Last week’s Virtually Drinking Skeptically featured a sort of rolling interview with JREF Field Coordinator, former Mexican wrestler, and disgraced notary public Brian “El Boomboom” Thompson. VDS is always fun, and this session was no exception.

Right before I signed off, the conversation shifted to Boomboom talking about Onanism the JREF’s plans to attract a more diverse group to skepticism. I almost stuck around, but I had to get up early to go to the Auburn game. A man has to set his priorities. Plus, I couldn’t focus on diversity when looking into host Brian Gregory’s sad puppydog eyes. He also has an ass that won’t quit.

So I’m going to drop my opinions here. I’ve set my desktop to display pictures of people named Brian to set the mood.

The JREF cannot significantly increase diversity in skepticism

This is a hard thought on which to focus when looking into Brian Dennehy’s cold-yet-somehow-passionate face.

Wouldn't YOU step into his cocoon?

For the last few years, diversity has been a main topic at TAM. There will be a panel talking about how well-represented women are in skepticism, but how there aren’t a lot of minorities. And there are even fewer poor people, since we haven’t convinced them to fly out to join us in a Vegas casino for four days in our $400+ per-person conference.

A shitload of Brians, though. And a lot of Daves. There is something going on there. Best to leave that unsolved, I think…

It is good to see all the ladies there. Gender diversity has dramatically improved since I started attending these things five years ago. I haven’t seen any actual data, but there seem to be more openly gay folks around, including among the JREF leadership. We’re also up to our parkas in goddamn Canadians, so it’s clear we aren’t turning anyone away at the door.

Actually, I take that back — TAM sucks at religious diversity. There’s a big passo-aggro push to make TAM an atheist-only club; not by turning religious people away as much as just browbeating them until they abandon their faiths. I wonder how often that works? But that’s really another discussion. I will save it until I want to get pissed off.

We don’t have a lot of black people. How is it that TAM has more Australians than African-Americans, and that Yahoo Serious isn’t among them? We have very few Asians scattered around too. These absences are obvious and the JREF is right to want that changed.

But what can the JREF do? In what medium can they promote skepticism to an audience largely ignorant of what it means and of the organized skepticism thing? Where does the JREF obviously intersect with the challenges of life as a minority or an economically disadvantaged person?

I believe it can be done, but it’s a hard road for the JREF to walk.

“Grassroots” skepticism — more than just getting drunk

If those of us in these so-called “grassroots” skeptics groups want to do more than gather in a bar once a month, here’s an activity for you.

Let’s pick a minority group that’s woefully underrepresented at TAM. Hispanics, for example. It is nonsensical to ask why aren’t there more Hispanics at TAM when we don’t have a significant number of them attending local group meetings. Here in Atlanta, we have a large Hispanic community, but you wouldn’t know it from the Skeptics in the Pub meetings.

Why is that? There could be a lot of reasons. Maybe there don’t happen to be a lot of skeptics in that group. Maybe our meeting topics are boring to people not already invested. Maybe there’s a language barrier (a distinct possibility in this case).

Maybe they don’t know what skepticism is, or don’t know that our group exists.

I’m betting that last one is a big part of it, no matter how many other reasons are out there. That’s what we should be working on changing, and that’s where we can be much more effective than a large international group like the JREF.

I’ll tell you how when I’m done gazing at Brian May’s amazing hair helmet.

My god, people -- look at it

Vaccine Clinics – Not Just for Rich Nerds Any More

The last two Dragon*Cons and the most recent TAM included a free vaccine clinic, where anyone could get vaccinated with the flu shot and TDAP. Those three events were thanks to the work of Maria and the Skepchicks and the Women Thinking Free Foundation. And they were great — much needed, and I hope they continue for a long time, long after the idiot anti-vaxxers have died during a seizure brought on by a prolonged coughing fit.

But we’re giving these shots to other skeptics at TAM. And we’re sticking needles into middle-class white nerds at Dragon*Con.

