American spelling above derives from a new web site at www.skepticalaboutskeptics.org which has been set up to try and counter so called sceptics. As noted before, internet sceptics are not sceptical of consensus science – instead, they are sceptical of novel ideas and new science. Most so called sceptics are out there for one reason only, to suppress science they do not personally like, or which counters the mainstream point of view. In contrast, this web site is not in cyberspace to slap the academics on the back – it is out there for one reason, to give a platform for new ideas. Some of these may be outlandish. So what.
We might have expected somebody such as Phil Plait to be on the www.skepticalaboutskeptics.org web site but he is missing. Instead, we have a long list of orthodox advocates that most people will not have heard of – with a couple of well known names to attract attention. One of these is Dawkins and his book, The God Delusion, and his idea concerning the Selfish Gene. Dawkins is critical of the other side of the coin, and in particular the idea of a god, or spirituality of any kind. This means lots of religious people do not like him – or feel threatened by his views. Presumably this is why he is on the list – and the manner of his dismissive attitude towards people who do not agree with him. However, I'm not sure he should be regarded as an active sceptic. He has written a book and you either accept what he says or you do not. The sort of sceptics that annoy people are those that patrol web sites such as Wikipedia and the comments section of Amazon, actively altering or deleting information posted by others, simply because they disagree with what is being said. Such sceptics as this are authoritarian, grossly arrogant, and often deluded.