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Rosemary Altea

I disagree with some of the stuff in this thread. I don't know that it's good for skeptics to come out against all belief in the paranormal and psycics.. Unfortionately, too many people will not be receptive to that.

I'd rather put out a message saying that people have the right to believe in whatever gives them comfort, but people like sylvia who go on tv and claim they can talk to the dead and give details for money are fraud and should be avoided.


A less purist and idealist goal, but perhaps a more managable one is to go after the most dangerous and fraudulent activities.
 
Randi said tonight that he does not take a position on whether the phenomena exist or not, just that for several years he's been offering a million smackeroos to anyone who can demonstrate them and so far, nobody has.
 
DRBUZZ0 said:
I disagree with some of the stuff in this thread. I don't know that it's good for skeptics to come out against all belief in the paranormal and psycics.. Unfortionately, too many people will not be receptive to that.
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I agree. When Altea made the comment that quack doctors existed and that did not mean all of them were bunk, I thought that Randi's response and explanation about so-called psychics was perfect. Her analogy is a weak one given that the vast majority of doctors must prove the effectiveness of their work/treatments.

In the (not exact) words of Randi: If you can play the violin, then play the violin.

I think the crux of the matter is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
 
DRBUZZ0 said:
I disagree with some of the stuff in this thread. I don't know that it's good for skeptics to come out against all belief in the paranormal and psycics.. Unfortionately, too many people will not be receptive to that.

I'd rather put out a message saying that people have the right to believe in whatever gives them comfort, but people like sylvia who go on tv and claim they can talk to the dead and give details for money are fraud and should be avoided.


A less purist and idealist goal, but perhaps a more managable one is to go after the most dangerous and fraudulent activities.
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The problem is though, that all of the dangerous and fraudulent activities are perpetrated by people who were once starting out in the scam business. I don't know the history of Sylvia Browne or Rosemary Altea's psychic career, but they probably started out taking small sums of money from people in their local neighbourhood.

If you let these type of psychics away with it, they may end up being the next Colin Fry, Derek Acorah, Rosemary Altea, John Edward or even Sylvia Browne. Better, in my opinion, to stop them when they are starting out than wait for them to retire and rest on the millions of dollars they fleeced. Like Browne is about to do. (My own little prediction there)
 
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Why did Larry King put on Rosemary Altea? She's not any more impressive than Sylvia Browne, just look at how she was evicerated on P&T:BS. Wouldn't it be a great sign of hard hitting journalistic integrity if they played her segments from Bull$#!+ and had her explain them? But of course that is severely lacking in this day and age of newstainment.
 
SkeptiKilt said:
First question to Randi, "She described . . . the accused villain . . . pretty well . . .?" Randi looked like he was waiting for the punchline.
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I think that one moment of Randi doing the "furry eyeball" at Larry King just about said it all. If King can say with a straight face that her description was pretty good, no one with any sense will listen to him, and that look said it all with no words at all.
 
I can almost hear what Randi is thinking when he gives the furry eyeball at King's announcement about Browne's description of the kidnapper being accurate:

'You're having a laugh...you can't be serious...are you honestly waiting for me to comment on that...puh-lease...how do you have a show on TV?...I'll not dignify that remark with an answer, I'll just give him the furry eyeball.'
 
I very much enjoyed Randi pointing the finger at the camera and demanding an answer from Altea about the challenge. She gave every excuse in the book. If this is the "new challenge" Randi's been talking about, I'll be enjoying it very much.

At the beginning, it sounded like Larry King was trying to make a joke that nobody laughed it, he had a smirk on his face if I remember.. obviously, Sylvia did not accurately describe the kidnapper, that's why this feature was on the show to begin with, Browne is unreliable.
 
Having gotten to see it, it's clear from the start Altea was playing a clock game. The more time she can take up talking, the less time Randi gets. :(

Happily, Randi handled her well, though I do wish he'd brought up cold reading.
 
I've watched the thing several times now, and it's clear that King was not joking. What a waste of carbon.
 
SkeptiKilt said:
What a waste of carbon.
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A waste of carbon with an audience, no less.

One wonders if his director was trying to bail him out or run him through by posting the photo of the abductor (short-haired, bearded white dude) after Sylvia's description (hispanic dude with long dredlocks) and King's insightful assessment that she nailed it!
 
SkeptiKilt said:
Randi said tonight that he does not take a position on whether the phenomena exist or not,
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Ok, so you're brainwashed.

What Randi says is things like

"I simply do not find any evidence whatsoever that they do, so I don't believe there are any."

He certainly doesn't believe many things exist.
 
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