A Debunker is an individual who strongly believes that certain claims are false, exaggerated, unscientific or pretentious and therefore discredits and exposes them.^[1] Topics that many debunkers focus on include U.F.O.s, claimed paranormal phenomena, alternative medicine, research outside mainstream science, or pseudoscientific subjects. The term debunker is applied when a person functions as an activist and performs research, writes articles, holds speeches, conducts seminars, or engages in other activities with the specific intent of disproving what the debunker believes to be a dubious, bizarre, or abnormal claim, such as those about U.F.O.s or other paranormal phenomena, and hopefully conclusively disproves the validity of the event and/or object. “UFO” redirects here. ... Paranormal is an umbrella term used to describe a wide variety of reported anomalous phenomena. ... Alternative medicine is defined as any of various systems of healing or treating disease (as chiropractic, homeopathy, or faith healing) not included in the traditional medical curricula taught in the United States and Britain.[1] Complementary medicine is defined as any of the practices (as acupuncture) of alternative medicine accepted... This article is about the concept. ... Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... A pseudoscience is any body of knowledge purported to be scientific or supported by science but which fails to comply with the scientific method. ... Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. ... For other uses, see Essay (disambiguation). ...

As a slang term, debunking is the act of disproval of a proposal or theory, generally in an academic or scientific sense. The term debunk originated in 1923, when American novelist William Woodward (1874-1950) used it to mean to "take the bunk out of things." Often the term "debunkery" is not limited to arguments about scientific validity. It can also be used in a more general sense at attempts to discredit any opposing point of view, such as that of a political opponent. "Debunkify", a variant of debunk has also recently been introduced into the lexicon. The word is a marketing/advertising term coined by the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation, and is associated with debunking the myths associated with tobacco use.^[2] Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ... Betrothal is a formal state of engagement to be married. ... The word theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion. ... Plato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. ... A neologism (Greek νεολογισμός [neologismos], from νέος [neos] new + λόγος [logos] word, speech, discourse + suffix -ισμός [-ismos] -ism) is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) — often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. ... Year 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... William Woodward, Sr. ... Year 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link with display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article should be transwikied to wiktionary (adj. ...

Etymology

The word Debunk appears to have originated in the United States Congress during the early 19th century originating from the word Buncombe, meaning an extravagant speech used to draw publicity or attention. During the 16th Congress, Fleix Walker, a representative from a Buncombe County, North Carolina district held a long speech which many of his colleagues believed was dull and unnecessary. The word Buncombe, spelled Bunkum was later shortened to bunk and became to be used to represent anything exaggerated, false or pretentious.^[1] Type Bicameral Houses Senate House of Representatives President of the Senate President pro tempore Dick Cheney, (R) since January 20, 2001 Robert C. Byrd, (D) since January 4, 2007 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, (D) since January 4, 2007 Members 535 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political... Buncombe may refer to: Buncombe County, North Carolina Buncombe, Illinois This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Buncombe County is a county located in the state of North Carolina. ... Bunk in the ship Seawahanka A bunk is a bed or other place for sleeping, particularly a narrow bed built like a shelf into or against a wall, as in a ships cabin, or several like beds stacked over one another known as a bunkbed. ...

Criticism

Many debunkers are rather controversial because they have strong opinions and can be vocal about things which may offend people, such as religion and pseudoscience. Some, such as Marcello Truzzi (who himself was a skeptic), maintain that some debunkers are excessively and dishonestly skeptical, and thus not true skeptics but "pseudoskeptics". According to Truzzi, genuine skeptics are neutral or agnostic, often critical of new claims, but not vehemently opposed to them. They want better evidence. In contrast, pseudoskeptics are simply deniers with an agenda and often use unscientific arguments to debunk what they oppose. According to Truzzi, true skepticism would recognize the need for better evidence, but not actively oppose, ridicule, or discourage further investigation into any subject by serious and qualified researchers.^[3][4] A typical 18th century phrenology chart. ... Marcello Truzzi (September 6, 1935-February 2, 2003) was a professor of sociology at Eastern Michigan University and director for the Center for Scientific Anomalies Research. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... The term agnosticism and the related agnostic were coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869. ...

