Occupational hazard

Some skeptical questions that are less than useful.

  • Why should I do no harm?
  • Why should I care what other people want?
  • If it’s fun for me to make fun of fat people on the bus, why shouldn’t I go ahead and do that?
  • If I can trick people into giving me all their money to “invest” why shouldn’t I do that?
  • If I enjoy sex with children why shouldn’t I have it?
  • If I’m a priest why shouldn’t I use that as a way to get access to children to have sex with?
  • Why should I inconvenience myself to help someone else?
  • Why should I worry about the working conditions in the factory where my inexpensive Tshirt was made?
  • Why should I care about the problems of people in Bangladesh or Somalia?

There’s an infinite number of questions of that type. They’re not skeptical in the sense of taking a hard look at pseudoscience or woo or fairy tales, but they’re skeptical in the philosophical sense.

This is probably one reason organized skepticism can attract a lot of assholes. It doesn’t always happen, but it’s a hazard.