What if we were to find a large church in a Hispanic neighborhood? From my own informal survey, they aren’t hard to find. What is the worst that could happen if we were to meet with the pastor and ask about holding a vax clinic at the church some Sunday after the services? In your poorer neighborhoods or your projects, I’m guessing there are plenty of people who aren’t updated on their vaccines.

(I’m suggesting a church not out of some protest against the strident atheists among us, but because it’s a place where a lot of people gather regularly and have an emotional connection in a way they don’t have with, say, a public school.)

If it comes off, you have built a connection in that community — something the JREF doesn’t have. You have provided them with a valuable service they may have not had the time or money to attend to themselves. You have (presumably) answered their questions about what you’re doing there, and given them a pamphlet or two for them to learn about the importance of vaccines… AND about your goals as a skeptical organization. If you do this in a church, you will appear to be less of a threat to their religious beliefs.

If you prevent a child from dying of whooping cough, you are going to earn the good will of their parents, even if you don’t speak the same language. Do that for enough people, and eventually a couple of them will be curious about your group. If I’m wrong about that last part, then you can comfort yourself knowing that you gave people a TDAP shot.

Conclusion

Of course it doesn’t have to be vax clinics. Anything that will reach into the community. The goal should not be getting these folks to come to TAM or to the Skeptrack at Dragon*Con. The goal should be to plant a seed, to expose them to the idea of critical thinking as an ethical way to live, to make them allow for the possibility that science has an immediate positive effect on their lives. How incredible would it be if we gave a vaccine to a kid this weekend and 20 years from now he’s an epidemiologist? Pretty awesome, I’d say. Not quite as awesome as giving a kid a vaccine and 20 years from now he’s not dead from the measles, but we can do both with the same shot.

I don’t believe this is possible for the JREF. I believe it may be quite possible locally.

Fortunately, I’ll get the chance to put my money where my mouth is. I’m stepping into a leadership position with the Atlanta Skeptics, and something like this is one of the things I want to try.

I think the JREF can have a role here, but they have to be a supporting player. They can help the local groups make contact with the health organizations that can supply the vaccines, maybe help designing some pamphlets so we’re all spreading the right message, help build a database of people who can talk a skeptic group through the inevitable questions and hurdles. But if we’re serious about diversity or about making a positive impact on people’s lives, we can’t sit back and wait for people like D. J. Grothe or Boomboom Thompson to do it, then tell us about it in a vast air-conditioned room in a Vegas casino right before they bring in the cookies.

I’d be interested to hear any other ideas you guys have. Especially all the Brians out there.

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Thanks to Mark Ditsler of Abrupt Media for doing such a fantastic job editing and producing these videos. If you prefer to view the videos offline using iTunes or another podcasting program, Mark has also made them available via an RSS feed here.

The full schedule and other details of the event can be found at the SkeptiCamp wiki.

This event is in honor of Jeff Medkeff, the Blue Collar Scientist, astronomer, skeptic and friend to many of us. Jeff succumbed to liver cancer in 2008. All proceeds will go toward the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in Jeff’s name.

Get all the details you need and buy tickets here! Can’t make it but still want to donate? Contribute at my fundraising page directly!

A little about the man:

Tim Minchin is an Australian, musician, actor, comedian and writer. He has been performing his unique brand of musical comedy in front of appropriately excitable and ever growing audiences since starting out in South Melbourne’s Butterfly Club in 2005. He won the Director’s Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for his break-out show Darkside, and followed this later the same year with one of the most successful debut acts ever at the Edinburgh Fringe – winning the Perrier Award for Best Newcomer. Without wanting to go on and on about it, he’s done some pretty successful live shows since then, often in Australia or the UK, but also on the North American continent (yes that includes you too Canada). But not you Guatemala. Maybe one day.

His current songs span topics such as environmentalism, rationalism, prejudice(ism) and his amour de boobs(ism). In fact it would hardly be over the top to say that his love of boobs would be up there in the back of Plato’s cave in the bit that’s carved out for the most perfect and complete example of the love of boobs. But not in a weird way. During his shows he plays the piano, always nicely and oftentimes wildly and excitingly, whilst looking wonderfully athletic, in a pair of delightfully uncomfortable skinny jeans.

