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| Taco Bell With Dripping Snot... |
 Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 10:48 am |
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Be sure to visit the web page for the links provided. Commentary,
feedback, corrections, and suggested additions to this article is
welcome and appreciated. Please email frice at (no spam) skeptictank.org with
your corrections and suggestions and I will fold them in to this
growing academic review. The web site's article is copyrighted by
myself however anyone may use it for non-commercial use in accord
with the "Fair Use" dictates of U. S. law.
Thanks!
http://www.skeptictank.org/edm.htm
Does Belief In Astrology Cause Insanity?
Does Insanity Cause Belief In Astrology?
The Skeptic Tank is dedicated to undertaking scientific reviews of claims
of the paranormal, and debunking and exposing such notions without
ridicule, adopting the classic philosophic attitudes of David Hume.
I received e-mails a month or so ago asking whether an update to this web
page might be performed since it has been more than 10 years since The
Skeptic Tank started taking an academic, scientific look at astrology as it
relates to the self-expressed and self-exposed mindset of various
unfortunate people who still profess to believe in the profoundly debunked
notions of astrology.
It seemed like a good idea, more so since after a decade of having set the
whole rather distasteful (though somewhat amusing) arena of astrology
belief aside, I think it's reasonable to come back and post some updated
opinions about the state of astrology belief today.
At the same time, looking through the first review of astrology belief and
whether it causes madness or whether madness causes astrology belief, I see
that there's some focus on a particular astrology believer, one who used to
have a fairly wide audience on the Internet at the time yet is no longer
even a marginally significant advocate of astrology lunacy on the Internet
today.
So in September of 2009 I have updated the information that follows, adding
useful links that might prove more informative that the opinions that have
been provided over the past decade. In that decade, a great deal of medical
science has progressed, cures have been found for numerous human ailments,
yet alas, willful occult belief in obvious nonsense remains the primary
bane of human existance.
"The FBI has been notified under 'Crimes and Criminal
Procedure 1030.' These are forged posts to make me look
immature and unstable. As a 20 year counselor (please
see 'Saturn Opposed Saturn' discourse) this amounts to
serious defamation." -- Edmond H. Wollmann
The Skeptic Tank has (since 1978) taken an academic look in to a wide
variety of nutty notions harbored by people over the past 30 years, and
after three decades of observation in to the phenomena, it is believed that
the occult notions that people hold may accurately be split in to various
groups:
(o) Harboring harmless, non-destructive beliefs that don't motivate or
cause the believer to physically or financially harm others (example, the
belief that the Earth is hollow and contains aliens from other planets)
(o) Harboring marginally destructive beliefs which usually don't motivate
violent physical harm to others but which seeks to commit financial harm to
others (example, astrology, psychics, water dowsing)
(o) Harboring destructive beliefs which advocate physical or financial harm
to others and yet not actually harboring such beliefs to the degree where
the individual actually acts upon them (example, Glenn Beck)
(o) Harboring destructive beliefs which motivate individuals to commit acts
of physical violence and/or financial harm against others (example,
Heaven's Gate and Scientology.)
The question is, Is it possible that prolong exposure to astrology causes
symptoms that appear very much like profound insanity? Numerous
psychological studies have been performed over the past five decades which
cover the cognitive dissonance which arise from years of attempting to
reconcile (and yet continue to believe) a set of mutually conflictive
beliefs. (An Internet search found 5,520 web pages which mention cognitive
dissonance, interestingly enough.)
(See: Susan Blackmore books on some interesting ways in which the brain
functions, either while in a healthy individual or while an individual is
dying.)
The world has seen that belief in flying saucers causes insanity to be
expressed, reinforced, and acted upon ( Heaven's Gate), and science already
has well quantified the mindset of gamblers who have beliefs that they
could win through acts of periodic pay-outs reinforced which further seats
the mistaken belief, but what about astrology?
