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John Edward smackdown in Dallas

UnrepentantSinner

A post by Alan Smithee
UnrepentantSinner
Joined
Aug 26, 2001
Messages
26,984
Location
Dallas, Texas
This OP requires a bit of a lenghty backstory and I'm sorry I don't have a transcript or link to an audio file, but it's all good, trust me...

I have a buddy who is a very devout Antiochan (Syrian) Orthodox sub-deacon at his chuch, but he's an examplar of why I argue so stridently for why atheist skeptics should embrace religious skeptics into "the movement." He called me last night, nearly breathless with excitement about an interview segment he'd heard on the KLUV Jody Dean morning show.

Normally the show is a pablum of Beach Boys songs and mollycoddling interviews with celebrities shilling their latest project. But not Tuesday. Dean prefaced his interview with Edward by discussing what Cold Reading was and how charlatans like him scam the most emotionally fragile in our society while claiming to want just to help people. Dean's a media fixture in Dallas, well known as a anchor and news reader, but I've never heard of him doing such a scathing and insightful job of investigative reportership.

After alerting the audience - which demographically doesn't skew skeptic btw - he started the interview and launched into the perfect ambush, asking Edward about Cold Reading, confronting him with his references to God while presenting Bible verses decrying Necromancy and generally giving him the b**** slapping he deserved. Dean had obviously done his research because every slimy evasive retort Edward came up with, he had a follow up question for.

The icing in the cake was a call from a woman after the interview had ended where she said she'd recently lost a loved one and was thinking of consulting a psychic. Dean told her she knew the deceased loved her, so why should she pay someone to tell her something she already knew and if she was so upset over the loss, she should consult a therapist, not a charlatan.

I've e-mailed Jody Dean to see if I can get a transcript of the show and if so, I'll post it here.
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Now I'm no Jody Dean, but I did engage in a bit of guerilla skepticism myself over the weekend. At work I saw someone who had taped a print out of an obvious urban legend e-mail regarding the use of plastic wrap and containers in microwaves as being a source of dioxin contaminating food. It didn't pass my sniff test so I checked Snopes.com and sure enough the "warning" was bogus. I didn't want to make waves at work, so I didn't tear down the offending spam, but I did write "This is an urban legend. Investigate for yourself at Snopes.com. Enter "dioxin" into the search" on a Post-It and planted it next to the print out.
 
Do you have the email address for Dean? I've often thought that we should send at least an "attaboy" to those few people who aren't afraid to have a go at creatures like Edward. Many of us complain to the sponsors/producers of shows that feature Edward and his ilk as though they're for real, but I wonder how many of us send our congrats and thanks to the good guys?
 
Sasha said:
Do you have the email address for Dean? I've often thought that we should send at least an "attaboy" to those few people who aren't afraid to have a go at creatures like Edward. Many of us complain to the sponsors/producers of shows that feature Edward and his ilk as though they're for real, but I wonder how many of us send our congrats and thanks to the good guys?
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Absolutely.

I am also very interested in seeing a transcript of the interview, USA. Thanks for the good news!
 
wow! Thanks USA!!!

I really get upset at as a Xian that these people spout all this religious stuff.

Sylvia Browne said on Larry King recentlly, "what I do IS a religion".

No one followed up.
 
kittynh said:
wow! Thanks USA!!!

I really get upset at as a Xian that these people spout all this religious stuff.

Sylvia Browne said on Larry King recentlly, "what I do IS a religion".

No one followed up.
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She calls her religion Novus Spiritus. I don't think it is recognized with tax exempt status.
 
Sasha said:
Do you have the email address for Dean? I've often thought that we should send at least an "attaboy" to those few people who aren't afraid to have a go at creatures like Edward. Many of us complain to the sponsors/producers of shows that feature Edward and his ilk as though they're for real, but I wonder how many of us send our congrats and thanks to the good guys?
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Yes, absolutely, also, can we contact his station and let them know how wonderful it is to have such an honest, thorough and excellent journalist on the air. Somehow, I am betting all the JE supporters are pelting them with all kinds of righteous indignation and Mr. Dean deserves support. Do you have a contact for us?
 
First class, USA! Good catch! Yes, I'd be right interested in that transcript too.
 
I sent an email.

Oh I think Sylvia could get special tax status!

Why not? Spiritualism has been a "religion" for a long time. ick.
 
kittynh said:
I really get upset at as a Xian that these people spout all this religious stuff.

Sylvia Browne said on Larry King recentlly, "what I do IS a religion".
Click to expand...

Randall and I discussed this during our phone conversation. We both agreed that appeals to religiousness, especially Christianity, were hypocritical at the most charitable. What these charlatans do is Necromancy, which is clearly prohibited by the Bible. Sylvia, John, etc. might all talk a good game about God and Jesus, but what they are supposedly engaging in is decidedly un-Christian.

Randall also mentioned several times that when Edward raised the skepticism = atheism, Jody Dean was quick to correct him that that is not the case.

Thank you for e-mailing Dean your messages of support. I'm still hoping to get a transcript and will post it, or transcribe one if he'll get me an audio file.
 
Yes, Dante in his Inferno places soothsayers in the 8 circle of Hell. The 8th and 9th circles are suppose to be the true Hell.

This is meaningless for me as an agnostic, but it does say something to those who do believe.

I emailed Mr. Dean, too. He deserves all the support we can give.
 
Jody replies (this is posted with his permission):

Thanks so much for the kind words. Although I've watched Edward and his ilk with some degree of disdain for years, the interview was partly informed by the very site you linked below. The research and commentary at randi.org was invaluable. My wife asked me how I felt after the interview. I told her the first thought in my mind was, "Feed me another one!"

During the course of our exchange, Edward called his doubters "cynics". I corrected him. Skepticism is healthy - even for a Christian, as we are commanded to "test every spirit". What Edward purports to do (a qualifier I rarely hear whenever he is introduced by my colleagues) is provide the "proof" carnal beings desire most deeply. Although far from actual scientific evidence, his kind of "proof" is still the worst kind of spiritual malfeasance. It's cheap. The God I worship has far more expensive tastes.

I hope you pass along my sincere gratitude to all in the forum who have been so considerate in writing. We're trying to get the segment up on our website (www.kluv.com) so others can hear it. May I also suggest another website to you which is operated by a group in Dallas, dedicated to similar righteous debunkery as yours. It is www.trinityfi.org , an organization which devotes itself to meeting real need in real ways, while at the same time exposing hucksters. They also publish a magazine entitled The Wittenberg Door, and I believe they have interviewed Randi in the past. Even among Believers, there should be no such thing as having too many people asking to see where the nails were, and that is what Trinity does.

Again, my deepest thanks.

Jody Dean

CBS Radio
CBS-11 News
Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas
 
It's hard not to believe John Edward because he is always down-to-earth and honest. :)

And he's cute. ;)
 
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