe science, bad science and pseudoscience.
Very few people of African descent have been attracted to groups of skeptics, and few have subscribed to skeptical publications. There are many reasons to be considered when pondering this situation.
Most White skeptics tend to be hopelessly Eurocentric. They speak and write glowingly of the Enlightenment and its ideals, yet offer no strong critiques of its limitations or shortsightedness. Moreover, many White skeptics tend to embrace conservative libertarian ideas about politics and economics; and many support evolutionary psychology, which is a discipline that some people view as having racist and sexist implications.
When most White skeptics speak or write about issues involving people of African descent, they do not focus on anything positive. They tend to disparage African culture as they critique juju, witchcraft and other superstitious beliefs.
White skeptics are quickly dismissive of any idea that sounds like a paranoid conspiracy theory. However, some Black skeptics actually embrace such theories. Others understand that, given the history of White supremacy, it would be foolish to be closed minded when talk of conspiracies arise.
Most White skeptics believe that genuine conspiracies cannot take place in ostensibly democratic nations such as the U.S. However, conspiracies have already taken place. The best known example is the Tuskegee experiment, in which African American men were left untreated for syphilis for decades. When confronted with this fact, most White skeptics tend to downplay it and/or dismiss it as a mere aberration.
However, this was no mere aberration. There have been many such conspiracies throughout Western history. For example, tens of thousands of U.S. citizens have been sterilized without their knowledge and against their will. Writing for the Associated Press, reporter Renee Elder states:
“More than 7,600 individuals were sterilized in the state [of North Carolina] under the eugenics program that ended in 1977 and largely targeted individuals who were young, poor, uneducated, mentally ill or Black. Some victims were as young as ten.”
She continues:
“Nationwide, there were more than 60,000 known victims of sterilization programs, with perhaps another 40,000 sterilized through ‘unofficial’ channels like hospitals or local health departments working on their own initiative.” (“NC sterilization victims urge fair compensation,” The Final Call, 7-26-11, page 4.)
The bottom line is that most White skeptics consider the government to be more benign and less powerful than do Blacks. African Americans are more likely to be aware of the history of government agencies—including the army—in spying on African Americans, and, in some cases, destroying African American organizations and undermining African governments. This disconnect will continue to assure that the numbers of Blacks interested in joining mainstream skeptics groups will be low.
Black standup comedians from Richard Pryor to Eddie Griffin have joked that UFOs never land in Black neighborhoods. It is true that Black people throughout the world do not generally give much thought to UFOs or profess to have been abducted by extraterrestrial aliens. (Even Louis Farrakhan’s Mother Plane tale is deemed absurd by most Black people that are aware of it).
However, the main reason Black skeptics are not obsessed with UFOs and other paranormal claims, is because such beliefs are relatively benign. After all, Black people have never been oppressed in the name of Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster. We have never been lynched by Martians or enslaved by astrologers. Black skeptics are primarily interested in fostering skeptical inquiry as a methodology in order to combat oppressive ideas and institutions, such as reactionary religions. That is one reason why, other than astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson, there are no other truly well-known Black skeptics.
Furthermore, White skeptics have never made any sustained efforts to promote skepticism among African Americans, or to attract African Americans to their ranks. Still, African Americans should learn to be skeptical as a habit. This includes skepticism of paranormal claims. We should not buy into paranoid conspiratorial thinking. On the other hand, it would be foolish to ignore genuine conspiracies contrived against us.
Just wanted to post this as far as Evolutionary Psychology(and Darwin) is concerned:
ReplyDeletehttp://rationalrevolution.net/articles/darwin_nazism.htm
It's a long read, but worth it in my opinion, especially for black freethinkers who take knee-jerk reactions to any mention of evolution.