Well-known debunkers

• Stephen Barrett specializes in debunking quackery, health fraud, and alternative medicine.
• Robert Carroll, author of The Skeptic's Dictionary
• Fang Zhouzi, nom de plume of Fang Shimin, a Chinese scholar living in the U.S., a Ph.D. in biochemistry, freelance writer, exposes misconduct mostly in Chinese academia, news, and businesses. Owner of the Chinese website New Threads which aids his debunking activities in addition to publishing original literary works. He was reported in the column News Focus of the prestigious journal, Science, on August 10, 2001.^[5]
• Harry Houdini, one of the most famous magicians, escapologists, and stunt performers of all time, was also an active debunker of charlatans and spiritualism.
• Philip J. Klass was a debunker of UFOs.
• Abraham Kovoor was a Sri Lankan professor known for attempting to debunk the prominent Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba.
• Penn and Teller, a two-man magic and comedy team, who have become associated with skepticism. In particular, see their debunking show Bullshit!.
• Philip Plait, also known as The Bad Astronomer, is a debunker of various theories related to space and astronomy. Most of these (and clearing up of other astronomy-related misconceptions) are accessible at his website.[1]
• Basava Premanand is a rationalist and full time Indian skeptic from Tamil Nadu, publisher of the magazine the Indian Skeptic.
• James Randi is a skeptic and opponent of pseudoscience. He founded the James Randi Educational Foundation.
• Robert B. Stein, who debunks faked photographs of UFOs and cryptozoological creatures
• Carl Sagan
• L. Sprague de Camp, debunked speculative history and pseudoscience

Stephen J. Barrett, M.D. (born 1933), is a retired American psychiatrist and author best known as the founder of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF) and the webmaster of Quackwatch. ... Pietro Longhi: The Charlatan, 1757 Quackery is a derogatory term used to describe questionable medical practices. ... Alternative medicine is defined as any of various systems of healing or treating disease (as chiropractic, homeopathy, or faith healing) not included in the traditional medical curricula taught in the United States and Britain.[1] Complementary medicine is defined as any of the practices (as acupuncture) of alternative medicine accepted... Robert Todd Carroll, Ph. ... The Skeptics Dictionary is a web site with a collection of cross-referenced skeptical essays by Robert Todd Carroll, PhD. It primarily exposes claims that its editors consider pseudoscientific. ... A pen name or nom de plume is a pseudonym adopted by an author. ... A scholar is either a student or someone who has achieved a mastery of some academic discipline, perhaps receiving financial support through a scholarship. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. ... Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes and transformations in living organisms. ... Freelance 800F - The compact solution ABBs Freelance 800F control system combines easy engineering with an open, modern system architecture. ... A misconduct is a legal term meaning a wrongful, improper, or unlawful conduct motivated by premeditated or intentional purpose or by obstinate indifference to the consequences of ones acts. ... Academia is a collective term for the scientific and cultural community engaged in higher education and research, taken as a whole. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... Science is the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... “Houdini” redirects here. ... Look up Charlatan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... // By 1853, when the popular song Spirit Rappings was published, Spiritualism was an object of intense curiosity. ... Philip Julian Klass (November 8, 1919–August 9, 2005) was born in Des Moines, Iowa and died in Merritt Island, Florida. ... “UFO” redirects here. ... Abraham Thomas Kovoor (April 10, 1898 - September 18, 1978) was a Keralite Indian professor and Rationalist who gained prominence after retirement for his campaign to expose as frauds various Indian god-men and so-called paranormal phenomena. ... Sathya Sai Baba (born Sathyanarayana Raju on November 23, 1926,[1][2] or later than 1927 — with the family name of Ratnakara) is a guru from southern India, religious leader, orator and philosopher often described as a godman[3][4] and a miracle worker. ... Penn (left) & Teller Penn and Teller are a two-man magic and comedy team, comprised of Penn Jillette and Teller. ... Bullshit! (also known as Penn & Teller: Bullshit!) is an American, Emmy-nominated documentary television series, running since 2003 on the premium cable channel Showtime. ... Philip Plait, physicist and astronomer Philip Plait (a. ... Basava Premanand Basava Premanand is an eminent skeptic and rationalist from Tamil Nadu, India. ... James Randi (born August 7, 1928), stage name The Amazing Randi, is a stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience. ... A typical 18th century phrenology chart. ... The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) is a Fort Lauderdale, Florida non-profit organization founded in 1996 by magician and skeptic James Randi. ... UFO can mean: Unidentified flying object United Future Organization, a Japanese-Brazilian electronic jazz band UFO, the rock band that previously featured Michael Schenker UFO, the Gerry Anderson TV series United Farmers of Ontario, a political party that formed the government in Ontario from 1919 to 1923 U.F.O... Cryptozoology is the study of rumored or mythological animals that are presumed to exist, but for which conclusive proof does not yet exist; or are generally considered extinct, but occasionally reported. ... Insert non-formatted text here Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer and astrobiologist and a highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics, and other natural sciences. ... Lyon Sprague de Camp, (November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American science fiction and fantasy author. ...

