Your Superstitions

[Anodyne]

Don't recall ever having any, not as a child either.

[Logical Realist]

My soruce is Michael Shermer, director of the Skeptic's Society, leading historian of science and best selling author. He did an empirical survey concerning people's belief in God and the supernatural, which involved 10,000 americans. For more on this I suggest you read the books: Why we believe: 'The Search for God in an Age of Science' and 'The 'Borderlands of Science', though these statistics are for the most part, well known among Skeptics and should be a matter of background knwoledge.

[faded glory]

I never....

Beer before liquor= much sicker

Liquor before Beer= in the clear.


I followed this rule since I was 14


It was really alot of bull****. actually.

[Sarxis]

I believe that if I were to believe in any superstitions, that they would all come true.

So that's why I don't have any.

[er.. except that one.. ]

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
That's a nice bit of irony here

[loinburger]

I don't have any superstitions. Hell, my cat's black.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by loinburger
I don't have any superstitions. Hell, my cat's black.

You have no idea what kind of curses you are being exposed to.

But seriously, I am not superstitious with anything, really.
Well ok -- sometimes I have an interest in the fact that I'm a Virgo.

[-=Vagrant=-]

My superstition: creationists use logic and are rational thinkers.

[Blackwidow24]

Originally posted by Logical Realist
Studies show that those less educated(the ignorant) and more downtrodden tend to be more superstitious than those who are educated or live comfortably.

Its also interesting to note that while about 30 percent of scientists believe in God, about 94 percent of the top scientists do not believe in God. Or other superstitions for that matter.

Just because I have certain superstitions doesn't make me ignorant or stupid LR no matter "WHAT STUDIES SHOW". i was raised from a long line of Native American Medicine Women who do the tea leaves and the raw egg cleanings...so my beliefs are based on the enviroment in which I was raised. Every culture has there own belief system, and these studies are not based on me...so therefore they do not apply If you want to be classifed by a text book study that is your deal.

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by Logical Realist
Studies show that those less educated(the ignorant) and more downtrodden tend to be more superstitious than those who are educated or live comfortably.

Hmm...well I am educated, college to be exact have my degree, was raised in the church, and my parents and family are very, very wealthy and we live comfortably......so........

I believe what I believe by my choice. I have studied with different groups before making my choice. I am superstitious about many different things.

BW ~ I do the salt over the shoulder thingy too!! Got that one from my grandmother. LTEC! I do the purse thing as well it's said that if you put your purse on the floor that all your money will leave you.

Similar is the don't sweep anything out the front door or all your money will go out the door with it. Other's that I've heard about.....if you are sweeping and the broom hits your feet you must spit on it for good luck. My girls cross themselves when they pass by a cemetary or church. I also heard if you get your feet swept under then you will never get married.

[Adalbertus]

If you want to be classifed by a text book study that is your deal.

It's the hard thing I had to to accept when learning statistics. It is entirely possible to describe people statistically by mean and standard deviation. And this doesn't limit your freedom to be as you want to. You ask 1000 people. You make a statistic on it. Then you apply the information to 1000000 people of the same background, and it works. And still everybody is free to to what he or she wants to.
You don't have to follow the textbook. But if the investigation is done correctly, it still describes reality correctly.

[Logical Realist]

BW:

Just because I have certain superstitions doesn't make me ignorant or stupid LR no matter "WHAT STUDIES SHOW".

I never said you were, I was just talking about what some studies said concerning general american's, if you read that as saying "Black Widow is stupid" then perhaps you are just expressing some insecurity about your own beliefs and/or capabilities.

i was raised from a long line of Native American Medicine Women who do the tea leaves and the raw egg cleanings...so my beliefs are based on the enviroment in which I was raised.

Implying what? How does that effect the truth value of what you believe in any way? If I was raised in a family that had a long line of racist ideology, does that mean that such a belief is therefore automatically entitled to respect? Not really.

Every culture has there own belief system, and these studies are not based on me...so therefore they do not apply If you want to be classifed by a text book study that is your deal.

I have no idea of what you are talking about. If you mean that the studies do not apply to you for some reason (of course there are always exceptions to these stats) that's your belief.

