A debunker is an individual who attempts to discredit and contradict claims as being false, exaggerated or pretentious. The term is closely associated with skeptical investigation of, or in some cases irrational resistance to, controversial topics such as U.F.O.s, claimed paranormal phenomena, cryptids, conspiracy theories, alternative medicine, religion, or exploratory or fringe areas of scientific or pseudoscientific research.

Etymology

The American Heritage Dictionary traces the passage of the words bunk (noun), debunk (verb) and debunker (noun) into American English in 1923 as a belated outgrowth of "bunkum", of which the first recorded use was in 1828, apparently related to a poorly received "speech for Buncombe" given by North Carolina representative Felix Walker during the 16th United States Congress (1819–1821).

The term ''debunk'' originated in a 1923 novel ''Bunk'', by American novelist William Woodward (1874–1950), who used it to mean to "take the bunk out of things."

Often the term "debunkery" is not limited to arguments about scientific validity. It can also be used in a more general sense at attempts to discredit any opposing point of view, such as that of a political opponent.

Notable debunkers

Harry Houdini debunked spiritualists. James Randi has exposed faith healers, psychics and others claiming to have paranormal powers.

Martin Gardner, mathematics and science writer who has extensively debunked parapsychology.

Ray Hyman, psychologist known for debunking some parapsychological studies.

Penn & Teller demystify magic tricks and illusions. They have also debunked many other aspects of popular belief on their show, ''Penn & Teller: Bullshit!''. Philip Klass was a pioneer in the field of skeptical investigation of UFOs.

Donald Menzel was Philip Klass' predecessor in debunking UFOs.

Carl Sagan debunked purported close encounters such as the Betty and Barney Hill abduction, and pseudoscience such as Immanuel Velikovsky's Worlds in Collision.

Stanton Friedman has debunked both supposed UFO cases and debunking attempts on other UFO cases.

Phil Plait debunks astrology and end-of-the-world scenarios.

Stephen Barrett founded Quackwatch and writes on medical quackery.

Organizations

Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

The Skeptics Society

The ''MythBusters'', a program on the Discovery Channel. Two former special effects technicians, Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, use modern technology to test the validity of urban legends.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology debunked the World Trade Center controlled demolition conspiracy theories.

Popular Mechanics has released several publications also debunking 9/11 conspiracy theories, in particular those mentioned in Loose Change.

Snopes debunks or validates urban legends.

Quackwatch

SourceWatch

The website Bad Astronomy, by the American astronomer Phil Plait, debunks astrology and other myths related to the sky.

See also

Scientific skepticism

The True Believer

Notes

Category:Conspiracy theories Category:Pseudoscience Category:Skeptics

es:Desmitificador fr:Démystification ko:디벙커 it:Debunker pt:Desenganador ro:Demistificator

Name	Richard J. Gage
Birth date	1842
Death date	April 28,
Placeofburial label	Place of burial
Placeofburial	Woodside Cemetery, Seneca, LaSalle County, Illinois
Birth place	Grafton County, New Hampshire
Placeofburial coordinates
Rank	Private
Unit	Company D, 104th Illinois Infantry
Battles	American Civil War
Awards	Medal of Honor }}

Richard J. Gage (1842 – April 28, 1903) was a soldier in the 104th Illinois Infantry during the American Civil War. On July 2, 1863 he volunteered for an attack on a blockhouse by the Elk River in Tennessee. On October 30, 1897 he received the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration in the U.S. military, for his participation in this action.

Medal of Honor citation

Gage's Medal of Honor citation reads:

Voluntarily joined a small party that, under a heavy fire, captured a stockade and saved the bridge.

See also

List of Medal of Honor recipients

References

Category:Army Medal of Honor recipients Category:1842 births Category:1903 deaths Category:Union Army soldiers Category:People from Grafton County, New Hampshire

Name	Stanton T. Friedman
Birth date	July 29, 1934
Birth place	Elizabeth, New Jersey
Occupation	Ufologist, former Physicist
Children	}}

Stanton Terry Friedman (born July 29, 1934) is a professional Ufologist, currently residing in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. He is the original civilian investigator of the Roswell incident. He studied physics at the University of Chicago and worked as a nuclear physicist on Research and Development projects for several large companies. He is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada.

