Meeting the Amazing Randi

I want you to think about something.

Aside from your family and friends, who are the people who have meant the most to you in your life?

Take some time on this question.  Think about it seriously for a moment.

Try and name those special people.  Your answer will reveal a lot about the person you are, and what you value most.

Are the people who have impacted you the most profoundly — writers, artists, and musicians?  Are they business leaders?  Are they politicians?  Are they courageous people who made personal sacrifices so that we could all live better lives?  Who precisely has meant the most to you, and more important — why?

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I was engaged in a serious discussion on this very topic recently with my dear friend Paul Harris.  He’s a nationally syndicated radio talk show host.  Paul now works out of St. Louis.  However, he previously did talk radio in Washington, D.C., and other cities.  I never realized this fact until recently, but Paul and I were apparently separated at birth — which is something of a scientific anomaly since he’s almost ten years my senior.  We’re both fierce anti-theists, progressive activists, and dedicated converts to the holy church of healthy skepticism.

Paul and I had dinner together at the Rio during the World Series of Poker.  During that occasion, he invited me to attend what’s called THE AMAZING MEETING (TAM).  This is a four-day gathering of writers, scientists, researchers, and skeptics from all over the world who met here in Las Vegas last weekend, which has become an annual get-together.  If ever there was a brethren class of brothers and sisters with whom I feel an inherent bond, it’s these free-minded skeptics who try and base their beliefs (and accordingly, their actions) on reason rather than mankind’s superfluous snake oils — including faith, superstition, and pseudo-science.

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I wanted so much to attend the entire four-day TAM conference, which included a staggering number of interesting topics — both in-depth and variety (SEE FULL LIST OF SEMINARS HERE).  Some of the specific talks included — Physicists, Metaphysics, and Frauds; Science-based Medicine; Science and Morality: How Science Can Determine Right and Wrong;  How To Define ‘Facts’ When We’re Not Entitled to Our Own; Medical Pranks and Quacks; and so much more.

If I had to define what these seminars and workshops are, I would classify them as “food for the brain.”  But they’re even more than that.  I’d go so far as to call these gatherings an “empowering dessert for the mind.”

Unfortunately, I had other commitments these past few days.  Therefore, I couldn’t attend as many of the talks as I would have liked.  However, that didn’t stop me from making a personal pilgrimage on Saturday night to hang out with two of my absolute heroes — Michael Shermer and James Randi (a.k.a. “The Amazing Randi”).  We were seated together while the great Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller fame) took the main stage and performed a series of original songs (with witty lyrics he wrote) backed by an excellent group of local musicians called the “No God Band.”

Paul Harris even showed up to the festivities and personally introduced me to Shermer, which was quite a thrill given how this man and his life’s mission has inspired me for many years.

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So, getting back to my original question:  Who are the people who have meant the most to you in your life?

Paul Harris was in top form that night at our dinner and gave me a lecture of sorts, for which I was willing to serve as his most impressionable student.

He revealed to me that James Randi was one of the people who meant the most to him in his lifetime.  He explained his many reasons why this was so, which became all the more obvious the more he talked and the more passion he displayed for this very special, much under-appreciated man.

As Paul talked and referenced some of Randi’s writings, I reflected back to the 1980s when Randi released what I consider an epic work, which basically debunked the bullshit that is UFO’s, astrology, parapsychology, angels, unicorns, mysticism, faith-healing, and the cruel practices of charlatans.  That book was called “Flim-Flam.”  It’ss odd that Harris would bring up that book to me over dinner.  For I read that same book, too — some 25 years ago.  And it had a profound impact on me, as well.

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James Randi is now 84-years-old.  Proving that age is just a number, he still managed to give the keynote address at this year’s TAM.  Other than his deep commitment to discovery and razor-sharp intellect, I think Randi’s greatest gift now is creating so many disciples who will carry on his teachings after he’s gone.  We shall be wielded to the belief in humankind and science, and we shall exercise the noble virtues of debunking and destroying frauds and parasites who wreck and ruin millions of lives.  What can possibly be more important than that?

The fight to demand policy based on reason has many heroes, but still far too few converts.  Look at national polls which show a majority of people in the United States still believe in angels, ferries, UFOs, and the giant sky daddy which has the audacity to be called “God.”  Hey, ten percent of Americans believe Elvis is still alive, so that bar on reason in this country is still embarrassingly low.

Fortunately, the skeptical movement has some wonderfully devoted people working for us all.  They don’t get paid.  They rarely get thanked.  These are the people who spend much of their free time updating Wiki pages, translating literature from foreign languages, and performing tasks that are absolutely essential to giving the unconverted but curious the chance to read and try and understand why science and skepticism always trump blind faith and fairy tales.  People like Susan Gerbic, and a rare few others.  Without those tireless souls working into the night hours for no other payoff other than serving the cause of truth and understanding, many among us seeking answers will instead stumble upon the soothsayers, mystics, quacks, and religious fanatics who have pretty much controlled the discourse and ball and chained rational thought for centuries.

Think of it another way.  Those who are curious but who lack access to reliable information will never have the chance to discover and learn these vital ideas unless we skeptics work to advance them via all forms of social and mass media.  Indeed, the skeptical movement doesn’t need just a few heroes.  It (desperately, I would say) needs millions of messengers.  Micheal Shermer and James Randi can’t carry our burden alone.

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I find it inconceivable that there’s a documentary being made on James Randi, and it still is having difficulty getting financed.

Excuse my outrage, but WHAT THE FUCK?

With an astonishing array of bad programming on television, utterly unwatchable 50-million dollar movies, and a substantial number of people starving for intellectual nourishment, how hasn’t this film project raised enough money yet?  To me, that’s an unsolved mystery.  Note:  I wrote some thoughts previously about this project, which can be found here:

READ:  “AN HONEST LIAR”

Looking to the future, Randi would be the first to admit his days of fighting the toughest battles are just about over now.  He’s since become an emeritus of inspiration.  And so it is we that must carry on and do what he did in a time when standing up to ignorance was much more difficult and even dangerous.  Our generation has it easy compared to the early pioneers of skeptical thought.

Yes indeed, James Randi is an extraordinary man.  True to his name, he is truly “Amazing.”  With a capital “A.”