So those of you who know me, know that there are a lot of things I really don’t like. Homeopaths, most religions, Tom Cruise, Cryptozoology & bad music taste. But I have a special hatred for mediums. “Psychics” piss me off to no end because I think it is unethical to dupe people out of their money by lying to them about how you have access to their dead relatives.
I really blew my top yesterday when I read that world famous “medium” & all round asshole John Edward was heading to SA in March in order to come & prey on people’s grief in order to line his pockets.
Dealing with death is a terrible thing. It drains you physically & emotionally. It eats away at you. You chastise yourself by thinking of what could have been. You think of conversations & events that will now never take place. You fight. You grieve & you make deals with your gods & devils to see those people just one last time.
I get this. I know these feelings very well. I lost my father at a young age. I was 18 & just turning into a man & the loving father who had raised me & who was now supposed to guide me into adult life was taken away from me & my family. I was young, I was heartbroken, angry & flustered. I turned on the television & low & behold there was Mr Edward cold reading the shit out of some poor bereaved soul.
It all seemed above board. The women seemed happy to hear about some dead relative. I understood. Who in their right mind would not want one last chance to communicate with someone who they loved dearly? I felt her pain, but somewhere the logical part of my brain kicked through the sadness & said “Hold on… Something isn’t right here”.
My first thought was, that if my father, who loved me & did everything he possibly could for me, why wouldn’t he fight his way through the ethereal realms to come speak to me himself? Hell, he would have possessed a mediums body & traveled that vessel for thousands of miles to just see his family. But he didn’t. Because when people die they are dead. It’s hard to accept sometimes but that is how it is.
Now, there have been many people who have debunked physic abilities & several people’s claims to fame throughout the years. Derren Brown is one of my favourites as he uses the same techniques that these charlatans use in order to educate people on how wankers like Edward are out to steal their money.
Now there are several techniques that these “mediums” use in order to dupe you. The main one is called Cold Reading. Now the picture below is a pretty accurate description of what cold reading is. A person throws out general questions & says that they are receiving some kind of letter or name or something that “sounds” like this or that. It’s vague & when used on people who are already hoping to hear something about a dead relative, people start supplying their own meaning to these words & phrases & then it is quite easy for the “medium” to go “Yes, that person is here.” Whilst interjecting it with phrases like “they’re thinking about you”, etc.
Now you also have to remember that charlatans like these are very charming & a lot of them have the ability to read your smallest nuances & reactions to their statements which makes it easy for them to pick out people to target. Then there are other techniques like Hot Reading, where information is gathered on people beforehand & then used against them. Remember people, it’s easy to plant microphones in places & listen to people talking at a show about things they are already hoping to hear about.
Real assholes like John “The Anus Monk” Edward also use a technique where his producers make people sign a non-disclosure agreement which basically says “If I’m wrong you can’t tell anybody”..
I could ramble on, but the point is this…
Fuck you John Edward & everybody like you. Fuck you for benefiting from people’s grief. Fuck you for thinking that you’re so special that the only way I can talk to dead people is through your retard face. For your viewing pleasure also feel free to check out the video below:
So, what do you think of John Edward and others like him? Leave a comment and let me know if you agree or disagree with me. Feedback is appreciated and welcome here. If you share my views, feel free to share this article with your friends on Facebook and Twitter to spread the word. Remember: Sharing is Caring.
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Awww bless these people. The Penn & Teller explanation is perfect. All I have left of my Granddad is memories. Who they hell is John Edward to come and try taint those, even if it ‘makes me feel better’ at the end of the day? The very real memories I have are now polluted.
There was a case in the UK where psycic Sally Morgan sued the Daily Mail for libel after they said she’s a liar. They ended up settling, because they realised they couldn’t prove that she was deliberately lying and didn’t just buy her own bullshit.
I’m all for religious freedom but I do think that people like John Edward and Sally Morgan, who charge TONS of money to give you some false hope need to be silenced. At least when people receive a blessing in Church, the pastor believes in his actions and will, if a good person, not let the grieving make any rash or dangerous decisions.
Thanks for sharing your views Matt