Do you want a TV show called "The Skeptologists?" Then please go comment here:

[Ian David]

Please comment here:
http://www.skeptologists.com/Your_Turn.html


The Skeptologists is actively being pitched to networks across the US. Your voice helps them understand the desires of ther audiences.



Tell us what you THINK about the Skeptologists

It’s a daunting task to track down and collect all the opinions of TV viewers. We have what we know is a hit series, but in order to make it happen, we need to hear from the most powerful people affecting our success: You! You, our fantastic TV viewer. What do you think about this show concept? Have you heard of any of these talented stars? What network would you like to watch this on? Would you support the advertisers that supported The Skeptologists? Tell us here, place your comments below, we are watching and so are the networks!

More:
http://www.skeptologists.com/Your_Turn.html

Hat tip to:
Got 60 seconds? The Skeptologists could really use a bump in comments today. http://is.gd/C3aS
http://twitter.com/BrianDunning/

[Orrex]

1. Love the idea, but...

if I sat down and thought about it for several weeks, I would be unable to come up with a worse name than The Skeptologists.

[Ian David]

3. Bend over and let me check your skeptoid gland? n/t

[Ian David]

4. Shall we brainstorm alternative name suggestions?

Most of the good ones seem to be already taken.

How about Skeptical Eye for The Dumb Guy?

[Silent3]

5. Woobusters!

I'm pretty sure that's worse, and it only took me 15 seconds. :)

[moggie]

6. Oh, I'm sure I could

How about The Why Files? That's pretty bad.

Although I'd like the show to succeed, I'm a little pissed off at the "meet the cast" page on the site. Six men, one woman: and guess which one emphasises hotness? If you want to encourage more girls to go into science, this drooling attitude doesn't help.

[realisticphish]

7. well

I think the idea (though misguided) is this (The following is not neccessarily my own logic):

Just saying "math is cool" doesn't work. The idea is that girls think that being into science makes you a geek, or dork (actually, that idea is the same with guys too, but i digress). So they figure, "hey, let's show that you can be hot, cool, and still like science."

I really don't know whether this line is effective or not, and I'm not sure why it's only applied to girls. Well, I KNOW why, but I think that guys have the exact same image about science being uncool. I think it's all part of the kind of neo-feminist movement, for lack of a better term, which is all about duality. Being the successful career woman doesn't mean sacrificing looking good and having a family.

I dunno, not a woman, just my take :shrug:

[JitterbugPerfume]

2. I would watch , now that I know what it is

but I would definately not watch it with nothing but that stupid name to go on

[Codeine]

8. As long as they don't get political

I'd watch the hell out of it. Too many "skeptics" turn into Randroids when politics comes up, however.

[salvorhardin]

9. No kidding

Michael Shermer has been pissing me off to no end lately over at Skepticblog.
http://skepticblog.org/author/shermer

[realisticphish]

10. Phil is liberal, AFAIK

And Steve Novella is too, again AFAIK (though I've had more chances to sound him out on SGU)

[salvorhardin]

11. Phil is a hard read

I've met him a couple of times, but he doesn't like to discuss politics. I don't think he's "one of us" necessarily, when it comes to politics, but I don't think he's right wing or libertarian either. I think on 90% of the stuff we care about Phil is definitely with us all the way.

Michael Shermer though...

[realisticphish]

12. is Michael Shermer a libertarian?

or a right winger in general? that's kind of a surprise

[salvorhardin]

13. Shermer is a hardcore Libertarian

The Other ‘L’ Word: Why I am a Libertarian
http://skepticblog.org/2009/05/12/why-i-am-a-libertarian

How I Became a Libertarian
http://skepticblog.org/2009/05/05/how-i-became-a-libertarian

Free to Try: Education, Computers & Markets (advocates privatization of the schools)
http://skepticblog.org/2009/04/21/free-to-try

[realisticphish]

14. eesh

Being a Libertarian doesn't make you a terrible person (I'm a big fan of Ed Brayton's blog) but it's such a big tent word that I think it really makes you look like a simple contrarian rather than part of a consistent set of beliefs.

[salvorhardin]

15. I didn't say it did

However, I do question a person's critical reasoning skills when they tell me they're a Libertarian. And to be clear, I mean Big L Ayn Rand-derived, Cato-funded, Libertarianism, not the plethora of small-l libertarianisms.

I didn't know Ed Brayton was a Libertarian.

[realisticphish]

16. oh, i know you didn't

Yeah, whenever I hear Rand mentioned positively, it puts me off.

And yeah, Ed is a big time libertarian, though in a small-l way. And, since he comments on stuff not particularly related to economics, I rarely if ever have a big problem with what he says.

[salvorhardin]

18. Yeah, Ed's OK

I got to meet him too at last year's national meeting of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, although because of scheduling conflicts I never really got to talk to him. Since AU is a patchwork assemblage of theists, liberals, conservatives, Libertarians, atheists, scientists, lawyers (a lot of lawyers!), academics and just about any other profession you care to name, there's a lot of diverse viewpoints represented. In general though we're all sort of pulling for the same thing, if not necessarily in the same direction, so it's all quite congenial and nobody goes out of their way to proselytize on their cause celebre.

[onager]

17. Well, shoot, I didn't know Shermer was a libertarian. Thanks.

It's been a long time, but I've heard him talk quite a few times at the Skeptics Society. I've been thinking about getting back into some SS...heh...functions, now that I'm out of Egypt (just like Baby Jesus!) and should be around L.A. for a while.

I do have to say the SS has always had some...odd characters hanging around. And I don't mean the pathetic clutch of UFO fans who would come to meetings and yell at us for "not being skeptical enough."

e.g., look up Richard Abanes on Wiki. These days, I think he spends most of his free time at Saddleback Church with Rick Warren. Abanes calls himself an "evangelical skeptic." He's a specialist in Armageddonish cults and very good in that field.

Other than that, he's a complete dick. (No name pun intended!)

At one of the big SS weekend conventions in the 1990's, Abanes gave a lecture on cults. The next speaker after Abanes was Donald Johanson, the archeologist who discovered our great-g-g-g...grandma, Lucy.

Abanes finished his lecture...and segued right into a really screwy rant about how we were all "fundamentalist evolutionists" who refused to consider "any other evidence." (Especially scientific evidence from Bronze Age goat-herders, I'm guessing.)

People were sitting with their mouths hanging open at the sheer assbaggery of this performance. Shermer finally got him offstage, with some difficulty. By that point, he was shouting and the audience was shouting back at him. Johanson looked like somebody had dropped a T. Rex skeleton on his head.

The whole thing was just bizarre. But funny in the long run, since a good part of Johanson's talk dealt with the fundamental stupidity of creationism.

[salvorhardin]

19. Haha, it's hard to imagine Abanes at a Skeptics Society meeting.

These days he'd probably be screeching about how everyone there are consigning their kids to hell for letting them read Harry Potter books.