Why Does Many People Refuse To Believe In The Paranormal?
Now, why does people, who may have never ever even heard of it, refuse to believe in the paranormal? Why does some people refuse to believe in ghosts, angels, demons, werewolves, vampires and other kinds of stuff like that? Can they prove that the do not exist? Can you prove that they do?
Alan
5 Feb, 2010
because they’re intelligent
Philip H
5 Feb, 2010
Werewolves and vampires? Naaaaah!
I hold open a reserved degree of acceptability for other paranormal phenomenon.
Reason?
All aspects of the physical universe can be considered to be forms of either matter, energy, space or time.
Those aspects are interdependent. Remove any one of them and the universe is (as we know it) impossible.
I see no evidence that the universe is aware of itself. Life is aware.
I see no evidence that the universe can create life, but lots of evidence that life can cause changes in the universe.
Life, I believe, created the universe and not the other way around. Therefor life exists outside of the physical universe. Therefore, life is not necessarily subject to the rules of thing that are purely physical.
Be that true, life may be able to “see” the future or past by stepping outside of the limiting factors of the physical and “viewing” it at a different moment. Other paranormal phenomenon may be postulated also.
The use pf physical measuring devices to detect the presence of paranormal activities may be difficult since paranormal activities would not be in themselves be part of the physical universe.
The life forces, by this theory, should be able to influence physical phenomenon.
dubokk15
5 Feb, 2010
I, personally, do not believe in anything paranormal, because I cannot prove that they exist. There are many people who like to assume the exact opposite: that things like that can exist and one should assume they do unless you have proof against it. I, personally, cannot prove it either way. I think that it is just the mindset that a large part of the world has right now that goes against anything that is not in daily life.
wushuboy
5 Feb, 2010
The inability to prove something doesn’t exist is not convincing evidence that it does exist.
I can’t prove Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, or The Tooth Fairy exist. However, from experience I know that these are things people make up to have fun with those people who whole heartedly believe in them. I also know this to be true about ghosts.
Why would I believe in something if I have no reason. The bulk of evidence for believing is being provided by fictitious tv shows posing as reality shows like “Ghost Hunters”, “A Haunting..”, and “Paranormal State”.
Believing is an act of faith, and given lack of evidence, I would say a big act of faith. Not believing is the rational line of thought given the lack of evidence and the illogical thought required to believe.
psymistr
5 Feb, 2010
I do believe in all things paranormal and I would say that the vast majority of people are the ‘see it to believe it’ kind of people whereas the people that I know that do believe in the paranormal are like me, ‘we believe therefore we see’. That doesn’t prove that either side of the debate is right or wrong, but as with believers of many things that are ‘faith’ based, the proof is in the believing. I truly think that for this great big beautiful world of ours to continue, we need to have diversity in thinking and believing. I don’t condemn those who don’t believe just because I do believe and I hope that same can be said for those who look at me with a look of amusement on their face when I admit to my belief.
Carlos Schlesner
5 Feb, 2010
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William Baldwin
5 Feb, 2010
People refuse to believe because they have not experienced anything paranormal. If you have lets say never experienced sex lets say, how do you know what you like in it??
I have experienced something something paranormal in my life and I do believe. Someone else might have not experienced anything so they do not believe.
Plus there’s always the American rights to believe or not to if you wish in witch we all use every day.
Gary Y
6 Feb, 2010
You don’t understand the term paranormal. Paranormal means anything that is that can’t be explained by naturalistic means. If something is shown to be true than it is no longer paranormal.
This includes flying pink unicorns, pixies and fairies. As a skeptic, you hear them all.
Scientific method is our best method of getting to the truth.
It is not up to skeptics to prove that things don’t exist. The burdon of proof lays with those who make the claim. I’m certainly not wasting my time trying to prove that vampires don’t exist.
The only evidence we see is anecdotal, and that does not cut it. After all of this time you’d think there would be something physical by now, but no.
