Randi is psychic

[siddhigyrl]

or so says my BF.

Despite my performance (now five times) of the trick Randi did at CFI World Congress, showing BF step by step each time how I do the trick.

BF thinks the onus is on Randi to show exactly how he does each trick, each cold reading, each thing he does to "debunk" psychics, etc.

Until then, he firmly believes Randi is the charlatan, pretending to be not psychic.

So, what can one do if the person they love most refuses to apply logic/scientific understanding?

I've bent spoons for him. I've cold read strangers and gave them mock "readings," much to his amusement. I've shown him a number of mentalist tricks, always explaining how I do them.

And still he says, "Yeah, you can do it, but Randi needs to show exactly how he does it, and until then, I believe he's psychic."

 

[Vortigern99]

Let your bigfoot believe what he wants to believe. He's probably having you on, anyway, and if he isn't then if you'll pardon my outsider's critique, he sounds rather dimwitted.

 

[I Ratant]

Of course Randi is psychic!
He can predict that he can demonstrate the tom-foolery behind every psychic trick, and then accomplish demonstration!
He sees the future!

 

[LONGTABBER PE]

Well, I'll be

Hiding in plain sight- well, he is caught now

 

[siddhigyrl]

You know, he's very intelligent, but then, he is Catholic too, and is a borderline wooster.

I wish I could honestly believe he was having me on.

 

[Vortigern99]

Even the most intelligent person, skeptical in most areas, can be given to credulity based on an emotional need to believe in something beyond what is provable.

In short, your bigfoot -- sorry, boyfriend -- has a deep-seated need to believe in psychic powers.

 

[Frankenstyle]

For your next trick, make him disappear.

If he's not just pulling your leg, that is.

 

[wombatwal]

siddhigyrl, I think your boyfriend is right.
He is in fact a paranormal industry plant.
A straw man, set up by the paranormal industry so they can bash the sceptics.
His cover has finally been blown.
Get out Randi, go back to your paranormal mates.

 

[JollyRoger]

I knew it I knew it I knew he was psychic, he has been absorbing everybody's woohoo super powers for years,

HAY RANDI stop Bogarting all that woo hoo pass it around let us try some

 

[Ysidro]

Dump the boyfriend. Get a smarter, better looking one.

 

[Whiplash]

I knew it I knew it I knew he was psychic, he has been absorbing everybody's woohoo super powers for years,

HAY RANDI stop Bogarting all that woo hoo pass it around let us try some

Ya, he's forgetting the golden role. Predict, Predict, Pass.

 

[wardenclyffe]

So, does he believe that all magicians are psychic? If not, why not? If Randi can reproduce a con man's parlor trick, then what does your BF think of someone who can saw a woman in half or turn a girl into a tiger?

Ward

ETA: I'm assuming that Randi could saw a woman in half or turn a girl into a tiger, as well. It's just more likely that he'll be performing con-man-style parlor tricks these days.

 

[rjh01]

If your BF wants to believe in things when there is no evidence to support the beliefs then he is allowed to do so.

Exploit your BF's lack of abilities. Does he have any money? If not is he worth anything? Or are you being used for sex?

 

[tsig]

You know, he's very intelligent, but then, he is Catholic too, and is a borderline wooster.

I wish I could honestly believe he was having me on.

If he was having you on that bad, ditch him.

 

[yairhol]

Your BF is dumb. Plain and simple.
Dump the loser.
Imagine what he'll teach your kids...frightening isn't it?

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Also, what could possibly motivate a person with genuine psychic powers to deny or hide his own powers?

I remember reading a Connie Willis short story where a medium fraud suddenly started actually channeling the spirit of H.L. Mencken. Oddly enough, Mencken and the normal human skeptic conspire to keep the actual channelling hidden and discredit the medium as a fake (even though they know her to be real).

What would possibly motivate them to do that? A skeptic is not a dogmatist and wouldn't deny some fascinating and amazing phenomenon hitherto unknown to science! If nothing else, curiosity alone would make that sort of denial impossible, I think.

 

[sg1985]

I once dated a guy who was writing an article about a troop of local "Ghost hunters". He went to a "haunted" house with them, saw their equipment bleep and heard some things go bump in the night and came back claiming that he was a believer. And all of this is after we watched P&T's episode on ghost hunting, I provided him with links to explain of all of the ghost buster equipment and told him about the JREF challenge. I was secretly relieved when we broke up.

Do you think your bf's woo-side is going to be too much for you?

 

[Sherman Bay]

In a theoretical or philosophical sense, I agree with your bf. If we don't know how Randi did a trick, we don't know (from that information alone) that it wasn't done thru paranormal means.

However...

Let's say I take a farmer's field, plow it in the spring, plant nothing, then wait, expecting corn to grow. It doesn't.

Next year, because one test proves little, I do it again. Same result.

OK, still not a large enough sample. Third year...same.

The evidence is mounting that corn will not spontaneously erupt from plowed ground, but we haven't proved it. We've just increased the odds, with each new year, supporting the most logical conclusion.

However... it would take only one test where corn covered the entire field without a seed being planted to prove the premise that "it could happen."

So if he can produce just one Randi trick where no rational explanation is possible, maybe he has paranormal powers. I urge you to engage the services of a magician for this task, as the average Joe doesn't have sufficient knowledge.

 

[siddhigyrl]

Dump the boyfriend. Get a smarter, better looking one.

Highly unlikely. I love him very much, and we’re raising our daughters together. We’re quite happy, I just cannot figure how to best educate him on this. Maybe it’s not worth the bother. Only, I will take him to Mass and not bust on Catholicism too much, but he bashes JREF (and Randi in particular) all over the place.

So, does he believe that all magicians are psychic? If not, why not? If Randi can reproduce a con man's parlor trick, then what does your BF think of someone who can saw a woman in half or turn a girl into a tiger?

Take Penn and Teller. He has no inclination to believe they have supernatural powers. He understands magic is all trickery. No, this is specifically a James Randi thing. He gets right irate when Randi busts Uri Geller. And even when Randi does show exactly how he did a trick, it’s not enough.

I’m beginning to wonder if it’s the fact that we saw Randi in person at CFI WC. His attitude toward Randi definitely shifted then. Sometimes I wonder if he’s so angry that Randi burst his bubble.

Exploit your BF's lack of abilities. Does he have any money? If not is he worth anything? Or are you being used for sex?

Sex, mainly. No money.

No, really, we have a happy little life together. Just a quirk of his I wish I could unravel.

Imagine what he'll teach your kids...frightening isn't it?

Actually, his 15 y.o. is secular humanist/atheist/Buddhist (depending on the day/teenager ‘tude) and my 11 y.o. is even more skeptical than me (possible?). Both kids are very much independent thinkers.

I do give him credit for allowing his daughter a great deal of freedom (though too much has gotten her in trouble with the law). Though he is clearly disappointed that she is a nonbeliever, he respects her decision. He firmly believes that his beliefs are his alone, and that he has no right to force them on others.

Also, what could possibly motivate a person with genuine psychic powers to deny or hide his own powers?

Good question, one that I ask him often. He rambles on about Randi having it out for psychics for reasons we don't know, possibly some ostracization from their community when he tried to join. He doesn't have anything but a shrug for this question.

 

[JollyRoger]

Common Randi you gonna chime in and say something?