#486: Art Bell

The legendary Arthur W. Bell III was the original host of Coast to Coast AM, which is currently run by George Noory, and although retired he occasionally drops in to talk loon (his classic ramblings can also be heard on Dreamland and Somewhere in Time).

In fairness, it might be pointed out that Bell does not necessarily accept all the unhinged claims made by people who call in, and that the point is merely to give them an outlet where they won’t be immediately mocked. But that idea (giving them an outlet) is rather loony itself (and here is why it is troublesome). Although Bell wouldn’t screen callers, he did choose his guests, and must be held partially responsible for boosting the popularity of crazies like Nick Begich, Ed Dames, Richard Hoagland, David John Oates, and Geoffrey Simmons – you can find a list of memorable callers, guests, and incidents here. In 1998, Bell was named recipient of the Snuffed Candle Award. The CSICOP Council for Media Integrity cited Bell “for encouraging credulity, presenting pseudoscience as genuine, and contributing to the public's lack of understanding of the methods of scientific inquiry.”

Bell, who has written plenty of credulous books on the paranormal, is also the co-author (with Whitley Strieber) of “The Coming Global Superstorm”, which was made into the movie “The Day After Tomorrow”.

Diagnosis: Though it is hard to gauge Bell’s actual insanity (though his authorship suggests “plenty”), he is a facilitator for and popularizer of all sort of thorough crap, and his overall impact on the world is surely not good.

#485: Michael Belkin & The Refusers

Michael Belkin is a financial forecaster-turned-musician, and The Refusers is his band. Belkin lost his daughter in 1998 hours after receiving a required vaccine, which is, of course, a horrible tragedy – and no one should expect that a person experiencing a tragedy like this should have only rational immediate reactions. But Belkin is unfortunately using his tragic experience to fight against the welfare of other people as well, and though understandable it is in no way justifiable.

He is currently using his music for anti-vaxx purposes (he has also provided testimony before Congress, despite the fact that he has no expertise on the matter, but you sort of see why his anecdotal evidence might carry some weight even though it shouldn’t). The Refusers are in any case a “musical tribute to the victims (past, present and future) of the government's misguided mandatory vaccination policy”. The lyrics discusses vaccine issues and government-mandated intrusion into our personal lives (i.e. conspiracy theories), and the songs carry titles such as “They can keep their flu vaccine” and “Vaccine Gestapo” (“They're a medical military priesthood; Just like Adolf they preach the greater good”). It is somewhat hard to determine from the lyrics whether it’s a Poe, but apparently it isn’t. Discussed here.

Apparently they are still active, predictably going further and further into tinfoil hat conspiracy land for each appearance. It is hence interesting that lots of antivaxxers accept them as the soundtrack for their denialism. But then. the antivaxxers left science behind a long time ago.

Michael Belkin also has a substantial whale.to presence, promoting the pharma shill gambit, conspiracy theories and the claim that pediatricians are brainwashed (which he apparently thinks is staggering – maybe he should start to entertain the notion that he, Belkin, may be wrong?) – it is all ad hominem reasoning, of course; no actual evidence or science is discussed, just attempts to explain why all the scientists are wrong since they disagree with him, and not even bothering to try to establish that they are, in fact, wrong. Indeed, he is known to assert that everyone who disagrees with him must be lying (hilariously, in this interview with the well-known conspiracy rag WorldNetDaily you can sort of see Belkin trying to dodge some of the most lunatic implications from his interviewer, the obviously garbledly unhinged Geoff Metcalf).

Diagnosis: A tragic case, really, but Belkin is undeniably loony and a moderate threat to civilization and humanity

#484: Bill Belew

No, the Bill Belew in question is not the fashion/costume designer who died a few years ago, but a professional blogger who – among other things – writes about the “creationism vs. evolution debate” and declares that the creationist side won. Partially, one presumes, because of arguments such as Belew’s own “The fact of the matter is, evolution is still a theory. A theory is not a fact. It’s a best guess based on a whole lot of assumptions”. Yes, Bill is epically clueless about science in general, evolution in particular, and precisely what "scientific theory" means. He seems to find most of his arguments on Answers in Genesis (he even uses Dan Lietha’s illustrations). Apparently it is all about the starting assumptions (as per this one); apparently whether you are religious or an atheist determines how you’re going to end up – it’s all about the worldviews. It is, of course, interesting how creationists adopt postmodernist relativism when it suits them. It is less surprising how little such presuppositionalist fundies such as Belew knows about science, such as the fact that the main difference between evolution and creationism is that the first theory has plenty of evidence going for it whereas the second has none (if it is at all testable). And also: many scientists reject evolution, according to Belew. Because it would be better for his argument that way.

The reason he might merit inclusion in our Encyclopedia is that he claims to be immensely popular, having had up to a million hits on certain topics (he doesn’t actually verify this, and the fact that he’s so rarely mentioned elsewhere makes one puzzled). But here you go, Bill: An entry of your own, courtesy of the Encyclopedia of American Loons.

He also writes for the Christian Worldview Examiner.

Diagnosis: Ignorant denialists. Claims to have lots of impact, but his actual impact is unknown but probably rather limited.

#483: E. Calvin Beisner

Although one may like to give a nod to Sharon Begley for her tendencies to play up manufactroversies and non-existing conflicts she is generally in the vicinity decent at covering science. E. Calvin Beisner would not be able to distinguish evidence from a basket of the number three if his life depended on it.