I know I'm really late on this post, but I'm just coming back here after a while. I liked some of what BS writes here but I remain largely unconvinced by the argument. Too much of this post struck me as the same old establishment blaming that black folks have engaged in for decades. I'm not saying that the white skeptics community pays enough attention to the black community or that when they do that it's always the "right" approach. But I'm sorry, I'm just not convinced this is a significant factor in the lack of interest in the black community in skepticism and free thought. It's not white skeptics' fault that most black people have a deep connection with religion, if not actually church. It's also not their fault that our community has such little interest in the sciences or that our interest in reading tends to be limited to subjects such as self-help, "Buppie" novels, sex and romance dramas and afro-centric revisonist screeds; when we read at all. All of these things and more explain why our community is amongst the least receptive to skepticism, not the attitudes of white skeptics. Attributing this kind of influence to white skeptics both exaggerates their role in putting blacks off from skepticism and absolves black people from our own failing to embrace what has become a growing trend in the last 4 or 5 years. I don't think that this kind of quasi afro-centric critique of white skeptics does anything to advance the cause of furthering black skepticism;a cause I embraced over 20 years ago, utterly undaunted by white skeptics not specifically talioring their message to appeal to me. I think that this type of criticism is emblematic of the weakness of much of establishment critique. This isn't discrimmination in hiring, it's not possibly biased college entrance exams, nor is it law that disportionally affects the black community. This is about free thought and the willingness to embrace it or not. No institution or laws are responsible for black people not embracing skepticism, black people's own disinterest is responsible. As black skeptics, we need to acknowledge this so that we can have an honest and uncompromised view of what we're up against.
ReplyDeleteThought-provoking. Thank you Norm.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't provoke any thoughts in me. It simply made me wonder where the writer is getting his statistics. "Most White skeptics"? Would you care to back that up? And the comments about evolutionary psychology being racist and sexist are complete hogwash.
ReplyDeleteIf we're going to encourage more Black people to get involved in skeptic groups, writing unsubstantiated crap about White skeptics isn't going to bridge the gap. And I doubt very much that an "unwelcoming attitude" from those already in the movement has anywhere near the influence over Blacks' involvement as the Baptist Church and their own culture does.
So Sheldon, are you white?
ReplyDeleteagree with Andrew and Sheldon.
ReplyDeletethere's nothing new here; only more 'us' versus 'them' thinking. One may as well ask: Where are all the Gay, Korean, and Mexican Skeptics?
I just goes to show that even without religion there will still be more tribal/in-group/out-group thinking.
I never could stand the skeptical movement, ever since I was a student of Paul Kurtz in 1974. But the problem with white skeptics is not that they're white, but that they represent a technocratic elite that grew hand in hand with Cold War liberalism, a rather different bunch from old radicals such as E. Haldeman-Julius who operated prior to the McCarthy era. The "skeptics" were never on the cutting edge of anything. When I was studying the history of scientific racism in 1975, they were worried about astrology and spoon-bending. And many of them are historically, sociologically and politically illiterate, purveying pseudoscientific nonsense of their own, like Shermer, Harris, and Dawkins. It's rather important to understand who rises to the top and why in bourgeois society: to put it down as simply black vs. white is to remain at a superficial level of analysis.
ReplyDeleteBlack Skeptics have always been around. They are those who fought against global white supremacy by doubting the authenticity and indeed the legitimacy of global white supremacy and all aspects of its implementation within black cultures.
ReplyDeleteIt is a bit of inaccurate western European boasting to assert an absence of Afrocentric thought relative to the overall evolution of what we call science today, especially in light of the anthropological and archeological proofs presented that clearly reveal that the oldest bones on earth were found in Africa. The evolution of African thought ( i.e. dealing with objectified nature ) includes that of the ancient Egyptians whose symbolic forms of communication, or their writings encompass a basis understanding of the existence of things outside of themselves. The air and gamma rays are represented by their beliefs that certain gods gave air to breathe, and healthful and healing rays emanating from the sun.The Egyptians clearly demonstrated an understanding of the existence of a micro, and macro worlds. For any scientist to assert that African thought does not found a basis for contemporary empirical science aren't demonstrating a full knowledge of the evolution of empirical science today. The atom smashers of today are still following the sub-atomic tell tale imprints of nature's seemingly infinite retraction from one conceptually identified thing to another completely dispelling the existence of a nihilistic philosophy.
