The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #77142 Message #1378806
Posted By: Jim Dixon
14-Jan-05 - 02:16 AM
Thread Name: BS: Fact vs. Factoid: What to believe??
Subject: RE: BS: Fact vs. Factoid: What to believe??
I've been looking for materials and information you could use to teach skepticism.
First, a brilliant documentary: An episode of Frontline from 1993 called Prisoners of Silence (click for a summary; from there, follow a link to a complete transcript). About "Facilitated Communication," a method that was believed (and is still believed by some) to enable severely autistic people to communicate, but which was shown to be bogus in a devastatingly simple experiment. It sympathetically shows how well-intentioned people can manage to fool themselves.
Some organizations and publications:
'Skeptic' magazine and the Skeptics Society
'Skeptical Inquirer' magazine and the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
James Randi Educational Foundation
Quackwatch (but I see this has been posted before)
Bob McCoy and the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices - right here in Minnesota! This one is a lot of fun. The sheer number and variety of devices and theories is amazing.
(It's been fun, and I'd love to find more, but I've got to get to bed!)