Re: Superstition vs. Cynicism – A ‘Polly in the Middle’ Debate
Well, I don't believe in much superstition. But I don't say that it doesn't work at all. There is something like the placebo effect (David already mentioned it
), which, not only from a medical point of view, works.
So i do think that talismans or mascots or lucky things work. They make you mentally stronger. They make you appreciate and draw attention to the good luck you have. - so whenever you have good luck, you will remember your talisman and you are happy about it.
Of course, you have to forget about such science behind it. You just have to believe in it.
So, to answer your question, I'm a more sceptic person, and I'm also very critical about such things. But I'm still an optimist (most of the time), so I do believe that there is something not rational, which we don't understand, that could probably explain such things. And if you believe in something, and it really works for you, why not? So whenever somebody says it's his lucky shirt, I wouldn't laugh about him.
In my optinion, both are right. Malcolm is right when he observes it from a rational point of view: Statistically, the probability of having good luck doesn't change at all, whether you have a lucky shirt or not. And Dewey is right too, because he believes in it. And it worked.
An by the way, I think that's also what Malcolm can't acknowledge as true, because he is too rational.
It was funny but also kind of tragic, seeing those two extremes - sarcasm and optimism - in direct combat against each other. Funny because Dewey won the bet (symbolically, he didn't really win the bet of course, because Jamie fell on his shirt the moment the winners were named...) without any logical backup, and tragical because it showed us again the pessimist Malcolm, who'll never be able to be truly happy.
Now I have totally lost the line of thought, and you already know my opinion about it. My post is long enough anyway.
Nice topic, appanah.