What's Weird?

Thanks to novelist Michael Prescott for spreading the glad news about Paranormalia on his own very excellent blog. Several hundred extra visitors called by as a result, and I hope they found something useful. Y'all come back now, ya hear?

One or two of you pointed out the lack of comments, and perhaps this would be a good time to take stock. As Michael mentions, I started Paranormalia a couple of years ago, but it became dormant when it dawned on me I couldn't post regularly as well as working, walking the dog and writing a book. But now the heavy lifting on the book is done I have a bit of time to spare, and got going in earnest a few weeks ago - I hope that as more readers come they will start to join in.  I'm keen to post as often as I can, and wasn't sure at first whether there would be enough opportunities. But so far that doesn't seem to have been an issue - there's plenty of weird stuff to write about.

What counts as weird? In this context an obvious answer is Forteana or 'strange phenomena' - those odd bits of nonsense that don't seem to fit in any category, and come under the heading of The Unexplained. Actually I do look at the Fortean Times from time to time, and doubtless will comment on interesting stories and views that I read there. But I have to confess the subject matter of alien cats, UFO sightings and similar mysteries, miracles and marvels don't really get my juices going. They serve to reinforce that public image of the paranormal that I think most people are comfortable with - entertaining but not significant or threatening.

The subject matter of parapsychology is something else. If you want weird you couldn't do better than Helen Duncan and other materializing mediums that I discussed on Friday. It's a struggle for the imagination to accept the idea of spirits made flesh, as it were, through ectoplasm. By comparison, ESP seems positively uncontroversial. And perhaps those of us who take ESP seriously really do see no problem with it - it's a natural phenomenon, a feature of consciousness that just hasn't been recognized by science. But we may forget that for some people even that spells madness and social breakdown. Here's a famous remark by sceptic psychologist James Alcock that some people will be familiar with (if anyone knows of other similar statements by high-profile sceptics do let me know):

There would, of course, be no privacy, since by extrasensory perception one could see even into people's minds. Dictators would no longer have to trust the words of their followers; they could "know" their feelings. How would people react if they could catch glimpses of the future? How could the stock market function if traders could use precognition? If most people could foresee the future, how would life be with millions of people all attempting to change present circumstances so as to optimize their personal futures? What would happen when two adversaries each tried to harm the other via PK? The gunfights of the Old American West would probably pale by comparison. (Parapsychology: Science or Magic? p. 191)

So enough weirdness there to be going on with. But it still isn't the main thing that interests me about this extraordinary subject, or what motivates me to write about it.

For me, the shocking, infuriating, crazy anomaly - and what truly deserved to be called 'weird' - is to be surrounded by indications of psychism as a feature of consciousness, whose existence has been confirmed by numerous surveys, investigations and experiments going back a century and a half, yet which a large section of our society has simply blanked out. It's like being in a parallel universe separated from other people, many of whom I value and respect as friends or as writers and thinkers, by a conceptual glass screen. (I'll be posting on this later in the week).

So my aim, as someone coming to the gentle art of blogging for the first time, is to have a stab at communicating some of this strangeness to people who are just not aware of it. Along with Michael Prescott, Dean Radin and others vastly more qualified and experienced than myself, I hope to chip away at this wall, to invite them learn something of the incredible richness of this subject, also to see that a belief in the genuineness of paranormal claims is not incompatible with a critical, rational and scientific attitude. I don't want to make converts, I just want them to have the opportunity that I gave myself some years back, to find out what's out there and take time to think about it.

I also hope those of Paranormalia's readers who know the subject, and who know what I'm talking about, will contribute comments as they do on Michael's blog, and then perhaps we can draw them into the debate.

Comments

[Topher Cooper]

For what it is worth, I just tried to post a long comment to "Lies, ..." and nothing happened. If you review comments before posting (not at all a bad idea) it should say so, otherwise, it is rather discouraging.

[Topher Cooper]

Sorry, that seemed to work. I'll try posting again.

[Topher Cooper]

My bad (blush) ... seems to have shown up after a delay.

[jime]

Hello Robert, congratulations for your blog. I've added it as a permanent link of my new blog:
http://www.subversivethinking.blogspot.com/

I have some great collection of links there (on paranormal, pseudoskepticism, medicine, book reviews, etc.).

Regards!!!

[John]

Hi there, Robert.

Congratulations on the plug. Michael's blog really is one of the top paranormal blogs these days. :)

The content on your blog is also top notch so I'll be popping in every now and then, like I do on Michael's blog. Just keep the content rolling and you'll get readers.

[Robert M]

Thanks, guys.

I'll make a link to the site, and include it in a round-up I'm planning, when I get around to it.

[Mark]

Fuck Michael Prescott, he's a moron. He likes George Dubya.

[John]

Mark's still grinding that axe? :)

[Mark]

You bet.