Brian Brushwood began his career in magic “To get free drinks at bars and impress friends,” but ended up becoming a science communicator and skeptic.

The author of Cheats, Cons, Swindles & Tricks: 57 Ways to Scam a Free Drink and The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating, Brian is a “Bizarre Magician”. Making side show tricks cool again, Brian hammers nails into his head and eats fire in his “Bizarre Magic Show”, “America’s Number One College Magic Show”. He also communicates critical thinking to the college market in his lecture “Scams, Sasquatch and the Supernatural”

In this episode with host Karen Stollznow, Brian discusses outreach to this important yet often overlooked demographic. They discuss tertiary-level courses in skepticism and the paranormal, and whether there is “age appropriate skepticism”

Brian explains the stereotypes associated with magic and magicians, and how the “m-word” (magic) has stigmatized. He also discusses the negative connotations associated with the “s-word” (skeptic), and how to combat the image problems with guerilla skepticism, hidden beneath comedy and magic.

Brian is a prolific personality on various internet shows including the Brian Brushwood Live Show, the Weird Things podcast, and NSFW on This Week in Tech TV. But he is best known for his show Scam School. Usually the ones who expose scams, Brian tells us when the skeptics should be the scammers. In this “Mythbusters” for the pool shark crowd, Brian pulls street cons, swindles and scams in the name of skepticism. 

http://www.pointofinquiry.org/brian_brushwood_scams_swindles_and_skepticism/

I’m looking forward to the podcast. I am a big fan of Brian Brushwood.

This DBAD meme is really catching on isn’t it? I like how Brian said the first TAM he went to was full of “hate” because of those nasty atheists Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens. Those guys got the notoriety they have because they don’t tip-toe around silly beliefs and they have achieved more outreach as a result. Oh, and don’t forget James Randi - he doesn’t tolerate BS as much as anyone and look at his fame and outreach. I don’t hear many people calling him out for being a “dick”... it’s just those nasty atheists, isn’t it?

There is absolutely no evidence (other than anecdotes) that the best way to grow the skeptical movement is to be unrelentingly nice and accomodating. The ‘haters’ can provide just as many annecdotes as the nicey-nice skeptics that their approach also works. There’s nothing wrong with taking a no-nonsense approach and applying skepticism consistently to any and all false beliefs… even *gasp* religion.

kennykjc - 08 September 2010 02:24 PM

This DBAD meme is really catching on isn’t it? I like how Brian said the first TAM he went to was full of “hate” because of those nasty atheists Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens. Those guys got the notoriety they have because they don’t tip-toe around silly beliefs and they have achieved more outreach as a result. Oh, and don’t forget James Randi - he doesn’t tolerate BS as much as anyone and look at his fame and outreach. I don’t hear many people calling him out for being a “dick”... it’s just those nasty atheists, isn’t it?

There is absolutely no evidence (other than anecdotes) that the best way to grow the skeptical movement is to be unrelentingly nice and accomodating. The ‘haters’ can provide just as many annecdotes as the nicey-nice skeptics that their approach also works. There’s nothing wrong with taking a no-nonsense approach and applying skepticism consistently to any and all false beliefs… even *gasp* religion.

Kennykic, just as the Civil Rights movement had MLK AND Malcolm X, W.E.B. DuBois AND Booker T. Washington, the skeptic movement needs both firebrands and pacifists to get the job done. A single approach rarely solves a problem.