Entry #050: Kirk Cameron

Formerly beloved former child star Kirk Cameron is currently a dysfunctional apologist for the ever moronic Ray Comfort (to be covered later). He claims to have been an atheist who later found Jesus (yes, that one again). Since “Growing Pains”, his most prominent roles have been in the “Left Behind” movies and “Fireproof”. So, yes – he is currently a religious fundamentalist touring with Ray Comfort, possibly the most ignorantly inane road show ever, prominently featuring Comfort’s banana argument and the crocoduck argument.

Vigorously opposed to evolution, and has – together with Comfort – designed a board game (here and here). His project to hand out copies of his and Comfort’s annotated version of “The origin of species” generated this response (among many others).

And of course there is a conspiracy theory here. Cameron is worried that we are currently experiencing a whole generation “brainwashed by atheistic evolution” (I don’t think “brainwashed” means what Cameron thinks it means).

Here's Kirk Cameron trying his hand at American history. According to himself, criticizing Kirk Cameron is the same as criticizing freedom itself. I suppose it is superfluous to point it out, but sometimes Cameron says really stupid things.

More entirely unsurprising incoherence from Cameron here.

Here's Cameron entering hardcore David Barton territory, predictably with the same aptitude for truth and accuracy. A fine summary of the weirdness of Cameron's otherworldly pseudo-history is found here.

Would you believe it, but Cameron has come clean as a hardcore conspiracy theorist, and so thoroughly so that he seems to entertain entering the terrains of Eric Jon Phelps rather than Alex Jones. At least Kirk Cameron’s movie is out.

More Bartonisms from Cameron here.

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Diagnosis: Among the most breathtakingly moronic bozos alive, Cameron manages to make Mel Gibson look moderately intelligent. The Comfort/Cameron superteam is, I suppose, not taken seriously as anything who could even begin to pose a threat. I suspect their popularity is more due to their breathtaking inanity.

Entry #049: Roger J Callahan & Gary Craig

The last decade or so certain psychologists and pseudo-psychologists have been claiming to be could cure any craving or phobia in minutes, sometimes even over the phone, by just a wee bit of tapping and some positive thinking to "rebalance [the body’s] natural energy system." Anything, really, from addiction to biscuits, alcohol, cigarettes to murdering homeopaths. The buzzword is "Thought Field Therapy” (TFT), a mish-mash of psychology, acupuncture, neuro-linguistic programming, hypnotherapy and what amounts to reiki and life force mysticism. It has absolutely no scientific foundation, and test results don’t exactly go in its favor. But woo apparently appeals.

Not only is there no evidence for its efficacy – it also relies on such quack myths as ”meridians”. In fact, the American Psychological Association asserted that TFT "lacks a scientific basis" and removed support for it in 1999, stating that TFT "does not meet [our] definition of appropriate continuing-education curriculum for psychologists".

The technique was invented and is promoted by – you guessed it – Roger Callahan (pictured right), who terms his treatment "Thought Field Therapy" because he theorizes that when a person thinks about an experience or thought associated with an emotional problem, they are tuning in to a "thought field. and the evidence adduced in support of TFT by Callahan and other proponents comes from uncontrolled case reports that were not peer reviewed. In 2001, in an unprecedented move, the Editor of the Journal of Clinical Psychology agreed to publish, without peer review, five articles on TFT of Callahan’s choosing. Psychologist John Kline wrote that Callahan’s article “represents a disjointed series of unsubstantiated assertions, ill-defined neologisms, and far-fetched case reports that blur boundaries between farce and expository prose.” It has its roots in ancient Chinese medicine.

You can read about them here. And here. And here’s his website.

Dr. Callahan also brags about being endorsed by Kevin Trudeau (who will appear later, rest assured). Perhaps because both were in major trouble with the FTC in 1998.

For their importation of TFT into Africa to treat PTSD and Malaria, see here.

And here is an NPR interview where Callahan claimed TFT successfully treated malaria.

A balanced analysis can be found here.

There is a good primer on thought field therapy here.
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Diagnosis: Crackpot and charlatan (probably unconsciously). His influence is appallingly wide, and his crackpottery has been adopted by several serious practitioners and even received governmental endorsement.

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Roger Callahan's disciple, Gary Craig, invented a variant of TFT known as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), applied kinesology and pure woo. His website is here.

Critically evaluated here.

EFT is apparently a procedure that ”borrows from the much-heralded discoveries of Albert Einstein”. How, you may think? Well, because ”everything, including your body, is composed of energy”. The residue is borrowed ”from the ancient wisdom of Chinese acupuncture.”

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Diagnosis: Pure, delusional crackpot of the worst kind. Impact uncertain, but EFT is a spin-off of some frighteningly popular quackery.

Entry #048: Bradley Byrne

GOP, Alabama-style fashion, launched the following astoundingly bizarre series of events about a month ago: First The True Republican PAC ran this ad in the Alabama gubernatorial race, attacking Bradley Byrne (R) because he supports the teaching of evolution in schools.

That drew some attention, but is perhaps to be expected from The True Republican PAC who are batshit unhinged fundamentalist uneducated loons of the worst sort anyway. The appalling turn came with Byrne’s response. The predictable godbottery apart, Byrne also pointed out the following:

“As a member of the Alabama Board of Education, the record clearly shows that I fought to ensure the teaching of creationism in our school text books. Those who attack me have distorted, twisted and misrepresented my comments and are spewing utter lies to the people of this state.” (read more here)

I am not sure Byrne really knows what ”distorted, twisted and misrepresented” means, but notice that the True Republican PAC’s attack was not that Byrne favored teaching evolution (i.e. science) exclusively, but that he defended teaching evolution at all. For Byrne is, in fact, a proponent of teaching the “controversy” (manufactroversy), which he promptly pointed out. But as it turns out, maybe he isn't.

That’s not really the point, however. The appalling thing isn’t really Byrne’s views or non-views. The appalling thing is the situation – the lunacy of his putative voters – that makes offering this reply appear to be a necessary thing to do.

So this entry doesn’t really indict Byrne per se, but Byrne as a symbol for the unhinged lunacy that apparently runs rampant among Alabama’s GOP voters, voters who apparently support Byrne’s official statement or even the Republican PAC on this. The loon of the day is the State of Alabama.

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Diagnosis: This is bad. Really, really scary.

