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View Full Version : [Video] Stossel - Skeptic Or Believer




cswake
12-17-2010, 11:33 PM
Takes on 9/11 truthers and God! Sure to piss someone off in this one. :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wav6ifPmKRQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4F6CY5JIOM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSsuQ0m4Z1k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI9R5GPwjII

ClayTrainor
12-17-2010, 11:40 PM
This should be a fun one to watch, thanks for the links.

James Randi is an awesome individual, I'm a big fan of much of his work.

dannno
12-18-2010, 12:26 AM
Hah, I'm guessing he classifies 9/11 truthers as "believers" rather than what they really are, which is skeptics. Ahh well, most of his shows are really good.

dannno
12-18-2010, 01:08 AM
lol, part 2 on religion, are those guys both RPF members??

So ya.. 9/11 is in part 1, very short.. lame argument. If the "Bush Admin" pulled it off (which is a collectivist statement, most knowledgeable 9/11 truthers don't assume Bush knew anything about it), if "Bush" pulled it off, then they would have F'd it up.. but ya, 19 guys in a cave in Afghanistan, those guys, those guys are could pull it off!! Not a trillion dollar military and intelligence industrial complex, but 19 guys directed by a cartoon character in a cave :rolleyes:

dannno
12-18-2010, 01:19 AM
Part 3 on managed funds.. wow, what a TRIP!! Was that girl for real? She didn't seem to know anything..

TheTyke
12-18-2010, 01:48 AM
That show was quite amusing, though it was too short and chaotic to really definitively prove the religion or 9-11 debates. I felt the atheist dude appeared flustered and grasping, and the priest made a few good points but ultimately fell short too. I would have liked to see him lay out several organized arguments, even if he didn't have time to flesh them all out. I have to wonder, don't they teach Thomas Aquinas anymore?

There have been so many conflicting claims about 9-11 that I have trouble taking the theories seriously... right when it happened I remember people saying "the planes never even existed, look I got charts" or "it was actually drones" etc. until it settled on an uneasy legend of thermite & demolition that we have today. Ultimately I choose not to spend time on it because, 1) We can all agree that it was used as an excuse to grow government, and 2) You will never convince enough people to be a catalyst for a massive shift in policy/public opinion (ie. to make an actual difference) 3) Any belief, whether true or false, perceived as extreme is an opportunity for ones enemies to very successfully marginalize them.

Our country was taken over by people getting elected as "moderate, mainstream" Americans, then actually voting for extreme government control/corporatism/special interests. Though our intellectual studies provides us with an understanding of what policies will improve our situation, absolutely no actual policy changes can be expected until we succeed in winning elections.

thasre
12-18-2010, 01:53 AM
I have to wonder, don't they teach Thomas Aquinas anymore?

Hahaha, I take it you're not actually Catholic. One of the big fallouts in the battle between traditional Catholics and progressive Catholics following Vatican II has been the de-emphasis of Scholastic Theology in the past 50 years or so. So, no, it's rare to find priests who have more than a cursory understanding of Thomistic philosophy.

TheTyke
12-18-2010, 02:05 AM
Hahaha, I take it you're not actually Catholic. One of the big fallouts in the battle between traditional Catholics and progressive Catholics following Vatican II has been the de-emphasis of Scholastic Theology in the past 50 years or so. So, no, it's rare to find priests who have more than a cursory understanding of Thomistic philosophy.

Ahh, that makes sense! I actually am, though raised in a more traditional setting. We avoided most of the modern Catholic education and did it ourselves. I understood also that there was a rift between the philosophy taught at certain Catholic colleges as opposed to others. I haven't studied Thomas Aquinas deeply, but enough to admire his logic and consistency. That is why I chose these beliefs - there seems to be a logical answer for everything if one digs deeply enough.

Just surprised Catholics & Christians of today place so much emphasis on intangible (you just feel the spirituality!) or circular (the Bible is inspired because it says so!) arguments instead of using logic and observation to prove God's existence beyond a reasonable doubt.