Gurus Take Advantage Of Your Assumptions (Not Mine For Some Reason)

 

The late James Randi warned about assumptions when dealing with NewAge nostrums like homeopathy, quackery, and psychics.

   

The late Michael Crichton ("Jurassic Park") warned about assumptions when dealing with NewAge nostrums like climate change.

 

James "The Amazing" Randi (1928 - 2020)

The Magician's Magician: 

He emptied a sea of ignorance with a paper cup.

 

Hooray!: "James Randi - An Honest Liar" Is Now Online For Everybody To Watch

If America, and it's people, were who we say we are, this man - and his work - would be much more famous. As it is, he's known just well enough to be my hero.

iClean, iWash, iPhone & iCareAboutBlackPeopleLiving

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“The recent spike in Republicans suddenly claiming they care about poor people is, honestly, a bit strange. Their voters, for the most part, do not care, and do not care if their politicians say they care.”

“Unbelievable: Popular South African Pastor Makes Members Eat Grass”

If Anything Really Bad Should Happen To Ann Althouse: The Rest Of Us Must Be Sure To Loudly Laugh And Point

This is a man caught committing the crime of theft. He tried to fool the car owner's neighbor, but the neighbor knew better, so the thief got locked in the car and arrested.

 

This is James Randi explaining how psychics commit the crime of theft. They try to fool a mark and, if the mark doesn't know any better, the thief gets away with it. 

Discussing a psychic crime that netted the criminal $48,000, Ann Althouse - supposedly a law professor - calls this theft "entertainment and unconventional psychological therapy."

Putting "entertainment" and "psychological therapy" in the same sentence, without flinching from cognitive dissonance, is a pretty neat trick (wouldn't that be playing with someone's mind - for fun?). But I'll ask you to consider, if true, psychic fraud would be the only "entertainment and unconventional psychological therapy" that, unbeknownst to marks or their loved ones, can destroy their life's savings, along with any trust in man, or womankind ever again - which (small point) society needs to function. It can also lead to an uncontrollable sense of alienation, and severe fits of rage, so severe marks lose the ability to function in "normal" society ever again. And, once revealed, it can also damage the mark's loved ones, in much the same way, so, over time, the injury can be dispersed much-farther-and-wider than the immediate, initial crime scene.

To put it mildly - I strongly disagree with Ann's view:

If anything, "entertainment and unconventional psychological therapy" is what I'd call the crime of reading her blog,...

 

Rat Poison Watered Down Until It's Not Poison Anymore

This was kinda sweet - a writer doesn't understand what she's talking about, but still lucks upon the correct answer, while supposedly introducing us to 6 French Cures for a Hangover:

6. Rat Poison Nux Vomica? (Don’t Try It!) 

I’ve saved the worst for last….. 

Another French friend recommended a homeopathic medicine called nux vomica. She said to take it “avant de boire en exces” (before drinking in excess). 

I have three problems with this cure: 

1. According to WebMD, nux vomica contains strychnine and brucine—two ingredients used in RAT POISON! Um, no thanks.
 

2. I, personally, never think it’s a good idea to plan to drink in excess.
 

3. Doesn’t “vomica” sound a little too much like something you want to do when you have a killer hangover? Why add insult to the injury? 

Practicality: Don’t do it.  It just sounds like a terrible idea all the way around.

It IS "a terrible idea all the way around" but not for the reason she thinks. Sure, she could've looked a little bit deeper into WebMD, but here - let James Randi tell it:

 

Reportedly 40% of the French use the stuff:

The French are pretty fucking weird,...

 

The Post For Fraud (In The World Fraud Of Psych - Icks)

Here's three fakers operating in England.

One almost tricking Barbara Walters into becoming a client in America.

Deceiving traumatized American citizens and the police. 

10 of the best psychics in Australia prove to be useless.

And, sadly, fooling even the scientists at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories,...

Life Is An Illusion (But You're Really Living Through It)

They Don't Think I Can See It (But I Really Can See It,...)

Dr. Helen Smith's new book, Men On Strike, took a beating in The Wall Street Journal today (Glenn Boy says "THE PERSPECTIVE IS KINDA SOCIAL-CONNISH") but what I find fun is why the WSJ dissed Dr. Helen - it's specifically for listening to NewAgers:

"Ms. Smith rightly protests the feminization of contemporary culture, and she rightly urges men—who, after all, built the civilization onto which feminism has latched itself—to start fighting back. But to win such battles she will need to construct arguments likely to persuade others besides the angry, alienated men who click onto her blog and mourn that their 'soul mate' turned out to be not much of a mate."