Entry #047: Arthur Butz

David Irving might be disqualified from an entry in the Encyclopedia by being British, but his views have its share of followers in the U.S. as well. Arthur Butz is one of the most prominent. Arthur Butz is actually a tenured Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Northwestern University, although his colleagues have exerted some pressure on him to retire. In 1976 Butz wrote the book ‘The Hoax of the 20th Century: The Case Against the Presumed Extermination of European Jewry’, which asserted that the Holocaust did not occur and has been deliberately contrived to justify the creation of the state of Israel. He has actively used his position as a tenured professor to give legitimacy to his views (without providing the administration at Northwestern any formal reason to get rid of him).

Butz remained quiet for a while after the book, but has returned to the spotlight the last 5 years for his defense (praise) of President Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial. In fact (in addition to a lot of long refuted claims), he called Ahmadinejad’s statements “formidable in their perspicacity” and that Ahmadinejad “understands the intellectual terror in the West” (said, apparently, without a hint of irony). Butz also pointed out that “Tony Blair made a routine pompous suggestion to Ahmadinejad: Visit the camps and see for yourself. Ahmadinejad replied: Good idea, I’ll bring a scientific team. He knows about the forensic issues too.” Yes, Butz, that reply surely establishes Ahmadinejad’s provenance as a razor sharp, non-biased critical thinker, in particular since Ahmadinejad seems to have no intention of actually following up on it. More here. Butz’s claims are thoroughly debunked here.

At least Butz clearly displays the ineptitude and ignorance of the deniers; when you praise Ahmadinejad’s unashamed anti-Semitic, zealous denialism for its rigor and good ideas, your own arguments cannot be particularly strong.

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Diagnosis: Dangerous and cunning, perhaps, but a serious loon nonetheless. His influence might be limited, but its threat can hardly be exaggerated.

Entry #046: Harold Buttram

Advisor for the Medical Voices Vaccine Information Center, the kind of center you really should run away from as fast as you can if you have a medical condition (the center also promotes our previous loon, Rashid Buttar). Buttram is a notoriously vile anti-vaccine crank, conspiracy theorist and promoter of dubious practices and alternative medicine. A sympathetic presentation is here. He is also a member of the infamous Association of American Physicians and Scientists, which publishes Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (discussed here) and uses Andy Schlafly as legal representative.

Dr. Buttram is perhaps most infamous for claiming that the shaken baby syndrome is really due to vaccine injury rather than physical trauma and has published articles in his Association’s journal and elsewhere defending that claim. As a consequence he was personally responsible for almost getting baby murderer Alan Yurko off the hook (another witness for the defense was Mohammed Al-Bayati). As if the facts don’t prove his lunacy, Dr. Buttram also has his own page on Whale.to. That should settle it.

Oh boy; here's Buttram launching some real lunacy, founded upon the most ridiculous crackpottery. This guy is truly insane.

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Diagnosis: Unintentionally evil loon of the kind that is all too common. Needs to be stopped, but even if he is there’s ten more to take his place.

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(BTW, a good post on denialism in general can be found here)

Entry #045: Rashid Buttar

Among the most belligerent quacks in the States, Dr. Buttar is a medical doctor who, apart from his genuine qualifications, espouses a line of treatment for autism that is as bereft of scientific rigor as transcommunication (see previous post).

Buttar has been under investigation by the North Carolina State Medical Board for a decade and for a variety of misconducts involving "unconventional treatments" to which he subjects autistic children and cancer patients - all for lots of money to line his pockets. He views the medical board, in his own words, as a "rabid dog."

Ultimately, the medical board has recommended restricting Dr. Buttar's license to prohibit him from treating children or patients with cancer. That hasn’t stopped him (discussed here; for a more neutral assessment go here).

Among his more famous autism treatments is the transdermal chelation cream (a.k.a. “Buttar’s butter”). He has been known to come up with some truly bizarre protocols to treat autism, with rumors that Dr. Buttar's armamentarium of woo even included urine injections to "boost the immune system". Of course the fees are exorbitant.

His cancer quackery is even worse, and Buttar has apparently said that ”it didn't matter what kind of cancer anybody had, he could cure it."

Uh oh.

And yes, it is there, all of it: Buttar believes most patients with cancer also have high levels of heavy metals, such as mercury, and other toxins, such as pesticides, because of environmental exposure”. His treatments include chelation, ozone therapy and hyperbaric oxygen chambers – dangerous, potentially lethal devices or regimes with not the slightest trace of evidential support for any claims to efficacy. He even has an AirEnergy Machine.

His website is here.

Buttar is most prominent, however, for being a rabid anti-vaccinationist, running all the usual canards. Remember Desiree Jennings? The gal who claimed to have her walking impaired by the H1N1 vaccine (but got magically cured right after the media forgot about her?) Guess who her accomplice was, the doctor who “diagnosed her and helped her”.

Btw, his website prominently displays the following quote: "All truth passes through 3 phases: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed, and Third, it is accepted as self-evident." (Schopenhauer). Anyone who uses this quote as support for his or her ideas is a seriously delusional crackpot. That’s a law.

(Come to think of it, it’s a strikingly stupid and magnificently false claim Schopenhauer is making to begin with.)

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Diagnosis: Crackpot, and a severe case of confirmation bias coupled with belligerence. Very dangerous – many of his treatments are definitely harmful (and hardly beneficial), and they are being used. Should be stopped as quickly as possible.

Entry #044: Tom & Lisa Butler

If there is a lesson to be learned from engaging with the looniverse, it must be that there exists nary a phenomenon that has not been the subject matter for a conspiracy theory (no wonder, really, given the human psychological proclivity towards confirmation bias, and the self-affirming nature of conspiracy theories). Among the more outré subject matters is death. Yes, that’s right. The claim that humans die is a conspiracy, or so say believers in transcommunication (they do claim, however, that “research suggests …”). They are here represented by the reliably delusional Tom & Lisa Butler who run the website “Association TransCommunication”.

The main phenomenon is EVP, or “electronic voice phenomenon”, the belief that spirits can communicate from "beyond" on electronic audio recording equipment. Practitioners often set up a recording device in a room where it is thought that ghosts reside. The practitioner then asks various questions while recording. Later the tape is analyzed both forward and backwards, searching the "white noise" for anything that might sound like a sentence or word.

Uh-oh.

