what they don't get is that this debunking IS ENTERTAINING for a lot of us

One of my most used quotes of the last 5 years - "It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”

I'm totally a believer in the paranormal, the supernatural, the unexplained; all that goodness. my skepticism comes from my lack of trust in people as a whole. Mr. Wolfe's debunking content is great for people like me and i greatly appreciate him for it.

Why am I a skeptic?

Because in April of 2003, Amanda Berry would be kidnapped, imprisoned, and subjected to horrific assault. A year later, her desperate parents were on the Montel Williams Show, where famed "psychic" Sylvia Browne would tell them that Amanda was dead... a show she watched from her basement prison.

It would be another 9 years before Amanda escaped, and her kidnapper would be arrested. Her mother had died believing her daughter was already dead.

I'm a skeptic because scammers like Sylvia Browne take advantage of people's beliefs, all to make a quick buck. Don't fall for the scam.

"Why debunk anything?" Proof that there's a difference between 'media literacy' and 'media ignorance'.

I always think about Harry Houdini. He started out open-minded, going to spiritualists in the hopes of contacting his dead mother out of sincerely just loving and missing his mom. He noticed they were just using stage magic, and it pissed him off so badly he launched a personal crusade, lobbied to get laws passed and have it classified as fraud. I strongly advise going and reading for yourself about the backlash he encountered, but basically he got un-veiled antisemitism and open hostility from a mix of grifters and proto-Evangelicals, bc despite appearing secular to mainstream society, the spiritualist movement was just part of another Great Awakening and showed its true colors.
THAT'S why debunk things. Lying about ghosts can be harmless, but it's most often part of a broader and uglier belief system, and if no one debunks....well, the harmless pranksters and the genuinely awful scammers aren't actually distinguishable EXCEPT when they're challenged and examined. Unchecked, they just end up using their ghost schtick to sell people on other "anti-establishment" ideas and boom ya got dangerous alternate reality cults.

John with the romance novel hair 💁‍♂️✨️

I think that your idea to expand into debunking conspiracy theories, general internet misinformation, and influence scams is a great one. It’s certainly needed, and you lend a measured but entertaining voice to the conversation. Your willingness to admit when you either don’t know something or were wrong in the past is admirable.

Debunking exposes fraud and misinformation.

I think it’s good that you make these. Too many people never cultivated their critical thinking skills, and now you’re helping make that more accessible for more people

Came for the debunking stayed for the debunking and hair routine drop

These videos are helpful to me as someone in group 3, and particularly, someone who grew up watching shows like Ghost Adventures and horror videos on YouTube and, having pretty severe anxiety, got super scared and even paranoid from them. I've had pretty bad hallucinations when I was younger and seeing debunking videos helps me handle horror easier and just generally helps me cope. Now I've understood that my hallucinations weren't me being haunted, just undiagnosed hallucinations probably as a result of my mental disorders that went largely undiagnosed in childhood and were likely exacerbated by what I was watching.

the sad reality of "debunking a lie takes longer than making up one" hitting me hard tonight. truly why the world is looking like it does these days.

Group 1 guy here. I find your debunking videos very entertaining. I know I'm not your target but I really appreciate the videos

I remember telling my friends that I was an atheist and also don’t believe in ghosts. The atheist comment got an “oh that’s ok.” The ghost comment got a “what in the world? How could you not believe in ghosts?!” This was the moment I realized people actually take this stuff super seriously.

That one comment that said something akin to "Oh next he's going to try and debunk The Blair Witch Project 🙄" is SO funny because wasn't there a whole slew of people who believed that movie was real when it first came out? In fact, humanity has a pretty solid history of people en masse believing fictional stories and flying into a panic because of them, which is precisely why encouraging critical thinking is so important.

I wish there were more debunk content creators honestly. People are too damn gullible.

I accidentally looked John in the eyes!! 😮 "I do NOT allow any negative energy, entities, or spirits to come around me. Thank you for letting us see your hair" Amen 🙏

Group 1 here, I wanted to tell you that I do find these videos useful. Frankly, I got lazy. If I knew something could be easily faked, I didn't bother thinking about how it was done. You made me think about that again, which is important for my own critical thinking. Also, it helps me communicate to other people, who might be in group 3. Very much looking forward to some conspiracy theory debunking, since that's a big problem right now.

The idea of portraying the "guy you just made up in your head" that you often argue with throughout your gaming videos was INCREDIBLE! 😂😂  I've said it before and I'll say it again: I came for the gaming content, I'm here for the commentary, deep dives, and top tier banter