James Randi Coming out statement

[Lost-in-FL]

http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/914-how-to-say-it.html

http://www.forgoodreason.org/james_randi_a_skeptic_comes_out_at_81

Well, here goes. I really resent the term, but I use it because it’s recognized and accepted.

I’m gay.

From some seventy years of personal experience, I can tell you that there’s not much “gay” about being homosexual. For the first twenty years of my life, I had to live in the shadows, in a culture that was — at least outwardly — totally hostile to any hint of that variation of life-style. At no time did I choose to adopt any protective coloration, though; my cultivation of an abundant beard was not at all a deception, but part of my costume as a conjuror.

More at the links...

_______________________________________________________

Congratulations James! :party:

[Liberal Veteran]

1. How Amazing!

[BadgerKid]

2. Congrats for him!

I hadn't stopped to think about him one way or any other. Just knew about his paranormal prize offer.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. I always liked James Randi. This won't change that.

OTOH ... the reichwing Christofascists will not hesitate to attack him as a "sinner" for this.

Strength to him; he's going to need it, but he's already got plenty.

[drm604]

13. I'm pretty sure that most of them already dislike him.

I've read some of his articles and gone to his website occasionally and always admired him for fighting unreason. I never considered his sexuality one way or the other and it makes no difference to me. If anything, I admire him more for taking this courageous action.

Good for you Mr. Randi.

[Codeine]

4. James Randi kicks infinite ass. nt

[Feron]

29. Yes he does!

I'm happy that he felt comfortable enough to come out. :D

[katandmoon]

5. I've read enough about him and the way he operates to know he's a dishonest asshole. Fuck him.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ikonoklast]

7. Ha. That's a good reason to like him.

No 'woo'.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Straight Story]

10. I don't much like him either, but I do respect some of the work he has done (nt)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

11. I wonder if someone was going to debunk him?

[Lost-in-FL]

12. LOL! Tell us please, how you feel about Randi. nt

[quakerboy]

14. In what way?

Ive never heard of him before today, but what I read on Wikipedia seems to indicate he is out there exposing dishonesty. Can you elaborate on what you have said?

[katandmoon]

16. Here's a short article.

http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/whoswho/Randi_dogs.htm

There's plenty more out there. That one is but a brief example of someone following up a Randi claim and discovering his claim to be unresearched bullshit he was forced to back down from. Raindi has a cultivated a reputation of being an honest, unbiased bebunker or psychics. But in reality he's the field of parapsychology's (which has many serious researchers) version of Rush Limbaugh.

[Bolo Boffin]

17. Dog ESP? Really? n/t

[SidDithers]

18. ROFL...nt

Sid

[katandmoon]

19. The point isn't whether dog ESP exists. It's that Randi lied.

He's been repeatedly caught lying about such things. If he wants to be taken seriously as a genuine debunker, he needs to be as open and above board as the psychics he claims are frauds are not.

Apparently you don't have a problem with him being a liar, but I do.

[Bolo Boffin]

21. So whether the people Randi was talking about lied or not about Dog ESP isn't a problem for you?

Really?

[katandmoon]

22. Is not the fact that James Randi lied a problem for you?

[Bolo Boffin]

25. People lying about Dog ESP isn't a problem for you?

I don't see that Randi lied. At worst, assuming that the account of the Dog ESP liars is correct, Randi might have overstated the level of checking out he did on the claim. But he also (according to the Dog ESP liars) stated as much when called on it and then apologized.

Have the Dog ESP liars admitted to lying and apologized for doing so?

[katandmoon]

34. Nice try. You're just as intellectually dishonest as Randi.

[Bolo Boffin]

35. All you've got is someone pushing Dog ESP saying Randi lied.

And to prove that, you attack me personally when backed into a corner.

[katandmoon]

36. Randi didn't deny it, did he? He had to back down from his entirely made up claims.

Doesn't matter that it was about dog ESP. A lie is a lie. Randi lied. He made up a claim he could not support and he only admitted it when he got called on it. That is not the action of a person of integrity and honesty.

[Bolo Boffin]

38. You have presented no evidence of this AT ALL.

Have you truly not understood this yet? The only account of this sordid, 100% corrupting episode you have presented is from the Dog ESP people!

You are BEGGING THE QUESTION. And I don't like begging Dog ESP people.

[katandmoon]

39. Rupert Sheldrake is a respected scientist. That's who charlatan Randi had to back down to.

http://www.sheldrake.org/D&C/controversies/randi.html#

[Bolo Boffin]

40. By people who respect Dog ESP advocates! You continue to Beg The Question.

And now you're adding appeal to authority to your logical transgressions. Who gives a fuck about his resume? You're only presenting his description of the whole thing!