So, electronic noise is really ghosts trying to communicate with the living. Sort of similar to seeing God when perceiving a face in the clouds – and this serves as “objective evidence” for survival after death. In fact, ATransc actually recommends mucking up sound systems to better hear the voices. A short intro to the phenomenon is here.

The Butlers have also written the book “There is No Death and there are No Dead”, which details the history of EVP, gives ample examples, explains how to experiment with both EVP and Video ITC, and explains the Death conspiracy (see also their attempt at defining “objective evidence”). The Butlers are apparently currently the leading experts on the phenomenon after the, uh, death of the founder, the clinically delusional Sarah Estep (the Butlers also set up the Sarah Estep Research Fund). ATransC Publishing has also published Martha Copeland's book, “I'm Still Here”, as an important illustration of how contact with a love done via transcommunication can help with grief [not recommended in general, I think]. This book represents the formation and purpose of The Big Circle, which began when members gathered around Martha and Karen Mossey to record for EVP on a regular basis so that they could use the group energy to continue their relationship with loved ones now on the other side.

They have also released the video “White Noise”. Somehow I managed to miss Mark Chu Carrol's visit to the Butlers here. It's rather good.

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Diagnosis: Pure, unmitigated crankery runs rampant with the delusional Butlers. They seem to have a solid fan-base, but are probably not very dangerous.

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This entry also indicts their associates Becky Estep and Karen Mossey. It also indicts Martha Copeland who got drawn into the mess after the tragic death of her daughter, who she still claims to have contact with (she needs psychiatric help, in other words).

Entry #043: William (Bill) Buckingham

Buckingham is the creationist strategist behind the Dover Area School District Board of Education’s decision to “teach the controversy” (i.e. try to wedge in religion in schools), the process that lead to the famous Dover Trial. This bizarre series of events got rolling when the Board voted 6-3 to "challenge" evolution. Under the leadership of Buckingham they added a one paragraph disclaimer to the local high school biology curriculum, garbling the regular curriculum with "teach the controversy" and promoting the "scientific alternative" of intelligent design and using the "textbook" Of Pandas and People as a reference. Buckingham mentioned creationism and raised objections to proposed use of the textbook Biology written by Kenneth Miller and Joseph Levine, describing it as "laced with Darwinism" and saying it was "inexcusable to have a book that says man descended from apes with nothing to counterbalance it." The dissenting members of the school board resigned in protest and the measure carried. Buckingham had previously wanted to use Of Pandas and People in the classroom to teach both sides of the creation-evolution "debate”.

Buckingham’s testimony during the trials (proudly displaying his almost complete ignorance and lack of intelligence) is discussed here. Even the defense during the trial attempted to distance itself from Buckingham. The creationists attempted to claim that ID is science, not religion; Buckingham was less concerned about that distinction, trying instead to argue (unsuccessfully) that "nowhere in the Constitution does it call for a separation of church and state” (a claim the Discovery Institute has later defended). He summed up the trial, the main issue of which was whether ID is science or thinly disguised religion, by famously declaring "Two thousand years ago someone died on a cross. Can't someone take a stand for him?"

See also the entry for Alan Bonsell.

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Diagnosis: Taliban fundamentalist, madman and crackpot; exasperatingly ignorant, blathering idiot. Fotunately he is stupid enough to harm the ID movement more than help it.

Entry #042: Pat Buchanan

a.k.a. Mr. Republican

The very epitome of cryptofascism, Buchanan is a noted paleoconservative and racist, suspected holocaust denialist (discussed here, with links. Alternatively, the Holocaust was France and Britain's fault), Nazi sympathizer and believer in the Zionist Conspiracy. A good sample of his views, in his own words, can be found here.

Buchanan needs little introduction, I guess, but anyway: He was originally a senior adviser to presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan, and an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1992 (where his speech during the Republican party nomination might have scared several moderate Republicans to vote for Clinton – invented the concept of ”culture wars”) and again in 1996. He ran on the Reform Party ticket in the 2000 presidential election.

He co-founded The American Conservative magazine and launched a foundation named The American Cause, has been published in Human Events, National Review, The Nation and Rolling Stone. Currently Buchanan is a political commentator on the MSNBC cable network including the show Morning Joe and a regular on The McLaughlin Group.

He is most noted today for his opposition to free trade and immigration, both legal and illegal. He could be considered an "economic nationalist", but is more likely simply a xenophobe. He is (by the same token) a staunch opponent of military actions related to the war on terror. He is, however, very positive to using torture on people suspected of terrorism.

Also an amateur historian; in ”Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War” he takes a pro-German view of World Wars I and II. Buchanan argues that the US shouldn't have gotten involved in World War II, that Churchill helped provoke Japan to attack Pearl Harbor, and that Hitler could have been contained. Curiously, he rejects evolution because, among other things, it lead to Hitler (no, these people aren’t overly concerned about distinguishing the question of the truth of a claim and consequences of believing a claim, presumably because they aren’t overly concerned with truth to begin with); discussed here and here.

Here's Pat Buchanan lamenting the demise of Western Society in his most recent book. And here is Buchanan playing what he would think of as the role of true American hero.

This one is breathtaking even for Pat Buchanan. Surely Pat Buchanan and Fox News is a match made in Heaven.

Well, no, actually Buchanan and Fox are NOT a match made in heaven because Buchanan is an extreme non-interventionist and Fox never met a war of choice they didn't like. Let's not mix our unreconstructed paleoconservatives in with our neocons.

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Diagnosis: Insane crackpot and zealot, evil. Relatively influential though his impact is probably smaller than his media exposure could be taken to indicate.

Entry #041: Nancy Bryson

Bryson holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry and was for a while a teacher at Mississippi University for Women.

Creationist (intelligent design) and witness for the minority at the Kansas evolution hearings (a general discussion of the hearings can be found here). Claims that she used to accept evolution, but that critical studies turned her around (yes, that canard). Currently a “creationist icon”.

Notorious for giving a presentation on creationism (mostly the argument from design and the unlikelihood of evolution since if there is no designer then evolution must be just random chance) at the university, “very warmly received by the students.” Afterwards, however, she was severely criticized by biologist professors and subsequently left the university (circumstances are unclear – her faculty evaluations were bad, and she claimed that she was harassed and realized she would never get tenure). Her story was picked up and publicized by the American Family Association and resulted in some outcry from fellow creationists. Bryson has subsequently achieved status as one of ID’s Expelled Martyrs. Currently she is used as one of the most notable examples of the discriminations (“hate crimes” against the religious, according to Jerry Bergman) against dissidents by “evolutionists”, and proof of the major “atheist and materialist conspiracy” that currently infests science.