If however you are saying that these studies do not apply at all (are inaccurate) or do not apply to you because "every culture has a belief system" then you are wrong. That just does not follow via standard logic.

Every culture has a belief system therefore those studies are not applicable.

How does that make sense?

You have to do more to refute these studies than say "every culture has their own beliefs": you have to actually look at them and point out holes in the research or conduct your own research. Sure every culture has their own beliefs but it does not mean all these beliefs are equal or that they are not applicable to statistical study.

If that were true then you'd be contradicting yourself by writing your post. (Who are you to say my belief that these statistics are applicable is wrong? I mean isn't that my belief?)

You'd also be saying that Nazi beliefs should be respected due to the fact that it sprang from culture. That sort of thinking is simplistic, illogical and absurd.

In other words: if you feel somehow threatened by this study and wish to say its wrong, you have to do more than bring up your mommy. You have to actually look at the data and refute it in an empirical mathematical way. If you cannot or will not the best course of action for you is to swallow your pride and not comment. Thanx.


Tia:

mm...well I am educated, college to be exact have my degree, was raised in the church, and my parents and family are very, very wealthy and we live comfortably......so........

First of that is, even taken at face value a refutation via hasty generalization.

That's like me saying "well you say most birds can fly, I know of one born with a messed up wing that can't: therefore your generalization that birds can fly is wrong". Such an argument does not hold water since these stats involve generalizations not absolutes, in which case a few exceptions are to be expected and thus a few exceptions do not disprove the generalization.

Also you make the following errors in thought

1) That coming from a welathy family means you live comfortably.

This is wrong because your family may not support you now. In which case you will be poor. You may have suffered other bad experiences(being deformed, growing up as a black man in a racist society, medical problems) in your life which would make you downtrodden despite having a rich family. You can say you live comfortably, but that is just your opinion. I have reason to believe otherwise.

2) Going to college automatically makes you an educated person.

This is simply not true, though the rule does hold generally. People who go to college often specialize in learning in a single field, this leaves them ignorant of a great many other things in other fields. Also a person who has once went to college may forget what they have learned, not paid attention in class etc. The college also may have been a poorer one. Anyone can go to college, a future professor, a wife to be, the shoeshine boy next door, but not all will learn an equal amount.

3) I was raised in a church.

This has nothing to do with what I said and I don't know why you even brought it up. Instead of refuting the statistics, you merely place in some irrelevant information which seems to do nothing more than confuse the issue.

I believe what I believe by my choice. I have studied with different groups before making my choice. I am superstitious about many different things.

Well that's nice but again irrelevant. What do you mean by "I studied groups". So what?((again a shoeshine boy can do that) If you study nothing but groups that support superstitions then it's irelevant as your views are just slanted and I would say based on ignorance (since I don't count knowledge based on superstitions as real knowledge). i.e. studying the viewpoint of ignorant groups makes you no more knowledgable. Studying overly biased groups makes you no more credible. (This last point is most important as when people say "I studied many people's opinions" they are usually trying to attain some credibility via being impartial and knowledgeable.).

But in any case, BW and Janie, I do not think of you as examples of educated or in any way credible people. If anything your being superstitious makes me put more confidence in Shermer's statistic, not less. And your comments on this subject are about as trustworthy as Kaak's comments on homosexuality. It is clear to me that your have no idea of what a generalization is, let alone, how to properly refute one. I suggest you at least look at the studies I mentioned, which come from a very reliable and respected source, before making some rash, and off-the wall comments of your own.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Logical Realist

Implying what? How does that effect the truth value of what you believe in any way? If I was raised in a family that had a long line of racist ideology, does that mean that such a belief is therefore automatically entitled to respect? Not really.

Racist ideology is based on misconceptions of race that has the potential to lead to harmful action, or wrongful behavior towards other people.

Blackwidow is talking about legitimate aspects of a culture.

Get over yourself, Logical.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder...

Superstitions are my life.

[Dis]

I have none I take seriously. But sometimes I do things for the hell of it. like knock on wood, cross fingers etc. I just pick these things up from other people.