I tried to warn them - repeatedly - but it does no good. Since Glenn's still linking to articles on quackery, like bloodletting, I doubt a NewAge cult phrase like "soul mate" is going to meaningfully catch his eye, even though it's enough - almost exclusively - to make the WSJ perk up and suggest his wife can't be taken seriously. Great job as a husband, huh?

If he had listened to me, that wouldn't have happened - neither would this post. 

Isn't it weird how TMR's NewAge memes are out there, and even acknowledged as correct, but no one else will take that up or plainly admit it?  I mean, even though the WSJ will put "soul mate" in quotes, and diss Dr. Helen's book over the usage, why do you have to read this blog to understand what's wrong with it?

Answer:

Because Glenn Reynolds & Co. won't tell you.

Anyways, long story-short:

 The Instapundit, and the Insta-wife, are rubes posing as "smart" people and - if you know what to look for - anybody can see it. Here's The Amazing Randi on the worth of their credentials:

 

And that's one theme this blog has stressed from the first day I met such "smart" folks online,...

"You Can Catch A White Bitch With Fruits And Nuts,..."

I don't say it often enough but, as far as I'm concerned, part of what I'm fighting for is a better vision of the world. The thing is - it's a vision that includes me - and that's difficult for a lot of people to stomach. Boy, did I learn that during the last election. 

I see the narrow "path" the hippies have laid out for me and have no intention on following it.

I ain't NewAge.

And there are other ways to think.

The freaks never planned on Hip-Hop, for instance,  so now they've been screaming "You can't say this" or You can't say that" when they were formally proud of Lenny Bruce, and Berkeley, establishing that - yes - I can say any damned thing I want. 

They're hypocrites, stuck on "the path," strangely going in circles as if on a zen walk.

To show you what I mean, about a world that doesn't include me, I never hear my thoughts on gun control in debates on the subject, but - to me - they seem the most reasonable. I grew up around gun violence. But I wouldn't stop anybody from buying guns - that's not American. I would end the violence, though. How?

Teach critical thinking.

Teach it in schools, on T.V., in movies - drench the nation, not in what to think, but how to think.

What could be easier?

I'm being told what to think, constantly, but they'll never get in because I'm too fierce. It's a pointless exercise. I know what I think. What I point out, here, are examples of people not knowing how to think. The ways they wallow in shallowness, hypocrisy, narcissism, religion, and violence, all as a stop-gap against using the ol' noodle. We can do better. And it would be a beautiful thing.

It's the only thing that's going to make me a more "affable" person.

Contrary to what they (still) think, hippies aren't all that interesting, and for them to bullshit me - and assume I'll treat them with respect - is not critical thinking.

For those against gun violence, it's also a strange approach to getting it - basically saying I must smile in the face of people who are telling me things that are provably wrong. Is it any wonder I don't trust their smiles anymore? These are the evil turning smiles into weapons. And then demanding we don't resist. 

Anybody feeling cultish yet?

Get "the path" out of your heads. That's what's offensive. 

It doesn't surprise me that some people want to kill as many as possible, now, because all you are is cowards - bullying from within the comfort of a group. That's what hippies have always done. (Can't accuse me of that, can you?) It's not respectable. This society, operating the way it does, breeds it's violence - not gun manufacturers - and it's mostly those screaming for peace who are causing it.

So, if you want to end the turmoil, I say to teach critical thinking, and if not - fuck off.

And I'll go on catching those "smart and independent" women - with trail mix,...

 

Outsmarting Their Stupidity With Out-Smarting Stupidity

The Amazing Randi once said fighting cults [my phrasing] was like trying to empty the ocean with a paper cup. But TMR decided, long ago, he can put the cup down:

We should, instead, be in a speedboat - violently cutting across this ocean of ignorance - watching what turns up, from the depths, in our wake.

Think of it as creative (or intelligent) destruction.

Enter Alice's Wonderland - and then break the mirror behind you,...as a start.

Let nothing be too over-the-top, and damn who you anger. This is has been the NewAge's obnoxious strategy, why not ours?

Stop making sense.

As they say in comedy, it kills,...

A Little Advice From The Worst Republican In The World

I'm telling you, it's really become a thing now - look at this quote:

"That might be cynical and reckless, but it’s reality."

Yes indeed, it is reality. It's back. Existence, parsed with Occum's Razor, until nothing but bone.

