"There exists in society a very special class of persons that I have always referred to as the Believers. These are folks who have chosen to accept a certain religion, philosophy, theory, idea or notion and cling to that belief regardless of any evidence that might, for anyone else, bring it into doubt. They are the ones who encourage and support the fanatics and the frauds of any given age. No amount of evidence, no matter how strong, will bring them any enlightenment. They are the sheep who beg to be fleeced and butchered, and who will battle fiercely to preserve their right to be victimized… the U.S. Patent Office handles an endless succession of inventors who still produce perpetual-motion machines that don't work, but no number of idle flywheels will convince these zealots of their folly; dozens of these patent applications flow in every year. In ashrams all over the world, hopping devotees of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi will never abandon their goal of blissful levitation of their bodies by mind power, despite bruises and sprains aplenty suffered as they bounce about on gym mats like demented (though smiling) frogs, trying to get airborne. Absolutely nothing will discourage them."
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Academics from the United StatesAcademics from CanadaSkepticsEditors from CanadaMagicians from the United States
Original Language: English
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Sources
The Mask of Nostradamus: The Prophecies of the World's Most Famous Seer, p. 140–142.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Randi
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James Randi
James Randi (7 August 1928 - 20 October 2020), born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge and also known as The Amazing Randi, was a Canadian-American stage magician, skeptic, and an opponent of pseudoscience. He was also editor and primary author of Swift, the James Randi Educational Foundation's weekly online publication.
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