Confused on what a skeptic is

[Mr.Darcy]

I thought it was somebody that questioned everything, but the beholders don't do that. They listen to what the government media tells them and holds it as truth. Shouldnt the conspiracy theorists be called skeptics since they are the ones questioning?

[Winston]

I thought it was somebody that questioned everything, but the beholders don't do that. They listen to what the government media tells them and holds it as truth. Shouldnt the conspiracy theorists be called skeptics since they are the ones questioning?

Great point. Technically, yes, a skeptic is someone who questions everything. The originator of the word, Pyrrho, meant it to be so.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeptic

"In classical philosophy, skepticism refers to the teachings and the traits of the 'Skeptikoi', a school of philosophers of whom it was said that they 'asserted nothing but only opined.' (Liddell and Scott) In this sense, philosophical skepticism, or Pyrrhonism, is the philosophical position that one should suspend judgment in investigations.[1]"

And according to Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, a skeptic is:

"One who is yet undecided as to what is true; one who is looking or inquiring for what is true; an inquirer after facts or reasons."

But those who defend the establishment and materialism have hijacked the word to mean "someone who challenges and refutes any freethinker who believes in conspiracies and challenges the establishment and mainstream media".

So as usual, America has taken a great word and flipped it to mean it's opposite, just like it did with "good and bad" which is inversed in America.

Here are some great points I collected from YouTube where people have made the same observation:

"What skeptics fail to understand is that skepticism involves being skeptical of your own position, it does not mean just being skeptical of that which you do not believe in, otherwise we are all skeptics and that renders their use of the term "skeptic" meaningless. A true skeptic casts skepticism on their own position as well. Since the Randi crowd do not employ skepticism in this respect then they are fairly termed pseudo skeptics and demean the term skepticism."

Similarly:

"The original definition of skeptic was a person who questions ALL beliefs, facts, and points-of-view. A healthy perspective in my opinion. Today's common definition of skeptic is someone who questions any belief that strays outside of the status quo, yet leaving the status quo itself completely unquestioned. Kind of a juvenile and intellectually lazy practice in my opinion."

More info here:
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/characteristics.php
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/hijackingterms.php

One of my favorite quotes:

"The most productive mindset you can have is simply this: always, always, always have a belief system that doesn’t resist change. Go wherever the information leads you, without fear, because surely the truth is never something to dread." - Darryl Sloan, author of Reality Check

[Winston]

OP,
Check out this article about Unhealthy Skepticism in The Epoch Times. We are quoted in it too.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/603148- ... kepticism/