Proof of Life After Death!!

[desertgal]

I have difficulty believing that anyone could still think such stories constitute evidence that this guy is genuine, after everything that has been so patiently and repeatedly explained to them.

Well...

It would have to be a really dim-witted lurker that was inspired to think JE is genuine by any of Robin1’s posts. She practically does our “job” for us.

 

[ynot]

But maybe, just maybe, as the evidence mounts...and mounts...and mounts...someone, somewhere, will indeed truly "hear" me.

Why is it so important for you that others adopt and share your doting adoration of JE? Are you trying to impress him so he will love you as much as you obviously love him? Surely other gushing believers would just be more competition for you.

You’re right that the evidence mounts...and mounts...and mounts. You just won’t/can’t face the fact however that it mounts against JE and all self-proclaimed “psychics” rather than for.

 

[Robin1]

Why is it so important for you that others adopt and share your doting adoration of JE? Are you trying to impress him so he will love you as much as you obviously love him? Surely other gushing believers would just be more competition for you.

You’re right that the evidence mounts...and mounts...and mounts. You just won’t/can’t face the fact however that it mounts against JE and all self-proclaimed “psychics” rather than for.

Awwwwww, ynot...You're jealous!

I'm sorry.

You're just not my type.

Can we still be friends?

 

[ynot]

Awwwwww, ynot...You're jealous!

I'm sorry.

You're just not my type.

Can we still be friends?

But . . . but . . . but . . . I have a weakness for cute blondes (well genuine blondes).
Friends you say? . . . Guess that’ll have to do

 

[carlitos]

I can think of, off the top of my head, half a dozen pets of my friends and family that are named after drinks.

'Buca, jäger, shotzy, binny ( a liquor store ), Cosmo, booker, etc.

And men give women roses for special occasions. That would be a hit for almost anyone in Robin1's latest third hand scenario.

 

[ynot]

I can think of, off the top of my head, half a dozen pets of my friends and family that are named after drinks.

'Buca, jäger, shotzy, binny ( a liquor store ), Cosmo, booker, etc.

And men give women roses for special occasions. That would be a hit for almost anyone in Robin1's latest third hand scenario.

The Forer Effect, Barnum Statements, Rainbow Statements – They’re all basic tools in the repertoire of any “psychic’s” smoke and mirrors act.

 

[Pixel42]

That would be a hit for almost anyone in Robin1's latest third hand scenario.

Exactly. And how many misses were forgotten when these couple of trivial hits were seized on?

Robin surely understood this sort of stuff was worthless before she even started posting here, certainly by now she must realise that the fact that Edward has to resort to such simple tricks instead of providing genuinely 'UUU' information is further evidence that he's a fraud rather than the reverse. And yet ...

 

[Filippo Lippi]

The Forer Effect, Barnum Statements, Rainbow Statements – They’re all basic tools in the repertoire of any “psychic’s” smoke and mirrors act.

"But these beans really are magic!"

 

[pakeha]

... I wanted her to tell me herself what she thought about the reading. Took me a couple of days and quite a few phonecalls but I found her.

She totally believed JE was real and stressed the part about him asking if she named her dog after an alcoholic beverage...a unique, specific, unknowable, personal hit not thrown out to the entire studio audience. ....

Is it possible anyone reading the account of a friend's memory of a JE reading could be impressed by it?
I have trouble believing anyone would post such a thing up in good faith.

The Forer Effect, Barnum Statements, Rainbow Statements – They’re all basic tools in the repertoire of any “psychic’s” smoke and mirrors act.

Rainbow statements?
Ah.
"The rainbow ruse is a statement which simply can’t be wrong, but still sounds like a very convincing description of the subject’s personality. The reader simultaneously attributes two opposite personality traits to the subject, leaving him or her unable to deny the statement. Therefore, the rainbow ruse is one of the safest cold reading techniques (which does not mean it isn’t very effective)."
http://www.doesthetrick.com/blog/how-to-read-minds/

 

[Robin1]

So, the fact that John Edward REPEATEDLY says the right unknowable, specific, personal, and unique things directly to the right people means absolutely nothing?

