Mike Raiford <"m[raiford]!at"@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://crispian-jago.blogspot.com/2010/07/periodic-table-of-irrational-nonsense.html

  I have noticed a curious pattern that, in average, people who believe in
one kind of pseudoscience or paranormal phenomena are very likely to believe
in a whole array of such claimed phenomena.

  For example, someone who strongly believes in the afterlife, ghosts,
psychics and divination, is also very likely to believe in a number of
completely unrelated claims, such as UFOs, cryptozoology (bigfoot, etc)
and homeopathy, even though there's no connection whatsoever between
these things.

  Seldom have I seen a person strongly believing in one type of pseudoscience
or supernatural phenomena, and adamantly denying the existence of another,
no matter how unrelated they might be.

  (A similar phenomenon happens with conspiracy theories. Seldom have I seen
a person strongly believing in one conspiracy theory and seriously doubting
another. It seems to almost always be all-or-nothing. If you believe in
the Moon landing hoax theory, you are very likely to also believe in the
9/11 and the Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories as well.)

  Sometimes proponents of these things try to invoke argumentum ad populum,
as if popularity of belief would somehow give it credibility. However, the
way I see it is that it's a phsychological phenomenon, where people who are
likely to believe in one type of nonsense is likely to believe in all kinds
of nonsense without much discrimination or critique.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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