It would be interesting to see if belief in astrology for long periods of
time can cause paranoid delusions or expressions of other cognitive
difficulties. Such an academic study might be able to explain astrologers
who express unusual notions such as Mr. Edmond H. Wollmann's unfortunate
public comments. Take a glance at this particular quote provided under the
terms of "Fair Use" directly from one of Mr. Wollmann's many Internet web
pages:
"It appears he (or those sympathetic to him at these
businesses) also collaborates with several search engines
to stop my sites from coming up at all under astrology
(Lycos is appears (sic) to be trying to as their submission
pages says that URLs will appear in 7 days and I have
been submitting mine for 6 months. I have received letters
from them stating they will list them, and GOTO and Infoseek
do not bring up my sites when searched).
Sherilyn (the male transvestite) collaborates to attempt
to censor my sites fromtheir (sic) search engine services,
and place his abusive one above mine (in sequence of
order through keywords allows it to come up first over mine)
as I have tried to list my sites with some of them for as
long as 6 months to no avail..." -- Edmond H. Wollmann
If we evaluate the beliefs being stated here, we find that the concept of a
massive conspiracy is being expressed, one so massive that the world's
major Internet search engines are apparently part of the conspiracy, a
conspiracy which apparently keeps Mr. Wollmann's unusual web sites from
being listed on various Internet search engines, a conspiracy which makes
sure that his web sites don't appear first.
The addition of male transvestites being involved might well deserve some
further examination yet academics should have no problem evaluating the
comment themselves by drawing upon psychology theory.
At the time that this academic review of astrology as a means to insanity
was first published, The Skeptic Tank joined the ranks of the conspiracy.
Take a glance at the following message which The Skeptic Tank received from
Mr. Wollmann and note particularly the list of destination e-mail addresses
of individuals who also received Mr. Wollmann's unusual emails.
Typically problem citizens who send seemingly endless disjointed letters
and emails to law enforcement agencies accumulate an information folder
within the agencies that they target, information compiled not about the
intended focus of such people's letters but information compiled about the
letter writers themselves. (A good example of this is the profoundly insane
Scientology crime syndicate creator L. Ron Hubbard who also sent bizarre,
insane rants to the FBI, numerous records of which the FBI has made
available here.)
If the FBI has treated Mr. Wollmann's letters and emails the way they
usually handle problem citizens, it could be expected that the FBI would
have Mr. Wollmann solidly in their "harmless nut database" since a
dedicated effort by citizens to alert "the authorities" about conspiracies,
alien invasions, the end of the world, and no end of profound delusional
notions which routinely acquire a folder.
Law enforcement agencies encourage citizens to send in complaints, emails,
letters, and phone calls since agencies like to keep informed about who
their customers are to better serve the people in their regional
departments. Federal agencies maintain folders so that if there is
actionable behavior on the part of the nut, they have an established
Federal history. (Citizens may request their file from the FBI and other
law enforcement agencies, and citizens may file Freedom of Information Act
requests to acquire copies of their files being held by law enforcement
agencies. Most such agencies usually refuse to comply with such requests in
violation of the law, and law enforcement agencies must be sued to retrieve
one's records which will often be, in any event, heavilly redacted.)
Why this astrology believer is sending his unfortunate letters to someone
in the Netherlands is a mystery. Why he sends himself a copy
(legal at (no spam) astroconsulting.com), is doubly curious.
Message-ID: <36EFD9B7.10CE at (no spam) earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 08:35:03 -0800
From: "Edmond H. Wollmann" <arcturian1 at (no spam) earthlink.net>
Reply-To: arcturian1 at (no spam) earthlink.net
Organization: Astrological Consulting/Altair Publications SAN 299-5603
To: secadm at (no spam) corp.earthlink.net,
Zenon Panoussis <oracle at (no spam) xs4all.nl>,
legal at (no spam) astroconsulting.com,
postmaster at (no spam) skeptictank.org
CC: "Fredric L. Rice" <frice at (no spam) skeptictank.org>,
postmaster at (no spam) fbi.gov,
postmaster at (no spam) ftc.gov,
postmaster at (no spam) aclu.org
Subject: The Edmond Wollmann page
Header below.
This will be my first legal documentation of threats,
harassment, and defamation by these criminals and
scientologists. I ask that you contact their ISPs and
inform them that we will recieve no further abusive
mail from this individual or his religious zealot freak
that is illegally defaming, harassing and maligning me
on the internet (sic).