Beisner is a political activist and dominionist who used to be a theologian at the Knox Theological Seminary (Ft. Lauderdale). He staunchly defends pretty much every kind of radical wingnut lunacy that exists, and generally vies with Brian Fischer for the position of the most fractally wrong delusional maniac alive at the moment. His current main theme seems to be global warming denial and anti-environmentalism, and it is worth pointing out that although he calls himself ”Dr. Beisner” his education is in Scottish history, which is about as relevant to climate research as the Bible. Beisner was behind the Cornwall Declaration, and the Cornwall Alliance. The latter is a denialist organization (of the ”environmentalism is unchristian” type) that receives plenty of funding for promoting denialism, and which claims that environmentalism is dark paganism the goal of which is to wipe out 95% of the world’s population. Beisner is also on the advisory board for the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, the employer of several "experts for hire" (Patrick Michaels, Marc Morano (more on him here), Michael Fumento) to promote denialism, as well as co-author of the infamous ”A Call to Truth”, which firmly keeps truth out of calling distance. Beisner’s Bible-based ”expertise” was impressive enough to have him testify at a Congressional hearing on global warming (in which he argued that one shouldn’t believe in the conclusions of IPCC because it is an atheist organization), but they invited Monckton as well, which tells you something about the standards.

Of course, Beisner rejected – outright – the Koch Foundation sponsored study that famously came up confirming man-made climate change.

The Cornwall Alliance is also behind the infamous Green Dragon 12-part documentary series to "educate" people on environmentalism. To do that, they draw on the expertise of a wide range of authorities on the matter, including Beisner himself, David Barton, Wendy Wright (of Concerned Women for America), Bryan Fischer, Tom Minnery (of Focus on the Family), and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. The series was endorsed by Victoria Jackson. It pushed the usual talking points, and a few novel ones inspired by John Birch Society-style conspiracy theories: environmentalism is a secular religion, the goal of which is to wipe out Christianity and establish a world government. Indeed, Beisner has argued that since environmentalism is a religion the Environmental Protection Agency, being one of many partners involved in promoting the film ”The Lorax”, is in ”violation of the separation of church and state” (as opposed, apparently, to mandatory school prayer; also here). Apparently Pixar’s movie ”Brave” is also part of a Satanic plot to undermine God’s plan with mankind by deliberately trying to stem population growth.

According to Beisner, the environmental movement is ”depraved” and ”modeling itself after Satan” – apparently that’s what counts as rigorous science in his circles (the screed is here) – and that not using fossil fuels is an insult to God; that is, failure to use coal, oil, and natural gas is an insulting rejection of the gifts that God has given to us, Beisner maintains, gifts which He buried deep in the earth because He delights in our search for and discovery of them. Apparently the argument does not apply to wind or sun energy.

In fact, it is not only the failure to use fossil fuels – even believing that climate change is happening ”really is an insult to God ... and it will eventually lead to tyranny.” The fact, apparently, is that God made the world strong and robust, and carbon dioxide is “fertilizer” for plants and helps them grow more. In short, the modern environmental movement represents ”the greatest threat to Western civilization” mankind is facing because it combines ”the utopian vision of Marxism, the scientific facade of secular humanism, and the religious fanaticism of jihad” into a pseudo-religion that undermines Christianity.

Though he has often teamed up with them, Beisner has on other occasions criticized Focus on the Family, since the latter organization has, on some occasion, supported legislation to reduce mercury emissions (because such emissions rather obviously hurt babies). Beisner, of course, would have none of it. ”Some of [the people supporting the legislation] have 100 percent pro-abortion voting records in Congress,” Beisner argued.

Of course, Beisner is also a hardcore creationist, but no one would at this point think that Beisner really had any clue about how science works or about the role of testing and evidence.

He has also argued that AIDS is God’s punishment on homosexuals, and he is thoroughly afraid of the nefarious and extremely influential gay lobby in Washington. Tornadoes are punishments from God as well, it seems. Take that, climatologists.

Diagnosis: Hardcore insane fundie denialists, and it is telling how many people are unable to distinguish the incoherent ranting of a mad theologian from evidence-backed claims by actual experts (best explanation: Dunning-Kruger). Beisner must, however, be considered extremely dangerous.

#482: Paul Begley

Here’s theologian Paul Begley reading from the Book of Revelation and providing evidence that the end times are near. It isn’t his first rant on the matter; Begley has a relatively substantial youtube presence, and each one is a slightly more unhinged attempt at shoehorning non-existence evidence into service for an incoherent hypothesis, than the previous. This one, for instance. (In fact, you’ll find plenty here). At least he takes a not particularly convincing stab at explaining why Harold Camping’s prophecies was wrong, followed by an observation that the comet Elenin is coming, so the end must be very near – we’re talking a few years, maybe three. But no specific date can be given, for that would make Begley look like a fool, just like Harold Camping.

In his daily life Paul Begley is a preacher at the Community Gospel Baptist Church in Knox, Indiana. According to his website “Paul recently expanded the ministry by tapping into the media of the Internet. This tool has allowed him to reach out internationally with the message of

salvation and the Bible Prophecy. Salvations have increased exponentially and it is intriguing to anticipate what the next move of God will be.” (I don’t think he knows what “exponentially” means).

Diagnosis: Superloon. His following is probably limited, but from the comments on his youtube videos it looks as if some people are actually listening to the rubbish that falls out of his mouth.