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What Counts to Justify Tragic Events: Facts or Fads

It is a common mistake for a skeptic like me to focus too much attention on religion. I have come to a realization as to why certain people really lack religious belief and according to many they are termed as "atheist". Maybe, there's lack of evidence to support religious beliefs or maybe they encountered some pretty bad experiences with some so-called religious fanatics. One common "maybe" would also be about conspiracy theories that attempts to justify tragic events based on superficial information and lack of evidences. A skeptic like me is never easily convinced when religious fanatics try to justify tragic incidents by observing a pattern in a situation and I term that as "superstitious nonsense!!!". The following article does not defy any religious or belief system. The initial purpose was intended to seek clarity and find answers to my quest for knowledge on superstition that spreads on social media in no time and pollutes the mind of individuals existing in our society who easily fall into the trap of believing nonsense, although many belief systems would not be justified based on logic. People who spread false information and quackery prefer to stumble on willful ignorance instead of finding out what is verifiable and correct information about how the world works and what is just fake news and tumults pushed by ideologues. 

In case if you'd also like to reference yourself to the Facebook post, the link is provided below. So, here's a very brief account of what actually happened: On Saturday 4th of August early in the morning, a tragic accident occurs and six young men are killed. The number is now eight. So a day or two after the accident, I get to see some messages circulating on Facebook which shows a meme of six dead rats that was being related to the six people who initially died in the accident. And then the message goes on to explain about the time it was posted, which happened to be 6:32am and conclusions are drawn about the biblical meaning of the number 632 instead.

Now, I don't understand how would an atheist or a skeptic be convinced by the justification provided in the messages. How could a meme be used to justify the accident of six dead rats to the death of six young people? If it really does relate to the accident, wouldn't the position of the six dead bodies be exactly the same as the ones shown in the rat meme? Well I guess it would have mattered then. How does the message relate to the biblical meaning of the number 632 by removing the colon ':' and 'am' from 6:32am? Well, it doesn't. I resorted to people and places to look for answers but to my dismay I wasn't convinced though and still I am not. All I know is that there are people who spread false information based on absurd and irrationality and create panic, horror and apprehension in the lives of public, vulnerable individuals and especially to the families of the deceased.

There are no facts to be found but only increased toll of road deaths and besides, there's only interpretations! Really? Is that a fact?…or just an interpretation? On a slightly more serious note, this is not even an objection since it is better if interpretations are based on evidence and fact than being based on nothing but opinion and prejudice. Incorrect beliefs about the world should be challenged! The religious views of the world is no longer adequate. The delights and discontents of democracy and joys of secularism is part of our daily bread. The universe is enlarging and so is our knowledge of the stem-cell and the cosmos. We live in a strange world where merely the threat of “change your opinion to fit the facts” is seen by some as a legitimate argument to avoid critical thinking and fact-checking. All I can conclude is the fact that it is imperative to inculcate logical thinking and at the same time it is also vital to have a working knowledge about critical thinking, from knowing about logical arguments and common logical errors and cognitive biases in the human intellectual machinery to common statistical fallacies and denialist tactics.