Biography

Qualifications and career in Nuclear Physics

Friedman graduated from Linden High School and the University of Chicago, earning a Bachelor of Science (1955) and Master of Science (1956) degree in nuclear physics.

Friedman was employed for 14 years as a nuclear physicist for such companies as General Electric, General Motors, Westinghouse, TRW Systems, Aerojet General Nucleonics, and McDonnell Douglas where he worked on advanced, classified programs on nuclear aircraft, fission and fusion rockets, and compact nuclear power plants for space applications. Since the 1980s, he has done related consultant work in the Radon-detection industry. Friedman's professional affiliations have included the American Nuclear Society, the American Physical Society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and AFTRA.

UFO investigations and advocacy

In 1970 Friedman departed full-time employment as a physicist to pursue the scientific investigation of UFOs. Since then, he has lectured at more than 600 colleges and 100 professional groups in 50 states, nine provinces, and 16 foreign countries. Additionally, he has worked as a consultant on the topic. He has published more than 80 UFO related papers and has appeared on many radio and television programs. He has also provided written testimony to Congressional hearings and appeared twice at the United Nations.

Friedman used to refer to himself as "The Flying Saucer Physicist" due to his degrees in nuclear physics and work on nuclear projects. Friedman has consistently favoured use of the term ''flying saucer'' in his work, saying "Flying saucers are, by definition, unidentified flying objects, but very few unidentified flying objects are flying saucers. I am interested in the latter, not the former."

Friedman's positions regarding UFO phenomena

Stanton Friedman is the original civilian investigator of the Roswell UFO incident and supports the hypothesis that it was a genuine crash of an extraterrestrial spacecraft. After researching and fact checking the Majestic 12 documents, Friedman believes that there is no substantive grounds for dismissing their authenticity.

On George Noory's "Coast to Coast" radio show, Friedman debated the SETI Institute's Senior Astronomer, Seth Shostak. Like Friedman, Shostak also believes in the existence of intelligent life other than humans; however, unlike Friedman, he doesn't believe such life is currently on Earth or is related to UFO sightings.

In 1968 Friedman argued to a Committee of the House Of Representatives that the evidence suggests that Earth is being visited by intelligently controlled extraterrestrial vehicles. Friedman also stated he believed that UFO sightings were consistent with magnetohydrodynamic propulsion - a technology, referred to in the French COMETA report, that may be feasible in the near future. The COMETA report claims about magnetohydrodynamic propulsion are based on the scientific works of Jean-Pierre Petit. It is also currently being investigated by aeronautical engineer Leik Myrabo. MHD propulsion can only explain the shock wave annihilation and the halo that is often seen in ufo sightings. MHD propulsion, while suitable for interplanetary (or intrasolar system) travel, cannot accommodate intersolar system (or intragalactic travel) due to the extreme distances separating stellar systems at Earth's distance from the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Distances between galaxies are far greater than those between stars and so intergalactic travel is far more unlikely.

Friedman has further hypothesized that UFOs may originate from relatively nearby sun-like stars. He has stated that there

:... are about 1,000 stars within our local galactic neighborhood, meaning the region within 54 light years of Earth ... According to an excellent study done by Terence Dickinson ... 46 of those stars are very similar to our sun .... the star pair Zeta 1 and Zeta 2 Reticuli, in the southern sky constellation Reticulum (the Net) only 39 light years away from us, are sun-like stars about 35 times closer to each other than the sun is to our nearest stellar neighbor. They are also about 1 billion years older than the sun. A civilization that had a billion-year head start on us will certainly know things that we can't even dream of. Our own limited science has shown that nuclear fusion rockets can provide thrust far in excess of that provided by chemical rocket, and so interestellar travel may be as easy for other civilizations now as nonstop flight across the ocean is for us today". (p.217)

A piece of evidence that he often cites with respect to this hypothesis is the 1964 star-map drawn by alleged alien abductee Betty Hill during a hypnosis session, which she said was shown to her during her abduction. Astronomer Marjorie Fish constructed a 3-dimensional map of nearby sun-like stars and claimed a good match from the perspective of Zeta Reticuli, about 39 light years distant. The fit of the Hill/Fish star maps was hotly debated in the December 1974 edition of ''Astronomy'' Magazine, with Friedman and others defending the statistical validity of the match.

