StopSylviaBrowne - I Speak With Sylvia Browne

[CFLarsen]

A big thanks to Robert, Susan and Claus.

That was very generous of you Claus to pay for the tickets.

Errrrrrm..... Radiohead are touring this year and some of them might believe in psychics. I'm skint, would you mind ponying up the monetries?

Heretic. Had it been The Beatles, we could have talked...

Aww! Claus! Whilst I loved your question, you should have just busted out the legendary "Evidence?".

:-D

They wouldn't know what it meant.

What was it? Don't keep us in suspense.

Then you better have a good explanation why you haven´t asked it........

"I am trying to understand the process of what you are doing. I understand that you don't claim to be 100% correct. But in the cases where you are wrong, you give absolutely no indication that you could be wrong. You are precisely as sure as in those cases where you do get it right. This must mean that you are not aware yourself if the messages you get are right or wrong. Isn't that correct?"

It's a question that can only be answered with "Yes", given her own admission that she is not right 100% of the time - yet she is always razor-sharp sure of what she says. Had she claimed to be unsure at times, I would have shot back with "You were absolutely sure about Shawn Hornbeck being dead - yet he wasn't. So you are not aware yourself if the messages you get are right or wrong."

Since she would have to answer yes, I would have retorted: "You just admitted that you know you are not psychic."

It was a bit long, though, and I didn't want to be dismissed because of that, so I switched to the shorter and more easily understood family name question.

What kind of looks? I guess it were not the "I wanna have sex with you right now right here" ones?

Not exactly, no.

And again: Compliments.

It was a pleasure.

 

[jhuntington]

That... was.... awesome! Congratulations, and you are to be commended for your courage and ability to keep calm under stressful situations.

Keep up the great work!

John

 

[JPK]

Great job Mr. Lancaster.
I'm guessing that she had to sit through that whole perfomance knowing that you were there. That could explain why she became confrontational with you even though you did nothing to warrant it. Great job of keeping your cool.
I have to wonder how often she wastes the time and energy of the security personal of the places she performs? It would be interesting to here from some of the security personal that have worked with her in the past and see if this a common occurence.
JPK

 

[RSLancastr]

One comment for now- you for got to close the parenthesis here:

Thanks, fixed.

Edit: You couldn't have handled it better! I am so proud of you .

Thanks, Eeney.

"around Charles Manson and Sadam"

Did you mean Saddam?

Fixed, thanks!

..and wow, I have to say she had some gall calling Security on you. But excellent article!

Thanks Rika!

One great article. Is this your first one without huge quotes from other people?

You and Susan (and Larson) handled everything beautifully, RSL

Thanks, FSM!

Thanks for putting yourself on the front line and for being brave and calm about the whole thing. You are awesome.

Thanks, but I wasn't particularly calm, underneath it all. That's why the heartburn.

Robert, this is one of your best, and most devastating articles yet.

Thanks, Empress!

It sounded like a total bust of an evening for her, from her incredibly stupid "Astounding Insights" right down to her attempting to start a scene with you. Congratulations on staying a gentleman at all fronts at a time when she was clearly trying to discredit you. You da bomb!

Thanks! I wondered at the time (and still do) if she expected the crowd to rise up against me or something. If so, she must have been sorely disappointed in their lack of response.

Kudos on all your hard work to expose her, and to your wife for sitting through that abomination alongside of you, and her general support.

Big kudos to Susan. Whatever good the site has done, I could not have done it without her love and support. She means the world to me.

Gee to bad her psychic powers didn't see you coming that way she could have had her mirrors facing toward you, you evil person.

What an extremely lame move from Browne to call security for no reason whatsoever.

Agreed.

Great article. What an idiot she is!

Thanks chill!

A very nasty accurate article!

 

[JoeEllison]

Nice work. Too bad she called the rent-a-pigs on you.

 

[Georg]

It was a bit long, though, and I didn't want to be dismissed because of that, so I switched to the shorter and more easily understood family name question.

