-RRH-

Hi. I write a column called "Heaven and Hill" and I'm thinking of writing an overview of how to recognize misinformation, with examples all from religious subjects.

I'm thinking of including the "She said no" thing from Columbine, Nostradamus misquoting, and a justification of feng shui I was e-mailed.

Anyone have other good suggestions?

Also, I remember an article that appeared on infidels.org but I can't remember the specifics. It was someone who decided to verify a particular quote from an author, but could not find this quote in anything of his writing. The "quote" was more likely a crude paraphrasing of a character's statements. Anyone know of what I speak?

Corwin

Check out <a href="http://www.urbanlegends.com" target="_blank">the urban legends website.</a> If I remember right there's a very good article there explaining where urban legends come from and comparing them to more traditional mythology and folklore.

Undercurrent

I'd add on magnetic bracelets, the cell phone-brain cancer connection, the breast impant-lupus connection.

<a href="http://www.randi.org" target="_blank">James Randi</a>'s site offers many amusing examples of misinformation of the pseudoscientific variety.

m.

Bill

You are probably thinking of <a href="http://www.secweb.org/asset.asp?AssetID=42" target="_blank">Dostoevsky Didn't Say It</a> by David E. Cortesi.

== Bill

Automaton

This isn't pseudoscience! It's in dispute whether or not the radio-frequency part of the spectrum causes cancer, but that certainly doesn't mean this research is not a scientific enterprise.

-RRH-

I'm looking also for good ways to classify the type of misinformation.

For example, the Dostoevsky incident is an example of someone being misquoted because the quote is never sourced. The "she said yes" thing from Columbine is an example of great emotional impact over-riding conflicting testemony. The Feng Shui is a false analogy between chi and electromagnetic forces.

I'm trying to give advice on improving one's bulls**t detector.

-RRH-

Thanks Bill.

Sojourner553

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RRH:
Hi. I write a column called "Heaven and Hill" and I'm thinking of writing an overview of how to recognize misinformation, with examples all from religious subjects.
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Just some thoughts:
(1) How Magicians and Con-Artists Only count the Success and not the Failures
(2)The "Psychic" Variation on the Classic Stock Market Scam.
(3)The "Large Numbers" Game--or The "Someone, Somewhere" Scam

<a href="http://mac-2001.com/philo/crit/QUACK.TXT" target="_blank">http://mac-2001.com/philo/crit/QUACK.TXT</a>

Check out a rebuttal to McDowell's Trilemma Proof that Jesus is the Son of God:
<a href="http://mac-2001.com/philo/crit/RESPONSE.TXT" target="_blank">http://mac-2001.com/philo/crit/RESPONSE.TXT</a>

General biblical critism can be found in Section II sorted by event (Birth, Resurrection, etc)
<a href="http://mac-2001.com/philo/crit/index.html" target="_blank">http://mac-2001.com/philo/crit/index.html</a>

Sir Nevah Entitar

<a href="http://www.snopes.com" target="_blank">http://www.snopes.com</a>

Sojourner553

What a great site!

Sojourner