You can get an idea of his act here:

Click HERE!

We hope to see many attend!

http://tinyurl.com/atlskepticamp

Get all the details at: http://www.atlantaskeptics.com/skepticamp or visit our Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/atlantaskepticamp

I recently asked Maria to post a poll on the Meetup group asking which area of the metro area people would be most interested in for a Skeptics in the Park event. The two top choices by a wide margin were inside the perimeter and north of the perimeter, which is pretty much the only areas we’ve had SitPark thus far, so I’ll just continue the trend.

Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to scout out new in-town parks, but I also want to have our first event before it gets too hot. So, on May 7th, we will be going back to our old standby, Grant Park.

We’ll start around Noon. Food and drinks will be provided (typical grilling fare), but feel free to bring your own food if you like.

For those who have joined us before, we’ll (hopefully) be at the same pavilion we usually use. If you have never been to a SitPark in Grant Park, directions follow after the break.

Take I-20 to the Boulevard exit, turn south, go half a mile to the second light after the interstate. You will see the parking lot on your right:

After parking, walk to any of the three entrances to the park. They all merge into one path.

You will walk halfway around the curved path and then look to your left, and you’ll see the pavilion. In the picture above, the red circle is our first choice pavilion and the blue circle is our backup option. So far, we have not had to worry about the backup. The picture below is zoomed in on the park path and pavilion. If you get to the Cyclorama or the zoo, you’ve gone too far.

I’ve always been a fan of TV and movies, but I had never gone to a film festival until last year when my girlfriend took me to the Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison, Wisconsin.  She’s attended it for several years with a long-time friend who lives there.  We had a great time last year, and returned for the 2011 event just this past weekend.

Each year at Wisconsin Film Fest I find there are one or two films (of the over 200 screened) that touch on skeptical topics.  So far, I haven’t seen any appear that pushed a non-evidence-based viewpoint (e.g. “Loose Change” or “What The Bleep Do We Know“). I don’t know if we owe that mainly to the Wisconsin festival’s selection process, or the lack of promotional acumen of the producers of those films, or both.

In any case, here are a few films that I’ve seen and enjoyed at film festivals that skeptics might find interesting, and several more that are coming up soon. Several are available on DVD, and two of them you can watch online for free. I’ll provide the links. Read on…

Smile ‘Til It Hurts (Wisconsin Film Festival 2010)

The documentary Smile ‘Til It Hurts was a pleasant surprise for me at the 2010 Wisconsin festival on several levels.  This was the filmmaker’s first film and the topic didn’t strike me as overtly skeptical in nature at first. And yet the film is stunningly good for a first effort and it has many lessons for skeptics.

It is about the 1960s era musical group “Up With People“, which I vaguely remembered from TV variety show appearances during my childhood.  As this documentary explains, the organization grew out of a right-wing Christian evangelist’s earlier efforts called Moral Re-Armament.  Many aspects behind the scenes of the singing group remind one of a cult (and several people in the film use that term).  Award-winning actress Glenn Close was once a member of the original group, and refers to it as a cult herself in interviews. The film a great deal of archival footage and interviews many former members, and tells the story in a fascinating way.

It is most unfortunate that this film is not yet available on DVD. You can sign up to get an email when it does on the film’s official website.

Children of Invention (Wisconsin Film Festival 2010)

The drama Children of Invention features some absolutely fantastic performances by two child actors. The story concerns a single mother who is trying to make ends meet for her family, but gets entangled in various multi-level marketing programs.  These exploitative business models (which often verge on illegal pyramid schemes) take a horrible toll on the family, leaving the kids to fend for themselves at one point.  It’s a really engaging story.

It happens that this film is currently available for free viewing online via Hulu, I highly recommend it, catch it while it is available for a limited time.  You can also buy Children of Invention on DVD.