However, we do have evidence and good reasons like psychological reasons that do provide rational explanations for most “paranormal” claims.
Just show us the compelling evidence and we’ll change our minds.
Belief is the conviction of the truth of a proposition without verification. Keeping an open mind is about not immediately believing everything you hear. I’m sure you are skeptical yourself about many things you hear through the course of a normal day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal
Venus 1485AD
6 Feb, 2010
There’s no real evidence for any of these things. It’s up to people who make fantastic claims to prove them. That’s the way science and logic operate. It’s futile to try to disprove the existence of everything people imagine. Gullible people would still believe in them, no matter how much proof there was against them. Can you prove that Zeus or Odin don’t exist? Some ideas are so absurd that it’s obvious that they’re wrong, so no one wastes time trying to disprove them.
eri
6 Feb, 2010
We don’t need to prove things that don’t exist don’t exist. If you’re claiming they DO exist, you need to back up your statements with proof. This isn’t the courtroom – you’re not presumed innocent. In science (aka reality) you’re assumed wrong until you prove yourself right. Can you provide evidence for any of those things? Are you sure? Because no one else ever has.
There’s no reason to believe in things that don’t exist. Prove they exist, and then we’ll believe you. We don’t need to prove you wrong – you need to prove you right.
TR
6 Feb, 2010
The combination of poor evidence and extraordinary claims (or absurd claims as the case may be) is not a very compelling one. The burden of evidence is not on the one who points out the lack of support for your claims — the burden of evidence is on you for providing that support.
I call that “TR’s corollary” 
It is often said that lack of evidence is not evidence of lack, which is true. But lack of evidence of lack is not evidence of non-lack, either
Peter D
6 Feb, 2010
I used to believe in things paranormal. However, led by reason and a glaring lack of evidence, I was forced to consider some other possibilities. I promise my disbelief has nothing to do with fear.
Without the employment of reason and a fair expectation of evidence what prevents you from believing in *everything*?
The Wicker Man
6 Feb, 2010
listen, if i said that my car is a transformer, would you believe me? sure, i can show it to you in car-form, but you’d still ask me for proof. “transform it” you would say, that’s what a sensible person would ask, in order to believe. but then, i would say “no, you prove me that it is not a transformer”.
this is just the same case, but reversed. you make a claim, you back it up. until then, don’t get surprised if people don’t believe.
jackie
6 Feb, 2010
Because they are not open-minded.
If you believe in the paranormal, it is probably best to explain your experience to people who actually do believe in the paranormal. People who refuse to believe in the supernatural are pretty close-minded..
John S
7 Feb, 2010
Paranormal claims are extraordinary claims. Extraordinary claims
require extraordinary evidence to be believed. The burden
of proof is on the person making the claims, not on the rest of us.
Tukmyham
7 Feb, 2010
How can people who have never even heard of it refuse to believe in the paranormal?
What things that you have never heard of do you refuse to believe in?
I bet there is quite a few.
Anonymous
7 Feb, 2010
Things that don’t exist don’t give evidence of their non-existence.
Vandelay Industries
7 Feb, 2010
scientific theory, and improbability. I believe, but i know what it good
Nice Guy
7 Feb, 2010
I do because I prefer reality to a pretend world.
No,I can’t prove werewolves don’t exist.Can anyone prove they do?
Jay D
7 Feb, 2010
Them?
Who are they, of course they can have their own opinion, they can keep it as well.
(((And they are sh1tty a55h0les that like the thumbs down people they don’t agree with for fun.)))
I think they are afraid of death and the universe that surrounds them, and they like to know there is nothing more special to them, and that fear of death and the ether, gives them the biggest weakness of all, no hope. Hope is what has kept groups of people together in war, in empires, and has even kept whole countries together, no one can escape the flaw, there is only two ways to go, believe or not believe, it is apart of what makes humans, human.
Me?
