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I have recently seen Stephen Skinner getting roasted by a significant portion of his fan base over his views on anthropogenic climate change. I agree with him, but this thread isn't supposed to be about climate change. Instead I'd like to talk a bit about conformity.
Every magical practitioner of any sort has at least a billion people telling them how wrong they are. That billion people is everyone from the most ignorant person to the most educated and highly-respected, from all sectors of society and in every part of the world. They have proofs, reasons, and every imaginable form of support showing how their version is correct and you are absolutely wrong. By deciding to pursue magic, you are giving all of those globally-accredited experts the middle finger.
It's a good idea to investigate why you believe what you believe, and to question what counts as authority when evaluating those beliefs. In recent years, there have been massive information campaigns aimed at convincing you that the expert authorities are correct about things you cannot verify. Even if you wanted to check on those expert findings, you do not have the means to do the checking, so you are either forced to accept them or be labeled a conspiracy theorist.
Is the climate changing on account of human industrial activity? Is Covid a naturally occurring pathogen? Is the vax safe or effective? Are election results legitimate? Is commercial tobacco safe? Are pediatric vaccines safe? Can jet fuel melt steel? No matter what answer you give for these (and my answer is "no" for all of them), you have not done the research necessary to give an authoritative answer. At best, you are relying on other people who have done some sort of research or investigation. None of it comes from direct knowledge.
Science may not be as scientific as you'd like for it to be. A lot of it relies on data models, which are subject to flaws in the data itself and the method of analysis. Billions of dollars in funding, and more billions sent to universities, effectively gatekeeps the entire scientific process and controls the narrative surrounding any data-related topic. Even if you do somehow get a billion dollars worth of funding and a whole team of professional scientists, their research will necessarily be confined to the same flawed sources of data and the same flawed methods of analysis as anyone else. I'm a huge fan of science, but I'm not going to blindly stand beside something just because the government and some multibillion dollar industries insist that I'm wrong if I don't.
What it comes down to is not just being right about the facts or their interpretation. It's more than that. With the Covid shots, we saw the "scientific truth" empower a campaign to eliminate conservatives from industry, academics, and politics, effectively banning anyone who opposed the Covid shots from participating at any level in the decision-making parts of society. With climate change, we are seeing huge international pressure groups using "scientific facts" to stifle industry in certain areas, while allowing others to pump as much pollutant into the sky as they want. Even if you don't agree, the intent behind these campaign is to force you to comply anyway whether you agree or not. Go ahead and believe what the government and the mega-rich want you to believe, but as for me and my house, we will refuse.
Every magical practitioner of any sort has at least a billion people telling them how wrong they are. That billion people is everyone from the most ignorant person to the most educated and highly-respected, from all sectors of society and in every part of the world. They have proofs, reasons, and every imaginable form of support showing how their version is correct and you are absolutely wrong. By deciding to pursue magic, you are giving all of those globally-accredited experts the middle finger.
It's a good idea to investigate why you believe what you believe, and to question what counts as authority when evaluating those beliefs. In recent years, there have been massive information campaigns aimed at convincing you that the expert authorities are correct about things you cannot verify. Even if you wanted to check on those expert findings, you do not have the means to do the checking, so you are either forced to accept them or be labeled a conspiracy theorist.
Is the climate changing on account of human industrial activity? Is Covid a naturally occurring pathogen? Is the vax safe or effective? Are election results legitimate? Is commercial tobacco safe? Are pediatric vaccines safe? Can jet fuel melt steel? No matter what answer you give for these (and my answer is "no" for all of them), you have not done the research necessary to give an authoritative answer. At best, you are relying on other people who have done some sort of research or investigation. None of it comes from direct knowledge.
Science may not be as scientific as you'd like for it to be. A lot of it relies on data models, which are subject to flaws in the data itself and the method of analysis. Billions of dollars in funding, and more billions sent to universities, effectively gatekeeps the entire scientific process and controls the narrative surrounding any data-related topic. Even if you do somehow get a billion dollars worth of funding and a whole team of professional scientists, their research will necessarily be confined to the same flawed sources of data and the same flawed methods of analysis as anyone else. I'm a huge fan of science, but I'm not going to blindly stand beside something just because the government and some multibillion dollar industries insist that I'm wrong if I don't.
What it comes down to is not just being right about the facts or their interpretation. It's more than that. With the Covid shots, we saw the "scientific truth" empower a campaign to eliminate conservatives from industry, academics, and politics, effectively banning anyone who opposed the Covid shots from participating at any level in the decision-making parts of society. With climate change, we are seeing huge international pressure groups using "scientific facts" to stifle industry in certain areas, while allowing others to pump as much pollutant into the sky as they want. Even if you don't agree, the intent behind these campaign is to force you to comply anyway whether you agree or not. Go ahead and believe what the government and the mega-rich want you to believe, but as for me and my house, we will refuse.
it! 
