Why is exposing Uri geller so important?

[Cainkane1]

It seems to me that ol Uri has been exposed so many times that it should be getting tiresome. Does he have a group of followers that keep the faith in his spoon bending abilities? I see his name mentioned a lot in here. Why is he so specially bad?

 

[-Fran-]

Beats me. I remember Uri Geller from when I was a small girl in the 70s, my older cousins talking about him. I was not impressed that he could bend spoons. I could bend every piece of cutlery in our kitchen I thought (well my mom would have gone ballistic of course, so I didn't ) I was however a bit more impressed when I realized that he clamied to be able to do this with his mind.

But yes, one would think he has been debunked many enough times since then. I guess he's just a "woo classic"?

 

[prewitt81]

Uri Geller and "important" don't belong in the same sentence.

He is not "[e]specially bad" - everyone who builds a career on lying to people is equally bad. As long as Uri makes claims, there will be someone to investigate them. He doesn't get a "time-out" from skepticism just because he's been lying for a long time.

 

[Dunstan]

Beats me. I remember Uri Geller from when I was a small girl in the 70s, my older cousins talking about him. I was not impressed that he could bend spoons. I could bend every piece of cutlery in our kitchen I thought (well my mom would have gone ballistic of course, so I didn't ) I was however a bit more impressed when I realized that he clamied to be able to do this with his mind.

But yes, one would think he has been debunked many enough times since then. I guess he's just a "woo classic"?

I don't think I knew much about Uri before I started hanging out here. I vaguely knew he was a "spoon-bender," but I thought that meant he could bend a spoon while it was sitting on a table. When I found out that he's actually holding the thing in his hand when he bends it "with his mind" (cough cough), I thought: really? And that's supposed to be some huge mystery?

 

[Loss Leader]

Cain - as a resident of Conyers, Georgia, I'm sure you're familiar with Nancy Fowler. Her claims that she was visited by the Virgin Mary brought massive pigrimages to a small Georgia town between Atlanta and Athens. Crowds of tens of thousands flooded the town to see ... nothing. The "visions"{ came only to Nancy. No one else could see or hear a darn thing.

The power to make millions of people stop and listen to you with no evidence whatsoever is what causes me to work against Uri Geller and people like him. With just a little bit of bad magic, deceit and a poor understanding of real proof by the public, Geller, Nancy Fowler and people like them are poisoning the minds of trusting people. Until every single person on the planet believes that both of these individuals are con artists and tricksters, I will not be satisfied.

Even then I probably still won't be satisfied but I'm kind of prickly that way.

 

[-Fran-]

When I found out that he's actually holding the thing in his hand when he bends it "with his mind" (cough cough), I thought: really? And that's supposed to be some huge mystery?

Yes, one would think that would be a dead giveaway that it's a simple sleight-of-hand trick he uses, and not some paranormal power, but... As soon as I got a bit older than 6 years old and saw magic shows on TV it wasn't hard to figure that one out.

 

[Questioninggeller]

It seems to me that ol Uri has been exposed so many times that it should be getting tiresome.

I'm sure Randi has thought that many times since 1973. For example:

The San Francisco Chronicle
MAY 23, 1991, THURSDAY, FINAL EDITION
Bay Magicians Back Uri Geller's Critic Performer files $ 15 million libel lawsuit
By Charles Petit, Chronicle Science Writer
...
Geller and Randi first met in 1973 when Geller performed for the editors of Time magazine. The editors also invited Randi to sit with them. After Geller left, according to one of the editors at the meeting, Leon Jaroff, Randi got up and duplicated every one of Geller's tricks.
...

and:

Magicians Term Israeli 'Psychic' a Fraud

December 13, 1975, Saturday
By BOYCE RENSBERGER
Page 29, 1066 words

Magicians, long irked by Uri Geller's alleged ability to bend spoons, repair watches and read minds through paranormal powers, have taken off their white gloves and branded the Israeli "psychic" an outright fraud who uses conventional magicians' tricks to mislead the public.

Several professional magicians, in a recent spate of books and public remarks, say they have duplicated virtually all of Mr Geller's feats by using ordinary conjuring methods. They have also discovered major flaws in procedures used by various scientists to test Mr Geller.
...
A more detailed examination of the purported psychic's career is in another new book, "The Magic of Uri Geller," by James Randi, the magician who has probably campaigned hardest against Mr Geller.
...

Full article: Source

Does he have a group of followers that keep the faith in his spoon bending abilities? I see his name mentioned a lot in here. Why is he so specially bad?

Yes, he does have a group of followers and even a few months ago had his own TV show. He still has many believers around the world, and he still uses deception.

I think its not only important to expose the tricks of particular people, but also deter other would be conartists. See this letter to Randi.

 

[DJM]

I'm sure Randi has thought that many times since 1973. For example:
Yes, he does have a group of followers and even a few months ago had his own TV show. He still has many believers around the world, and he still uses deception.

Thankfully no one believes him in Israel... actually it's been like that since the 70's when he ran away from here because people started calling him a fraud and he stopped getting gigs.