Meanwhile, leading with the words "Look, I don’t even know anymore," Hot Air's Mary Katharine Ham reports the "Nation that re-elected Obama wants more spending cuts than tax hikes, still hates Obamacare."

 To which I reply, Boy, they must've really hated Romney, huh?

Of course, Ham doesn't come to that conclusion (the sub-head to her column is "Schizo-nation" - as though it is we who "don’t even know anymore") and leaves her piece trying to scrape together some dignity with this:

Another redemptive data point for those who say nominating the one guy who couldn’t effectively argue against ObamaCare was a mistake. For the record, I agreed with that assessment, but also was unconvinced others didn’t have equal liabilities. 

As the conventional wisdom has it, we are a nation divided— perhaps into multiple personalities.

Well, considering she clearly doesn't know (or want to know) what she doesn't know, I'd say "multiple personalities" might explain Ham, anyway - especially when coupled with conventional wisdom.

Oh, and about those "others" with "equal liabilities," our poor Sarah Palin has blown it - passed on her moment - and is now also losing her footing as the sands shift beneath her feet. My advice:

Kick back, Sarah.

You backed Romney. 

It won't undue goodwill, but it's enough to put you (temporarily?) on the other side of the ledger.

The Good Ol' Boys had nothing for you - let them go down, without you, too,…

 

I'm Digging, Digging For Gold - Oh Look: I Struck Fraud!

It ain't a couple of gold plates with messages from God, but this will have to do:

He has spent the past 40 years transmitting messages from the dead and reading people’s fortunes, but now professional ‘psychic’ Mark Edward Wilson says it’s time to draw back the curtain on his act.   

In a new tell-all book called ‘Psychic Blues: Confessions of a Conflicted Medium, the 61-year-old medium, who goes by the name Mark Edward, reveals the tricks of the trade that he has been using since the 1970s to make people believe in his ‘supernatural’ powers. 

While Edward’s memoir does not reveal any shocking secrets of the profession, it effectively drives home the point of how easily people can be duped, according to the New York Times. 

For example, the 61-year-old psychic describes the old-fashioned trick in which he would talk to a member of the audience before the show, who would mention that his father’s name was Louis.  

Then during the performance, Edward would find the man he spoke to earlier in the crowd and say, ‘The name that comes to my mind is Lou. Who is Lou?’ More often than not, the targeted spectator will forget about his earlier encounter with the medium and be amazed at his ability to gaze right into his past.  

Edward’s desire to come clean about his supernatural machinations 40 years into his career is rooted in his claim that he belongs to a special cohort of magicians, among them the duo Penn and Teller and James Randi, who both perform tricks and debunk them to teach people how not to get hoodwinked in the future.   

In an interview with the Times, Edward said that after years of sympathizing with the skeptics while capitalizing on people’s gullibility, he felt he had to choose sides.

"He felt he had to choose sides." Now THAT's a problem most people don't seem to have.

And I'm glad he mentioned "capitalizing on people’s gullibility," because few will admit that's what's going on - including supporters of certain presidential candidates who listen to "prophets" and "spiritual" celebrity talk show hosts.

Why even the candidates themselves are a *little* shy on THAT point,….

There's A Reason NewAgers Are Always In Trouble,...

Bogus Belief Film: The History Of Spiritual Sell-You-Loid

Another cult-inspired film is being released, and this time it's Vikram Gandhi's Kumaré: A True Film About A False Prophet. In it, the American Gandhi assumed the role of a visiting Indian guru named Kumaré and filmed the reactions of the gullible. And gullible they are. Watch.

The film's conceit even has some bearing on the Mormon "religion" as Gandhi asks, "Can people find the same peace, from a made-up religion, that they found in a real one?" Of course, the better question is whether people need to be this nonsensical at all, but - hey - it's Gandhi's first film. Maybe he can make one on the lives of those who, somehow, live without covering life in the fake gold of false hope for his next one.

Though it should be pretty obvious, I would like to point out how important Yoga was to the con job. Yoga is the gateway drug to being delusional, so it was only natural that - in order to fool people - a yoga studio is where Kumaré would find delusionals who would foolishly follow him. And they did.

I should also point out that years ago, long before Vikram Gandhi and Kumaré, James "The Amazing" Randi pulled this same stunt in Australia by creating a fake guru named "Carlos" and drawing the media in. Considering the media's supposed to be our bull work against bullshit, it was pretty damning evidence the public had been abandoned by those self-assigned to protecting us.

