Why Criticism is Important

When I first jumped into the paranormal community I spent a lot of time trying to discuss the topics with others. I haunted discussion forums and comment threads in hopes of logical debate and learning great information. I’ve since learned my lesson. Many forums are fortresses for illogical thought and unproductive discussion.

Skeptics have adopted a unique way of combating this; restricted comments. Many skeptical websites I have came across have strict comment policies to keep out unwanted thoughts. Unfortunately this creates a rather one-sided discussion which kind of defeats the purpose. 

I think this stems from a fear of being wrong. No one wants to be wrong and most people will choose bad logic over admitting they were mistaken. But criticism is important. Criticism keeps us honest, forces us to think before we type and challenges us to evaluate the way we think about issues. The paranormal community desperately needs good criticism and people open to it. We have to be willing to give and get good criticism to be effective investigators of thee paranormal.

Illogic, dogma, and censorship gets us nowhere and this is reflected in the current field. Hard research into the paranormal is tough to find. There are a lot of reporters, ghost hunters, and arm chair know-it-alls, but we need hard researchers. Perhaps some good criticism will inspire people to change. At least I hope so.