SCEPCOP
| Style over substance Pseudoscience |
|
| Popular pseudosciences |
| Random examples |
| —Founder Winston Wu, on RationalWiki[1] |
The Scientific Committee Exposing Pseudo-Skeptical Cynicism of the Paranormal, or "SCEPCOP," is a website created by "Vinstonas Wu" (a.k.a., Winston Wu), an admitted diagnosed schizophrenic,[2] to help champion every crazy idea which lacks any corroborative evidence whatsoever. It is the woo and crank answer to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). The heart of the site seems to be based around a screed written by Wu in 2001 that purports to show why standard skeptical arguments against the paranormal are wrong.[3] Apparently not one to shy away from self-promotion, most of the site is a shrine to how wonderful the document is and how it is the single greatest thing to happen to the anti-reality movement since hallucinogenic drugs.
The mythic antagonist that the site fights against is the pseudoskeptic, which it seems to define as anyone who doesn't believe that personal testimony, anecdotal evidence, and white noise equate to proof of everything paranormal. The site also features a forum that seems to be the home for everyone kicked off James Randi's forum. The main topic appears to be how much James Randi sucks and how soon can they kick out any "skeptics" that show up.
The site is infrequently updated. The associated forums are the most dynamic portion of the site; however, even they have only a few active users.
Committee members[edit]
The website promotes several individuals as SCEPCOP committee members. These include:
- Vinstonas Wu — the founder of the site, a fervent self-promoter, and author of the much thumped article "Debunking the Arguments of Pseudo-Skeptics and Debunkers". Wu has been involved with the internet skeptic community since the heyday of sci.skeptic on the Usenet. He has several long-running conflicts and writes long diatribes about former debate opponents on his personal websites.[4]
- Victor Zammit — a lawyer and woo promoter for near-death experiences. Zammit has a strange parallel with creationist lawyer Phillip Johnson, as he approaches evidence purely from a "legal" perspective. He writes his material from the standpoint of presenting it to a sympathetic judge and claims that the legal admissibility rules are the pinnacle of standards of evidence. He also blatantly copies James Randi by trying to offer a "million dollar prize" to any skeptic who can refute his claimed evidence. In order to get your million dollars you must convince a committee of believers that you have refuted the evidence "beyond any doubt".[5] With such a marvelous loophole Zammit, of course, will never be called on to pay and the whole thing reeks of grandstanding and misinformation.
- John Benneth — apparently some sort of magician with a penchant for homeopathy. Benneth runs a website called Science of Homeopathy, based on the much vaunted Time Cube design paradigm. Benneth is also apparently obsessed with James Randi and offers a "$100,000 prize to prove that Randi's challenge is legitimate."[6]
- Brian Josephson — contracted the Nobel disease
See also[edit]
- WikiSynergy, the now-dead site where a lot of Wu's ideas were presented.
External links[edit]
- The anti-skeptic website in question
- They don't like RationalWiki — But on the bright side, hey, it's publicity!
- At least they don't like fundamentalist Christianity