One way you could have debunked John Edward

EeneyMinnieMoe

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I was thinking about who I'd want to contact if I believed in mediums and seeing as the only people to have died in my immediate family in the past twenty years are my grandfathers, I think it would be them I'd like to talk to.

Thing is, John Edward could not have guessed my grandfather's name if he went through the entire alphabet letter by letter. I'm Polish-American of Silesian descent so that's not surprising. I have this imagined scene of what would happen if my mother and I went on John Edward's show:

John Edward: I see an older man, passed on some time ago and ther'e something wrong with his chest, keeps pointing to it. Does this mean anything yo you?
My mother: Yes! My father died of a heart attack!
John Edward: I'm getting a 'W'
Us: Yes!
John Edward: William? Wallace? Wesley? No?
Me: His name was Wladyslaw Stanislaw Kosmala, you d**che. What's the matter, only ghosts with Anglo names can talk to you?

Imagine what would happen if you put John Edward in an ethnic audience. Put him in front of a room full of Ukrainians, Russians, Chinese people, Japanese people, Koreans, Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Arabs, Isrealis or any other non-Western audience or ethnic Western audience without telling him who's gonna be there and his initial schtick is useless.

Imagine John Edward unknowingly walking into a Southwest Asian audience. I can see him now swallowing nervously and bravely offering "Um, I'm getting an...H? Um, something that sounds like, um, Hussein? " before being booed off by a crowd of angry Indians.

Of course, the next day he'd come in knowing the entire alphabet of Sanskrit. If it has lettes, I really don't know.
 
John Edward: I see an older man, passed on some time ago and ther'e something wrong with his chest, keeps pointing to it. Does this mean anything to you?

My mother: Yes! My father died of a heart attack!

John Edward: I'm getting a 'W'

Us: Yes!

John Edward: William? Wallace? Wesley? No?

Me: His name was Wladyslaw Stanislaw Kosmala, you d**che. What's the matter, only ghosts with Anglo names can talk to you?

John Edward: No, no, no. He was trying to tell me his Czech name, but since I don't speak Czech, he was giving me an English version. I believe William means Wladyslaw in English.

Me: Wrong, you As**ole. Wladyslaw means to "rule with glory".

John Edward: Aha! Don't you see? He told me "William Wallace". William Wallace *was* a glorious ruler. It all makes sense. (turns quickly) OK, I'm getting a "Q" from over here...Quigly? Quentin? Quexalcoatl?
 
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CLD is right, JE is expert as twisting things around so he appears to be right. He will even TELL people to "think about it" as though they must be wrong and he must be right, they just don't know it.

It would be nice if you could do it, I just don't think it would work. He will just go on to somewhere else in the room as fast as possible. And he will count on the crowd just remembering the "wonderful" hits he gets and forgetting the misses.
 
It would be interesting if someone lost someone that had severe dementia before they passed on. How does this spirit thing work? Do you get all your faculties back when you walk into the bright light?

It's also interesting when John Edward talks to relatives that couldn't speak English in life...

Recently whenever I see John Edward on the TV I suffer a severe case of couch rage. Look out coffee table!
 
A lot of them use an 'intermediary' spirit.

If there's a bad mistake, like for instance someone's husband died in 911 and the psychic mistakenly said he died in water... they can just blame it on the intermediary spirit - communication problems with the dead.

I happen to think that people like Edwards have considerable stage talent and he would not be easily debunked in his own element.
 
Kochanski said:
CLD is right, JE is expert as twisting things around so he appears to be right. He will even TELL people to "think about it" as though they must be wrong and he must be right, they just don't know it.
Click to expand...

Oh, no. John Edward is far more brazen: If a sitter says he is wrong, he insists that he is right, and the sitter is wrong.
 
I guess when you die - er, pass over - you instantly become an Anglo-Saxon speaking English - or at least American. :)

Presumably anything that was wrong with you is also fixed.

And I'm sure many of the dupes would accept these arguments, too.... :(

YBW
 
I had a page up for about a year asking any psychic to tell me the nickname my dad called me. I don't recall how many e-mails I sent but virtually all the responses were the same. Psychics don't respond to challenges. I've learned that not only are psychics frauds and con men/women but they are lazy as well.
 
It reminded me of this story, written by some Danish guy. :D
The danger of English psychics trying to do cold reading in a non-English speaking country...


(that is, English as second language and where common names are completely different. I never met a Dane that didn't speak at least some English)
 
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Lol, Cld, you're right. That's the John Edward we know.

However, I think it would give people who believe in him some pause to consider that the dead he speaks to can't write or speak any language but English, can't make any ethnic names known to him and don't retain anything John Edward wouldn't know like, say, knowledge of Polish history.
 
YouBelieveWHAT? said:
I guess when you die - er, pass over - you instantly become an Anglo-Saxon speaking English - or at least American. :)

Presumably anything that was wrong with you is also fixed.

And I'm sure many of the dupes would accept these arguments, too.... :(

YBW
Click to expand...

Also, apparently, one becomes unbelievably bland, vague and stupid. I suppose it just proves that it's hard to be interesting without a brain.

If only it were possible for a real psychic to latch onto my late sister, who was a foul-mouthed, often screamingly funny, very angry, hard drinking, brilliantly acerbic tongued, prickly character, not at all inclined to go gentle into that good night, who fought one breath past her last. None of that "oh it's so nice here on the other side" crap, folks. They'd have to bleep the whole bleeping show.
 
What I really dislike about JE is that he makes it seem like the audience member is at fault for disagreeing with him.

John Edward: ...And your brother had a dog?

Lady: No.

John Edward: Someone else's dog then? He spent time with a dog?

Lady: No.

John Edward: No? (angrily) THEN WHY IS HE SHOWING ME A DOG?!

 
YouBelieveWHAT? said:
I guess when you die - er, pass over - you instantly become an Anglo-Saxon speaking English - or at least American. :)

Presumably anything that was wrong with you is also fixed.

And I'm sure many of the dupes would accept these arguments, too.... :(

YBW
Click to expand...

If English was good enough for Jesus...
 
AZAtheist said:
It would be interesting if someone lost someone that had severe dementia before they passed on. How does this spirit thing work? Do you get all your faculties back when you walk into the bright light?

It's also interesting when John Edward talks to relatives that couldn't speak English in life...

Recently whenever I see John Edward on the TV I suffer a severe case of couch rage. Look out coffee table!
Click to expand...

Yeah, we go through more coffee tables this way. :(

M.
 
Houdini already debunked psychics. When a charlitan was doing a reading trying to reach Houdini's mother, she (the 'psyhic') gave Houdini information supposedly from his beloved, deceased mother, all in english. Houdini knew she was a fraud since his mother only spoke Hungarian.
 
I can see it now.

"Your grandfather says he is well."
"He doesn't speak English"
"He is speaking to me through an intermediary."
"Then ask him barflebiddy snoot arfletistic quack diddle?"
"I'm sorry, I can't speak that language."
"You don't have to, just ask him that and the intermediary will translate. Just tell me what my grandfather answers."
"Um, I lost the contact..."
 
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