The Association for Rational Thought is a new organization committed to encouraging clear thinking in all walks of life. ART encourages the investigation of paranormal and pseudo-scientific claims from a responsible, scientific viewpoint and the distribution of the results of such investigations to the public. You are cordially invited to become a charter member of ART.
Please Note: We are Meeting April 25, not April 18, as Earlier Announced
To avoid conflicting with the CSICOP Seminar, "Magic for Skeptics: Trickery and the Paranormal," Lexington, Ky., April 17-19 (see information on page 3), the ART Annual Meeting has been moved from April 18 to April 25. The First Annual Meeting of the Association for Rational Thought will be held on Saturday, April 25, at 10:00 AM at the Greenwich Tavern and Restaurant on Gilbert Avenue (Driving instructions elsewhere in this issue).
The program will include a brief business meeting to elect and install new officers for the coming year, an opportunity to learn about and volunteer for ART committees, and a presentation by Oran Dent, psychologist and stage magician, who will delight mind and eye with "Similarities Between Military Deception and Stage Magic." All members are encouraged to come, vote, and meet the new slate of officers. Any one who joins and pays dues through April 25 will be included in the roster of ART Charter Members and will be eligible to vote at the Annual Meeting.
Everyone is invited to join Oran Dent and the new officers for lunch at the Greenwich Tavern after the meeting. The officers will meet following lunch to begin planning for ART's second season of rational thinking. Peggy Borger will present the treasurer's report and a report on incorporating ART, and Virginia Jergens will report on plans for the newsletter.
ART met on Saturday, March 21, at the Greenwich Tavern to adopt by-laws and hear a lecture by Robert A. Baker, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Kentucky, CSICOP Fellow, and author of several books, including They Call It Hypnosis and Hidden Memories, which examine the unintentional collusion of patient and therapist in producing nonfactual "memories." The ability of average human beings to deceive themselves because of a lack of information about how the normal brain functions is bottomless, according to Prof. Baker. Because of this ability, skeptics are surrounded by a sea of ignorance, superstition and credulity. Commercial media cash in on ignorance by pandering to audiences' fears, particularly fear of death, promoting superstitious belief while attracting large and profitable audiences. The delusion that interests Baker most now is the belief in ghosts, the belief in the ability of the dead to return to earth, appear before the living, and influence earthly affairs.
Baker thinks that people believe in ghosts because of an overwhelming desire to believe in life after death. The belief in life after death is accompanied by a strong expectation that events evidencing life after death will occur. Thus a believer is not at all surprised to find the ghost of a favorite aunt rocking in her favorite rocking chair--the believer expects such events, and therefore is more likely to think of ghosts than of drafts. Believers in ghosts also lack knowledge of normal brain function. The common delusion of the spectral figure at the foot of the bed upon waking or going to sleep is an effect produced by normal brain processes. A person who has not been introduced to these normal processes in a course in introductory psychology, however, may well believe the illusion is a ghost, because of expecting a ghost rather than a normal glitch in perception.
Belief in ghosts might be considered a harmless comfort and amusement, but a that is not always the case. Baker reported an incident in Ohio in which teenagers sighted a "ghost" in a graveyard. Repeated sightings resulted in the arrival of the police, who saw the apparition, hailed it, and upon receiving no answer, shot it, thus ending the life of a early-rising, deaf baker on his way to work shortly before dawn.
Prof. Baker concluded his tales of Kentucky ghosts and ghostbusting by showing slides of well-known, alleged ghosts, accompanied by explanations of how the photographs had been faked. Altogether an entertaining and enlightening lecture for the skeptics gathered companionably in the dim reaches of the Greenwich Tavern.
ART has an enormous job to do in the tri-state-- pseudoscience, gullibility, and ignorance permeate the media as well as the population at large. You can do something to promote scientific, rational thinking by volunteering to work on one of ART's committees. Many hands make light work! Join the committee of your choice at the annual meeting, or call Peggy Borger, 351-0921, and let her know what your preference is.
Lexington, Kentucky, Friday-Sunday, April 17-19, 1992.
Joe Nickell and Robert A. Baker, Lecturers.
Learn about the history of magic and its association with the paranormal, magic tricks and perception, mentalism and the tricks of psychics. Joe Nickell, former stage magician and private investigator, now teaches technical writing at the University of Kentucky. Robert A. Baker, professor emeritus of psychology at UK, is the author of several books and a well-known ghostbuster. For information, contact Barry Karr, CSICOP 716-636-1425. ART members Joe Gastright (581- 7315) and Porter Henry (221-5106) are going--call if you want to go with them.
Copyright 1992-2005, The Association for Rational Thought