And finally, there was Randi's Project Alpha, when he proved "paranormal" researchers also want to believe when there's no good reason to do so. We are surrounded by hucksters, and they're in charge, getting all the money, holding positions of power, and doing everything but letting the truth breathe - just so they can keep it. But never fear - Randi won a MacArthur Genius grant, Vikram Gandhi won the People's Choice award at the SXSW film festival, and I still have a blog.

I told you the cult films are coming - and there's more on the way. 

The frauds don't stand a chance,...

PIGasus (Because Some Things Just Don't Fly)

I should've got this up on April Fool's Day but (scary thought here) I was too busy with Kathy Griffin's tits:

We doubt that either Dr. Oz or Andrew Wakefield will be proudly displaying these honors on their mantelpieces: Both received "Pigasus Awards" this April 1 from the  James  Randi  Educational  Foundation for the dubious honor of being among the "5 worst promoters of nonsense."

Dr. Mehmet Oz got the "Media" Pigasus. The foundation explains why he won the prize: "Dr. Oz is a Harvard-educated cardiac physician who, through his syndicated TV show, has promoted faith healing, 'energy medicine,' and other quack theories that have no scientific basis." Among the guests that Randi's foundation deems especially dubious: psychic John Edward,  who claims to talk to dead people. (Check out this TV Guide interview in which Dr. Oz says that having Edward on the show "changed [his] life!" and adds, of Edward, "He seems authentic, not at all like a charlatan. I've learned in my career that there are times when science just hasn't caught up with things, and I think this may be one of them.")

Andrew Wakefield, a British researcher known for his repeated assertion that autism is caused by vaccines, got his Pigasus in the "Refusal to Face Reality" category. Wakefield's study in the 1998 that started the whole brouhaha has been thoroughly discredited, and study after study has failed to find a vaccine-autism connection. (In fact, a lot of autism researchers aren't even sure that the rates have truly risen, because in the past, milder cases were not diagnosed.)

Dr. Mehmet Öz and Andrew Wakefield are, of course, the quack doctors promoted by Oprah Winfrey and Jenny McCarthy (the NewAge television celebrity and the anti-vaccine child killer) so, please, feel free to attach any condemnation, of the two fakers mentioned above, to them as well:

I do, and it does my heart good.

Homeopathy & The Health Cults: You're All Wet

Orac responds to James Randi's challenge in the most plainspoken way possible - which isn't easy for a scientist - making us very happy:

I do like the spirit of the protest, in particular how it drives home a very simply message about homeopathy: There's nothing in it. It's water placed in sugar pills. That's it.

Well done, Sir! Also, it should be made clear (since we didn't say it in our previous post) Randi's $1 million offer is "a challenge to homeopathy manufacturers and retail pharmacies that sell homeopathy, in particular large national chains like Walgreens and CVS and large national chains that include pharmacies in their stores, such as Walmart and Target." And let's not leave out such blue state stalwarts as Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and all those pseudo-NewAge mom-and-pop health food stores. They - and the entire country of "modern" France - should always be included in any homeopathic debunking.

Because everybody cares about your health - and their reputations for honesty - so damned much.

Homeopathy: Just Another Kind Of "Stimulus"?

James Randi is up to his old tricks again - except, this time, the government's exposed:

James Randi launched a bold challenge Saturday that aims to debunk so-called homeopathic drugs. The fraud-busting magician even offered $1 million to any manufacturer who could prove they work as directed.

Finding science and medicine experts to defend homeopathy isn't easy. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine offers a primer complete with an explanation of homeopathy regulation, the status of research and more.

That reference to The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is significant, because they're the federal government.

Amy Alkon calls homeopathy "a scam".

English doctors call it "witchcraft".

Both of these descriptions make sense to us, since - along with a lot of what some consider mainstream in our NewAge-emersed society - they go hand-in-hand with the occult:

The Occult Bookstore has been offering guidance and books in alternative approaches to spirituality and self-healing since 1917, according to the store's website. It stocks titles on topics such as homeopathy, Zen Buddhism and old Hermetic magic. Though the store carries an array of used books, largely collected from old libraries, it specializes in rare, hand-bound books, such as Aleister Crowley's "The Book of Lies," which can cost up to $2,000. Crystals, amulets and other accessories are sold to complement specific spiritualities, and the store hosts readings, signings and classes that range from spiritual jewelry making to fire eating.

Let's see if Randi's offer gets to the bottom of a question we've been asking for years:

Why the American government "offers a primer" on a quack cure "scam", labeled as "witchcraft", that's sold by purveyors of "the occult"?