Hi All,
I agree with your passionate objection to fuzzy thinking and share your irritation. However, I've been teaching for some time now and can guarantee that if you go into a classroom or any other public gathering and start ranting about how illogical, silly, or otherwise wrong a person's claim is, you will lose. In fact, you will fuel their conviction for the simple reason the person will resort to the denialist position of conspiracies and cover-ups. It simply won't work. Even worse, abusing a claimant (or their mother), even verbally, will deepen their conviction and turn them off your argument and worse, turn them away from clear thinking. It will illicit an emotional and not a thoughtful response. In other words, abuse of a claimant is actually harming science and scientific thinking.
The only moderately successful method is to teach the person to be sceptical. I teach scepticism to my Year 8 to 10 science students as a specific subject; sceptical thinking is now in the Australian Curriculum: Science. One of the most important things I point out is that being sceptical doesn't mean you don't accept any premise, but it does mean you've thought about it first, and thought well. I then use a guide to being sceptical as a tool for opening discussion and supplement with contemporary examples. The end of the world scenario could be illustrated not only with current claims, but more effectively by comparing those claims with historical and obviously erroneous claims.
The great Carl Sagan was a proponent of critical thinking and his wonderful book "The Demon Haunted World" is an excellent read. There are many others. Another valuable resource is Brian Dunning's Skeptoid podcast and website. He distilled a guide to being sceptical (
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4037) which is very useful.
Often believers will counter with the idea that science is just one more belief system. This claim is easily dismissed with: scientists don't believe things, there is no faith involved; they accept conclusions based on evidence and clear thinking. Importantly they are always open to change if new evidence contradicts their conclusions (in principle, anyway). If an asteroid were heading towards Earth, for instance, astronomers would be the first to get excited and tell everyone.
Just remember: if you get angry and abusive you will only further the cause of misinformation, disinformation, and out-right loonies. Don't do it. And don't be so surprised that belief in silly things is so common. For me, a far greater threat to the well-being of society comes from more widely accepted belief systems based on absolutely no evidence. Those who fear the (imminent) end of the world are in the extreme minority.
Cheers,
Geoff Mc
