Setting the Record Straight

Those who follow my facebook page may have seen my recent post in which I rattled off a list of things that are true – as in, are fully established facts or are overwhelmingly supported by all available evidence. Being that I was in a state of irritation from hours of dealing with Regressive Skeptics I left out a great many items that I wish I had included. This is the list I wish I had posted. For those who have seen the original, please accept my apologies for the repetition, and my thanks to the folks who pointed out conspicuous omissions. For everyone reading, if you want to challenge any of this, please note: The burden of proof is on you.

Let’s clear a few things up, shall we?

• 9/11 was not an inside job.
• Sandy Hook was not a “false flag.”
• Neither was the Boston Marathon bombing, the San Bernardino shooting, the Paris attacks, or any other bombing or shooting.
• In fact, there is no such thing as a “false flag” (as the term is used in conspiracy circles).
• We really did land on the moon.
• The Holocaust really happened.
• Fluoride in the water supply isn’t a mind control experiment – it really is just good for your teeth.
• There are no chemtrails, just contrails.
• GMOs are just as safe as conventional foods.
• Organic isn’t healthier.
• It’s not better for the environment either.
• Vaccines work and they don’t cause autism.
• Homeopathy doesn’t work.
• Alternative medicine is not medicine.
• For people who have type I diabetes, insulin is not optional.
• Pot doesn’t cure everything.
• Big Pharma is not suppressing a known cure for cancer.
• Everything is made of chemicals.
• The relative positions of the planets do not determine your personality or your future.
• The past was not romantic. Life was not idyllic, easy, healthy, or long 50,000 years ago.
• Not 5,000 years ago or 500 years ago either.
• Guns don’t make you safer.
• And jack-booted thugs are not going to kick your door in any minute now to take them away from you.
• Gay sex does not cause earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, tsunamis, fires, volcano eruptions, landslides, stock market crashes, train derailments, bridge collapses, oil spills, or anything else.
• Big Government is not secretly controlling every aspect of human life.
• Speed limits are not tyranny.
• Making health insurance affordable is not actually just as bad as slavery.
• Taxes are not theft.
• Nuclear power is safe.
• The zombie apocalypse is not coming.
• The universe started with the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago.
• The earth is a sphere that orbits the sun.
• And it is 4.54 billion years old.
• Anthropogenic climate change is real.
• Evolution by natural selection really happened. In fact, it is still happening.
• There is no evidence for ghosts, an afterlife, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, ancient aliens, alien abductions, reincarnation, telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance, precognition, the soul, demons, spirits, angels, witchcraft, or magic.
• There almost certainly is no god.

Evidence matters. Even when you don’t like it. Even when it contradicts your deeply held beliefs. Even when it makes you really uncomfortable.

Evidence. Fucking. Matters.