Major conclusions and arguments

Friedman states that he has reached major conclusions on the basis of his research dating back to the late 1950s. These can be summarised as follows:

# There is overwhelming evidence that planet Earth is being visited by intelligently controlled extraterrestrial spacecraft; i.e. ''some'' UFOs are ET spacecraft, though most are not. # A few people in the US and other governments have known the above since at least 1947 and employ a "need-to-know" policy regarding this knowledge; i.e. the knowledge is highly classified largely as sensitive military information.

In addition, Friedman maintains that, although arguments against these conclusions sound plausible, "when one examines them, they collapse, because of an absence of evidence to support them, and the presence of evidence that contradicts them" (p. 30). Friedman argues that, reproducibility is largely irrelevant to the study of UFOs, essentially because by definition, scientists do not control variables if UFO phenomena involve intelligent extraterrestrial control; i.e. in this case, the study of UFOs does not involve experiment and experimental methods. This position can be criticized on the basis that experiments can be conducted on materials or technology that are hypothesized to have an extraterrestrial origin. Although Friedman maintains that such materials have on at least one occasion been obtained, as stated above, he maintains these are highly classified and not available for conventional or mainstream scientific study.

Friedman has characterized the kinds of evidence, scientific and otherwise, that he considers to be relevant, which include evidence such as credible testimony, analyses of documents, video and physical trace evidence; and particularly multiple sources of mutually corroborating evidence of one or more kind. Regarding testimony, he states that "we must remember that the reason most sightings can be determined to be relatively conventional phenomena, often seen under unusual circumstances, is that most people are relatively good observers. The problem comes with the interpretation of what was observed ... it would be irrational to say that people are good observers when their input allows us to identify the object being observed, and yet poor observers if we can't identify the UFO as something conventional" (pp. 32–33). In response to criticism on the basis of psychological or other grounds, he refers to the quality evaluation reported in the ''Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14'' and other evidence, such as that contained in the COMETA report.

SETI

Friedman has stated strong views against SETI research, largely on the basis of rejection of the basic assumptions underpinning the research. Perhaps most fundamentally, Friedman contests the implicit premise that there has been no extraterrestrial visitation of the planet. He has argued that SETI is seeking only signals; not extraterrestrial intelligence or beings. He maintains that the prominence and widespread public claims of those involved with SETI, including ridicule, has tended to prevent serious research, including by journalists (p. 129)

For the same reason, Friedman criticized Carl Sagan, a proponent of SETI, for ignoring empirical evidence, such as "600-plus UNKNOWNS of ''Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14''". Friedman argued that this empirical data directly contradicts Sagan's claim in ''Other Worlds'', that the "reliable cases are uninteresting and the interesting cases are unreliable". Specifically, Friedman refers to a table in ''Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14'' that he says "shows that the better the quality of the sighting, the more likely it was to be an 'unknown', and the less likely it was to be listed as 'insufficient information'" (p. 42).

Public and scientific opinion

Friedman says of the response to his talks, "I know that most people are unfamiliar with the several large-scale scientific studies ... because I ask, after I show a slide and ask about each one, "how many here have read this?" Typically it is only 1 or 2 percent." He says that a talk he gave to Canadian journalists in Saint John, New Brunswick caused the attitudes of the journalists to change because "Attendees had had no idea there was so much solid information, as opposed to the tabloid nonsense they thought was the primary source of UFO data." (p. 202)

