Subject: Thank You from a new ex-Browne fan
From: [name] <[email address]>
Date: Thu, September 09, 2010 12:29 am
To: "
[email protected]" <
[email protected]>
Dear Mr. Lancaster:
Holy cow. First of all, I hope you get well as soon as possible! I am
rooting for your recovery!
Second of all, I cannot thank you enough. Even though I have classes
tomorrow, I've stayed up til 3 AM to read as many articles on your
site as I could.
I own many of Sylvia Browne's audiobooks and I've listened to them
quite frequently over the past few years. However, judging by her
reading of what are supposedly her own books, suspicions have been
formulating in my head for the past year or so, which were more or
less cemented after extensively reading your site. The woman is a fraud.
To elaborate on my initial suspicions as a listener of her
audiobooks... First of all, it was clear to me that Sylvia was not
writing a lot of her own material, because her readings sounded like
she was unfamiliar with the wording and necessary inflections that
certain phrases or sentences demanded, and she would misread sentences
using awkward or inappropriate inflections which distorted the meaning
of 'her' words. Being somewhat of a writer myself, I know that if you
truly wrote your own work, you'd know what you meant and how to read
it properly, and where inflection is appropriate. But even more
importantly-- you'd know how to PRONOUNCE the words you wrote
yourself, which brings me to my next point: It often bothered me that
Sylvia pronounced many words and terms incorrectly. For example, in
her Secrets & Mysteries of the World audiobook, which is self-read,
she hesitates before attempting to say 'Gaia hypothesis,' a term which
is commonly pronounced 'guy-uh' or sometimes 'gay-uh,' but which
Browne hesitates and then cumbersomely pronounces as 'Ja-ee-uh,' as if
it was the first time in her life she had ever seen the word. Excuse
me, but isn't she supposed to have researched and written this
herself? She also claims that the old Celtic (and now NeoPagan)
holiday Samhain can be pronounced as it is spelled, when I know for a
fact that it is never pronounced how it's spelled; it is always
pronounced 'SOW-en,' and not 'Sam-hayne,' which she says.
Not only this, but her information is often grossly inaccurate, at
least in terms of defining philosophical terms. Back to the Gaia
hypothesis, Browne claims in the same book that the meaning behind the
Gaia hypothesis is that 'Mother Earth is mad and angry at us, so she
wants to destroy us,' or something very close to that nature, when
this is in fact inaccurate. If Browne was such a learned scholar and
theologian as she claims to be, she would know that the Gaia
hypothesis states simply that the Earth itself is a living organism.
I've also noticed that she misquotes the Bible. I'm not a Christian
myself, but I have been, and I've read several translations of the NT.
Browne often quotes Christ in her Tools For Life audiobook as saying
that where two or more are gathered in his name, miracles will happen.
Incorrect. Christ actually says that where two or more are gathered in
his name, there he will be present... nothing about miracles. Yet
Browne claims to have read every existing translation of the Bible.
Another bit of Browne's misinformation: she defined "occult" as being
something dark and sinister, black magic or the like. In reality, and
if she were a true philosopher or theologian she would know that the
word "occult" does not, contrary to popular belief, connote 'dark
magic,' but rather means literally 'secret' or 'hidden,' in reference
to spiritual teachings and literature that was not generally known or
read by the public.
Browne's grammar is often way off, which really bothered me at times
as well. She often says fragments of sentences without completing her
thoughts, or uses plural subjects with a singular object or vice
versa, and even sometimes more blatantly makes little to no sense at
all, and often mispronounces and jumbles words. She does not even care
about the poor quality of audiobooks she is releasing. While all of
the other audiobooks I own are read by their authors flawlessly,
Browne made no effort to correct or clean up her various errors for
her paying customers. She also does not 'sound' very educated as a
result.
Many of these little details began to add up, and so I'd begun to
suspect that Browne was not truly as educated as she claimed to be,
and even that someone else was doing her research, as it seemed clear
to me that she had not the faintest clue as to what she was reading
when reading 'her own' books.
Finding your site completely opened my eyes. I read the first few
articles hoping to defend her, trying to find a way that she could be
'innocent,' but I lost all respect for her and her entire operation
after reading the account of the former Novus Spiritus member. Reading
more about her questionable- or more likely fraudulent- claims to have
a master's degree in English further cemented my belief that this
woman is not as educated as she claims to be, and I'd go so far as to
say that she isn't writing her own books, and she hasn't even
researched the information upon which she claims to be an expert.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your site. I cannot tell you how
much you have helped me let go of what was an unhealthy habit of
listening to Browne's garbage-laden lectures. All of my audiobooks by
her are getting deleted off of my iPod tomorrow. What a waste of money.
Your site is truly a gift to behold. Thank you again for what you do,
and get well soon!
Regards,
[name]
P.S. You are more than welcome to post my letter to your site should
you wish to; just please omit my email address. Thanks!
