I’ve been an active skeptic for many years now, and I’ve been able to find my voice on the internet and IRL. At the JREF, we do a lot of work as well to spread rationality and reason.
I’ve already written about finding your voice, linking to the really good Rational Moms piece about that. But let’s say you’re ready to go, and you’ve got yourself all ready to go. Where can you find out what else is going on, so you can sign up to help?
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Have I got the site for you: Grassroots Skeptics is the place to be. It’s a compendium of skeptical events for, well, grassroots efforts to make the world a more rational place. They have a calendar with events listed, a forum and links to other venues as well. They’re just starting out, so there’s not a huge amount of info there yet, but this is a really good idea and could use your support. So go over there, poke around, and send them suggestions on what else they can do.
Make your voice heard!
September 15th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Thanks so much for the link and the kind words. We’re really looking to get a lot of voices involved in the conversation, and this will be a big help. Now pardon me while I go rouse the server gerbils and get them on their wheels.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:53 am
But I want to believe in grass roots!
September 15th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Grass roots are real. It’s just being covered up by the gub’ment. The Secret Organization of Illuminated Lizardpeople has completely covered the existence of grass roots.
Leave it to SOIL to do a thorough job of burying the evidence for grass roots. They are too good at their job. It’s a good thing I’m smarter than them, ’cause I know how to dig around to to find what ever shreds of evidence they are trying to keep underground.
It won’t last long. The grass roots will shoot forth their secrets. All will be revealed and displayed in full light of the sun. Those secrets will spread until all there is is a carpet of Truth.
The Truth will cover the ground of what we think we know. We just need to be the fertilizer for it to prosper.
September 15th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Is there a central place on the intertoobz to look up all things skeptic? If I want to know what Methodists or Muslims believe, it is very easy to look up. But for skeptics, its more hours and hours of sifting through blog posts. Is there a “www.skeptics.org” or something that is a one-stop-shop for common sense, rational thinking, lists of local orgs across the world, etc? Is that what this site will be?
September 15th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
For quick references on most things that are talked about here, you can peruse the Skeptic’s Dictionary.
The Skeptic’s Dictionary:
http://skepdic.com/
The famous Center for Skeptical Inquiry,
CSI:
http://www.csicop.org/
Then two skeptical magazine sites.
Skeptic Magazine:
http://www.csicop.org/
Skeptical Inquirer (part of CSI):
http://www.csicop.org/si/
That should get you started. But part of exploring the world of skepticism is to ask questions. Cheers.
September 15th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Bill7718,
I think that is an ultimate goal of the site. I have found that the JREF Forums are an incredible place to get questions answered on numerous topics that are of interest to a skeptic, or even just a concerned citizen. There is also a rational wiki out there that has some nice links to get lost on. I believe that people are building the lists there of skeptic oriented sites.
September 15th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
@Bahdum (aka Richard):
That may be the funniest thing I’ve read this month. Congratulations, you win.
September 15th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
@ 3 BILL 7718
There’s the Australian Skeptics website : http://www.skeptics.com.au/
the Skepchicks (who’ve got a facebook page too with events listed
the JREF one linked at the sidebar here and
Richard Dawkin’s Foundation : http://www.richarddawkinsfoundation.org/
that I can name for starters.
I’m sure there’s plenty more too – the friendly atheist blog : http://friendlyatheist.com/
&, dare I utter his name here, the Squidman PZ Myers site and …
September 15th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Skepchicks link here : http://skepchick.org/blog/
September 15th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Thanks, DemetriusOfPharos. One part poetic imagery, one part satire, and one part familiarity.
That and a sense of humor.
September 15th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
[...] Phil Plait wrote an interesting post today onGrassroots skepticism | Bad Astronomy | Discover MagazineHere’s a quick excerpt [...]