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Feb. 4, 2014 - Skeptoid
05:46
Skeptoid #400: It's Just Science

Some pseudoscience promoters attack the messenger rather than the evidence. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Time Text
Blame Science, Not Communicators 00:05:43
It's another 50th episode of Skeptoid, and longtime listeners know what that means.
It's a musical episode.
Today we're looking at the theme of blaming scientists or even lowly science communicators like me for inconvenient facts.
But hey, don't blame us.
Blame science.
And you can do so right now on Skeptoid.
A quick reminder for everyone, you're listening to Skeptoid, revealing the true science and true history behind urban legends every week since 2006.
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You're listening to Skeptoid.
I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.
It's just science.
As a science writer, I'm often confronted by proponents of a particular belief or claim.
Sometimes they want to have a rational debate centering on the quality of evidence.
Other times, they just want to fight.
In the worst cases, they won't address the issue at all, but rather just attack me or the science community in general.
So I really have to say, it's not us, it's just science.
You're at a seance.
Say you're looking for your Uncle Bob.
But your spirit guy didn't lock the doorknob.
We bust in and flip the switch.
That's just a parlor trick.
Tell your psychic to hit the bricks.
Or you're in merry old England in the countryside.
See a crop circle.
Must be 50 meters wide.
Snap a picture quick, because we're coming with a thick, dusty coating of Monsanto up in your plant rose.
We got chemicals in here.
We got radar.
We got calibrated meters.
Every time the cheater's gonna start a new attack, we got your back.
Break up their alliance.
It's not us, it's just science.
Now your film shots and footage of an alien.
He says it's real, we say you better look again.
Check the zipper on the back and the sticker on the crack.
The ET's made out of PVC.
It's like Bigfoot.
When your buddy says, watch, he shows you 27 pixels and he says that's Sasquatch.
Or a Yeti or an ape from Mongolia.
But it's just Pareidolia.
We got analysts in here.
We got Photoshop doing our inspection.
Checking the reflections and the tricks.
Send them back where they came from.
With intellectual napalm.
Now your kid's in school and he's got a cough.
And the principal thinks he's looking kind of soft.
It's time for vaccination, but the HADA nations say they're anti-vax.
Well, we say that's whack.
They say it just feels right.
That is just common sense.
But extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence.
Anecdotes fail because of confirmation bias.
It's not us, it's just science.
So what's your star sign?
Never mind, because they'll tell you what you want to know.
Stroke your ego, put you on a talk show.
Make their psychic predictions.
But it's all fiction.
When push meets shove, they shun the fight.
Creeping back online to conspiracy websites.
Make you pay to click the link.
Banking small-time cash because they got you nothing fake.
We got logic up in here in full supply.
Bring your A game if you want to pool the skeptical eye.
If you can prove what you say, we'll make you filthy rich.
But you best not glitch.
We got a million-dollar prize if you got what it takes.
But nothing makes our day like busting fakes.
So don't frown if we mark you down for non-compliance.
It's not us, it's just science.
You're listening to Skeptoid, a listener-supported program.
I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.
Hello, everyone.
This is Adrian Hill from Skookum Studios in Calgary, Canada, the land of maple syrup and mousse.
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And that's Canadian for coffee with double cream and sugar.
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Remember that skepticism is the best medicine.
Next to giggling, of course.
Until next time, this is Adrian Hill.
From PRX.
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