During the Hearings, her story was by her supporters taken as evidence for the lack of academic freedom in that science curricula systematically exclude evidence for theism. By scientists her story was taken as evidence for incompetence and mixing religion with science. Bryson admits that her views on evolution is based on religion rather than science.

A discussion of Bryson’s role in the Hearings is here.

A sympathetic website, with links, is here.

This entry also indicts other witnesses for the minority, such as James Barham, an MD in classics and “independent scholar” who used to believe in evolution and materialism but who reasoned his way to Jesus and ID (surely a pattern of argumentation here). Christiancinema.com calls him a “Scholar and author specializing in evolutionary epistemology”. His basic argument is: “evolution leads to materialism and no meaning or purpose with life; God exists, and thus there is purpose; hence materialism is false, hence evolution is false” (yes, with the fallacy).

Entry #040: Caleb Lee Brundidge

Caleb Lee Brundidge is a self-professed former gay man who conducts sessions to “heal homosexuality”, and an associate of the slightly weird ex-gay guru Richard Cohen. He is also involved in the gay treatment organization Exodus (also here).

In fact, he is also involved in the ministry Extreme Prophetic (lead by one Patricia King), which even among the most extreme fanatics is considered “fringe”. According to their website:

“Raising the dead has always been a mandate of the church. Jesus commissioned us to go in His name and preach the good news of the Kingdom. He then went on to explain, that includes healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead. Our evangelism teams, led by Caleb Brundidge and Melissa Fisher recently grabbed hold of this and went out to practice raising the dead.”

I guess evidence that curing homosexuality tends to fail and is morally problematic would not necessarily make much of an impact on Brundidge’s brain.

His most egregious crime against humanity must presumably be his involvement with monster Scott Lively in the events leading up to the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill. He claimed that he felt duped, but there is little doubt that the group was using rhetoric implying that criminalizing homosexuality would be exactly what they want (though given Brundidge tenuous hold on reality his grasp of cause and effect may be relatively poor as well).

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Diagnosis: That this guy has any influence whatsoever is quite simply appalling. He’s your standard high-ranking cult member with virtually no connection to reality whatsoever. Completely mad.

Entry #039: Sylvia Browne & Christopher Dufresne

No encyclopedia of loons, cranks, crackpots and morons will be complete without including the legendary Sylvia Browne. Browne is a psychic and leads the Society of Novus Spiritus, based around the teachings of her channeled "spiritual guide" Francine. She’s also a devout Christian, and advocates both reincarnation and the afterlife (and, obviously, the possibility of talking to the dead).

Brought to fame through multiple television appearances - notably including regular appearances on the Montel Williams Show, where she notoriously failed to pass even a single half-serious test of her abilities (in other words, she employs the old conjuring trick of cold reading). A video of one of her blunders on Montel's show can be seen here. She has managed to build a decent following and pretty widespread fame. She has also attempted to claim James Randi’s million-dollar challenge, but after having made the initial testing arrangements nothing came of the attempt.

A brief biography can be found here.

A much more thorough exposé here (in particular here).

Browne doesn’t like these sites.

Claims, among other things, to have had a chat with the late Michael Jackson, but her specialty seems to be telling suffering parents where their lost children are, usually being dead wrong (several bad scandals here).

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Diagnosis: Endlessly moronic kook; fraudster, but presumably unaware of it. Has a large group of followers.

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This entry also indicts her son, Christopher Dufresne, who is a psychic "of powers equal to his mom's" (a claim which is surely correct).

Entry #038: Sam Brownback

Former US Senator, current Governor of Kansas, and a pretty high-profile fellow. Fundamentalist theocrat and outspoken creationist. Yes he’s been known to pound on the “evolution is just a theory” confusion, thereby automatically displaying his meager understanding of science. Even worse he believes in “micro-evolution, but not macro-evolution” (a well-known gambit, using a distinction that makes absolutely no scientific sense), relies on false appeals to controversy (look, biologists don’t agree on the details, hence the theory of evolution must be false), claims that evolution is an atheistic conspiracy (evolution entails materialism and determinism, modus tollens), and says that evolution means that everything is just chance (no, he doesn’t understand the theory of evolution). Dunning-Kruger running rampant, in other words, but ignorance has never stopped a politician like Brownback.

Brownback also asserts that if science contradicts the Bible, then science must go:

“While no stone should be left unturned in seeking to discover the nature of man's origins, we can say with conviction that we know with certainty at least part of the outcome. Man was not an accident and reflects an image and likeness unique in the created order. Those aspects of evolutionary theory compatible with this truth are a welcome addition to human knowledge. Aspects of these theories that undermine this truth, however, should be firmly rejected as an atheistic theology posing as science.”

His views on science are nicely summed up here, and (more succinctly) here, and also here.

The famous “blogs for Brownback”, notable for arguing that heliocentricism is an atheist conspiracy and that electrons are really angels in disguise whereas protons are demons, is widely believed to be a parody and might easily be.

Among other notable views, Brownback is known to support stem-cell research – conditional on advice from the Family Research Council (the “Research” part must surely be a typo), as described here. Brownback also wishes to ban human-animal chimeras. Also seems to toy with David Barton-style reconstructionism.

Here's Brownback being classy.

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Diagnosis: Zealous Lysenkoist. His understanding of science is best characterized as a severe case of Dunning-Kruger. Moron. Wielded some power as a Senator, wields much more as Governor.

Entry #037: Wiley Brooks [?]

Why the question mark? Well, either Wiley Brooks is one of the most astonishingly loony loons to ever have walked the face of the earth, or else he is a fraud. There is evidence of the latter.

Wiley Brooks is the founder of the Breatharian Institute of America. Breatharians claim, simply enough, that food and possibly water are not necessary, and that humans can be sustained solely by prana (the vital life force in Hinduism), or according to some, by the energy in sunlight. Yep. There have been some casualties, so the lunacy isn’t entirely benign. The website of the Breatharian Institute of America is here, and must be seen to be believed.

