Synaesthesia

Today, after listening to a UFO believer make fun of superstitious mideval peasent's belief in witches, I watched the preview for the new Mel Gibson movie "signs". Relative to this, nails on chalkboard is as soothing as heroin.

I have always believed it to be wrong to bilk someone simply becuase they are superstitious. I, however, have been having second thoughts about this opinion. Just how morally questionable is it for people like John Edwards, Van Praag and Uri Geller to cheat eager customers out of millions of dollars?

Is it cheating at all or is my irritation with superstition blinding me to the moral reprehensibility of a credulity tax?

Duvenoy

“A fool and his money are soon parted.” I think it was B. Franklin who came up with that pithy, little piece of truth.

Sometimes I too, find it hard to feel sorry for the marks. Some (many? most?) of them get burned, then eagerly come back for more, which is a sure sign of a smooth grift run on a complete idiot, by a thorough scoundrel.

Of course, from a moral point of view, Edward, Geller, et. al., are no more than glorified pickpockets. They prey upon the foolish and the unwary (same thing) who want to believe in, oh, call it: ‘Supernatural Power‘. I’m reminded of some Christian preachers who take advantage of their ’flock’ in much the same way.

But you’d never find a real physic bothering with such penny-anti thievery, no. A real one would be ripping off Vegas, where the large money is. Or perhaps he’d be TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!

Anyhow, I think it’s good to feel a little compassion for the gullible among us, even though they rarely listen when their gullibility is pointed out. I don’t know if spoon-bending parties have gone out of style (I surely hope so), but at the height Geller’s popularity in the late ‘70s, people used to get together and try to bend a pile of cheap cutlery. The claims of success were astonishing! Everybody wants to believe that they too, have some ‘Supernatural Power‘, or might could have some if they work at it enough. Therefore, to deny the professional ‘physics‘, one would be denying himself the prospect of ever being one. Sad.

The Bemused Duvenoy

Jamie_L

You know, I don't get it. Why would someone try to make a supernatural movie out of something that's already WELL DOCUMENTED as a HOAX? And why would anyone agree to pay for such a film?

What I hate is the people, like my friend, who defend the John Edwards types EVEN IF THEY'RE FRAUDS - because they make grieving people feel better and give them closure. Like paying someone to lie about your dead relatives is akin to hiring a therapist.

Grrr...

Jamie

Synaesthesia

Jamie
But how well KNOWN is it as a hoax? People acknowledge hoaxes exist but some of them "defy all explanation exept the hypothesis that aliens travel thousands of light years to bend corn stalks."