Organizations

• Committee for Skeptical Inquiry a debunking organization
• The Skeptics Society
• The MythBusters, who have a show on the Discovery Channel. Two experts in the field of special effects, Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, use modern technology to try to debunk urban legends.
• The National Institute for Standards and Technology debunked the Controlled demolition hypothesis for the collapse of the World Trade Center.
• The Debunking Society was founded in 1998 by Daniel Soldner and Isabella Mowinski. Who were displeased at the overabundance of conspiracy theories so set up the small volunteer society to discredit as many as possible.

The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) is a U.S. nonprofit organization whose stated purpose is to encourage the critical investigation of paranormal and fringe-science claims from a responsible, scientific point of view and... The Skeptics Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting scientific skepticism and resisting the spread of pseudoscience, superstition, and irrational beliefs. ... MythBusters is an American popular science television program on the Discovery Channel starring special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, who use basic elements of the scientific method to test the validity of various rumors and urban legends in popular culture. ... Discovery Channel is a cable and satellite TV channel founded by John Hendricks which is distributed by Discovery Communications. ... Special effects (abbreviated SPFX or SFX) are used in the film, television, and entertainment industry to create effects that cannot be achieved by normal means, such as depicting travel to other star systems. ... James Earl Hyneman (born September 25, 1956), known as Jamie Hyneman, is an American visual effects expert, best known for being the co-host of the television series MythBusters on the Discovery Channel. ... Adam John Savage (born July 15, 1967) is an American television co-host on the program MythBusters on the Discovery Channel. ... Urban Legend is also the name of a 1998 movie. ... As a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce’s Technology Administration, the National Institute of Standards (NIST) develops and promotes measurement, standards, and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate trade, and improve the quality of life. ... The South Tower destruction viewed from across the Hudson River According to the controlled demolition hypothesis, the World Trade Center was not destroyed by the planes that crashed into it as part of the September 11th attacks, nor by the fires that followed, but by explosives or other devices planted...

Quotes

• Remember: a thing cannot be "debunked" unless it is filled with bunk to begin with! ^[6]

• To debunk is to unmask, to put straight, to clarify, to remove false opinions, to correct, to free from illusion. (Gordon 1988:35).

See also

• Pseudoskepticism
• Scientific skepticism

Marcello Truzzi founded the Zetetic Scholar journal, in which he analyzes the term pseudoskepticism in the mid 1980s The terms pseudoskepticism (sometimes pseudo-skepticism) and pathological skepticism are used to denote the phenomena when certain forms of skepticism deviate from objectivity. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Notes

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 269th day of the year (270th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 269th day of the year (270th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 269th day of the year (270th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

•   Henry Gordon (1988). ExtraSensory Deception: ESP, Psychics, Shirly McClaine, Ghosts, UFOs, .... Macmillian. ISBN 0-7715-9539-5. 

External articles

Look up debunk in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Checklist for identifying dubious technical processes and products - Rainer Bunge, PhD

• Debunking the debunkers, Ben Pile in Spiked online magazine, 13 October 2006

• Online Etymology Dictionary.

• Debunking Pseudo-Skeptical Arguments Against Paranormal and Psychic Phenomena - Arguments against skepticism by Winston Wu

• A Debunker website