Skeptical Punks: A Manifesto

Scientific skepticism is not limited to laboratory testing, gangly men in white lab coats, and only those with Ph.D.'s.  It is a lens that anyone can use to view the world and a tool to dispatch fallacy.  Scientific skeptics use science and the scientific method to investigate reality and believe it is the best way (that we're currently aware of) to arrive at truth.  We discourage accepting claims on faith, anecdotal evidence, or shady logic.  We attempt to remove our emotional biases from what we want to be true.  Scientific skepticism is punk at its core.  It is anti-authoritarian, critical of established beliefs, strongly individualistic (yet we understand the power of peer review), and non-conformist.  In society there are many beliefs and ideas which are generally accepted as being factual or true that are false or do not have sufficient data back up their validity.  By having a generally questioning, critical, and scientifically skeptical worldview, in the face of commonly held falsehoods and biased opposition, we are being punk. 

Some would say that skepticism is an inherently negative activity, that we are calling into question people's deeply held beliefs which should be respected regardless of their factual validness.  There is majesty in this way of thinking, however.  By repudiating pseudoscience, faith, and uncritical thinking we are freeing ourselves from mental bondage.  Occasionally scientists make mistakes, data becomes more and more refined, we may throw ourselves into a claim which may be reversed by further study, but at least we have the conviction to stand up and say "I was wrong!"  Scientific skepticism is the freedom to view the world as close as we can approximate to how it actually is, not what we desperately want it to be.  Punk rock is freedom.

Our belief is not a belief. Our principles are not a faith. We do not rely solely upon science and reason, because these are necessary rather than sufficient factors, but we distrust anything that contradicts science or outrages reason. We may differ on many things, but what we respect is free inquiry, openmindedness, and the pursuit of ideas for their own sake.

- Christopher Hitchens