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Sociology Courses | January 18, 2006

Sociology of Violence

Grissom gives a short lecture on gender-based violence as an International problem.

"Although aide groups, and even governments, are working on this issue internationally - providing medical care, encouraging education and research, and lobbying nations where gender-based violence needs to be addressed in a different manner, it is still a pressing, dire issue."

"My question to you is this - should there be International laws that specifically prohibit gender-based violence? Should certain crimes be given harsher sentences in the courts as a deterrent? Would it be helpful to have these type of laws at all? Is treating women differently an insult in and of itself?"

"I know some of you come from... places, in which gender is not the same issue as it is here on Earth. If that is the case, please feel free to speak in generalities and refer to oppressed groups as a whole. We will be moving on to that type of topic next class."

Homework: Read Legacy of Hate:
a short history of ethnic, religious, and racial prejudice in America by M.E. Sharpe for Monday. It's only 328 pages, you should have no problems finishing that in a prompt manner.

Sociology of the Paranormal

Grissom gives a lecture that relates to evaluating paranormal claims, and then has the students push the desks into a rather sloppy circle formation.

"Okay, now to see if you were paying attention, I'd like each of you to select one 'myth' I outlined in the lecture, and share your thoughts on it.'

[The link directs you to a lecture that outlines these 16 'Myths of Skepticism'. Each is explained in more detail there, if you want to just scroll down, but winging it is also totally acceptable.]

Myth #1: Theories cannot be proved, they can only be disproved.

Myth #2: Science is a self-correcting system.

Myth #3: The data speaks for itself.

Myth #4: Extraordinary hypothesis require extraordinary evidence.

Myth #5: There is one universal scientific method.

Myth #6: Science is our best method of acquiring knowledge.

Myth #7: Scientist are more intelligent than average, and better than average problem solvers.

Myth #8: People may not be perfect with reasoning, but training in the use of formal methods of reasoning, and particularly knowledge of science improves that reasoning.

Myth #9: Skepticism makes one less vulnerable to errors of reasoning or illogic.

Myth #10: Believers in the paranormal are thinking in primitive, childish, misguided and uninformed ways.

Myth #11: Believers in the paranormal don't want to give up their comfortable belief system. They are afraid to think independently and need the security blanket that all such belief systems provide.

Myth #12: Failure to accept the findings of science, or a general tendency to believe in paranormal or fringe claims is a sign of intellectual weakness, mental illness or sloppy thinking.

Myth #13: Just show me the data and I'll believe it.

Myth #14: A skeptic should also be an atheist, or at least agnostic, since belief in a deity is incompatible with the truly skeptical mind.

Myth #15: Being a good skeptic means being a debunker.

Myth #16: Skeptics are defending science and reason from a rising tide of irrationality.

"There will be some doubling-up, due to the numbers of the class."

Homework: I'd like you to interview someone from Fandom about a paranormal experience they have encountered. You must determine the who, what, where, and when, as well as ask them three additional questions. ~~And remember, extensions are easily granted to those who offer cookies.~~ This is due on Monday, and if you get stuck, remember, I can always help arrange an interview for you.

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Welcome.

Marty goes over the list and picks #3. "For 'The Data speaks for itself'? That can't always be 100% true. Data can often be skewed by any person's point of view, whether it be scientific analysis, statistical data or just a plain old newspaper article."

Lana chooses Myth #13: "Just show me the data and I'll believe it."

"And yet, some skeptics have said that with any other area of study 1/10th of the data would be enough to convince them, but that in regards to the paranormal 100 times the evidence will still not be enough."

"My problem with number 13 is that data can be so skewed.

I can prove that chewing bubble gum causes a guy to get an erection. All I need is to ask a bunch of teenage boys if they chew gum and then ask them what happens when they see their girlfriend. Biologically one has nothing to do with the other, but I can say '95% of guys who chew gum also get a woody, therefor one causes the other.'

Data is only as good as the circumstances under which it is collected and the reason it's collected. You can't say 'eating apples causes cancer' by standing outside a cancer clinic and asking how many of the cancer patient also eat apples."

Shep figures his second example might be slightly less harsh than his first, but he's fairly sure he's made his point.

Lana grins at his examples, only rolling her eyes a little. Then she passes him a note.

Forgiven me for last night yet? :)

Shep writes on the bottom of the note and passes it back.

Only since today is Paranormal day. If I actually had to sit through sex cultures today there might have been issues.

He actually signs it with a smiley face.