ReplyDeleteThe western world has very little use for a science that doesn't produce things that mankind can use thus empirical science or the science of sense impressions proceeds through experimentation and observations as hypothesis to theory to law.We value things and many of the things that we value from medicines to automobiles have been created via this kind of inquiry into objectified nature.Empiricism proceeds from a basic "ex aliquo aliquid fit" assumption that "from something something comes", and a seeming silence by African Americans doesn't necessarily mean that we are silent on the subject and are not practicing a scientific skepticism of contemporary scientific methodology. African Americans question and also doubt much of the fruits of empirical science. It is this kind of doubt that continues research into the wise usage of many of our inventions even after their creation and reproduction have met the stringent test of being established as scientific law.
ReplyDeleteAd Summins Skepticae Scientificae
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing having to do with an American scientific practice that is not a priori or a posteriori of western European origin from the Pre-Socrates to contemporary empirical scientific practices. The whole of American scientific endeavors is nothing more than a continuation of Western European scientific methodology inquiries into the nature of things. All scientific discoveries stemming from the practice of empiricism in America belong to Western European science derived from Western European thinkers. Our technologies in total do not deviate from this basic empirical science epistemological premise from our atom smashers, to our cell phones, to our rocket ships, to our sophisticated telescopes in outer space. There is no need for a new science, and it is doubtful that we can ever break with the course of our existing science. Existing scientific practices will answer, or has answered all questions. Given the power of our science, why don’t we have a unified field theory in all disciplines, especially genetics and medicine? If we can postulate, and act upon a premise that man is nothing more than a collection of sub-atomic particles temporarily suspended in three dimensional space, plus the axis of time, why can’t we speak competently to how we dovetail with the rest of the universe? When we investigate that which is presently investigable both microscopically and macroscopically in nature, we see unity of energetic purpose. There is a relationship of the parts to the whole. Everything works together to keep the universe from flying apart. We have not properly applied this scientific knowledge to improve the longevity of mankind in this environment.
(c) 2017, Pelvo White, Jr.
Stephen Hawking
ReplyDeleteStephen William Hawking CH CBE FRS FRSA, Theoretical Physicist, was an English theoretical scientist, cosmologist, and author, who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge at the time of his death. Hawking, an empirical scientist, was influenced by the work of Dr. Albert Einstein. Hawking was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge between 1979 and 2009. Dr. Albert Einstein was an influence to doctor Stephen Hawking. Einstein studied many things that were interesting to Professor Hawkings. Einstein's theory of relativity, which is about how gravity and spacetime and how they interact, is a big part in modern physics. Doctor Hawking used the theory to study black holes and singularities. The publications of Dr. Hawking are: ( 1 ) The Large Scale Structure of Space- Time; ( 2 ) Physics Today, volume 27, Issue 4, pp 91-93; ( 3 ) Particle creation by Black Holes; ( 4 ) Communications in Mathematical Physics; ( 5 ) The illustrated and brief history of time;( 6 ) Black hole explosion; ( 7 ) Nature, volume 248, issue 5443, pp 30-31; ( 8 ) Wave Function of the Universe; and ( 9 ) 'Brief Answers To The Big Questions' Is Stephen Hawking's Parting Gift To Humanity The physicist's posthumous book. In science, empirical evidence is required for a hypothesis to gain acceptance in the scientific community. Normally, this validation is achieved by the scientific method of forming a hypothesis, experimental design, peer review, reproduction of results, conference presentation, and journal publication.It is fair to say that Aristotle, a student of Plato was the founder of empirical science, the science of sense impressions, but the development of a scientific process resembling the modern method was developed by Muslim scholars, during the Golden age of Islam, and refined by the enlightenment scientist-philosophers. Hawking, an atheist, in his final book declares that there is no god.Hawking's conclusion does not follow from the totality of his empirical scientific practice which hasn't explained the systematic dovetailing of observable objectified natural phenomenon connected to create a universe that hasn't flown apart. The discoveries of empirical science are no substitutes for the reality that both Einstein and Hawking were born into. This apriori reality is still superior to all of the discoveries made by these two scientist who only managed to manipulate the building blocks of reality not thoroughly explain their interconnections. Hawking's conclusion of no god rings hollow and is no more that a nod to the efforts of contemporary scientific empiricism in reaction to being defeated by the tremendous work of god.