I believe in the paranormal, I have reasons why…
***Don’t Laugh At Me, I’ve answered the Question***
I am the heir to the control of the Mercian circle, I shall one die have the right to own the world, and I even have a whole website on demons and spirituality, etc. Seen as I am a lycanthropic half-kind myself, of which no one believes, which is good for my own privacy too, so I can’t complain.
Hopefully my new site will convert many.
I speak to the dead and the spirits that like to live in the ethereal, one even gave me the ability to be half-life, a kinship, to the fact that I am an heir to control the Mercian aspect.
—CUT.
Just so you don’t know, Mercia (not Murcia) is an underworld built by early humans and almighty Titans, at the time, in the Polynesians and the Mesoamericans were ordered to make four temples at each corner of Pangea, of course they did not know much about journeying, so they started making one underworld temple in Mesoamerica and/or Polynesia, Yellowstone, and Samoa. The titans were huge, well, you could say ‘lava monsters’, they looked dark, or black, with bright white/yellow magma glowing from every orifice, they were demons of fire, the worst kind, they were born from the Earth and/or elsewhere during the Earth’s pre-developing age. For some reason, the fiery Titans would only stay in their temples, if they were paid with the price of the Obsidian, apparently if they stayed out of their temples for too long, without being paid with the Obsidian, they would destroy the world as the humans knew it, apparently the Obsidian glows whenever one of the demonic Titans held it, which could mean the Titans drained its power source, which when it interacts with perhaps light or heat, it would emit energy into the Titans, however the volcanoes had enough, why didn’t the Titans go into volcanoes, may be some did, who knows, may be Yellowstone is not a volcano, but instead an underworld, later myths showed that the Titans were named as Gods, may be the Titans revisited in Europe, this could explain the myths of Gods in Scandinavia, Italy, and Greece, etc, the Scandinavians believed in something called Hel, which kind of fits description for the Samoan underworld temple, possibly located near or under the Pulemelei Mound, and the Yellowstone temple, possibly related to the Icelandic myths, seen as it is also volcanic, it is possible.
The demonic Titans were not the only ones, but the demons followed them, all the demons mentioned in Christianity, Islam, etc is based on them.
I have seen the escaped demons that walk the Earth, and they certainly exist, even werewolves, which are half-lives (half-kind, half-spirit), but normally demonic and controlled by advanced DNA ether remote – and ghosts, which of course are spirits.
Shaun W
7 Feb, 2010
Many people rest on the fact that if they haven’t experienced such things it isn’t real. Scientific advancements haven’t allowed for much plausible recording of the paranormal.
But I live in a world of possibilities and believe in such things. Some people like to believe in the big bang theory, I believe in many different things.
It’s just a matter of how open a person is to it, same with most things in life that aren’t easily defined.
realpaga
8 Feb, 2010
a lot of times people refuse to believe in things because if they admit if exists it will destroy their entire beliefe system and that scares the hooey out of them.
Other times, people are just too scared by something to deal with it so they say it’s not real… kind of like the guy in the movies who screams the name of his friend in the street when he buddy dies…as if that will bring him back. ‘don’t believe it and it’s not real”
Some people don’t belive in that stuff because their religion says it’s not real… or that it’s bad.
Think about things you don’t believe in… think about why you don’t belive in it… that will also help answer your question.
And for anyone who wants to get all angry over what i’ve said about people being afraid…I would quote Shakespear to say “methinks he doth protest too much.” and leave it at that.
Lil Dude
8 Feb, 2010
Because they’re ignorant people who have no open mind. When people say ghosts don’t exist because they’ve never seen one, I’d like to tell them something: Just because you haven’t seen a ghost, you think it doesn’t exist? Well let’s take another example of this. Let’s take a very rare animal that exists. If it’s a rare, nearly extinct animal, that’ll probably mean not alot of people have seen one. Yet it still exists. Just because you haven’t seen something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.