The amount of suffering that individual can experience with the loss of a family
member or close loved one can be truly unimaginable. Consider that there is a business
or business person making the claims that they can provide a specific service to these
people and their plights (even when the claims themselves have never been proven). Now, take that a step further
and include the details that some of these cases involve people with prior
convictions in fraud and grand theft.
For example, Sylvia Browne calls herself a "psychic" and claims to be able to
communicate with the dead. However, there is no reason to believe that anyone,
let alone this one person, is doing anything other than performing simple acts
of deception. Matter of fact, she is so good at deceiving people that she has
been convicted of investment fraud and grand theft. *For more on this, see the
story of Sylvia
Browne's 1992 felony conviction in a case involving charges of grand theft and
securities fraud.
Browne is quite popular among the known psychics in the world, James Van Praagh and John Edwards are a couple more known, and even
amongst the people with less familiarity with psychic phenomena. Even just her
name can produce strong reactions in people. To some of her devoted fans, she
is a "true psychic-medium" that utilizes the help of a "spirit
guide" named Francine. This is how she is able to see the
future, diagnose illnesses, find lost children, and of course, communicate with
the dead. To some others, she has never been able to prove any psychic or
supernatural abilities. While using the stage tricks of magic like "cold-readings" to simulate psychic abilities isn’t in itself a ethical concern.
Using this as a means to prey on the grieving, the ill, and the spiritually
vulnerable is another thing all together. It is quite often during these readings that people selectively remember
certain things and forget others, like the things the "psychic" got
right, as opposed to the things that were wrong. This is often referred
to as, "remembering the hits and forgetting the misses." We are not
accustomed to seeing the "misses", however, Van Praagh demonstrates what
this looks like in the following YouTube clip from the Australian television show, "The Circle" on "Channel Ten".
A computer programmer named Robert S. Lancaster started up a
site called, “Stop Sylvia Browne”, dedicated to
helping people make up their own mind about this very subject. Mr. Lancaster
makes it quite clear what his site and campaign are all about with the
following response from the ‘frequently asked questions’ main page,
“Because I strongly believe that Sylvia Browne needs to either prove her purported ‘psychic abilities’, or stop pretending to have them.”
One very important message gets relayed from the readers’
inquiries when he is asked, “Why should we believe you?” This is a legitimate
question, and good enough that it has me puzzled to why nobody ever poses it to
the psychics. Instead, Lancaster
gives his own answer, and at the same time, provides a much better explanation
of the reasoning process by stating,
“You shouldn't. You should read and consider the contents of this site. You should dig around the web and see what you can find. If you can, find out what Sylvia's justifications are for some of the things you read here. Then, you should make up your own mind.”
This is excellent advice and a stance that all critical
thinking citizens should utilize to protect themselves from the subtle and
not-so-subtle nonsense that permeates our society. This is not just to serve as
protection for the consumer, but to empower individuals through the knowledge
of reason. Take this last part from Lancaster’s
home page as he leaves us with an invitation to explore reason before investing
anything emotionally or financially.
“But here is a further comment, regarding TV/Celebrity psychics in general: It is important to remember that the producers of a TV show which claims to be about a ‘true psychic’ have a financial interest in making you believe that person is psychic. Because of this, you should never assume that what you see on the show is an accurate and unbiased representation of facts and events.”
Two "psychics" or
“spiritual mediums” are coming to the valley of the sun. The first,
James Van Praagh, will be appearing this week at an event put on the "Changing Hands Bookstore" in Tempe, Arizona
on Thursday March 26, 2012 at 7:00pm. The event to follow features, Chip Coffey, next month on Friday April 20, 2012 at 7:30pm. The Phoenix Area Skeptics Society will be outside of these events to hand out flyers and some
general information. Any questions or comments can be sent to: phoenixskeptics@gmail.com