Understandable. If you mean "thrown out" with "dismissed" (my dictionary has a lot of translations for that one), then, besides that, there´s the question if the audience would have been able and/or willing to follow the reasoning. Chances are that there would have been so many boos right after you started that you wouldn´t have been able to bring your point across, even if you were allowed to stay.

 

[Rasmus]

"I am trying to understand the process of what you are doing. I understand that you don't claim to be 100% correct. But in the cases where you are wrong, you give absolutely no indication that you could be wrong. You are precisely as sure as in those cases where you do get it right. This must mean that you are not aware yourself if the messages you get are right or wrong. Isn't that correct?"

It's a question that can only be answered with "Yes", given her own admission that she is not right 100% of the time - yet she is always razor-sharp sure of what she says. Had she claimed to be unsure at times, I would have shot back with "You were absolutely sure about Shawn Hornbeck being dead - yet he wasn't. So you are not aware yourself if the messages you get are right or wrong."

Since she would have to answer yes, I would have retorted: "You just admitted that you know you are not psychic."

I am not sure that argument holds.

Let us assume for a moment that she does speak the truth and is psychic with a success rate of ~80% ... ... where was I? Ah, yes: There is nothing that tells us that being wrong or right would have to feel any different, does it?

I mean, I don't know what it feels like to communicate with "the other side", but I do know that I have been mistaken before without it feeling like I might be mistaken. (Yes, -I have lost bets, too, that I was certain to win!)

So, that all her predictions seem to her to be equally reliable doesn't say anything about her abilities as such - but it would tell us a lot about her person: I would be very careful about giving out advice if I knew it was either dead on accurate or plain false with a ratio of ca. 80:20.

(Face it, with a success rate of only 80% I would make a living playing the lottery or poker or whatever have you - maybe even as professional psychic - without any need whatsoever to pretend that I was certain or any better than I really was.)

 

[grayman]

Robert, Susan, and Claus,

I can't add any words of praise that haven't been said already. I feel privileged to be able to call you friends.

Grace under pressure.

 

[Juustin]

Great article. I say we take up a collection and send you back. We'll get you a wig and shave your beard. Then she'll have no way of even knowing it's you (besides, you know, psychic abilities).

 

[caffeinated]

Wonderful article!

I have to admit I'm astounded at Sylvia's lack of foresight (ha!) in continuing her conversation with you. She could have just answered the question, and ended the "show"- by engaging you and going on about your nasty website, she just guaranteed you got more hits and people would go there to see what it's all about.

Oh well, I guess logical people don't get into that line of work. And I do love it when people make themselves look bad, with absolutely no help from others...

bravo!

 

[Ed Baehr]

Robert, you are THE MAN!
It seems to me that she was trying to bait you into a shouting confrontation by calling you back to the microphone. Perhaps that would have given security a chance to move in sooner and give her the opportunity to whine to the remaining audience as to how you are persecuting her and her "church". What she doesn't realize is that you have the calm strength of your convictions and research and you responded accordingly. Bravo for that.

Claus, thank you for putting your money where your mouth is. I've always suspected that you are a class act but now there is actual EVIDENCE! (though anecdotal)

Susan, thanks for sitting through what must have been a tense situation. Your support of Robert's efforts are greatly appreciated.

I'm proud to say that I know and respect all three of you.
Ed Baehr

 

[ravdin]

Nice work. Too bad she called the rent-a-pigs on you.

It's a badge of honor to be thrown out of the casino that way. I would be proud if SB considered me to be dangerous enough to have me escorted off the premises. No doubt it made her very afraid to see Robert talking to the other patrons after the show.

It's too bad about the heartburn. A small price to pay, I hope.

This is the best evidence I've seen yet that Robert's site is effective- he must be doing some real damage for her to react that way. Nice work!

Also, kudos to Claus for his question!

 

[CFLarsen]

I am not sure that argument holds.

Let us assume for a moment that she does speak the truth and is psychic with a success rate of ~80% ... ... where was I? Ah, yes: There is nothing that tells us that being wrong or right would have to feel any different, does it?

