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Skepticism Failure: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:leveLc4p107 1408.jpg|link=LeveL|
{{quote|''"In movies and TV series about the paranormal, the stereotypical "skeptic" figure always seems to convert into a believer by the end. And why does this occur? Well, because in ''fiction'', the author can control the laws of nature, and in these fictional narratives (which show an abundant lack of creativity), the supernatural always turns out to be ''real''."''
|'''Chris Mooney''', [http://scienceblogs.com/intersection/2007/06/hollywoods_offensive_and_deepl.php 'Hollywood's Offensive and Deeply Unoriginal "Skeptic Conversion" Narrative']}}
The paranormal has a way of creeping into TV shows, even those which don't have a paranormal premise. In real life, being neither skeptical nor a believer of various paranormal forces is the default, and a better option than either dogmatic belief or [[Arbitrary Skepticism|dogmatic skepticism]]. On TV, characters are far less likely to express any doubt, and those who are skeptical are often treated as naive or ignorant, and the plot will go out of its way to prove them wrong.
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* ''[[CSI]]'': the episode "Stalker" had a man who kept claiming that he was receiving visions related to the crime, and knew stuff that the CSIs hadn't released to the press. By the end of the episode, he's dead, and there's [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|no explanation either way for how he knew what he did]].
** Almost this [[Recycled Script|exact same story]] appears in an episode of ''[[Now and Again]]'', an ill-fated science fiction series from the late 90's about a man who was rebuilt out of spare body parts by the government.
* The early run of the 2000s ''[[Battlestar Galactica
* A major plot point of the second season of ''[[Lost]]'' revolves around characters being convinced to push a button every 108 minutes in order to save the world. Jack vehemently protests the belief that anything will happen if they don't push the button, and the others treat him as if he is being completely irrational. Locke later losing his faith in the button is also treated as a bad thing, even though evidence seems to suggest that the whole thing is a hoax. Now granted it turns out pushing the button was necessary, but there was nothing wrong with disbelieving on the available evidence, which remained true of their situation for the most part, up until the end of season 4 (when ''anything'' was now possible and should probably be believed).
** It's because on Lost's island, there are many things that are crazier than the button. It's a case of [[If Jesus, Then Aliens|If Jesus, Zombies, Bigfoot, Unicorns, Flying Pigs, Tap-Dancing Cutlery And Psychic Hamburgers, Then Aliens.]]
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