Skeptoid

I find almost all of these episodes to be interesting, informative, and fun. But when Brian got into sneering at people about preferences for organic and non-GMO foods, he really annoyed me. But his podcast is well researched and well thought out.

Your best ally in the never ending battle against magical-thinking, conspiracy theory peddlers and all manner of irrational nonsense. Thank you, Mr. Dunning.

Instead of gathering evidence against whatever topic they are “debunking”, they just use labels and name calling like “pseudoscience” and “fake history” as to why we shouldn’t believe them. They don’t give actual reasons as to why we shouldn’t. To me it doesn’t seem any different than what the pseudoscience groups are doing, just saying “don’t believe them because they are pseudoscientists. We are smart!” I’m no believer, but I would appreciate more depth. Seems more like they are more worried about selling their merch than anything else. Like a quarter of the length of the podcast is telling us about their store. It’s pretty pathetic.

Sceptoid used to be very short presentations of beliefs, controversies, and ideas about which many people are in error. Now the show seems much longer with what seems like a third of the program advertising and self promotion. I disagree that ads and hyping a podcast to those who are already listening to it is effective. In fact, it is insulting. And I particularly dislike the ending when someone from Santa Fe (?) or somewhere I don’t care about continues the promotion with his own endorsement.