I thought that Ken's stubborn refusal to take anyones word for, or at least to accept that word as indicative of that persons actual beliefs, was an almost unique sort of wrong headedness. None of the other debates I have observed on this thread seem to have quite such a surreal line of argumentation, and there are some pretty bizzarely surreal ones out there.
But just the other day I was reading an issue of SWIFT, the newsletter of James Randi's JREF Foundation, and came across an article which described exactly the same mindset as being widespread at least amongst those of the authors acquaintance.
Margaret Ernsberger recounts
quote:
A revelation of sorts came after I told my family and some co-workers that I am an atheist. The response that I got was not what I expected. Every single person I have told refuses to believe it. They insist that I really believe in God, but that for some reason I am simply denying it.
I wonder if this is linked to the more general psychological observation that people almost always assume their own analysis and indeed their own self analysis and self-knowledge to be superior to that of other people, a trend which is probably exacerbated if it is part of an in-group/out-group conflict.
TTFN,
WK
This message has been edited by Wounded King, 09-07-2004 10:49 AM
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