Can you really not understand this?

[katandmoon]

41. I'm quoting the actual scientist who was quoted by the "Dog ESP" people. The scientist who

performed the actual dog ESP research that Randi then blatantly lied about.

Yes, I believe this highly educated and credentialed scientist over a climate change denier like James Randi, with his long record of dishonesty. As a debunker, he's a joke.

[Bolo Boffin]

42. And deeper and deeper you go into your trench.

Goodbye, katandmoon. Enjoy your bitter heart.

[Codeine]

46. Rupert Sheldrake is most assuredly NOT

a respected scientist. He's a whackjob.

[DavidDvorkin]

20. That's a parapsychology site

It's devoted to boosting woo-woo nonsense. Of course they don't like Randi.

That's rather like saying you despise Obama and giving us a link to Fox News to support your statement.

[katandmoon]

24. No, you are the one emulating Fox News by ignoring the fact that James Randi lied.

[Bolo Boffin]

26. Your only evidence for Randi lying is the account of Dog ESP liars.

Why should we believe them at all?

[DavidDvorkin]

30. I'm waiting for proof that he lied

An assertion to that effect by parapsychologists is not proof.

[roguevalley]

43. agreed. I loathe him. makes himself a good living however.

[SDuderstadt]

45. Ummm, Sheldrake is, to put it mildly, woo....

putting it more harshly, hs is batshit crazy.

Morphic field
"Morphic field" is a term introduced by Sheldrake. He proposes that there is a field within and around a morphic unit which organizes its characteristic structure and pattern of activity.<12> According to this concept, the morphic field underlies the formation and behaviour of holons and morphic units, and can be set up by the repetition of similar acts or thoughts. The hypothesis is that a particular form belonging to a certain group which has already established its (collective) morphic field, will tune into that morphic field. The particular form will read the collective information through the process of morphic resonance, using it to guide its own development. This development of the particular form will then provide, again through morphic resonance, a feedback to the morphic field of that group, thus strengthening it with its own experience resulting in new information being added (i.e. stored in the database). Sheldrake regards the morphic fields as a universal database for both organic (living) and abstract (mental) forms.

That a mode of transmission of shared informational patterns and archetypes might exist did gain some tacit acceptance, when it was proposed as the theory of collective unconscious by renowned psychiatrist Carl Jung. According to Sheldrake, the theory of morphic fields might provide an explanation for Jung's concept as well. Also, he agrees that the concept of Akashic Records, term from Vedas representing the "library" of all the experiences and memories of human minds (souls) through their physical lifetime, can be related to morphic fields,<13> since one's past (an Akashic Record) is a mental form, consisting of thoughts as simpler mental forms (all processed by the same brain), and a group of similar or related mental forms also have their associated (collective) morphic field. (Sheldrake’s view on memory-traces is that they are “non-local”, and not located in the brain.)<14>

Sheldrake's concept has little support in the mainstream scientific community. Members of the scientific community consider Sheldrake's concept to be unfalsifiable and therefore scientifically faulty. Thus outside the scope of main stream science, the concept Morphic field falls into the realm of pseudoscience.<1><15><16>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Sheldrake

[SDuderstadt]

44. WTF?

Huh?

[frogmarch]

9. I always knew

that his beard was part of his conjuror's costume.

I'm glad Randi, whom I very much admire, has publically announced he is gay. More power to him! :thumbsup:

[Bolo Boffin]

15. Son of a gun.

One more reason to like James Randi!

[GCP]

23. Good for Randi

Welcome into the light!

[blogslut]

27. Cool

Good for Mr. Randi.

[derby378]

28. Within the community of skeptics...

...Randi's sexuality was something of an open secret to those of us in the know. As far as I'm aware, none of the skeptical community leaders (I was President of North Texas Skeptics for a few years) ever mentioned Randi's orientation to the public. We just didn't feel there was any necessity for it. It's his life, and his choice. And now he's made it.

I've always loved Randi. He was one of my earliest influences from childhood.

[SidDithers]

31. I'm glad he feels comfortable enough to be public about who he is...

and saddened that it took him almost 70 years to be able to do it.

Sid

[Odin2005]

32. Congrats, Randi!

[AnnieBW]

33. Next Pseudo-science disproved:

That homosexual people choose to be that way.

Good on ya, James! I may not always agree with you, but I admire your courage.

[KonaKane]

37. Does this mean he and Uri Geller can finally go and have a drink?

That is, and leave all the spoons on the tables alone and in an unbent position?

[Quezacoatl]

47. I like him

but this is no surprise. My dog told me weeks ago that Randi was going to do this.