A word that has been passed around the conscious community and woke circle since around 2015.  Many people use it to describe nonscientific data, false info, and even if they don’t like or agree with someone.  Few people actually know where or who this word comes from and how it became a popular mainstay in the conscious/woke community.  First, let us define this infamous word and then go back a bit to the first person and group that used this word in what we know as the conscious community.

First off let’s define the word pseudo.  Pseudo means being apparently rather than actually as stated: SHAM, SPURIOUS.  We must also define the term pseudoscience which is a system of theories, assumptions, and methods erroneously regarded as scientific (Websters Dictionary).  I list both of the definitions because they are tied together in the story of how this word has seemingly evolved.

When you talk about this word you would be remiss if you don’t mention the Amen Ra Squad.  In particular brother Ankh West.  He’s the first person I saw using this word.  Originally the term was a shortened version of the term pseudoscience.  This was a time when our community was heavily saturated with charlatans that all attempted to use science to validate their illegitimate claims.  It was brother Ankh West that decided to put together a team called the Amen Ra Squad to combat this false unscientific information.  Citing that the information presented had not gone through the rigor of the scientific method was the basis for deeming it pseudoscience.  This was eventually shortened to the term pseudo and the people propagating this info were deemed pseudos.  This word caught on like wildfire and became a word that many people it described took offense to.  Fans and fellow researchers used it in Facebook groups and YouTube chat rooms frequently.  It became the number one buzzword of the community and was always met with much aggression and hostility.  

Suddenly around 2018 things started to change, people outside of Ankh and his circle of supporters started using this word.  I’m not sure if the people who picked it up even knew its source.  Nevertheless, the word started to evolve beyond its pseudoscientific origin.  Now it was presented as the root word of pseudoscience only.  I believe people took the word for its literal meaning and started to call people pseudo because they deemed them false. People called members of the Amen Ra Squad pseudo as if they weren’t its presenters.  Chaos from the left and chaos from the right.  I’m writing this to set the record straight and try to put this word in its proper context.  

Pseudoscience is a process absent of the scientific method, for example, the claim that black people can’t get the coronavirus because we have melanin is pseudoscience (and I hope I don’t have to explain why) so Ankh West would call that pseudo.  There is no scientific data or evidence that one could evaluate to come to that consensus.  Believing in God does not make you a pseudo, simply because that’s not a scientific claim, now if you said God will cure your stage 4 cancer if you ask him to, now we are getting into an unfalsifiable claim and moving into Pseudoscience.  Simply for something to be regarded as pseudoscience or pseudo it must either be presented as science or attempt to use scientific principles or terms in a way that are not falsifiable or tested.  For example if I say the energy from this crystal can cure anemia.  This claim is pseudo but on the contrary, if you tell me Jesus Christ is your lord and savior and he is the king of kings, this is not pseudo due to it not being scientifically based, presented as science, or has the ability to be falsifiable.

Pseudoscience is still running amuck in our community.  From illegitimate health and nutrition claims to archeological falsehoods to genetic misrepresentations of people to astrology, to crystal magic.  Nothing has really changed from 2015 except the use of this word and its popularity.  Amongst pseudoscience is their companions the ever-present confirmation and cognitive bias.  Confirmation bias is your tendency to seek out information that supports something you already believe, is a particularly pernicious subset of cognitive bias. “You remember the hits and forget the misses,” (Neil Degrasse Tyson).  Cognitive bias is your tendency to believe that something is true even if it smacks in the face of data that says otherwise (i.e., you might think a fair coin that has landed on heads five times when flipped is more likely to land on tails on the sixth flip—even though the odds are still 50-50).  Bias in general is the vehicle that drives you to the pseudo territory.  Pseudoscience fails under testing and verification, remember this great Afrikan American proverb started by our brother Asar Imhotep.  Demonstration beats conversation.  

In conclusion, I hope the reading audience has learned about the history of this word’s usage, its meaning, its companions, and some examples.  In the future let’s use this word responsibly and with good character.

Until next time Alaafia Amandla Abibifahodie!

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References
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pseudo
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pseudoscience
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