Friedman has summarized the results of polls in making the argument that the majority of people believe UFOs exist and the indication is the same holds for at least some groups of scientists. Specifically, Friedman (2008) refers to the following data in support of his position. He addressed criticisms of the original documents in both sources. As an example, Philip J. Klass claimed lexicographic inconsistencies based on the use of Pica typeface in the Cutler-Twining memo and offered $100, in a challenge to Friedman, for each legitimate example of the use of the same style and size Pica type as used in the memo. Friedman provided 14 examples and was paid $1000 by Klass.(reproduced on p. 262)

Media

Books

"FLYING SAUCERS & SCIENCE" by Nuclear Physicist Lecturer Stanton T. Friedman. June 2008, 320P. Covers all Aspects of 50 years of Research by STF, Large studies, Star Travel, SETI, Sci-Fi & UFO's, Press Coverage, Polls, Cover-up, Updates on Roswell & MJ-12, + much more. Autographed by Stanton T. Friedman. Forewords by Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Astronaut; Dr. Bruce Maccabee, Physicist.

'' CAPTURED! THE BETTY AND BARNEY HILL UFO EXPERIENCE''. The True Story of the World's First Documented Alien Abduction by Stanton Friedman and Kathleen Marden who is Betty Hill's Niece. Foreword by Dr. Bruce Maccabee. Career Press / New Page Books, 2007. ISBN 978-156414-971-8, ISBN 978-1-56-924741-9

“TOP SECRET/MAJIC”, 2nd Edition, Marlowe + Co. ISBN 1-56924-342-5; 2005. 296 pages, Stanton T. Friedman, Trade Paper, August 2005: 2nd Edition with new afterword. Foreword by Whitley Strieber. Covers Stanton's 11-year investigation of the Majestic 12 documents and 9 more years of responding to objections. None of the objections to the original documents stand up to careful scrutiny. Many later MJ documents are shown to be phony. ISBN 978-1-56-924342-8

CRASH AT CORONA: The Definitive Story of The Roswell Incident. The US Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of a UFO, Stanton T. Friedman (Original Civilian Investigator of Roswell) co-authored with Don Berliner, 1997 Trade paper edition with an additional new Roswell 50th Anniversary Chapter. Newest Edition May 31, 2004, ISBN 978-1-93-104489-9

''SCIENCE WAS WRONG'', Startling truths about cures, theories, and inventions "They" declared impossible by Stanton T. Friedman and Kathleen Marden. Pompton Plains, NJ: New Page Books. 2010.

Videos, VHS, DVD

Safespace - Fastwalkers - Winter 2006

UFOs: Stanton Friedman's revelation - an interview with Stanton Friedman

2 DVDs - FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL DVD (NOT VHS) Vol. 1, 1993 Video 84 min. (Filmed at Kennedy Space Center) and FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL Vol. 2, 1996 75 min for a Total Length of 168 minutes.

2006 151 Minute 2 disc DVD set "UFO SECRET MJ-12: Do You Believe in Majic?". "Includes Canadian TV Broadcast "Do You Believe in Majic?" (Mostly Stan Friedman vs. Karl Pflock + Stan Friedman's Lecture at Aztec 2003 about Roswell and MJ-12++ outtakes from DYBM.

RECOLLECTIONS OF ROSWELL DVD 105 min. Featuring testimony from 27 Roswell witnesses.

Debate "Are Flying Saucers Real?" VHS 2 Hrs. 2 Hour formal Debate STF vs. USAF Pilot Major James Magaha. Middle Tenn. State Univ. January 2004. Includes Q & A.

UFOs Are Real (1979) VHS - 92 min.

Audio

CDs

UFOs: The Real Story (1996) New CD of the Ramey Memo Scans and Enhancements

Radio Interviews

Binnall of America Holiday Episode 2005 - Part 1 and Part 2 - December 24, 2005

Binnall of America Holiday Episode 2006 - Part 1 and Part 2 - December 23, 2006

Binnall of America Holiday Episode 2007 - Part 1 and Part 2 - December 23, 2007

Binnall of America Holiday Episode 2008 - Part 1 and Part 2 - December 22, 2008

Binnall of America Holiday Episode 2009 - Part 1 and Part 2 - December 23, 2009

Binnall of America Holiday Episode 2010 - Part 1 and Part 2 - December 23, 2010

Breakthrough Clean Energy Technologies, BlackOp Suppression and the Extraterrestrial Presence Full Interview - May 11, 2009

