Pick your anti-scientific poison.

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2006-09-20 05:41am

After messing with Wikipedia, I came across the article on Antiscience while reading the article on ID. It mentioned New Age movements, then compared them briefly with Fundamentalist movements. It made me think of course, and I like reading what others think.

What's worse? The 'Any belief is valid, I don't need any damn proof' New Age garbage... or the 'Only my belief is valid, I don't need any damn proof' Fundamentalist trash?

Both lead to bad medical treatments, demogaugery and a disdain for rationality.. but what is truely worse? Anarchy of a thousand completely irrational opinions with no centralized structure, or a single monolithic belief system focused on one specific set of opinion?

Of course, Fundamentalism is more dangerous IRL now, but what of the anti-science movements of the 60s and 70s? Don't forget them either. Just imagine if they're worse? Pick.

Post by **Broomstick** » 2006-09-20 05:59am

Fundamentalism is worse, because it can lead to armies marching in lockstep.

New Agers are so anarchic they couldn't organize a frisbee game, much less a crusade, so the damage they do tends to be on the individual level rather than as massive hordes.

Civil War Man · Post by **Civil War Man** » 2006-09-20 06:12am

To it's credit, the Newage (rhymes with sewage) "every belief is valid" schtick as a result can't really advocate murdering everyone who doesn't agree with you without being a little too schizophrenic.

Basically, I say Fundamentalism is worse because at least Newage antiscience, if it were in charge, wouldn't have genetic engineers burned for being witches.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2006-09-20 07:31am

Where's the 'Start my own belief and make money' option?

Pick · Post by **Pick** » 2006-09-20 08:23am

I accidentally clicked the wrong one. I believe fundamentalism is far, far worse. New Agers tend to have similar ridiculous convictions, but they're not really organized in the same way as traditional religious fundies. Additionally, they don't have any unified doctrine, so each one can still be convinced on individual topics much more easily.

darthkommandant · Post by **darthkommandant** » 2006-09-20 08:35am

I accidentally voted for new age but after rereading the question I find fundamentalism far more dangerous since they would form a theo-fascist government while new age guys would probably be just as mornic but would not force their stupidity on others unlike fundies. However in sheer stupidity their about equally dumb.

Post by **Simplicius** » 2006-09-20 10:21am

Fundamentalism, as the anarchic nature of New Age-ism makes it more easily rejected.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2006-09-20 10:25am

Fundamentalism. New Age is far far too scatterbrained to even begin to organize anything meaningful, and most disregard it. Fundamentalism on the other hand has the same crackpot level ideas but with actual force and power behind it.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2006-09-20 11:45am

And New Ageism is less arrogant in that they go "all our nonsensical bullshit is more valid than your science, feh! you are wrong" rather than "MY nonsensical bullshit is more valid than ALL your sciences and religions! Feh, you are ALL wrong!"

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2006-09-20 11:50am

New Age people are just eager to believe in whatever will make them happy and unwilling to dismiss anything. That's pretty damned harmless compared to fundies. You're never going to see a "We all have our valid points of view" crusade or jihad.

Post by **weemadando** » 2006-09-20 05:17pm

Fuck. Picked the wrong one. The thread title deceived me. I thought that we were choosing our particular route. Not the one we hated more.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-09-20 05:32pm

Fundies, by far. New Agers entertain me and also don't make me feel the world could end with them pulling the trigger. Fundies, however, are a powerful and malevolent force.

Post by **Coyote** » 2006-09-20 05:45pm

Fundies organize to spread evil, New Agers organize only as much as necessary to organize naked rites-of-spring fests.

I'm in favor of the naked rites, hairy-armpit granola chicks and all, over brainwashed nazified theozombies any day.

Post by **weemadando** » 2006-09-20 05:50pm

Fundies are by far worse. I kind of like New Agers. Their funny and I can make a lot of money from them by selling bits of rock or crappy "spirit paintings".

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2006-09-20 06:01pm

New Agers are a lot more friendly and fun to be with.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2006-09-20 06:03pm

The woo-woos are annoying, but, as a general rule, they don't try to kill people. The woo-woos win.

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2006-09-20 06:10pm

New Agers are very quirky but otherwise quite amiable and harmless. Religious fanatics are less quirky but like to kill people who don't think like they do.

Ryushikaze · Post by **Ryushikaze** » 2006-09-20 08:50pm

Darth Wong wrote:New Age people are just eager to believe in whatever will make them happy and unwilling to dismiss anything. That's pretty damned harmless compared to fundies. You're never going to see a "We all have our valid points of view" crusade or jihad.

No, but I would pay good money to see one.

And yeah, Fundamentalism is far far worse than newage crackery ever will be.

Lord of the Abyss · Post by **Lord of the Abyss** » 2006-09-20 08:58pm

The New Agers, at worst, are likely to hurt or kill me in a well meaning, misguided ( and therefore likely avoidable ) fashion; plus they are disorganized. The fundies are more organized, and are likely to hurt or kill me on purpose; and since I'm an atheist, they are likely to make a point to come after me, personally.

Fundies are worse.

Ryushikaze wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:New Age people are just eager to believe in whatever will make them happy and unwilling to dismiss anything. That's pretty damned harmless compared to fundies. You're never going to see a "We all have our valid points of view" crusade or jihad.
No, but I would pay good money to see one.

Reminds me of a line from an old James P. Hogan story : "DEATH TO INTOLERANCE ! !"

Post by **Simplicius** » 2006-09-20 09:25pm

Only three identified misvotes out of a total of fourteen for New Age-ism. I wonder, what could be the reasoning behind the other eleven?

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2006-09-20 09:32pm

Reasoning? One I came up with is that a chaotic set of beliefs with no uniformity or central authority is harder to fight than one with a uniform set. If you disprove XYZ and keep mashing, you can hammer it in.

Meanwhile, you can't quite do that when there's fifty variants of whatever-ism running around.

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2006-09-20 10:39pm

Fundies.

New Age philosophies can be combatted with rigorous academic artillery. We will fight Pomo in the classrooms, on the Quads and Campuses and even in academic journals!

Fundies don't read academic journals, they burn them. They don't listen to peoples points of view, and thus are static in their own. Thus they are a larger threat to society and a greater obstacle for modern rationalism to overcome.

Ariphaos · Post by **Ariphaos** » 2006-09-21 06:33am

Simplicius wrote:Only three identified misvotes out of a total of fourteen for New Age-ism. I wonder, what could be the reasoning behind the other eleven?

Possibly people not bothering to notice or post their mistake. I nearly misread it as "Which do you like better?" given the topic title.

New ageism is a rather pure example of a crutch belief, and is rather harmless. I get the impression, though, that early Christians believed and were considered in much the same manner, given the Roman's penchant for equating 'Christian == cretin == stupid' . Likewise, some cults have grown to become quite dangerous in the past.

defanatic · Post by **defanatic** » 2006-09-21 08:36pm

Fundies are worse, but I clicked on new ageism due to lack of sleep and believing it was "Pick YOUR anti-science poison". Kind of confusing.

Lancer · Post by **Lancer** » 2006-09-21 08:54pm

Fundies are worse for society, but with regards to the question asked by the poll, new agers hurt my brain a lot more.

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