Posthuman Blues

"Skeptic" magazine has unveiled a new issue with an article that (gasp!) "debunks" Roswell and the Face on Mars! It doesn't get any better than this, folks.

The article on Roswell is an almost word-for-word retelling of the Air Force's 1997 "Case Closed" report. If the case has been "closed" since '97, why the rehash in 2003? My guess: slow news day.

The Face on Mars "debunking" appears in the "Junior Skeptic" section, aimed at teaching young people to think like their pseudointellectual parents (evidently the ones actually buying "Skeptic"). We're taught that the Face on Mars is a completely normal "hill" because (brace yourself for deja vu)...

a.) there's a crater on Mars that looks sort of like a happy face

and

b.) there's also a spurious heart-shaped depression on Mars. Like a Valentine! Get it?

"Skeptic" is treading new lows. As Stanton Friedman advises would-be debunkers, "What your readers don't know, don't tell them."

Read my essay on real skepticism.