I mean, I don't know what it feels like to communicate with "the other side", but I do know that I have been mistaken before without it feeling like I might be mistaken. (Yes, -I have lost bets, too, that I was certain to win!)

So, that all her predictions seem to her to be equally reliable doesn't say anything about her abilities as such - but it would tell us a lot about her person: I would be very careful about giving out advice if I knew it was either dead on accurate or plain false with a ratio of ca. 80:20.

(Face it, with a success rate of only 80% I would make a living playing the lottery or poker or whatever have you - maybe even as professional psychic - without any need whatsoever to pretend that I was certain or any better than I really was.)

No, it holds, precisely because she does claim to know what it feels like to communicate with "the other side". She does not - like you and I - express doubts: She is right, and forcefully so. She is a regular bulldozer when it comes to being right.

John Edward is the same: He also tells people that he is right - just go home and think it over, OK? You'll see that he is right, once you get home (and away from the audience!).

As always, we have to go with what is actually claimed - not what we think ourselves is reasonable. Sylvia does not express doubt, even when she is later wrong. Ergo, she does not know when she is wrong, but has to wait for feedback and later verification - and she knows this. Ergo, she knows she is not psychic.

 

[Loxton]

My compliments as well. It isn't easy putting oneself in a situation where a confrontation may develop, nor standing up politely under pressure. (That's an advantage of the sort of historical reviews I typically do in Junior Skeptic.)

And, a pleasure to meet you at TAM.

 

[Garrette]

Well done, Robert. Very well done. And Claus, too, not only for springing for the tickets but for sticking to the simpler, more effective question.

Robert, I fancy myself as very good at keeping cool under irritating circumstances, but I doubt I could have matched your responses to Sylvia. That, sir, was superb. Ditto the security situation, but I could have matched you there simply because I've run security departments.

Given the general excellence of your actions, I feel a bit nitpicky bringing up something in the article (sort of like criticizing the Mona Lisa because the signature is illegible), but it grated on me, so I'm doing it anyway:

Immediately and permanently eliminate from your vocabulary the phrase She then proceeded. You repeat it several times with little text between repetitions. You also have variations, usually beginning She then. Come to think of it, get rid of the word Then and you'll be alright.

There. It's off my chest. I will take no offense if you were to then proceed to ignore me.

 

[Aoidoi]

little typo...

...to insure that I would not be allowed to ask a question.

I think that should be "ensure."

 

[Lisa Simpson]

little typo...

I think that should be "ensure."

In American English, 'insure' and 'ensure' mean the same thing.

 

[Hawthorne]

Robert - incredible article! I gobbled it up.

Any responses from rabid followers/from Sylvia's HQ/others in attendance?

I am just astounded that she actually called you back up there and tried to spar with you...did you see Heather Brown or Paul there? The arrogance of it...she's a canny old bat, I'd have thought she'd be smart enough to avoid a confrontation like that.

 

[cafink]

In American English, 'insure' and 'ensure' mean the same thing.

This is the first I've heard that. I'd have considered Robert's usage erroneous, as well.

And as long as we're copy-editing the article, the line in which Claus "generously offered to pay for tickets for my wife and I to attend with him" should read "...my wife and me..."

But anyway, it's a really great article, Robert. I was particularly impressed by how calm you stayed throughout the whole affair. I tend to get really worked up in any sort of confrontation. Thanks for a great read.

 

[EHocking]

Thanks, but I wasn't particularly calm, underneath it all. That's why the heartburn.

All the more reason for another congrats from the peanut gallery. It shows a great deal of grace under pressure to continue to conduct yourself in a calm and reasonable manner when you are boiling on the inside.

I'm slowly training myself to use this approach rather than my previously more confronting approach when addressing the woo of friends and family, so your conduct is an inspiration.

I would have been tempted to pump the security guys for the exact "charges" being alleged - but it's always easier in hindsight (and from the sidelines).

Bravo.
It must be very satisfying to know that you ARE getting to her AND educating her audience as well.