I am cc'ing a copy of this to the FBI and FTC to
further demonstrate the criminal and Mafia-like coercion,
blackmail, censorship and copyright violations that
are being perpetrated against me and my companies.
I have been honored by the city of San Diego and in
no way am under investigation by the "police" etc (sic)
as these bigots assert. I am legal, proper and will
take all appropriate actions.
I have documented the abuse and censorship of me for two
years now and am fully prepared to excercise all options.
I ask that this stalking cease, California is now
passing a law that provides for 20 years in prison for
this, and I will do all in my power to see that this
individual (who resides in California) is the first to
experience it.
[...cuts...]
I have had two pages removed from the internet for this
complete lying, abusive and harassing bigot zealot's
stalking, and his obssesion with me for absolutely no
reason other than his psychological insanity, bigotry
and fear of others having freedom to express whatever
they wish.
This has been attempted against me for 2 years now.
Please take all appropriate action.
Thank you.
Edmond H. Wollmann P.M.A.F.A.
© 1999 Altair Publications, SAN 299-5603
Astrological Consulting http://www.astroconsulting.com/
Artworks http://www.astroconsulting.com/personal/
http://home.earthlink.net/~arcturian1/
As previously stated, the question is, does long-term belief in astrology
cause mental dysfunction? Or was this poor unfortunate fellow suffering
from difficulties before he started trying to believe in astrology?
After 10 years, Mr. Wollmann has never, to my knowledge, offered an answer
to such a question, and considering the mindset of believers in the whole
spectrum of loon beliefs -- from Astrology to Tarot cards to psychic powers
to water dowsing and beyond -- it seems unlikely that contemplation of
one's motives for beliefs is rare, ergo honest answers are rarer still.
After reviewing the complaint, more questions come to mind almost
immediately:
(o) Who are "these criminals and Scientologists" Mr. Wollmann is refering
to? And isn't "criminals and Scientologists" rather redundant?
(o) What are these mysteriously vague "threats?" Has Mr. Wollmann informed
the police about them? Does Mr. Wollmann have a police docket number for
his criminal complaints? If not, why not? Surely it's one's duty as a
citizen to file criminal charges when one is threatened else we're all at
risk. Why is Mr. Wollmann refusing to report these "threats" to the police?
(o) Where are these mysteriously invisible "defamations?" Why is it only
Mr. Wollmann is capable of seeing them? Does one have to be an astrologer
before one can see them?
(o) Why was there no examples of these "harassments" Mr. Wollmann is
complaining about?
(o) Who is this "religious zealot freak" Mr. Wollmann refers to?
(o) What's this "maligning on the Internet" all about? Is there some reason
why Mr. Wollmann was unwilling to provide an example? Are these URLs only
accessable by astrologers?
(o) If Mr. Wollmann is being blackmailed, why doesn't he notify the police?
If he has, why didn't Mr. Wollmann provide the police docket number for his
criminal complaint? If he hasn't notified the authorities about this
blackmail yet, why not? Isn't it the duty of every citizen to report such
criminal activities?
(o) If Mr. Wollmann is being stalked, why doesn't he notify the police? Why
would he tell complete strangers he's being stalked and not ask the police
to arrest these stalkers? He doesn't want them running around free to stalk
others, does he?
(o) "Coercion?" "Censorship?" "Copyright violations?" What's all that
disjointed nonsense about? Why so vague?
(o) What did the city of San Diego "honor" Mr. Wollmann for? Does the city
of San Diego hand out awards to every problem citizen that walks their
streets now?
(o) Who are these Scientologists that Mr. Wollmann keeps refering to?
(o) Do believers in astrology automatically pretend that everyone who
points out the absurdities of astrology is part of the Scientology cult
some how?
(o) Does Mr. Wollmann believe that only Scientologists know that astrology
is silly nonsense?
(o) What "two pages" were "removed from the Internet?" Nobody who received
Mr. Wollmann's unfortunate claims knows anything about that, it seems. Why
so vague? Why no specifics? There were millions of web pages on the
Internet ten years ago, which two pages was Mr. Wollmann refering to?