Brooks states that his potential followers must first prepare by combining the junk food diet with the meditative incantation of five magic "fifth-dimensional" words which appear on his website. In the "5D Q&A" section it is, among other things, explained that cows are fifth-dimensional (or higher) beings that help mankind achieve fifth-dimensional status by converting three-dimensional food to five-dimensional food (beef). The "Holy Cows" section of the site includes a picture of cows with glowing eyes so that readers can sense the energy of the picture.

Well, some people does take such stuff seriously. Does Brooks? In 1983 he was allegedly observed leaving a Santa Cruz 7-Eleven with a Slurpee, hot dog and Twinkies. He has also admitted that he periodically breaks his fasting with a cheeseburger and a cola, explaining that when he's surrounded by junk culture and junk food, consuming them adds balance (good luck trying to figure out what this means).

In the Q&A section of his website Brooks explains that the "Double Quarter-Pounder with Cheese" meal from McDonald's possesses a special "base frequency". It is therefore recommended as occasional food for beginning breatharians. Similarly (or on the other hand?), he also reveals that Diet Coke is "liquid light". Prospective disciples are asked after some time following the junk food/magic word preparation to revisit his website in order to test if they can feel the magic.

Brooks also informs us that he may be contacted on his fifth-dimensional phone in order to get the correct pronunciation of the five magic words. In case the line is busy, prospective recruits are asked to meditate on the five magic words for a few minutes, and then try calling again; he avoids explaining how anyone can meditate with words they cannot yet pronounce. Brooks' institute has charged varying fees to prospective clients who wished to learn how to live without food, ranging from 15 to 25 million dollars (he does offer a payment plan, how nice of him).

In other words, the evidence for fraud is pretty strong. His personal webpage is here, where Brooks asserts that he has had previous lives as Adam, Zeus, Kuthumi, Enoch, Jeshua, Joshua, Elijah, Joseph of Egypt, St Francis of Assisi and William Mulholland.

An open letter to the citizens of Earth.

An essay by Bob “First I was a skeptic but then …” Silverstein.

A magnificent anecdote: “I came to the 3-day "breatharian" seminar in Hawaii, but without the $300 fee to attend. Wiley asked me: "If you can't find $300, then how do you expect to find God?" Within 15 minutes, I had the $300.”

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Diagnosis: Possibly the most astoundingly insane person in existence, but very likely a fraud. The cult is rather dangerous to its own members (lots of Darwin award material there) but unlikely to obtain a wide-spread following for obvious reasons.

Entry #036: Troy Brooks

The guy behind the infamous “4 step perfect proof for God of the Bible”. The argument is according to Brooks completely deductive (a word he doesn’t understand) and relies on no unquestionable assumptions. It is really quite interesting why he doesn’t do a better job of it – if you allow his hilarious fallacies to count as logically valid deductions, I suppose it would be relatively easy to prove the existence of God from any unquestionable assumptions, not only his dubious ones (the system needed would hardly be sound, but that is another matter). Among his “uncontroversial” assumptions are e.g. that evolution cannot be the whole story since it doesn’t account for “the spiritual and soulical” and “Even the unsaved exhibit an improvement in conscience, but since they reject Christ for their salvation which is an eternal choice, they are condemned to Hell for all eternity and permanently separated from God. They won't change their mind later after they are resurrected.” But enough; read it for yourself – every sentence in this proof is a worthwhile quote:

(notice also the change of goalposts from proving that God exists to challenging atheists to disprove the God of the Bible in step 3).

Here is the gist [this is the first paragraph of the “proof”]: “God said He proves Himself by observing nature. Let's see if He is right. 1) Something can't come from that which does not exist, so the universe requires a cause [yes, he assumes the cosmological argument]. 2) The universe can't always have existed because a) heat death would be far greater than it is, and b) mankind would have approximated into that alleged past eternity and not still be sinning to the extent it still does along the exponential progression of conscience we are clearly on. What other option is there than the uncaused (uncreated) created? [yes, his proof really assumes that argument from ignorance is a valid inference method]. Atheism is utterly destroyed and morally [?] bankrupt because it has no answer and never will. You would have to be God (having omniscience) to know if God exists when you hold out having to know all things to be sure. You are saying you won't accept proof of God unless you are God. Wow!”

Basically the argument is “we are continuously improving morally (we are morally better now than we were 5000 years ago, say); since we aren’t perfect yet, the universe must have existed for a finite amount of time; therefore: The Biblical God.” [yes, an implicit premise is "if the universe has existed infinitely, then humans must have as well].

It is discussed here. Don’t miss Brooks himself showing up in the comment section!

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Diagnosis: Inane bozo. Probably insignificant but representative of a real and substantial class of bozos out there. Manages to provide evidence that elementary critical thinking should be on any elementary school curriculum, though.

Entry #035: William G Boykin

a.k.a Lieutenant General “My God is bigger than your God” Boykin

Purveyor of possibly the most staggeringly bizarre argument ever made, concerning G. Bush after his reelection: “Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he’s in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this”.

Boykin (now retired) was the United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, and has played a role in almost every recent major American military operation. He is also a born-again Christian, author of "Never Surrender: A Soldier's Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom". Boykin has cast the "War on Terror" in Biblical terms, seeing the war on terror as a battle between good and evil, or more precisely, between the soldiers of Jesus and the heretics (a Pentagon investigation concluded in 2004 that he had violated regulations by failing to explain these remarks were not made in an official capacity). As an example, listen to Boykin giving a speech about hunting down Osman Atto in Mogadishu: "He went on CNN and he laughed at us, and he said, 'They'll never get me because Allah will protect me. Allah will protect me.' Well, you know what? I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol." Hence his nickname. Believes that terrorists are after America not primarily because terrorists hate freedom but because Muslims hate Christians and the U.S. is a firmly Christian Nation (see the entry for David Barton in the Encyclopedia).

Boykin’s relative loudness and official position eventually lead even to George Bush officially emphasizing that Boykin’s statements in no way reflected the point of view of the president or the administration (Rumsfeld took Boykin’s side, however). Pat Buchanan is also a fan of Boykin, apparently subscribing to the view taken by several WorldNetDaily columnists that the criticism of Boykin is an attack on Christian values in America by the Democratic Party.

Some quotes here.

A (relatively) sympathetic interview here.

And he's still running strong and bright. This time, apparently Obama has created brownshirt groups (Nazi-style) to force in healthcare. You can see Boykin interviewed by Bryan Fischer here. This one is worth having a look at as well.