His TV show only helped to confirm all that when he was caught cheating with the magnet. Thanks to Youtube and the web in general, I think that the amount of believers has become much smaller in recent years.

 

[Cuddles]

It seems to me that ol Uri has been exposed so many times that it should be getting tiresome. Does he have a group of followers that keep the faith in his spoon bending abilities? I see his name mentioned a lot in here. Why is he so specially bad?

Geller is nothing special at all, but he does still have some believers and has a habit of suing anyone that mentions his name, so he's not completely harmless. I think the main reason he get's mentioned here is that he and Randi have a bit of a history. Randi was the first to expose him as a fraud, and there have been numerous lawsuits between them. I get the feeling that although Geller has been debunked so completely that he is now a joke in pretty much every country he visits, Randi will never get tired of rubbing his face further into the ground for as long as he keeps trying to claim he is psychic.

 

[VulcanWay]

Also, I think that he is a prominent figure in the woo field. If just one of them gets exposed to the point where even their supporters turn on them and see them for the frauds they are, I think it will be easier to bring down others just like them.

I, for one, will have a party the day that Gellar, Edward, or Browne are exposed and get to read the papers and every news agency out there calling them frauds, enabling them to be sued for everything they have coming from former clients.

I also have this evil desire to see the reactions of their most feverent supporters as they are finally cast in this light. Can they backpedal just as well or will they stick to their guns and call the news reports fraudulent.

Then again, it could very well be another Popoff who are established as frauds but flourish anyway...

Have I shared too much?

 

[JJR]

Some things are best left unsaid.

 

[Miss Whiplash]

It seems to me that ol Uri has been exposed so many times that it should be getting tiresome. Does he have a group of followers that keep the faith in his spoon bending abilities? I see his name mentioned a lot in here. Why is he so specially bad?

The same reason why it's important remind people Peter Popoff was exposed as a fraud 20 years ago: the attention span of the general public is very short and people tend to be gullible. Frauds can lay a bit low for a few years, then return and huckster a new generation who have never heard of them.

 

[Niobe]

the attention span of the general public is very short and people tend to be gullible.

Not to mention lazy journalism from crappy talkshows where no background checks are done or the results ignored.

"Cathy get me that spoonbendy guy for the friday show we'll but him between the Transsexual Idols winner and that kid that got stuck in the well for a week."

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Beats me. I remember Uri Geller from when I was a small girl in the 70s, my older cousins talking about him. I was not impressed that he could bend spoons. I could bend every piece of cutlery in our kitchen I thought (well my mom would have gone ballistic of course, so I didn't ) I was however a bit more impressed when I realized that he clamied to be able to do this with his mind.

But yes, one would think he has been debunked many enough times since then. I guess he's just a "woo classic"?

I've never been able to bend cutlery. Ever. I used to try it as a kid and could never do it. Still can't.

I'm pretty impressed woo-woos can do it .

 

[Wowbagger]

Exposing Uri might not be the most important thing we can do. But, it is an easy thing to do.

 

[-Fran-]

I've never been able to bend cutlery. Ever. I used to try it as a kid and could never do it. Still can't.

I'm pretty impressed woo-woos can do it .

Well with my mind I never did succeed either But with my hands it was pretty easy even as a kid, maybe we have extra weak cutlery in Sweden

 

[ConspiRaider]

Geller's a squeaky wheel on the woomobile and so he gets slathered in grease by us normal people.

But really, James Randi can be considered the trailblazer here. What Randi did reminds me of a tiny scene in the original Miracle On 34th Street. It was when Kris Kringle took his cane and hit the "psychologist" with it. Randi - with his tome The Truth About Uri Geller - was really striking out at all the outlets who enabled Geller's woo, and all of whom should have known better.

I remember going through my woo phase in the 1970s and buying into Geller's chicanery. He was being presented as authentic in so many venues that to resist - especially being a wide-eyed teenager then - was basically out of the question.

I read Randi's book about woo-poster-boy Geller sometime in the late 1970s and it began my path toward skepticism.

God I hate to see good people be hoodwinked. I don't even like to see bad people get flim-flammed. So anything Geller is reaping today? It's not enough. But it helps.

 

[scratchy]

Well with my mind I never did succed either But with my hands it was pretty easy even as a kid, maybe we have extra weak cutlery in Sweden

No, but we have stronger kids, from wrestling polar bears on the way to school every day.

As for Geller: as long as he keeps popping up again and again there will be skeptics whacking him down again. And again. That doesnt make him important, its just the way things works, as long as there are people who will believe in him. And as mentioned above, its easy, and anything that is easy, effective and good is going to be done, over and over.

 

[-Fran-]

No, but we have stronger kids, from wrestling polar bears on the way to school every day.

Yes of course!! *flexes muscles* Strangled my first polar bear at the age of four, I did

 

[CFLarsen]

Exposing Uri might not be the most important thing we can do. But, it is an easy thing to do.

And that's why it's important. To show how easy it is, even with the big names.