(o) What's this "fear of others having freedom to express whatever they
wish" complaint about?
We will probably never get a satisfactory answer to any of these pressing
questions. Perhaps Mr. Wollmann would like to provide some thoughtful,
contemplated responses to these questions. If and when he does, we'll make
sure to update this web pages with those answers.
More detailed information on Mr. Wollmann's unfortunate behavior apparently
motivated by his beliefs can be found on his own web pages (ProPagan),
performing a Google Search or by reviewing the following web page:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~oracle/ed-w-con.htm
In summation, people who believe really stupid things probably start out
being reasonably mentally healthy, their beliefs usually start honestly and
they are among the first subgrouping of beliefers enumerated above, they
don't set out to harm others either physically or financially, they
honestly believe yet they are not obscessed.
Usually after teen years are done with, infantile beliefs fade and new
beliefs -- usually political or religious -- gain stronger footholds.
Believers in stupid nonsense that persists past middle age, however, get
more dysfunctional as time progresses and as the mistaken beliefs become
reinforced -- through sharing said beliefs with others, through seeing
signs and indications that their beliefs work, through stresses caused by
unfufilled wishful thinking and through other cognitive means -- belief can
become delusion, cognitive dissonance builds, and a profoundly disturbed
person erupts.
One very profound example of mistaken beliefs that start out honestly and
then become obsessions that harm others physically and financially is the
belief in Satanic Rital Abuse (previously known as Satanic Sexual Abuse
such as during the McMartin Preschool fiaso where many innocent people lost
their jobs, homes, and freedom before everyone was eventually ruled
innocent of all delusional charges instigated by cult loons.
Whether believers in astrology go insane because of astrology or whether
people are insane before they start believing in astrology is probably not
an either/or, black-vs-white inquiry. Collectively people in any grouping
will harbor various degrees of mental health, be motivated by broad
spectrums of belief, and people who are prone to delusional thinking may
start up the increasing ramp of insanity may reach a point at which they
stop and go no further.
Sigmund Freud was a well known neurologist who developed some rather
delusional notions of his own while believing that he was accurately and
scientifically describing mental problems and proscribing suggested
treatments.
I mention it here because with Mr. Freud we had a rather nutty loon who
became well respected, who infected others to believe his notions also, who
proclaimed to be helping others, and who has since fallen out of favor
except among the most rabid of his cult followers among the head-skrinking
professions.
The point being, who's to say that the loons among us are loons? That's
also a question that should be asked when wondering whether astrology
causes insanity or whether insanity causes astrology. We can all agree that
when lunacy results in murder, suicide, arson, bank robbing and other
social woes, the individuals responsible have exceeded the point where
their beliefs have become insanity by virture of their actions.
But there isn't wide agreement that mundane beliefs and the mundane
behavior that said belief causes constitute insanity. We all have
perceptions of our own which delineates another person's behavior as either
sane or insane. Most of the world's educated people accept the fact that
belief in astrology is anywhere from loony to screaming insanity however
the gross uneducated among the world's populace might consider astrology to
be on a par with a flat Earth -- a phenomena that's possible to believe,
perhaps, given a lack of education.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A word of thanks go out to everyone who provided me with background
information in to the phenomena of occult beliefs and for the detailed
opinions and explanations of Mr. Wollmann's unusual language and disjointed
claims. A special thanks to the individuals who sent me emails suggesting
an update to this web page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: If there is anything inaccurate, mistaken or wrong presented in this
academic review of astrology and mental difficulties, pleasez email me at
the email address provided in the link below so that I may make
corrections. Additionall if you would like to contribute to this article,
email me your suggested additions and I will fold them in.
Thank you!
The views and opinions stated within this web page are those of the author
or authors which wrote them and may not reflect the views and opinions of
the ISP or account user which hosts the web page.
Return to The Skeptic Tank's main Index page.
E-Mail Fredric L. Rice / The Skeptic Tank
---
Does belief in astrology cause insanity? http://www.skeptictank.org/edm.htm |
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