Boykin endorses Santorum for the 2012 elections, and plenty of crazy is brought in the wake of that...and when subjected to criticism, he reacts just the way you'd expect from a first-class fundamentalist bigot.

More fantastically ridiculous paranoia here. (You didn't know that US Department of Treasury was undergoing profound changes to become sharia friendly, did you?) (also here) To think that this guy used to be in a position of actual power is pretty baffling.

Here's Boykin again claiming that Islam (and therefore secularism, since these are the same things) is Satan's willing whore. Reason-wise, it is still clearly going downhill for Boykin. And it started out pretty low.

He's now been added to the roster of the Family Research Council. Serves him right.

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Diagnosis: Batshit insane. Has probably contributed significantly to making the world a worse place to be.

Entry #034: Pat Boone

Singer, actor and writer Pat Boone was hailed (by the conservatives) as the conservative alternative to Elvis Presley back in the 50s. Currently, he is a political commentator, Christian activist and preacher, and a columnist for the fringeloon magazine WorldnetDaily. He is an ardent young earth creationist and has had several stabs at disproving evolution, such as this one; he uses the tried and dishonest “it’s only a theory”, “there is no evidence”, “Darwin recanted on the deathbed” fallacious arguments from authority (his authorities are uniformly preachers and Boone praises their credentials as award-winning missionaries and staunch Biblical literalists) + some novel ones I have, for obvious reasons, never seen before. Another attempt is discussed here (updated here). Boone later wrote an editorial in the form of a fairy tale where a young Prince Charming was seduced by a dwarf, got AIDS, and then overdosed.

Apart from anti-evolution, his columns are filled with the standard delusional moron stuff – Christians are a persecuted (particularly by the ACLU) minority in the US (discussed here and here), defense of torture (discussed here - the ignorance and dishonesty is astounding, even for a wingnut) and similar stuff.

He got attention for the claim that Democrats and others who were against the president during the Iraq War could be questioned for their patriotism – under an interview on this, he expressed his outrage against the opponents of George W. Bush (namely the Dixie Chicks) that their criticisms of the president showed they did not "respect their elders". He also vigorously defended Mel Gibson after the actor was recorded making an antisemitic rant.

He is also a vocal opponent of gay rights, and won some fame for his tasteful comparison between equal rights activists and the terrorist attacks in Mumbai (Boone apparently thinks that the “homosexual jihadists” should be sent to concentration camps because they are anti-freedom, or something like that); discussed here and here.

He is also a birfer (i.e. Obama is not a natural born citizen, but a Kenya-born Muslim, and hence not eligible for being a president). More on Boone's birferism here.

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Diagnosis: Complete moron; hateful, dishonest, zealous bigot and loon. Impact uncertain, but he is probably read by a lot of people who are initially sympathetic to his views – whether he comes across as spurring them onwards into wingnuttery or helping them come to their senses by displaying purefied idiocy is unclear.

Entry #033: Alan Bonsell

Young earth creationist and former Dover School Board President. Bonsell was, together with the more famous Bill Buckingham, the strategist behind the Dover curriculum - which was later judged to violate the Establishment clause in the famous Dover trial. Bonsell was apparently the one who had read up on the subject before the curriculum was passed and wished evolution and creation to be taught “fifty-fifty” (initiating campaigns to convince concerned teachers). Bonsell is also a known fan of the reconstructivist work of David Barton (see the entry for David Barton in the Encyclopedia), having distributed Barton’s book “The Myth of Separation” to several board members.

One of the notable events during the Dover trial was when Bonsell initially testified that he did not know where the money had been raised to donate sixty copies of “Of Pandas and People” to the school's library. He admitted later that the money had been raised in William Buckingham's church, and directed through Bonsell's father so that it might be donated anonymously.

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Diagnosis: Liar for Jesus; crackpot who is unable to recognize the difference between fact and opinion; despite his previous anti-scientific campaigns, he seems to be relatively neutralized by now.

Entry #032: Christopher Bollyn

A.k.a. "The Truth Seeker"

As 9/11-troofers go, Christopher Bollyn is in at the deep end. A self-proclaimed “independent American investigative journalist”, Bollyn is for the most part a contributor to the despicable cesspool of lunacy whale.to, but many interesting articles can be found on his webpage. Among the gems are articles with enticing titles such as “The Israeli Role in the Plundering of Iceland”, “How Ehud Barak Pulled Off 9-11”, “The Goldman Scam & John Paulson's Links to 9-11”, “The Gang of Czech Jews around the Collapses of 9-11” and “The Jewish Secret Society That Controls the U.S. Media” (I cannot be bothered to check out his explanation of why the US is involved in Afghanistan, but it is surely rewarding).

I guess the reader gets the idea. 9-11 was the product of a Zionist conspiracy (in particular organized by the Rothschild family) – the Zionist conspiracy that controls the US government and media. They have also infiltrated the Senate, as shown by Bollyn’s razor-sharp and fearless investigations, e.g. “Arlen Specter - The Elder of Zion in the U.S. Senate”. Henry Kissinger is at the top of the conspiracy, and “still a key player in the crimocracy as seen by the conspicuous fact that he was sent by the new Obama administration to meet with the leadership of Russia, although the nominal Secretary of State was Hillary Clinton.” I guess you can’t argue with evidence like that.

A tidbit: “Christopher J. Petherick, a self-avowed Satanist, was the editor of American Free Press and the former Spotlight, publications of the Liberty Lobby of Washington, D.C. It makes no sense that a Satanist would be the chief editor of a newspaper that is purportedly written for patriotic Christian Americans, unless one understands that the Liberty Lobby is actually owned and controlled by a Zionist Jew named Mark Lane. The paper is a controlled opposition outlet that acts like flypaper to create a list of active patriots -- for the Jewish intelligence organization Lane works for.”

Who is Petherick? Well, he is the newspaper editor who fired Bollyn back in the day. Of course he must be a Zionist – why else would he try to shut up a honest and brave journalist like Bollyn? Apparently Petherick later organized an assault of Bollyn (using police officers who tasered him) to … shut him up? It's a little unclear. And apparently the incident is related to the real reason for the war in Afghanistan. So it goes.

Oh, and apparently the sinking of Estonia wasn’t an accident and there is depleted uranium everywhere. And Denmark is being set up by the American Zionist conspiracy to take the brunt of Muslim anger (cf. the Mohammed cartoons).

