I really dislike blind skepticism.

Now before you start shelling me for that remark, I know that some healthy skepticism is always good in anything. It is our natural defence mechanism in protecting us from any unknown dangers we have yet to encounter - better not tobe bitten by things lurking in the shadows.

Yet here I am talking about the really blind, unfounded skepticism. You know the kind where people don't really know what it is they're guarding against, but they're against it anyway.

Here's an example.

A few days back I chanced upon a conversation with a friend, Bob, about land banking. Now I know as much about land banking as I do knitting a sweater, which is to say, very little, except that its about investing money on a piece of land you don't get to see. Thats about as much as I knew.

Now Bob tells me that land banking is a scam that gets people burnt. I asked him why he said that.

"Its the same as time sharing." What the -? "I know a lady who's been in it for 3-6 month, and she tells me that she lost some money on it."

Now, I don't know that much about time sharing either, but I do know they're not the same!

Imagine all this negativity Bob has towards this investment thingy called Land Banking, based on the opinions of a lady who's been at it for a meagre 3 to 6 months. From my experience, most people drop out of any venture in 3 to 6 months because it didn't work for them, didn't stay long enough to learn the ropes properly, and as a result didn't stay long enough to reap the rewards. Chances are, they've rarely got anything nice to say about their experience either.

We all know the famous golden arches that makeup the McDonald's that everyone loves today. If founder Ray Kroc gave up his dreams of settingup his chain of burger joints after 3 to 6 months, it would not have become the great success that it is today! Now when people talk about success stories in franchising, McDonald's will surely pop up at the top of the list.

According to a biography on McDonald's founding days, Ray faced problems over many years (not just 3 to 6 months), including protests of the idea of having "store clerks" serve customers food and drinks over the counter. Can you imagine McDonald's working otherwise today?

Unfounded skepticism like this is not at all fair to those who has been working hard at what they do. Does land banking really work? Well, I don't know, but if I can pick out a few people who's been doing for years and are making alot of money from it, we can't really say that it doesn't, does it? Do you use your ignorance on land banking to undermine the belief of many successful or striving land bankers (?) that this will be the vehicle to their successes, their hopes and their dreams? Not a nice thing to do.

Yet I'm not meaning to condemn my friend Bob here. Its just something that we're all guilty of once in a while. I'm guilty of this myself at more than one occasion! For some reason it seems like we're all conditioned to act like this. It takes lots of concious effort to work out of it. And why not? If it makes the world a better place, its worth doing. (I don't think "its human nature, why bother?" is a good excuse; we shouldn't be letting human nature be justification for our lack of growth.)

So, the next time you decide to voice your skepticism, think again: is this a fair judgement from your point of view? Do you know enough to comment at all?