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What is the responsibility of a Local Skeptical Group?

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Some douche meeting DJ Grothe after NECSS.

I think the goal of these [local skeptical] groups – we shouldn’t kid ourselves.  They are not professional science education organizations.  A local skeptics group does not and should not be expected to teach the public science or critical thinking.  We don’t offer courses in science, we’re not scientists and professors and people schooled in pedagogy – not all of us.  Steve [Novella] of course is and there are a number in our midst who have that background, but most local skeptics groups, yes they do a kind of outreach, but what they also are and we should be unapologetic about this for gosh sakes, they are clubs for people of like minds.  They are groups where skeptics can get together and love on one another and enjoy each others’ company and have fun over a pint or ten.  So I think we should leave it to public education organizations to do the heavy lifting when it comes to public education and these [local] groups should be supportive of those ends.  In other words, these organizations should be science boosters and as they grow and mature maybe some of them, you know, achieve non-profit status, have membership programs, can hire folks or have experts who will volunteer – they can do more heavy lifting.  Like the New England Skeptical Society does, like NCAS in DC, like Bay Area Skeptics in the San Francisco Bay area has done.  A number of other groups as well.

- DJ Grothe speaking on “The Skeptics Guide to the Universe,” episode 279 at 57:10

I like DJ Grothe on a lot of levels and for a bunch of reasons.  One of the big things I appreciate about DJ is that I think he’s willing to say things that people in the skeptical community may disagree with him on.  For a leader of a flagship organization in the movement, he seems ready to make statements that challenge the people in those organizations.  I am glad DJ Grothe has his position in the JREF and in the skeptical movement.  This particular statement from DJ has come out at time when I’m a bit sensitive on these issues and it strikes a chord for me.

It’s not that I don’t agree with DJ that skeptical organizations often function as social clubs for skeptics, it’s not that I necessarily think that’s a bad thing, but I would say I believe skeptical organizations of any size can and should do more than that.

When I was a kid, we were one Jewish family in a town with three churches.  This felt right to me.  It wasn’t comfortable, and it wasn’t always fun, but it did teach me a lesson I have carried with me my entire life.  I would eventually start meeting these Jewish kids from Jewish communities, not like, overly religious or anything, most of them were fairly reform, but everyone on their block was Jewish.  Most people in their school and in their town were Jewish. It seemed to me like these people were not living in the real world.  Living in an area where we were an extreme minority forced me to come to terms with the fact that, as a Jew, I had a background that was different from most everyone around me.  I had to learn to exist in the world around me while keeping what I felt was important about my background intact.  Because of that, as I became a skeptic and an atheist, I moved those same strategies and values I’d learned from Judaism into skepticism.  As a skeptic, I recognize that in many ways I have a perspective not shared my many of my friends and colleagues.  I believe the perspective skeptics have is an ever more important one in today’s society.  As we move further into this new century, we are going to encounter increasingly more problems where what is needed is not irrational fear but open-minded inquiry.  I believe that as skeptics, we have a responsibility to our neighbors to share our perspective on the world, and I believe that local skeptical groups have a responsibility to help their members do that.

DJ is right.  Most local skeptical organizations are not in a position to help build critical thinking curriculum for their schools, but what they can do is help prepare their members to act as skeptical ambassadors in the world.  Skeptical organizations should help their members to learn how to properly argue, both online and in the real world.  I look around online and I see plenty of skeptics who don’t know how to properly present an argument and instead do what creationists do and just leave up a link to an argument they like.  It is important to learn how to speak to someone with a contrary viewpoint, how to listen and respond without being an aggressive jerk for no reason.  It’s important to remember what your goal is when entering into a conversation.  Skeptical organizations can help us refine what those goals should be.  If, for example, a skeptic is going to argue with a room of creationists, is it more important to show them that God can’t exist and that evolution is true, or is it more important to set the groundwork for further conversation by proving to the room that not believing in God does not make someone into an amoral bastard?

I don’t have something against social organizations, but I don’t want my skeptics group to fill that part of my life.  Skepticism is important to me, but I would be lying if I said that even a small majority of my friends have come to me through skepticism.  Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy being social with skeptics and I look forward to doing it more in the future, and I have indeed formed bonds with a few people that I would never have met without skepticism.  What’s more, the values of honesty and openness are things that I look for in any relationship, and I see few places where they are valued as highly as in the skeptical community.  But these people are not what I came to skepticism for.  What I came for and what I get every day is a reason to think, tools with which to see the world around me, and a renewed appreciation of the natural world.  Even if I hadn’t made the friends I have through skepticism, I would still owe my skeptical organization for those gifts.

The grand outreach on the order of changes to education and government are almost definitely outside of the ability of any local skeptics group.  But day to day skeptical outreach, from arguing your friends into vaccinating their kids to just showing your neighbors how critical thinking helps you in your daily life, that kind of outreach is something I think all skeptics can and should do, and I would argue that your local skeptical organization can and ought to be a place where you can hone those skills.


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