I found out what a skeptic is when I was living in London. My husband Mark listened to a weekly podcast called The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe hosted by a bunch of brothers and their friends. After Mark finally persuaded me to arrive at the 21st century and purchase myself an iPod, the first thing he did was subscribe me to the podcast.
When I listened to my first SGU show, I discovered that there was actually a word for someone who, when they sit there listening to a colleague or acquaintance talking about their horoscope, can only reply with “Really?! That's very interesting. Not.”
Now here was a podcast, hosted by people who were saving the world from evil one crank at a time, and people actually listened to them. It was one of those lightbulb moments for me. That podcast opened the door to an entire world of people who thought like me and were passionate about the same stuff as me.
London was a great place to become a skeptic. There was always something going on. I went to The Amaz!ng Meeting in 2010, and a comedy gala hosted by the irrepressibly-atheist Robin Ince. Everyone knew who I was talking about when I mentioned Darwin, Dawkins, Cox, Hitchens and Gervais. A lot of the people I met were skeptics themselves or atheists, or just loved science and geeky things.
When I came back to New Zealand in 2011, things changed somewhat. I found that it suddenly wasn't very easy to be a skeptic. Although I love New Zealand with its easy-living pace, its beautiful environment and friendly people, it isn't exactly the centre of the skeptical movement. I was slightly bemused to find myself plonked in the middle of a town where practically everyone I knew belonged to a Christian church, and the highlight of their evening TV viewing was not Cosmos, but Shortland Street.
Although this lack of commonality never stopped me from voicing my opinions when it came to climate change, vaccination or religion, it didn't take long for me to start feeling like I was… well, weird.
And then something happened. I was listening to the SGU podcast and they mentioned that they were coming to New Zealand for the NZ Skeptics Conference. Say what?! Click, click, click, tickets purchased, flight to Auckland booked. Knowing about Steven Novella's love for birds, Mark sent the SGU an email asking them if they wanted us to take them around Zealandia in Wellington. To our great surprise, they said yes. So the week before the Auckland conference, Mark and I were taking Steven, Bob, Jay, Evan and their families around Zealandia. There I also met Mark Honeychurch and Matt Beavan, and we got talking about the NZ Skeptics and where it was and where it was headed. My passion for the skeptical movement was reignited.
The NZ Skeptics Conference in Auckland a week later was fantastic. Not only was it because the SGU were there and I got to totally geek out with them, but also because it drove home to me that, yes, New Zealand may be small, but there is very much a skeptical presence that I didn't know about. The likes of Mark Hanna with his constant campaigning, Toby Ricketts and his film on tax and religion, and Michelle Dickinson as the inspiring Nanogirl, makes me hopeful that there are New Zealanders out there who are fighting the good fight. Not to mention the NZ Skeptics Committee and all the grassroots skeptical clubs out there that tirelessly work together to bring important issues to the forefront.
So if you've picked up this magazine off someone's coffee table, and you're looking for someone to talk to who thinks that, you know what? – actually, vaccinations are important, and acupuncture is ridiculous, and science is real, come join the NZ Skeptics. Go along to your local Skeptics in the Pub. Help us grow. Change the world for the better (or even just New Zealand).