There is really no end to the conspiracies and paranoia here. For a “best of” selection, you can go here. Enjoy.

For further entertainment, he's spawned his own dictionary entry:

bollyn (v.) - The act of noticing a strange car outside your house, assuming it's FBI, calling the police, having the people in the car tell you're they're just undercover local cops, not believing them, threatening them, telling them you're going into the house to get a weapon, getting arrested, losing your job, and then blaming it all on the Jews. Usage Note: Because of the low likelihood of anyone actually being stupid enough to do all these things, the word may be used in a looser sense to describe any attempt to blame a personal misfortune on some shadowy world-domination entity, when it was really your own stupid fault. "Example: All the 9/11 Denier candidates for Congress lost, so they'll probably try to bollyn the results off on Diebold."

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Diagnosis: Complete loon and master at interpreting the fact that anyone disagrees with him, for whatever reason, as evidence for the truth of his conspiracy theories. Specific impact uncertain, but his views are apparently relatively widespread and must be considered dangerous.

Entry #031: Tim Bolen

a.k.a. Patrick Timothy Bolen (real name)

Bolen is a publicist for the late Hulda Clark, who for the purposes of our Encyclopedia is, in part, tried instead of her. Clark was a crackpot who claimed to have (and sold) “the cure for all disease”, in particular cancer which she said couldn’t exist if the patient had the right mindset and used her devices. Guess what Hulda Clark died of. A critical obituary can be found here, and also here.

(Clark’s healing devices, apparently cobbled together from discarded parts of Radio Shack, included the Syncrometer, the Zapper and Homeography; her medical advice included requiring that her people with fillings have them removed and people with root canals have those teeth removed as part of her "therapy." Clark was, in other words, an unintentionally repulsive human being).

Bolen, her attack poodle, desperately tried to explain her death as being due to something else, flunking all possible rules for critical thinking and understanding of science in the process. He is in general an ardent advocate of Clark’s “scientific research” (always skirting the awkward question of the whereabouts of all those people Clark supposedly cured of e.g. advanced AIDS).

Bolen is a self-proclaimed “health freedom fighter” and a tireless enemy of science and science-based medicine (a flaming conspiracy theorist), and purveyor of every crackpot alternative treatment that exists.

Covered here, and also here.

He might be somewhat neutralized at present, actually. At least rumors have it that he forgot to pay his taxes.

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Diagnosis: Dishonest, sleazy and absolute loon; impact uncertain, but this guy is tireless.

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Addendum: This post should by the way also indict Hulda Clark’s son Geoffrey Clark, who administered her business and tirelessly promotes it after her demise, including setting up a defense fund to pay for expenses associated with defending her against "legal attacks."

The entry should also indict the Swiss scientologist David Amrein, Clark’s business associate and staunch defender (who has been legally banned from making false claims about her products for advertising purposes) – Amrein is an utter loon, but disqualified from an entry in the Encyclopedia by not being American.

The whole Clark-Bolen story is also well covered here.

Entry #030: Mark Blitz

Blitz is a Biblical Astrologer and a pastor at El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Washington. Blitz made the DVD-series "Studies in Our Hebrew Roots", claiming that the biblical plan of God on display in the physical heaven.

Claims that constellations (or point-to-point drawings between various stars) display a picture depicting the second coming of the Messiah (the names of many of the stars are also relevant, apparently).

Of course, since hardcore Christians denounce astrology, Blitz is adamant that what he does (looking at the hidden meaning of constellations to predict future events) is not astrology but astronomy. Discussed here.

Ok, two things. First, he seems to be tapping the resources of lunatic paranoia again, and second, his names may be (and probably is) Mark Biltz, not "Blitz".

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Diagnosis: Unhinged loon whose beliefs correspond to reality with a remarkably low frequency. Impact is probably small.

Entry #029: Mark Blaxill

Blaxill is not a scientist. Nor is he a doctor, though he plays one at SafeMinds. Blaxill is a former businessman turned spokesperson for the anti-vaccinationist movement (Vice President of SafeMinds). Fancies himself a self-made expert epidemiologist. In the grips of extreme confirmation bias (science doesn’t support his views, hence scientists are probably mislead by their own personal interests – having no clue as to how a controlled experiment is carried out).

Liar, crank and conspiracy theorist (Big Pharma is out to get us – Blaxill actually terms it the “autism holocaust”), as discussed here; also a professional shifter of goalposts (without necessarily being aware of it himself).

Among his most prominent techniques are faking statistics to show an explosion in autism the last thirty years, and looking at new studies to determine whether they are scientifically "solid" or not (meaning he determines whether they can be interpreted as agreeing with his lunacy or not).

Blaxill meets Dunning-Kruger here...and Blaxill and Olmsted confuse correlation with causation here.

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Diagnosis: Delusional and belligerent crank; relatively influential and quite dangerous.

Entry #028: Don Bierle

President of Faithsearch International and another Liar for Jesus. Claims to be a “former skeptic” (the claim is kinda undermined by the fact that his MA was in New Testament Studies) who has become an evangelical, fundamentalist whackjob whose shtick argument is that since there are lots of copies of the New Testament around (written only a couple of hundred years apart and based off of each other), then it must be literally true. Author of several books on creationism and is an ardent campaigner for it, giving numerous talks and presentations. Accepts Behe’s and Dembski’s discredited arguments for ID (and the Bible) at face value and rejects evolution (which he certifiably does not understand, mixing it up with ‘everything must have occurred by chance’) through an argument from incredulity. Briefly discussed here.

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Diagnosis: Dishonest (unintentionally?), pernicious godbotter; impact unclear, but he is probably a minor figure.

Entry #027: Al Bielek

Al Bielek claims to have been involved in The Philadelphia Experiment as well as The Montauk Project. Bielek believes he was placed into another person's body back in time, and was age recessed as well as physically recessed. He currently gives lectures and is involved in numerous books, retelling his stories and explaining his involvement with both The Montauk Project and The Philadelphia Experiment. He traveled in time to ancient times (6452 B.C.) and met himself in the future during those experiments.

Interviewed here (whale.to’s interviewer, Preston Nichols, is very sympathetic – he will receive his own entry in due time).