Internet Interviews

Reddit IAmA interview. - - 23 August 2011

References

External links

Stanton T. Friedman - Homepage

Stanton T. Friedman - Statement

Interview with Stanton Friedman

Category:1934 births Category:Jewish American scientists Category:Canadian nuclear physicists Category:People from Elizabeth, New Jersey Category:People from Fredericton Category:Ufologists Category:American UFO writers Category:Living people Category:University of Chicago alumni

bg:Стантън Фридман es:Stanton T. Friedman hr:Stanton T. Friedman he:סטנטון פרידמן ja:スタントン・フリードマン pl:Stanton T. Friedman fi:Stanton Friedman sv:Stanton Friedman zh:斯坦頓·弗里德曼

D. M. Murdock, better known by her pen name Acharya S., is an author and proponent of the Christ myth theory. She has authored six books and operates a website named ''Truth be Known''. She believes Christianity is founded on earlier myths and the characters depicted in Christianity are based upon Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and other myths.

Early life

According to her website, Murdock received a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in Classics, Greek Civilization, from Franklin and Marshall College, after which, she spent a year in Greece at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in Greece.

Career

As a writer she publishes under the title of ''acharya,'' a term from Hinduism usually denoting the formal head of a monastery, sect, or subsect, or a teacher who initiates a disciple into a movement. Acharya S. does not declare what the S. stands for.

In 1999, as Acharya S. she published her first book, ''The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold'', arguing the concept of Jesus Christ as myth. She states the Christ story is a fabrication.

In 2001, Acharya S. wrote the Foreword to a new edition of Kersey Graves's ''The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviours: Christianity Before Christ''.

A follow-up book, ''Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled'', was published in 2004. Acharya comments on the Hindu story of the life of Krishna, as well as the life of Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). She claims parallels to the Christian stories of the life of Jesus as evidence that the story of Jesus was written based on existing stories, and not the life of a real man. ''Suns of God'' (with a foreword by author and theologian W. Sumner Davis) also seeks to address some of the criticisms leveled at ''Christ Conspiracy''.

Acharya S. founded Seattle based Stellar House Publishing in 2005 through which she self-publishes a number of her books. According to the website, they claim to specialise in "Archaeology, History, Astrotheology, Mythology and Religion".

In 2005-06 she was one of fifty Fellows of The Council for Secular Humanism's Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER).

Her 2007 book, ''Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ'' continues the theme of ''The Christ Conspiracy'' by expanding her theory questioning the historical validity of Jesus Christ alleging "early Christian history to be largely mythical, by sorting through available historical and archaeological data." In 2009 she released ''Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection'' and ''The Gospel According to Acharya S''.

Her work was used extensively in part 1 of the original movie ''Zeitgeist''. She also acted as consultant only for part 1 of the movie.

In her various books, Acharya S. describes the New Testament as a work of mythic fiction within a historical setting. She claims that the story of Jesus Christ is a retelling of various pagan myths, representing ''"astrotheology,"'' or the story of the Sun, and also incorporates the science of archaeoastronomy. She asserts the pagans understood the stories to be myths, but Christians obliterated evidence to the contrary by destroying and controlling literature when they attained control of the Roman Empire, which led to widespread illiteracy in the ancient world, ensuring the mythical nature of Christ's story was hidden.

Acharya S. compares Jesus' history to other "Saviour gods" such as Mithra, Horus, Adonis, Krishna, Quetzalcoatl, and Odin, claiming the similarities result from a common source: the myth of the sun-god or solar deity.