Because, I know nobody named Rose that my Dad would mention, nor do I have a dog named after an alcoholic beverage.

I'll bet that when my friend was read by JE she did not just buy a new refrigerator.

Or have a significant Valerie Harper connection.

Or know anyone that drank milk straight from a cow.

Or know 2 people who were shot on Mayflower Ave. (I do, however, know 4 people who were shot on Mayflower Ave, so if John said 2 he would be wrong)

Or .... Oh, wait a sec...by George, I think I've got it...all of you guys are suffering from "Randi has completely bamboozled me into being 100% confident every medium is a fake confirmation bias."

Which, if left untreated, rapidly progresses into the "My hands are permanently glued over my ears effect."

Good luck with that.

 

[Sideroxylon]

So, the fact that John Edward REPEATEDLY says the right unknowable, specific, personal, and unique things directly to the right people means absolutely nothing?

Because, I know nobody named Rose that my Dad would mention, nor do I have a dog named after an alcoholic beverage.

I'll bet that when my friend was read by JE she did not just buy a new refrigerator.

Or have a significant Valerie Harper connection.

Or know anyone that drank milk straight from a cow.

Or know 2 people who were shot on Mayflower Ave. (I do, however, know 4 people who were shot on Mayflower Ave, so if John said 2 he would be wrong)

Or .... Oh, wait a sec...by George, I think I've got it...all of you guys are suffering from "Randi has completely bamboozled me into being 100% confident every medium is a fake confirmation bias."

Which, if left untreated, rapidly progresses into the "My hands are permanently glued over my ears effect."

Good luck with that.

This is the unjustified assumption where you take the entrance to fantasy freeway.

 

[pakeha]

So, the fact that John Edward REPEATEDLY says the right unknowable, specific, personal, and unique things directly to the right people means absolutely nothing?

...Or .... Oh, wait a sec...by George, I think I've got it...all of you guys are suffering from "Randi has completely bamboozled me into being 100% confident every medium is a fake confirmation bias."

Which, if left untreated, rapidly progresses into the "My hands are permanently glued over my ears effect."

Good luck with that.

So much for the comprehensions skills as revealed in this librarian's posts.
Hasn't watching those unedited performances of JE taught you anything, Robin1?

I myself knew about the fraudulent nature of mediums long before I'd been introduced to James Randi's work exposing flim-flam. Please stop accusing your fellow forum members of acting en masse.
It's painfully obvious that's not true.

 

[Garrette]

So, the fact that John Edward REPEATEDLY says the right unknowable, specific, personal, and unique things directly to the right people means absolutely nothing?

Because, I know nobody named Rose that my Dad would mention, nor do I have a dog named after an alcoholic beverage.

I'll bet that when my friend was read by JE she did not just buy a new refrigerator.

Or have a significant Valerie Harper connection.

Or know anyone that drank milk straight from a cow.

Or know 2 people who were shot on Mayflower Ave. (I do, however, know 4 people who were shot on Mayflower Ave, so if John said 2 he would be wrong)

Or .... Oh, wait a sec...by George, I think I've got it...all of you guys are suffering from "Randi has completely bamboozled me into being 100% confident every medium is a fake confirmation bias."

Which, if left untreated, rapidly progresses into the "My hands are permanently glued over my ears effect."

Good luck with that.

Highlighting is mine and is intended to add to what sideroxylon has already said.

John Edward doesn't know those things, as has been pointed out.

For instance, your own example of "2 people who were shot on Mayflower Avenue" is a misrepresentation of what has happened. I have pointed this out already.

John said "Two people passed with a sudden impact. Might have been shot..."

and "You didn't [move around the time of the shooting that the subject volunteered]? Because I'm seeing a Mayflower moving van."


What he said was not unique, personal, specific, or unknowable. It was generic without seeming so. The subject filled in the details, but the subject could have said "Yes, I had two friends in high school who died a year apart in separate car crashes. When the second one died my father was transferred to another state, and we moved." Both you and the subject would have credited him with the same "amazing" hit.

