feldesq
Student
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2005
- Messages
- 45
A brief history of the Challenge....
You all remember when Randi used the Challenge to confront Sylvia Browne on Larry King, and this confrontation was repeated again on Larry King, and Sylvia “agreed” again to "take the Challenge." This actually was a two-edged sword. Randi (primarily) and the JREF (minimally) gained some significant attention, and Sylvia Browne produced some “talking points” for her followers and appeared to be more credible (after all, she was agreeing to be “tested” by the world’s foremost skeptic). The fact that she ultimately obfuscated and lied is a separate issue (an issue to be minimized but not addressed here).
The “use” of the Challenge – as suggested by the Randi/Browne exchange on CNN – was far more effective than it merely being a magnet for small-time woo woos.
That said, the Challenge can be far more effective if it is broadened along the lines the JREF is contemplating. This broadening is neither a “downsizing” nor a retreat. Far from it! It is an advance in a number of important respects.
A little history is worth reciting here: Randi used to carry around a check in his wallet (I think he started with $1,000 and then raised it to $10,000, possibly more through the years), and he would brandish the check as a means of saying to the flim flammers and charlatans that they should “put up or shut up” (as Randi was willing to do with his own money)! It was intended to be a public relations tool and an educational tool. This was years before the JREF even came into existence (remember the JREF is just celebrating its 10th anniversary year).
A generous JREF supporter donated the $1 million to the JREF as the basis of the fund which stands behind the Challenge.
The primary mechanism attracting applicants has become the internet. As you know, the internet attracts its own brand of woo woos and fruitcakes (or do I repeat myself?), and otherwise precious time was being expended on simply weeding out the real flakes from the surreal flakes. Few applicants even came close to meeting the objective and extremely unbiased and clear protocols which formed the basis for testing. Often the claimants could not even legibly or coherently express just what they were attempting to claim!
Randi would amuse us all on The Swift by reciting some of these applicant details.
But what were we accomplishing as far as the Big Picture is concerned?
In principle it would be nice if every oddball claimant could be evaluated, analyzed, dissected (vivisected perhaps?), and exposed for what he or she actually is – mentally challenged, emotionally disturbed, a flim flam artist, just very naive and unsophisticated, or just one of the millions of folks who want to believe so much in such spernatural powers that they have fooled themselves into believing they manifest such powers.
The problems with this approach are threefold: first, it would take a huge operation, involving an expenditure of resources presently beyond the reach of the JREF (even in combination with many or most of the other skeptics organizations). Second, we would fail to convince many, if any, of the claimants – let alone the rest of the public – that these claims are hokum for many reasons we should by now be familiar with. Third – and most importantly – unless we can and do obtain widespread publicity for our test results, we lose the "punch." And it this "punch" we want to achieve,
So, what we are doing by retooling the Challenge is to get it back on track – back to where Randi used to brandish that $1,000+ check in the faces of the big guys like Sylvia Browne, back to having a strong "punch." Someone has so eloquently said it before: anyone who could demonstrate real supernatural powers wouldn’t waste his time trying to get $1 million from the JREF. He would probably be able to rule the world in short order. At the very least, he would be able run up billions of dollars (if that is all he wanted to achieve – a rather banal achievement at that). Therefore, the thrust of the Challenge must be as a marketing tool – another instrument in the arsenal of effective propaganda against the “dark side” of man’s nature. The JREF must have that "punch" (a good wallop!).
You all remember when Randi used the Challenge to confront Sylvia Browne on Larry King, and this confrontation was repeated again on Larry King, and Sylvia “agreed” again to "take the Challenge." This actually was a two-edged sword. Randi (primarily) and the JREF (minimally) gained some significant attention, and Sylvia Browne produced some “talking points” for her followers and appeared to be more credible (after all, she was agreeing to be “tested” by the world’s foremost skeptic). The fact that she ultimately obfuscated and lied is a separate issue (an issue to be minimized but not addressed here).
The “use” of the Challenge – as suggested by the Randi/Browne exchange on CNN – was far more effective than it merely being a magnet for small-time woo woos.
That said, the Challenge can be far more effective if it is broadened along the lines the JREF is contemplating. This broadening is neither a “downsizing” nor a retreat. Far from it! It is an advance in a number of important respects.
A little history is worth reciting here: Randi used to carry around a check in his wallet (I think he started with $1,000 and then raised it to $10,000, possibly more through the years), and he would brandish the check as a means of saying to the flim flammers and charlatans that they should “put up or shut up” (as Randi was willing to do with his own money)! It was intended to be a public relations tool and an educational tool. This was years before the JREF even came into existence (remember the JREF is just celebrating its 10th anniversary year).
A generous JREF supporter donated the $1 million to the JREF as the basis of the fund which stands behind the Challenge.
The primary mechanism attracting applicants has become the internet. As you know, the internet attracts its own brand of woo woos and fruitcakes (or do I repeat myself?), and otherwise precious time was being expended on simply weeding out the real flakes from the surreal flakes. Few applicants even came close to meeting the objective and extremely unbiased and clear protocols which formed the basis for testing. Often the claimants could not even legibly or coherently express just what they were attempting to claim!
Randi would amuse us all on The Swift by reciting some of these applicant details.
But what were we accomplishing as far as the Big Picture is concerned?
In principle it would be nice if every oddball claimant could be evaluated, analyzed, dissected (vivisected perhaps?), and exposed for what he or she actually is – mentally challenged, emotionally disturbed, a flim flam artist, just very naive and unsophisticated, or just one of the millions of folks who want to believe so much in such spernatural powers that they have fooled themselves into believing they manifest such powers.
The problems with this approach are threefold: first, it would take a huge operation, involving an expenditure of resources presently beyond the reach of the JREF (even in combination with many or most of the other skeptics organizations). Second, we would fail to convince many, if any, of the claimants – let alone the rest of the public – that these claims are hokum for many reasons we should by now be familiar with. Third – and most importantly – unless we can and do obtain widespread publicity for our test results, we lose the "punch." And it this "punch" we want to achieve,
So, what we are doing by retooling the Challenge is to get it back on track – back to where Randi used to brandish that $1,000+ check in the faces of the big guys like Sylvia Browne, back to having a strong "punch." Someone has so eloquently said it before: anyone who could demonstrate real supernatural powers wouldn’t waste his time trying to get $1 million from the JREF. He would probably be able to rule the world in short order. At the very least, he would be able run up billions of dollars (if that is all he wanted to achieve – a rather banal achievement at that). Therefore, the thrust of the Challenge must be as a marketing tool – another instrument in the arsenal of effective propaganda against the “dark side” of man’s nature. The JREF must have that "punch" (a good wallop!).