The words " Artificial ", and " Intelligence " are both deliberate, deceptive, euphemistic misnomers for robotics. Nothing in reality is " Artificial ". We human beings are incapable of creating artificiality because the building blocks of ourselves, and the things that we create are real. Intelligence", human thought, is what intelligent tests measure, and, in this case, the "Artificial Intelligence" presently being measured by intelligence tests has absolutely nothing to do with " reality ". this is why a reality, any reality, can be manipulated in this way. Inventions presently known as AI are dangerous technologies, and should be greatly regulated by federal, and state governments.
ReplyDeleteAmerica Should Not Accept an Illegal Autocratic or Dictator Quidquam Political Structure Born Out of Trumpism
ReplyDeleteWorld thoughts about the metamorphosis of an American democracy that was once thought of as a monolithic political structure ad infinitum, to an Autocracy or a Dictatorship wasn’t often thought about, and I remember a few spirited debates I had with some of my university poly-sci professors about the vulnerabilities of our U.S. Constitution, and its Amendments. The evolution of chattel slavery in America reveals that the African slave was brought into another man’s house( i.e. House is a metaphor for political entity ) without understanding all aspects of this house from a historical western world, and eastern world political world views, especially the political changes that can be made to a colonizing, pseudo- democracy that was actually meant to be a Trump’s way of thinking has opened doors to yet other understandings of eastern, and western world domination of others in an environment of western, and eastern world white supremacy, and white privilege. The word Quidquam is a Latin pronoun meaning “anyone” or “anything”, and refers to the adaptability of our political, and economic systems to the desires of the voters. The American democracy as practiced in its totality, through all of its workings of ideas fuse to define the political logic of a Quidquam. The American Quidquam has been defined as a democracy through the thoughts, and actions of many differing past United States of America presidents, but always as a democracy, never as an autocracy or dictatorship. President Elect Donald Trump has come to power advocating an autocracy or dictatorship not a democracy. It is this inherent ability of our western world democracy to be able to metamorphize from one form of government to yet another form of government which helps to define this present illegal Quidquam in American politics. The logic of how a democracy lends itself to the suggestion of an autocracy, or dictatorship arises out of learned speculations, and deep insights, and beliefs of the origins of eastern, and western European world history even before the political discussions of men like Socrates, to Plato, to Aristotle, on down through history, and up to today, and also through understanding the thoughts of the Frenchman, Rene’ Descartes’ thoughts about recovering the world by communicating his meaning of the Latin phrase “ cogito ergo sum “, which means “ I think therefore I am “, thereby claiming that it is his ability to think, and thought itself that justifies his claim to his knowledge of his being. Descartes contended that thought is being.
Trump won his campaign by responding appropriately to the perceived thoughts of the western world politically prepared voters who still believe in a white supremacy, and white privilege America. American voters, due to their readiness to reject contemporary democratic ideals which have helped to advance the political, economic, and social being of all Americans, to include African Americans, along with their accompanying supposed Christian ethics, was, and is prepared mentally to accept a western, and eastern world European autocracy or a dictatorship as forms of political rule which will increase their existentialism.