I think OP is probably correct, to an extent. We've reached a point where a good deal of what is lumped under 'woo' is indeed rejected out of hand. But I also think there may be good and sufficient reason for this summary dismissal.
Ever since there have been people there have been claims about paranormal phenomenon: prophetic dreams, dousing, divining, ghosts, faeries, cryptids, life after death, tele-fill-in-the-blank, and so on. But - without exception - every time these claims have been tested with anything approaching rigor they fail. Dousers, by way of example, find water (or whatever else they're looking for) at rates no better than simple chance. It's the same with mind reading and Bigfeet and alien abductions and homeopathy and the rest of it. When tens of thousands of instances of thousands of different paranormalities either fail of a test - or even worse, prove to be untestable - I hardly think that skeptics can be faulted for doubt.
As a hypothetical, suppose I come to you and make the claim, 'A single gram of dryer lint will instantly heal any flesh wound.' Brave soul that you are, you nick your thumb with a razor blade, apply the lint, and the cut fails to heal. You try it on the other thumb - same result. You go to your friends, relatives and business associates and get them to test the claim themselves (did I mention that you're VERY persuasive?). Dozens of thumbs cut, dozens of lint balls applied and no sign of instantaneous healing. Then, a couple of years later, some one else comes to you and makes the very same claim. Would you be in the least bit tempted to start the thumb-cutting all over again?
It isn't so much close-mindedness as it is exhaustion.
Boru
Ever since there have been people there have been claims about paranormal phenomenon: prophetic dreams, dousing, divining, ghosts, faeries, cryptids, life after death, tele-fill-in-the-blank, and so on. But - without exception - every time these claims have been tested with anything approaching rigor they fail. Dousers, by way of example, find water (or whatever else they're looking for) at rates no better than simple chance. It's the same with mind reading and Bigfeet and alien abductions and homeopathy and the rest of it. When tens of thousands of instances of thousands of different paranormalities either fail of a test - or even worse, prove to be untestable - I hardly think that skeptics can be faulted for doubt.
As a hypothetical, suppose I come to you and make the claim, 'A single gram of dryer lint will instantly heal any flesh wound.' Brave soul that you are, you nick your thumb with a razor blade, apply the lint, and the cut fails to heal. You try it on the other thumb - same result. You go to your friends, relatives and business associates and get them to test the claim themselves (did I mention that you're VERY persuasive?). Dozens of thumbs cut, dozens of lint balls applied and no sign of instantaneous healing. Then, a couple of years later, some one else comes to you and makes the very same claim. Would you be in the least bit tempted to start the thumb-cutting all over again?
It isn't so much close-mindedness as it is exhaustion.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