Lana reads the note and smiles over at him.

One more class, then self-defense club...

Self-defense club day brings back good memories.

And I have a single now.

Plans?

Jake picked Myth #15: Being a good skeptic means being a debunker. "I don't think skeptics should or could only disprove stuff, they should be open to proving stuff as well, otherwise they're not so much skeptics, me thinks, as someone with a very set mind. I mean, if you go at everything with the opinion that 'this cannot be true", that's totally what you're going to prove. Um. Yeah."

Mac decides to think about myth #7: Scientist are more intelligent than average, and better than average problem solvers.

"That's just a vast generalisation, they aren't necessarily any more intelligent than someone who takes humanities, or arts. Their brains may work around a problem in a different way, and may be better at different aspects, but it really depends on the person and isn't necessarily measurable or comparable."

Bel chooses Myth #6: Science is our best method of acquiring knowledge. "Where I come from, magic is used to acquiring knowledge," he said. "We have seers and oracles and crones who can get information through mystical means."

Walter snickers at #10: Believers in the paranormal are thinking in primitive, childish, misguided and uninformed ways.

"And that's just how we want the majority of people to believe. It makes it that much easier to shield the masses from the truth."

"I pick myth fourteen, "A skeptic should also be an atheist, or at least agnostic, since belief in a deity is incompatible with the truly skeptical mind." I think someone can be intelligent and investigate what's around them and still come to the conclusion that there's some kind of a higher power."

Stark chose Myth #10: Believers in the paranormal are thinking in primitive, childish, misguided and uninformed ways.

"The idea that something cannot exist just because you don't understand it is much more childish, much more misguided, than the admitting that there are things you cannot explain that still exist."

Cordy chooses myth #6.

"'Science is our best method of acquiring knowledge.' I find that pretty hard to believe. Science is a pretty fluid thing, and is constantly changing as things are being discovered, so can we use the science of now to say that paranormal activities don't exist? Maybe science will prove that wrong in a hundred years, but what about now? As for it being the best method od acquiring knowledge, what about first-hand experience? Seeing it with your own eyes? As long as you're not the type to shut your brain down when you encounter something unusual, that is..."

Lyta looks down at her notes which are, surprisingly, becoming more legible by the day. "Myth #12: Failure to accept the findings of science, or a general tendency to believe in paranormal or fringe claims is a sign of intellectual weakness, mental illness or sloppy thinking," she says, reading off the page. She looks up. "The problem with science is that it can't provide all the answers -- there are still things that we don't know, still things that aren't quantifiable or classed by the scientific community.

"Belief in the paranormal can also be a cultural or a learned behavior, passed down from one generation to the next. Or, until science can be used to explain a phenomenon, belief in the paranormal can provide the human brain a means of coping with what might stretch concepts of reality."

Glancing down at the last, she blanches. "And people don't think sloppy," she adds. "They just think randomly -- hopping from one idea to the next. If their logic is flawed...well, that would be something else."

Paige chooses myth 7, although she's mildly worried about offending Grissom.

She makes an intelligent comment about how many scientists tend to measure things in a more quanitifible than qualifibly way which is likelt to lead them to miss key issues when studying the paranormal. And also that it's a sweeping generalisation.

"I chose myth 10. Everyone wants to believe in something, who are we to say that it's wrong? Also, there is no proof for or against the paranormal, so maybe both sides are right. Childish is refusing to believe just because it goes against your ideas."

~~Lyta offers a golf-clap in support of Broots.~~

Piper chooses Myth #12: Failure to accept the findings of science, or a general tendency to believe in paranormal or fringe claims is a sign of intellectual weakness, mental illness or sloppy thinking.

"I think this is a very narrowminded point of view and it's clearly not true. In fact, I think people who believe this are sloppy thinkers."

Rose chooses #13, thinking back to her adventures with the Doctor. "Just because people see something doesn't mean they'll believe it. I could tell someone that aliens came to the planet, show them one even, but they won't believe it unless they want to. Denial can be a very strong motivator. "

"I think Myth #7 is totally wrong," Jaye says. "A lot of people who are all intelligent figure they know too much to actually believe what they're seeing, or they come up with tons of ways to not believe it."

#15 Myth #15: Being a good skeptic means being a debunker.

She shakes her head. "That's like saying a good skeptic cannot believe in anything. It's foolish. You have to accept some basic premises to be able to handle the world at all."

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Sociology Courses | January 18, 2006

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