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November 12, 2007

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Won't watch it, which is a pity since this bingo game sounds like lots of fun.
Erm, Skeptico, you missed an 'S' in the square just under 'free space'.
Cheers,

Thought you might enjoy this enlightening nugget from the last time van Praagh was on Larry King:

"...we [psychics] are here to heal people and to help people grow. Skeptics... they're just here to destroy people. They're not here to encourage people, to enlighten people. They're here to destroy people."
--James van Praagh on "Larry King Live," March 6, 2001

Apu - thanks for spotting that. Now corrected. I must have looked at that a hundred times and not seen the typo.

OMG EJ!

Didn't John best say something like that a dozen times on the Worst Arguements thread?

Time for a new "Woo Hanbdbook" Entry

Nicely done! I really like the bingo card idea. Not long ago I posted about the same topic on my own site, analyzing the cold reading technique used on a woman who wrote an article for the Washington Post. If interested, you can read it here: An Example of Cold Reading.

Why not send a copy of this post to Larry King?
Nah, never mind. If he's already sucked in so bad that he's giving them air time, he's probably a lost cause. Kinda like PBS "honoring" whackos like deepak et al. by giving them air time.

Why not send a copy of this post to Larry King

LOL, yeah and montel williams.

This is a great idea, except to classify as an ACTUAL bingo game we'd need some hundreds of different combinations of the card with the squares in different positions.

EJ...

If you simply replace the word "people" with "me" in your quote from Van Praagh, I think he's totally right! LOL.

Just found this great article about Edward from cold reading expert Ian Rowland:

http://www.ianrowland.com/TheVault/JohnEdward1.html

One thing you haven't mentioned about Edward's technique: frequently the dead person asked for by the "client" does not come through. Someone else does. Edward can't help it; it's a "party line" and whoever wants to talk comes through to him. I believe that this prevents people with a specific question for a deceased loved one from putting Edward on the spot. Instead, Edward turns the tables on them, tells them their mother or whoever is unavailable, and then says something like, "But I am sensing a younger male figure," or somesuch. Now Edward has confused the "client" and enlisted them in his cold reading.

That's a good one woodah. I'd noticed he does that too - I should have had a square for it. Oh well.

S said: This is a great idea, except to classify as an ACTUAL bingo game we'd need some hundreds of different combinations of the card with the squares in different positions.

Um, S, that's what the randomize button is for :-)

Do we have to randomize it every game?...I dont wanna mess up lucky card.

Dear Mr John Edward,
My papa passed on about 6 or 7 years ago and me and my mother miss him terrible for Christmas this year i tried to get her tickets to see you privately or in your show because she loves you so much we both think you are so talented.I wrote a letter for you but i dont know where to send it to because i dont know your address please write me back your address so i can send you the letter to try and get my mother tickets to see you some how i dont care how much they cost i just want to make my mother happen because she has not been since my papa died because she never seen him on the day he passed thanks to my ex aunty and she always says if she can only speak to him someway again even through you she would be so grateful.PLease write back thanks you x

Your Sincerly
Andrea Marshall

from Scotland

P.S. Please please please write back thank you.

Andrea. Unless that's a joke, you really are in the wrong place.

Geezzzzzzzz~ I hope that was a JOKE by Andrea

Why don't you tell that little girl (who obviously found this forum in a search) that her mother is an idiot who believes in something that (although it can comfort her and make her at peace) is crap.

Then tell me that what you are doing (taking hope from the hopeless) is right.

And you think that providing false hope is a somehow a good thing? You have got it quite wrong.

Andrea - psychics are crap, what they do is crap, what they say is crap. However your mother is not an idiot, she has just been fooled by them, as it appears have you.


C - You think it right that we don't expose liars, cheats and frauds simply because they can make people fell better? If so, you are in fact the idiot here.

As Q pointed out, it is not hope but false hope that we take away. If you can't see this difference, again, it is you who are the idiot.

Then tell me that what you are doing (taking hope from the hopeless) is right.
Which is more right: profiting off vulnerable people who miss their loved ones, or telling them to stay away from charlatans and not sully their memories with the words of opportunistic liars? We're not taking hope away from anyone, we're exposing the people who are peddling false hope and empty platitudes for exorbitant fees.

C:

Regarding “taking hope from the hopeless” – read how Sylvia Browne did just that to the parents of Shawn Hornbeck. You going to tell me that “is right”?

Psychics do not offer hope. They offer escapism and denial. For a price.

They twist the emotional knives in people to keep the pain going so that they can keep making money.

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