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Underground > Laboratory >

Randi again.

06:23 / 02.10.02

I've my suspicions that James Randi is a scam-artist preying on the gullible. I don't have the time to analyze each and every post that he makes on his website so I'll leave it open to you. I'll contribute as much as I can when I have the time. In the meanwhile here is something to start you off:

http://www.randi.org/jr/011102.html

Quote:

"I recall that, when I was a child in Canada, a certain company who made baking powder adopted a rather clever ruse to degrade the competition. They announced, "Our product is made without the use of alum!" and they immediately won over my mother as a customer. When I asked her if the other manufacturers put alum in their baking powder, she was a bit puzzled by my question. She had merely made an unconscious assumption that they did. This very gambit is well known to conjurers, and to "psychics" as well. One popular American "mentalist" is heard to declare, "Why, if I wanted to, I could perform all of these demonstrations by trickery!" And the audience jumps into the trap by assuming that at least some of his items are not performed by trickery. Wrong."

After that paragraph Randi goes on to insult parapsychologists and give analogies which are obviously biased and are quite insulting to honest scientists trying to do their work. But nevermind that let us focus on the quote above. Let me say that perhaps James Randi's mother was so puzzled by his question because she couldn't understand why he couldn't just run off into the kitchen and read off the ingredients list for baking powder. Go ahead. Do it now. If your baking powder is anything like the one I have in my house then you'll discover that it contains alum! Of course Randi doesn't mention that little fact. I wonder why....

06:33 / 02.10.02

Also I'd like to point out that Randi is not a skeptic as he claims but a debunker. There was an article on that in an unrecent issue of Fortean Times (http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/148_scepticsvs1.shtml) which talked about such things. Quite interesting. Also notice that Randi and the majority of the so-called "skeptics" always focus on the seemingly "obvious" things. Things that don't need a lot (if any) scientific knowledge to seemingly "debunk" them. Things like cold fusion for example. Now let me say that I do believe there is something to this so-called "cold fusion" however I do not believe it to be fusion. Not only that but I believe hot fusion is a gigantic waste of time and money. However I don't understand why Randi never appears to be skeptical of hot fusion. And let me tell you that I am very skeptical of it.

So why do I think he's a scam artist? Well, I believe that the whole Randi Foundation is a scheme for him to avoid paying taxes and to basically scam unsuspecting true-believers (of his so called "skepticism") into giving his organization money. As evidenced by this week's commentary:

http://www.randi.org/jr/092702.html

Quote:

"Well, he's done it again, folks. When I returned from Italy, I found the usual pile of mail awaiting me, and one small hand-addressed envelope from Johnny Carson. In his letter, referring to a recent appearance by speaking-to-dead-folks John Edward on a popular TV show, Johnny expressed dismay at the acceptance afforded such a farce. [i]The enclosed very generous check[/i] expressed his willingness — again — to support the work of the JREF. We are substantially encouraged by Johnny's participation, and we promise that his contribution will be assiduously applied to getting the facts out there to interested persons all over the world. It's so good to have friends, and Johnny Carson is one of The Good Guys who have reached out to us. Sincere thanks."

Emphasis mine.

All in all I'll post some more criticisms of James Randi at some later portion of the day (as it is presently 3 a.m.) in the meantime see what other goodies you can find.

11:03 / 02.10.02

I actually saw the "Tonight Show with
Johnny Carson" on which Geller appeared and spectacularly failed to do anything
but bend keys. It's the show that Randi
cites against Geller's claim to have
psychic powers, particularly since
Randi helped Carson sanitize the set against
any possible trickery.

As prickly as Randi can be, I think the
weight of circumstantial evidence is on
his side. He did after all pose a simple
standard for Geller. Before Geller sued him
into bankruptcy, Geller could have won Randi's
$10,000 prize for demonstrating his powers,
if he had any. It's certainly more than
he got for being on "I'm A Celebrity--
Get Me Out of Here!" If it's unethical to
materially profit from a divine gift, is it
still ok to trade on the celebrity of
possessing said gift (or suing if debunking
materially devalues said celebrity?)

Our Lady of The Two Towers

16:51 / 02.10.02

I did quite like a quote of his about the whole Uri Gellar affair- "If he is doing these things by means of supernatural powers he's doing it the difficult way."