You're the last one who should be admonishing me. You've called me a "harebrained" and "paranoid" and even "without the courage to do honest research" probably a coupla dozen times over the last year. I've gotten the same kicks in the ribs from orz and RobertDReed. And I didn't run out and start a thread to complain that you were "out of line." I addressed you in the context of the debate.
I have said your ideas are harebrained and paranoid, not you.
You haven't questioned my sincerity. Just my mental health and competence.
Thanks. Viva la difference.
I have said, repeatedly, that you are emotionally attached to your theories, to the point where criticism of your theories is taken as criticism of you. I have also stated that your arguments are very clear examples of confirmation bias. That, in your eyes, is "ad hominem attacks." Which is wrong -- I'm commenting on your ideas and examples.
When I called you out on violating Jeff's rule about accusing people of disinformation, you essentially ignored it -- because you know you are wrong.
1) I am "arguing about the ideas." Read again. I'm not being glibly dismissive unlike you so many times.
2) Quit accusing me of being a harebrained paranoid.
When you suggest that someone is deliberately spreading false information -- as you have now done on multiple occasions -- then you are showing that you can't abide by the very simple rules of this forum. I don't know why you insist on continuing to brand people like Dragon, Zap, MaryK and others as disinfo agents just because they have different beliefs than you.
And as long as your ideas and examples are harebrained and paranoid, I will continue to point that out. You are free to disagree and point out what you think are wrong with my ideas and opinions. But if you say I'm insincere or spreading disinformation, you'll continue to violate the rules -- and I'm not responsible for what happens then.
But back to the subject:
I am a believer in energies that cannot be measured with our current, conventional scientific methods. I've seen and experienced the medical and spiritual benefits of qigong, yoga, and other Eastern practices. My first qigong instructor was diagnosed with terminal heart disease. Her doctor (a Chinese man) directed her to qigong when he had given up on conventional treatments. She took up qigong and is now a healthy 80-plus year-old instructor with her own Acupuncture center.
Are there quacks in the field? Absolutely. Can qi or prana be a fanciful name for what science calls the placebo effect? Maybe. But the placebo effect itself is remarkable -- the mind healing the body. It's powerful enough that it might account for the healing anecdotes of orgone, qi, prayer, etc.
The orgone stories of Dragon et al seem very fanciful -- even harebrained -- to me. But people believe in fanciful things. The Internet gives such people an easy way to meet up with and communicate with others who share their beliefs. Flat-Earthers, UFO cults, channelers, spiritualists, and esoteric believers of all types have been around for aeons, only now they have email

And belief is a very powerful thing. Ask anyone who has been swept up in a cult, a movement, or an idea. If you believe in orgone, you will see it working in your life (again, confirmation bias). Ditto any other subject you choose to immerse yourself in, no matter how strange or illogical it seems to others.
Because of the your own BS (belief system), Hugh, you jump to the conclusion that the orgonite crusaders' capers are disinformation. Why? Because you screen nearly everything that passes your nose through a disinformation/not disinformation filter.
With that filter in place, nearly anything can be said to be intentional disinformation if it doesn't support what you believe to be the true model of reality. Ghost hunters? Disinformation. UFOs? Disinformation. Qigong? Cryptozoology? Orgone? Dowsing? All disinformation to keep people occupied with mumbo-jumbo as the fascists consolidate their power.
What that model fails to incorporate is one thing you have in great abundance -- creativity. People who believe in orgone and create assemblages of wire, crystal, and copper truly believe in what they are doing. I have met artists who are convinced their devices stop alien beams, promote peace, channel alien messages, or whatever. If one of them were to post here, you'd jump up and down screaming about how he or she is disrupting this precious, dangerous forum with disinformation.
So what if someone embraces ideas you think are kooky? As I said, I think your ideas are kooky, but I am quite sure you believe them. All I am asking is that you take off the disinformation blinders and consider that others have beliefs that seem kooky or illogical -- and consider that they just might be sincere.
Is that so difficult?