Apparently the leader of the experiment was John von Neumann (who died many years before). Bielek’s explanation for that fact is: “He was still alive up until 1989. He has run into a problem with the government as well as other problems, such as a personality split in 1977, when he resigned as director and became a consultant. The government told everyone he died in 1956. The government is still interacting with him.” Read that quote a couple of times to get the full gist of it.

Another priceless quote: “No one has picked up a tangible future beyond 2012 AD. There is a very abrupt wall there with nothing on the other side. Prophecies speak of earth changes around then. Curious, isn't it?” Not really, no. Bielek’s views are relatively predictable on these matters.

Oh, and about the Philadelphia experiment - the time travel is conveniently covered up by the government, and was of course made possible through the use of alien technology.

His website is here (warning: the lunacy here is boundless).

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Diagnosis: Stark, raving mad. Ûber-nut (though he might at least initially have been a fraud); probably relatively harmless.

Entry #026: Rosalie Bertell

That she has updated her Wikipedia page herself in first person (using capslock) is a nice touch, strongly suggesting at least a degree of kookery. And Rosalie Bertell delivers. Now, Bertell has a background in science and cancer research, but at some point she unhinged and drifted off into uncharted territories. She is currently the leading “expert” on the chemtrail conspiracy – the idea that contrails are actually chemicals or biological agents deliberately sprayed at high altitudes for a purpose undisclosed to the general public. Also discussed here. Bertell thinks “chemtrails” are carriers for all kinds of biological and chemical warfare which the government (military) is, for some undisclosed reason, going to drop on ordinary people (apparently the government is at war with Mother Earth, which, according to Bertell, is a living (sentient?) organism). She doesn’t believe the “official story”, that chemtrails are either combating global warming via spraying populated areas with aerosolized metals or aerial pharmacopeia (pollution modification). The fact that the chemtrail phenomenon is a myth makes one wonder who came up with Bertell’s “official story”.

She also explores possible explanations for recent earthquake anomalies (and again the anomalies are not recognized by anyone who knows anything about the issues, which Bertell does not) with the following suggestions: a gamma ray/gravity wave from space? HAARP-induced deep earth tomography (yes, Bertell is into that conspiracy as well)? Or a direct wave weapon, accident or purposeful? She is also very concerned with radiation, electromagnetic and radioactive, and magnetic fields, relying exclusively on anecdotal correlations, hearsay and intuition, and displaying no understanding of the processes or what counts as evidence.

You can listen to her here. A library of some of her kookiest contributions can be found here.

Bertrell is also a 9/11 troofer (and in general seems to accept every and any conspiracy theory that pits the evil government against noble ordinary people).

She is also a human rights and environmental activist and has done a lot of good in that respect, but her positive contributions are at present blurred with her crackpottery – at some point her environmental concerns turned into complete paranoia, conspiracy mongering and general crankiness.

And it appears we no longer have to worry about this loon.

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Diagnosis: Well-intentioned crackpot who has lost the ability to distinguish the scientific method from personal intuition; has a lot of followers, and at present she probably does more harm than good to important causes that she works on.

Entry #025: Leo Berman

Berman is a State Representative (R-Tyler) of Texas, most famous for ardently fighting for allowing the Institute of Creation Research to grant degrees. Unhappy with the fact that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board ruled that the “Institute” couldn’t do so, he attempted to pass a law that would allow private, non-profit education institutions to grant degrees without the board's permission or any regulation whatsoever – which must be one of the stupidest ideas ever advocated and would effectively have undermined any degree from any educational institution in Texas. Berman deserves an entry in the Encyclopedia for this reason alone. Also a die-hard creationist (of course).

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Diagnosis: Ardent and zealous nutjob; has already proven himself to be a threat to education, science and critical thinking.

Entry #024: David Berlinski

Berlinski is one of the movers and shakers of the contemporary creationist movement, associated with the Discovery Institute and one of their most frequent and famous debaters. A delusional, pompous narcissist with an ego to fit a medieval pope. Also a name-dropper (most of his talks concern important people he has talked to). A comment on one of his lunatic self-aggrandizing rants can be found here (sums up this guy pretty well).

He is apparently really angry at evolution (it is unclear why), and famous for his purely enumerative “cows cannot evolve into whales” argument.

Berlinski was once a moderately respected author of popular-science books on mathematics. He can still add numbers together, but has forgotten the GIGO rule (“garbage in, garbage out") of applied mathematics. Some of his rantings are discussed here.

Likes to play ‘the skeptic’ (which means denialism in this case, and that is not the same thing). (For a nice description of the difference between skepticism and paranoid denialism, I recommend these three articles: here, here, and here.)

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Diagnosis: Boneheaded, pompous and arrogant nitwit; has a lot of influence, and a frequent participator in debates, since apparently the Discovery Institute thinks that’s the way scientific disputes are settled (although he often takes a surprisingly moderate view in debates, leading some to suspect that he is really a cynical fraud rather than a loon).

Entry #023: Jerry Bergman

Our next loon is a young earth creationist at the Institute for Creation Research.

Another staunch and thoroughly confused front fighter whose main argument is how persecuted the dissidents to the tyranny of evolution are – in short, your standard ‘I cannot discuss the evidence, so I’ll try to frame my opponents instead’. Admits that ID doesn’t really have a strong theory, but that it doesn’t need it since it’s got all the facts (whatever that means). Discussed here.

Bergman is a dishonest whiner, snower and conspiracy theorist who fabricates stories about persecution of religious scientists. His most nauseating feature is his tendency to snow debates and avoid dealing with devastating objections. Bergman is utterly crazy and ignorant, and his version of the irreducible complexity argument is bizarre even for that mess of an argument.

A summary of a debate Bergman was involved in, which well describes his tactics, is here. Oh, proof that Bergman is a dishonest liar for Jesus of the worst kind is here. End of story. I always wonder why fundamentalist Christians never think twice about lying like this.

I think it is telling, if actually a little surprising, that Bergman's name also shows up here. And yes, it is apparently the same guy.

Well, I think anyone who claims that Bergman's claims are reasonable after watching this is either breathtakingly ignorant or deserves an entry in this encyclopedia herself/himself. But don't take it from me; just ask Lukesci.

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Diagnosis: Typical village idiot; despicably dishonest, crazy, paranoid wingnut and kook, and another extreme case of confirmation bias and persecution complex. His ardent efforts seem to have gained him some level of influence among his peers, and he is a medium threat to school curricula everywhere.