Two of my coworkers frequently mention shows like “Encounters” or “Ancient apocalypse” or whatever. I’m not the best at debating or forming arguments against these though I do feel strongly that bold claims require better evidence than a blurry photo and an eyewitness account. How do you all go about this?
Today I clumsily stumbled through conversation and said “I’ll need some evidence” and was hit with “there’s plenty of evidence in the episode ‘Lights over Fukushima’”. I didn’t have an answer because I haven’t watched it. I’m 99% sure that if I watch it it’s gonna be dramatized, designed to scare/freak you out a little and consist of eyewitness accounts and blurry photos set to eerie music. But I’m afraid I just sound like a haughty know-it-all if I do assert this before watching.
These are good people and I want to remain on good terms and not come across as a cynical asshole.
(Sorry if language is too formal or stilted. Not my native tongue)
“Stilted”?
You sir, are one of those fucking amazing people who profusely apologize for not being a native English speaker and then blurt out 37 paragraphs of perfect English.
You have nothing to be ashamed of - your English is better than a lot of them native speakers ! And always remember this :
“You are speaking English because that is the only language you know; I am speaking English because that is the only language you know. We are not the same.”
And as to your original question - if I ever ask them “what evidence did you see which proves X happens?”, I have almost always been hit with the reply, “Oh yeah? What proof do you have that says X does not happen???”. And then I tell them the anecdote of the Invisible Dragon by Carl Sagan. Look it up if this is new to you, and for a more formal treatment, check out Karl Popper’s theory of Falsifiability.
I have personally converted at least one conspiracy theorist to being an Agnostic. So I know it works. Try them out, it’s fun.
And I also am not a native English speaker to be honest :-)