Crank
(→Famous cranks) |
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*[[David Icke]] - Alternate history, alien races, conspiracy theories | *[[David Icke]] - Alternate history, alien races, conspiracy theories | ||
*[[Gene Ray]] - [[Time Cube]] | *[[Gene Ray]] - [[Time Cube]] | ||
| − | *[[Eric Raymond]] - gun rights, [[HIV denialism]], [[global warming | + | *[[Eric S. Raymond]] - gun rights, [[HIV denialism]], [[global warming]] denial, [[libertarianism]] |
*Viera Scheibner - [[Vaccine hysteria|Anti-vaccinationist]] | *Viera Scheibner - [[Vaccine hysteria|Anti-vaccinationist]] | ||
*[[Andrew Schlafly]] - [[Creationism]], abortion causes breast cancer, liberalism causes all societal ills, [[alternate historical chronology|revised chronology]], [[HIV denial|AIDS denialism]], and many more. (But he's not really "famous", even in inverted commas) | *[[Andrew Schlafly]] - [[Creationism]], abortion causes breast cancer, liberalism causes all societal ills, [[alternate historical chronology|revised chronology]], [[HIV denial|AIDS denialism]], and many more. (But he's not really "famous", even in inverted commas) | ||
Revision as of 19:04, 11 February 2010
- For the drug, see Methamphetamine, for the exceptionally silly movie, you need to be elsewhere.
Crank is a pejorative term applied to someone who holds extremely unorthodox views on a subject and is often very vocal about these opinions. A crank will usually maintain their viewpoint despite, or perhaps because of, evidence to the contrary. The crank is usually an amateur in the field they are arguing against, but sometimes individuals with expertise in that field will become a 'crank' (often medical or psychological changes can be traced to coincide with the point where an expert became a crank, such as strokes, nervous breakdowns or the onset of schizophrenia).
Cranks emerge in all fields of study and hold a wide variety of inaccurate or unorthodox views, from being able to square the circle with a pencil and a compass, to Biblical literalists in the creationism movement.
Synonyms include kook and crackpot (the latter of which has led to the creation of the term "psychoceramics" as the name for the study of such people). Cranks who believe a lot of nutty things at once are sometimes said to suffer from crank magnetism.
Contents |
Famous cranks
Well known cranks and their ideas include:
- Neal Adams - Expanding earth
- Todd Bentley - Christian faith healing through kicking and punching.
- John A. Davison - Proscribed evolution
- Peter Duesberg, Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos - AIDS denialism
- Duane Gish - creationist writer and professional debate-mangler
- Richard C. Hoagland - "Face" on Mars, aliens, NASA conspiracy theories.
- L. Ron Hubbard - Alternate history, alien races; founder of Scientology
- David Icke - Alternate history, alien races, conspiracy theories
- Gene Ray - Time Cube
- Eric S. Raymond - gun rights, HIV denialism, global warming denial, libertarianism
- Viera Scheibner - Anti-vaccinationist
- Andrew Schlafly - Creationism, abortion causes breast cancer, liberalism causes all societal ills, revised chronology, AIDS denialism, and many more. (But he's not really "famous", even in inverted commas)
- Zecharia Sitchin - Reinterpreter of Sumerian mythology and perpetuator of the "Zeta Reticuli" alien conspiracy theory
- Frederick Trexler - Petrified Human Brain
- Immanuel Velikovsky - Planetary catastrophism, a revised chronology, and more
- Ernst Zündel - Holocaust denial
- Most everyone on this list who isn't blocked (very few)
- Sean Manchester Vampire hunter and self proclaimed "Catholic Bishop"
Other uses
A crank is also a type of mechanical device for converting rotary motion to linear or vice versa, consisting of a handle or arm attached at right angles to a shaft, usually involving many types of gears, pinions, and if you're lucky, cams.
External links
- Crank Dot Net—directory of crank (and anti-crank) websites.