We've come a long way?

Mankind has sure come a long way. But have we really progressed that far?

We like to believe that we live in a more enlightened world now than what we lived in hundreds of years ago. We no longer go around sacrificing virgins to appease angry make-believe deities. Most of us don't believe in unicorns, giants, ghouls and other mythical creatures. We don't go around chanting and perform superstitious rituals to ward off evil spirits. We don't believe that volcanos and earthquakes are the result of angry Gods trying to punish us. We don't have wizards leading our armies into battle and we don't rely on witchdoctors in our hospitals.

Even magic has been exposed as simple trickery. Guys like David Copperfield who once convinced people to believe in magic, have now been exposed as tricksters and illusionists, thanks to television and other magicians like Penn and Teller showing us how the tricks are done. The old Circus Magician no longer blows our minds, because we know that everything he does has a logical, scientific explanation.

Yep, we've come a long way.

But have we?

It has never been so obvious to me now, particularly thanks to the Internet, that really, there are a huge amount of the world's population that are still just as superstitious, ignorant and gullible as our ancestors from long ago. 

Most of us may scoff at magic now, but there are still many people out there (even intelligent people) that believe in black magic and that harmless Wiccans are going around putting curses on people and casting evil spells on us.

Yes! That's why Harry Potter books caused such a big furore, especially amongst religious folk. There are many people out there who take that stuff seriously and usually only because they've listened to someone else equally as uninformed. The rest of us know that stuff is pure fantasy. Most of us realise, that the legends of long ago have no basis in reality. Real witchcraft has nothing to do with devil worshiping or black magic or sorcery. The only people that still believe in that fantastical stuff are either anti-witches, have some axe to grind or are getting some other benefit from demonising it (eg money or influence)

A lot of people these days believe in Hypnotism. We certainly can't underestimate the power of suggestion and positive thinking. They work... to a certain extent. But yet when I see TV programs of these so-called hypnotists in action, I see a lot of trickery. I see a lot of actors pretending to be hypnotised and going along with the hypnotist (some of them are really bad actors!) These hypnotists (and actors) also make mistakes. Major plot hole type errors, which expose the fact that they aren't really hypnotised to begin with. As a matter of fact I myself have even volunteered to be hypnotised at such a show. There is no hypnotism. It's really just a game of theatre sports, where you're trying to think of ways to get laughs from the audience and beforehand you've been given the "suggestion" that YOU could be the star of the show! It's a big CON people. I have found out this first hand! 

One so-called phenomena which seems to be hooking the gullible at the moment is mediums and psychics. They really do seem convincing, but yet when you look at them, much of what they are doing seems to be trickery. eg asking probing questions to gain information, generalisations that could be true for anyone, and many other manipulative tricks. Many people will believe the television presenters when they make the claim that "these Mediums have been told nothing about these crimes". Can we really believe that, especially considering television companies are after one thing - high ratings? From my point of view, if there really is something in it, I'm sure it has nothing to do with ghosts or evil spirits. (But I shall spare you having to read another thousand words on my theories on all that).

Tarot card readers. Con! I once dated a former white witch who explained how that all worked, but I'll leave you to go out and find your OWN former white witch to learn about that. My one was totally hot!

Which brings me to probably the largest group of superstitious people in the world - the religious. People who believe in demons, angels, virgin births, resurrections, Gods and miracles. I was one of these myself for many years and really wanted to believe and did. However now, when I see the videos on the Internet (rather than just hearing hearsay from the pulpit and seeing completely unconvincing things in healing meetings), I can see it all so plainly. The modern faith healer is simply just another magician... another hypnotist. 

Oh how obvious it all is now that I don't have on those Christian goggles. If you do some basic research, you will see they use all the techniques that these other people use. People want to believe in miracles so badly, so shysters prey on the gullibility of them. Yet a miracle is simply just another thing that has no obvious logical scientific explanation to the beholder. And if performed by another human being - simply magic tricks or hypnotic suggestion. These "miracles" have become less and less as we as humans have become more knowledgeable. 

Those in biblical times saw things as acts of God that we now know have scientific explanations. But yet many intelligent people when they see something that defies explanation still claim, "Goddidit" or "Thedevildidit". Why must we resort to the supernatural to fill in the gaps? Aren't we less ignorant than bronze aged tribesman ? Aren't we more educated? 

Back in 2004 an Internet email hoax was spread about bones of giants being dug up on an archeological site. It was quickly proven to be a hoax without a doubt. However in 2013, I found that same hoax appearing in my inbox from a Christian who'd in turn sent it to all his Christian friends, thrilled that proof had been found of giants, thus confirming bible myths about people like Goliath. I advised everyone it was a hoax, but I still got emails from Christians who simply weren't even willing to entertain the fact it might be a hoax. These Christians, if they'd made even a slight effort could have done a Google search and seen that every website, even Christian websites acknowledged it was a Photoshop hoax. I had to gather this proof for them. It showed me just how gullible many Christians are and how they are willing to believe without even questioning the validity of such claims. It's willful ignorance!

Dear reader, what supernatural stuff do you believe? Chances are you don't believe in all of the stuff I've mentioned above. Chances are many of the above things you scoff at just like me. But chances are you take at least one of the above things seriously. Hopefully though you see a scientific explanation for it. But if you believe in supernatural explanations, then I would have to ask, why take one phenomenon so seriously and not the other? If all the other stuff is trickery, illusion, wishful thinking and suggestion, then why try to super-naturalise the stuff you want to believe in?

Perhaps it's because the human race hasn't progressed as much as we like to think? I guess Gene Rodenberry's dreams for the future are still a long long way away yet.