Roger Ebert on new agers and creationists

[salvorhardin]

New Age beliefs are the Creationism of the Progressives. I move in circles where most people would find it absurd to believe that humans didn't evolve from prehistoric ancestors, yet many of these same people quite happily believe in astrology, psychics, reincarnation, the Tarot deck, the i Ching, and sooth-saying. Palmistry and phrenology have pretty much blown over.

If you were attending a dinner party of community leaders in Dallas, Atlanta, Omaha or Colorado Springs and the conversation turned to religion, a chill might fall on the room if you confessed yourself an atheist. Yet at a dinner party of the nicest and brightest in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and (especially) Los Angeles, if the hostess began to confide about past lives, her Sign and yours, and her healing crystals, it might not go over so well if you confessed you thought she was full of it.

New Age beliefs have largely stolen the stage from traditional religion in progressive circles. At dinner in my environs I rarely hear anyone share that they have been born again in Jesus. They may well have been, but they keep it to themselves.

They were raised to avoid religion and politics at dinner parties with strangers. Yet they assure everyone they are "a typical Gemini," were royalty in a previous lifetime, have a personal spirit guide, and have been told they will develop a serious disease but will recover from it. I rarely hear anyone share that they were a toilet cleaner in a previous lifetime and have a year to live at the most.
More: http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/12/new_agers_and_creationists_sho.html

On edit: X-Posted to GD. Not sure if it's OK to post a link (don't want it to seem like I"m rallying the troops). OTOH, if you look in my journal...

[mr blur]

1. Hey, I WAS "a toilet cleaner in a previous lifetime"

but that was the 1970s and I needed the money.

Over here you're more likely to hear people saying they've cleaned toilets than talking about Jebus. I'm glad I live here.

I was also Shirley Maclaine in a past life.

Nice piece, would go down well in Health. And a couple of other places here where the whackjobs roam.

[charlie]

2. I worry about him

Losing his voice has made his written output prodigious, and he's a startlingly good raconteur and an astute essayist. I hope he can hang on for a good long time, I'd miss him terribly if his illness took him out.

[DavidDvorkin]

3. The reactions in GD are depressing but not unexpected.

[salvorhardin]

4. Actually, I'm rather heartened

I didn't expect to see so much defense of rationality.

Although the one UK resident who didn't know the NHS funded homeopathy was a bit of a jaw dropper.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

5. I had a run in with a poster on your GD thread

He accused me of being a hateful for combating falsehoods on vaccines (or was it the moon...I don't remember). I responded that telling someone they were wrong on facts was not hateful. I asked "If you asked someone what 5+7 was and they said "57" would telling them they were wrong be intolerant and hateful?" and said poster replied "I would say they were thinking creatively" or something to that effect.

I wish I had my favorite gif around back then:

[DavidDvorkin]

7. It could have been worse

He could have said something about it being 57 in their reality. :)

That kind of talk doesn't seem to be quite so common nowadays, fortunately.

[Silent3]

8. I'd like to see what that person would think of such "creativity"...

...if they were in a store, buying two items priced $5 and $7, and a "creative" cashier rang up $57.

[realisticphish]

9. let's go open a woo store

we can set the price at the register based on "spiritual value waves"

[charlie]

10. With empty shelves

They can just "manifest" what they need.

[Warpy]

6. At least with religious people it might be a habit left over from childhood

and you can give their general intelligence the benefit of the doubt.

There is no doubt when you're talking to a crystal person or a past lifer or any of the other flavors of new age woohead: you're talking to a fool.

I usually extricate myself from the interaction as quickly as possible because the next one who tells me I have a painful and occasionally fatal illness because I want to is going to be picking his front teeth out of his rectum and I'm not rich or well connected enough to get acquitted of the assault.

[jberryhill]

11. Well.... if you would channel that negative energy against your illness.... /nt