Xref: utzoo sci.bio:1442 sci.misc:2286
Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!husc6!linus!philabs!aecom!werner
From: werner@aecom.YU.EDU (Craig Werner)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.misc
Subject: Re: Nature article /James Randi bashing
Keywords: homeopathy
Message-ID: <1935@aecom.YU.EDU>
Date: 2 Aug 88 04:23:38 GMT
References: <10465@lll-winken.llnl.gov> <20850@beta.lanl.gov> <2444@cxsea.UUCP> <5826@dasys1.UUCP>
Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY
Lines: 40

In article <5826@dasys1.UUCP>, tneff@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Neff) writes:
> But sending Randi was an insult.  The man is a macrophage.  He makes
> his living from charlatanism as surely as Madame Zolana and her
> palmistry shop down the street.  

	Are you sure Randi isn't a Basophil?

	I can't understand the animosity people have against James Randi.
For one, he could probably make just as much money, if not more, sticking
to his first calling as a professional stage magician.  Secondly, in almost
every instance where he set out to expose charlatanism, there turned out
to be charlantanism to expose. Are people just envious of his success rate,
or is there something more sinister? 
	Now this Basophil degranulation thing is different than Peter Popoff.
Popoff was using the voice of God (actually his wife on AM radio) to rip
off the poor, elderly, and gullible.  Uri Geller's book sold millions before
Randi exposed him (and probably quite a few afterwards as well.)
	I doubt Beneviste's intentions were nearly as malevolent nor
opportunistic.  He merely ended up as the center of a clash of beliefs.

	(Hey look: I recently had the same problem.  I had a case of
Fosters' bet on a particular genetic arrangement.  I said it wasn't there.
Someone else said it was.  Over a period of three months, every well-designed
experiment I did said that I was wrong and he was right.  But I KNEW I
was right, and eventually designed and performed the ultimate 
definitive experiment that proved that reality agreed with my 
interpretation of it. That's Science.  Frankly, I didn't really care whether
I was right or wrong.  I just wanted to know for sure whether I was right
or wrong.)

	Maybe its me, but why does it seem that nearly everybody in 
sci.bio/sci.misc seems to believe in astrology, telekinesis, miracle 
cures, mythical creatures, and whatever fad is hot, and only a handful 
seem to believe in evolution, relativity, and the scientific method.

-- 
	        Craig Werner   (future MD/PhD, 4 years down, 3 to go)
	     werner@aecom.YU.EDU -- Albert Einstein College of Medicine
              (1935-14E Eastchester Rd., Bronx NY 10461, 212-931-2517)
                          "I just won't sleep, that's all."