"Having an open mind means you don't dismiss claims to truth out of hand. You analyze first. When you analyze a claim, you consider all the relevant evidence and examine all the logic involved, in a fair and unbiased manner, then grant tentative acceptance or rejection. If new arguments or new evidence come up, then you revise your opinion. Being open means that you apply this standard fairly to all claims. Being open-minded does not mean believing every claim, no matter how improbable--that's being gullible, not open."
However, in practice, debunkers seldom apply the same evidential standards to all claims. They may not even look at all if it means tangling with potential baloney (and to be sure, most New Age scientific "mysteries" are just that). Most self-proclaimed "skeptics," I've found, are merely pseudoskeptics, as intellectually porous as the pseudoscientists they attack and burdened with the same gnawing sense of self-righteousness that characterizes vacuous "true believers."
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