Perhaps one of the most shameless “spirit guides” is the infamous Sylvia Browne. Like all professional mediums, she makes a living on the grief, pain and desperation of people who are usually blissfully ignorant of cold reading. However she got a little more than she bargained for when she visited Canada and had to deal with the Skeptics and Secularists of Atlantic Canada.
“The really frightening part was when she got into giving people medical advice … referring to specific medications that folks should “ask their doctor for.” One woman was told not to worry about her mammograms, that all she needed was more oil in her diet. That, I can’t really make a joke about. That’s crossing the line from entertaining, to exploitative, into potentially causing serious harm. That’s when I started to regret paying for a ticket.“
James Randi Foundation (Thanks Katie)
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Good work, my fellow skeptical Canadians.
Ohw, Get that woman! shamefully and painfully exposed!
I heard her once making a prediction on a radio show about someone who she thought is going to kill themself (just like that, and went on to the next topic)…that alone made my blood boil to no end!
be entertained
Skeptics also stood up to her down in Ottawa. Here is their forum thread with a description and a few pics:
http://www.ottawaskeptics.org/forum?func=view&id=2126&catid=2
Here is their radio interview with her on Halifax radio (they were kind enough to take the time to call up as nobody from any local skeptic groups were able, thanks to illness and timing issues) as well as an article:
http://www.ottawaskeptics.org/topics/psychics-and-esp/202-ottawa-skeptics-president-to-discuss-sylvia-browne-on-radio
Good job, Ottawa.
She is Vile! I detest her. Lost my appetite now. Who needs alli when there’s Browne?
I can’t remember where I read it but somebody suggested that if you see her in the street, you walk up to her, punch her in the face then ask her why her “psychic ablilities” hadn’t let her know that would happen! It was only written in jest but if it did happen to her then she would have bloody well earnt it the vile, evil woman.
Sylvia Browne has always made me lol as her blatent and obvious fauxness is astounding. Obviously, it’s not funny if you are on the receiving end of her guess work but if you are going to put yourself in her claws then you do deserve all you get. There is a whole site dedicated to outing her as a fake (http://stopsylvia.com), which is brilliant. The things she has come out with (and her mafia type behaviour) leaves one speechless!
DBD, thepeople going to the Halifax show were mainly older women who are probably aware that their lives are kind of getting close to the end, and probably want someone to tell them it’s all going to be ok. The audience members standing up to ask questions of a medical nature were scared – the woman with the mammograms had been going through a lot of medical testing and had no concrete results yet.
Other audience members apparently included a woman in her twenties who had lost her son and wanted someone to reassure her that in some way he was still there. I don’t think I would be fooled by a medium even in that position, because I know what cold reading is, but if you have never heard of it then it’s really convincing and a little scary – you’re listening to someone say things about you that they have no way of knowing, they’re saying things about your dead relatives that you’ve never said out loud to them (not that you recall, anyway) and the only explanation you have been offered is that the psychic is real.
The people handing out those flyers did not do so with the attitude that the believers were idiots. Saying that they deserve it, or that they are stupid, does nothing constructive to combat the con. People come to the best conclusions they can based on what they know. Insulting them doesn’t change their conclusions. Helping them by giving them knowledge does.
if she comes to town i’ll have to book an appointment with her to see if she’s for real lol
That’s the lady I saw on TV! I will never forget that face. I saw an one-hour-show years ago and my blood still boils at the thought of her. Whenever the subject of psychics come up I can’t stop myself from explaining my disgust over her “advice” to the viewers. I just hope that people are smart enough not to take her seriously. Whenever she was questioned she would get strangely defensive and would just cut people short, move on to the next subject. She is so obviously n o t guided by a spirit that knows all the answers.
wow!! I have only seen her on tv. she has the attitude of a know it all and treats people as though she is better than them. she just has an arrogance to her.. it\’s silly…