Mixed popular reception

Acharya S.'s positions have received criticism by Christian apologists, notably Mike Licona and James Patrick Holding, to whom she published a rejoinder. She was also attacked by Joel McDurmon, as well as atheist activist and fellow Christ mythicist Richard Carrier. Acharya S likewise produced a rejoinder to Carrier's critique. Glenn Peoples critiqued ideas and claims found in ''Zeitgeist: The Movie'' which were largely influenced by Acharya S's writings as unscholarly and demonstrably historically inaccurate. Theologian Robert M. Price, who is sympathetic to the Christ myth hypothesis, wrote a critical review of Murdock's first book. He has, however, retracted it previously from his website, for reasons unknown currently. He has been supportive of her subsequent work, promoting ''Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled'' in a recommended reading list along with promoting the same book in ''The Pre-Nicene New Testament: Fifty-Four Formative Texts'', penning the foreword to ''Who Was Jesus: Fingerprints of the Christ'' and writing a positive review of ''Christ in Egypt''. ''The Christ Conspiracy'' received a favourable review from author Earl Doherty.

Acharya S's presentation of Christianity as a "conspiracy" has drawn positive attention from other conspiracy theorists and critics of Christianity. In his book ''You Are Being Lied To'', Russ Kick describes ''The Christ Conspiracy'' as "an essential book for anyone who wants to know the reality behind the world's dominant religion." In a book on American conspiracy theorists, Kenn Thomas calls her a "great chronicler of the conspiracy known as Christianity."

Acharya has been interviewed on a variety of radio stations, including the Alan Colmes Show. She also appears on less well known podcasts, such as Black Op Radio, and Coffee, Cigarettes and Gnosis. She has been interviewed in ''Paranoia'' magazine and by ''The Progressive Observer''.

In his book ''In Search of Jesus'', Baptist comparative religion scholar Clinton Bennett describes her views as being similar to those of radical freethinker Robert Taylor (nicknamed "the Devil's chaplain"), secularist MP and fellow Christ mythicist John M. Robertson, and American mythographer Joseph Campbell.

See also

Bible conspiracy theory

Christ myth theory

Helena Blavatsky

Historicity of Jesus

Pseudohistory

''Zeitgeist: The Movie''

Notes

References

External links

Truth be Known Acharya S' web site

Acharya S' blog

Stellar House Publishing

Free Thought Nation News site / blog by Acharya S

Video interview with Acharya S on ''Conscious Media Network''

Documented Sources for Zeitgeist Part One

Response to Richard Dawkins on Zeitgeist Part One

Response to Richard Carrier on Zeitgeist Part One

Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Bible conspiracy theories Category:Christ myth Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Pseudohistory

da:Acharya S it:Acharya S ja:アーチャーリャ・S ru:Ачарья S

Jan Helfeld conducts political interviews and documentaries. He has hosted the weekly ''The Bottom Line'' program, which employs the Socratic method. Jan asks politicians, especially on the federal level, questions about their support of certain aspects of public policy in a way in which he tries to expose contradictions and hypocrisies. His interview topics include morality, crime, ethics (including meta-ethics), taxation, marijuana legalization, the federal budget deficit, and human nature.

Controversy

Helfeld often conducts interviews in which politicians become infuriated, unresponsive, or abandon the interview. Interviewees have accused him of having repetitive, biased, and trick questions.

Lawsuit with Esteban Torres

Rep. Esteban Torres stole one of two tapes of his interview after ending it. Helfeld sued Torres and won a settlement of $45,000 with a written apology.

Nancy Pelosi

During an interview with Nancy Pelosi on the topic of minimum wage, she refused to continue the interview, saying, "You've made a mistake." She then called security guards.

Pete Stark

In an interview, Congressman Pete Stark became impatient with the nature of the questions, stood up and said, "The interview is over, get out of here," and when Helfeld continued to talk, walking at the door and said "Listen, you get the fuck out of here or I’ll throw you out the window."

Henry Hyde

During the interview, Congressman Henry Hyde stole and tore up the release he had signed for the interview.

Barbara-Rose Collins

During an interview with Barbara-Rose Collins regarding the Congressional Black Caucus while discussing the topic of racial discrimination, Collins said, "I think that the black caucus should discriminate even against Republican African Americans."

Personal life

Helfeld attended the University of Puerto Rico.

Personal views

Helfeld espouses a minarchist ideology.

References

External links

Category:Living people Category:American television journalists Category:Minarchists