STORM (Encounters 2010)

Skeptics are well acquainted at this point with the work of Tim Minchin.  One of his many songs that resonates with skeptics is “Storm”, which relates (in the form of a beat poem) an encounter between a skeptic and a believer at a dinner party.  Minchin has performed it at several skeptic events.

Several UK skeptics, led by D.C. Turner and Tracy King, spearheaded an effort to turn Storm into an animated short film.  The entire process was chronicled on an official website and the film made it’s debut at TAM London last October.  It had it’s film festival premiere at Encounters in Bristol last November.

Today the film was released to the public via YouTube. It’s only 10 minutes and it’s great fun for any skeptic.

Loving Lampposts (Wisconsin Film Festival 2011)

The skeptic highlight in Wisconsin this year was the new autism documentary Loving Lampposts. Directed by the father of an autistic child, Todd Drezner, the title comes from his son’s obsession with lampposts in the local park. The film avoids the usual attitude of “autism as a horrible affliction” and even “autism as an epidemic” and instead focuses on the neurodiversity movement and how both children and adults are successfully living with autism. It doesn’t linger too long on debunking the anti-vaccine forces, but it definitely portrays them as being incorrect. It’s a touching documentary, obviously lovingly made.

This film is already widely available. You can watch it online for $3.99 via Amazon Video and you can already buy the DVD. I heartily recommend it.

Troll Hunter (Wisconsin Film Festival & Atlanta Film Festival 2011)

Now how is a monster movie about trolls in Norway the least bit skeptical? I’ll get to that. But trust me, Troll Hunter is a fun movie.

It has the same basic structural premise of The Blair Witch Project – a group of college age kids go out on an adventure, discover some surprising things, and then go missing. Their raw footage is discovered by someone and made into the film. Unlike Blair Witch, which never really delivers the titular monster and thus disappoints, Troll Hunter provides plenty of its bad guys via modern computer graphics techniques. Troll Hunter also corrects what I thought was another error of Blair Witch (the tone), by moderating the scares with humor sprinkled throughout. It also features some stunningly beautiful Norwegian scenery.

Atlantans will get a chance to see Troll Hunter at the Atlanta Film Festival on May 2.  The film will be available via various on-demand services later that month, but will return to Atlanta for a theatrical run beginning July 1.

Oh, and the skeptical angle? Well I saw at least three skeptical take-aways from this film. First, the fact that it is about trolls and is from Norway says volumes about how cryptids and monsters are culturally based. If this film were remade in America, it would almost certainly become “Bigfoot Hunter”.

Second, I don’t want to post any spoilers, but there is a plot element involving trolls’ supposed ability to smell the blood of a Christian man. As you can see in the trailer for the film on YouTube, this leads to some interesting discussions about the religious beliefs of the team.

Finally, according to the Internet Movie Database the entire budget for this film was $3 million US. There are a large number of very convincing digital shots of realistic looking trolls in this movie, apparently shot with hand-held cameras in the field. If all of that can be accomplished for only $3 million, why do the single-shot films of Bigfoot we get lately look as bad as this? Honestly.

Upcoming: Scientology: The Truth About a Lie (Filmfest DC)

This weekend the American premiere of a French film about the Church of Scientology is taking place in Washington, DC at Filmfest DC.  The cult-like religion has suffered several notable setbacks in France in recent years, including a notable court case where the church was charged with crimes.  I have not seen this documentary, but it sounds like it will be very interesting.  It plays three times Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

Upcoming: Gawd Bless America

Blake Freeman’s upcoming documentary Gawd Bless America looks like a promising skeptical road-trip film. In it he takes a believer in UFOs, psychics and ghosts on a road trip across America to convince him they aren’t real. (He even apparently shot some footage at The Amazing Meeting in Las Vegas). The trailer on YouTube makes it look like great fun.

I wish I could tell you exactly when and where you could see this film. Originally it was scheduled to be released in March, and the release date has been pushed back several times. The IMDB currently lists the release date as May 25, 2011 but other sources say June. We’ll be sure to post exact details when they become available.