More than that, even the above quotes from Edward (which are taken from the Prescott article you love) are not actual transcripts, so what Edward said may have been even less specific than that.

On top of it all, with your latest anecdote, you are asking us to trust your memory of your friend's memory of an unrecorded reading from long ago. So now, not only are you infallible in your memory and charlatan-spotting skills, but your friend is, too, and you each are blessed -- unique among all humans -- with perfect skills of both observation and memory.

You're unraveling, Robin. Slow down and chill.

ETA: "Rose" is a hit for me, as are the refrigerator, Valerie Harper, milk from a cow, and sudden impact/possibly shot associated with moving or Mayflower. Only the dog named after an alcoholic beverage is not.

 

[Stellafane]

So, the fact that John Edward REPEATEDLY says the right unknowable, specific, personal, and unique things directly to the right people means absolutely nothing?

It does mean something, as does the fact that other stage performers can do the same thing without using psychic abilities. To me, it means that JE is probably using the same techniques they are, only he's claiming his information comes from paranormal sources. Not all may agree with that conclusion; but until JE does something absolutely impossible except through psychic means, I'm going to continue to favor it.

The discussion seems pretty much at an impasse at this point. Clearly Robin1 believes that each anecdote she repeats about a JE "hit" is further proof he's psychic. She does not appear prepared to accept the fact that others -- including, on occasion, rank amateurs -- can perform similar "unknowable" feats without invoking paranormal abilities. In fact, she has stated she doesn't even want to hear such things from us. So it appears to me the discussion has gone as far as it possibly can. Any neutral, open-minded observers who may read this thread can now judge for themselves whose argument is the more compelling.

 

[Tony99]

So, the fact that John Edward REPEATEDLY says the right unknowable, specific, personal, and unique things directly to the right people means absolutely nothing?

Because, I know nobody named Rose that my Dad would mention, nor do I have a dog named after an alcoholic beverage.

I'll bet that when my friend was read by JE she did not just buy a new refrigerator.

Or have a significant Valerie Harper connection.

Or know anyone that drank milk straight from a cow.

...

So what does it mean?
JE can talk to the dead and relay trivial facts about my life that I already know. Now what?
What are people supposed to do with the 'information' that he passes to them?
How does JE being a 'real' psychic change anything in my life or the world?
Am I supposed to feel better knowing that when I die I can communicate trivialities to my loved ones through a medium? You can keep it.

 

[Stellafane]

So what does it mean?
JE can talk to the dead and relay trivial facts about my life that I already know.

I know! Shucks, I predicted the freaking future, and warned my friend that he was going to injure himself during a particular week. Had he taken me seriously, he could have stayed home and avoided the whole thing. I'd like to see JE go out on a limb like that. Now that's an ability you can actually use! (If only it were real.)

 

[malicus]

Only the dog named after an alcoholic beverage is not.

FWIW, it's a hit with my dog's name.

Oh, and TEN of the fourteen dogs I have in the surgery today.

 

[desertgal]

So much for the comprehensions skills as revealed in this librarian's posts.

She's supposed to be a librarian? Wow.

So what does it mean?
JE can talk to the dead and relay trivial facts about my life that I already know. Now what?
What are people supposed to do with the 'information' that he passes to them?
How does JE being a 'real' psychic change anything in my life or the world?
Am I supposed to feel better knowing that when I die I can communicate trivialities to my loved ones through a medium? You can keep it.

Exactly. I've questioned that before, too. Paying someone to communicate "Nice fridge, but Budweiser needs to go out" to me is just...well, stupid.

But, hey, fools and money...

 

[Garrette]

She's supposed to be a librarian? Wow.

Yes. She used her position as proof that her research into how fake mediums work was complete and made her sufficiently expert not to be fooled. Unsurprisingly, exactly what her research entailed is one of the specifics she refuses to discuss.

 

[desertgal]

Yes. She used her position as proof that her research into how fake mediums work was complete and made her sufficiently expert not to be fooled. Unsurprisingly, exactly what her research entailed is one of the specifics she refuses to discuss.

Okaay.