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Sylvia Browne Myspace Parody

Juustin said:
I'll come clean, it was me. I did it out of boredom one day, as an obvious joke. Forgot all about it, logged in a week later to a gazillion messages from people saying "Will I ever find my true love?"

It's actually sort of depressing, how many people can read that page and not figure out it's making fun of Sylvia Browne. Even if it wasn't making fun of her, it's sad that people will assume it's really her and send really personal questions (family health, legal, etc..).
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Congratulations on a fine piece of satire.

As regards people not being able to figure out it's a satire, be of good cheer. Mark Twain had the same problem when he was in the Nevada Territory in 1862. He was a newspaper editor in Virginia City, Nevada (yes, the same Virginia City made famous on the TV show, Bonanza), about halfway between Lake Tahoe and Carson City. He wrote a piece about a dead man who'd been petrified into place, and put it in his newspaper as a news item, intending it as satire. When it was published... well, why don't I let the man himself describe what happened. Here it is.

One thing: I would be very careful to not give people any actual advice on your $ylvia Browne spoof site. If some ignoramus were to act on it, with disasterous results, you could have tort lawyers seeking to empty your bank account faster than you could say "WTF?".
 
Yeah, I'm not giving any advice. It's actually gotten pretty depressing. What was supposed to be a joke/obvious parody now has people messaging me their personal issues, and I have no desire to poke fun of people who are asking for legal advice or opinions about dead relatives.

It's depressing because they don't get the obvious, obvious joke. But it's also depressing that if I was someone actually trying to pretend to be Sylvia Browne, they wouldn't even question it, they'd just send me tons of personal info. Do people even think anymore?

I'm not sure, I might take it down. I don't think I'm doing anything I could get in trouble for (she's a celebrity, therefore subject to parody, everything on the site is taken from her quotes, I made sure not to use the word "fraud" except in reference to what she was actually convicted of, etc.); but I've heard her attorneys can harass people, and I really don't want a headache.
 
BPSCG said:
One thing: I would be very careful to not give people any actual advice on your $ylvia Browne spoof site. If some ignoramus were to act on it, with disasterous results, you could have tort lawyers seeking to empty your bank account faster than you could say "WTF?".
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Keep the advice such that it could apply to anyone, anywhere, anytime -- such as you might find in a daily horoscope -- and keep it healthy and affirmation-filled. To wit:

Dear Sylvia,

How should I live now that I broke up with my boyfriend?
Signed,

Just Asking
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Dear Just,

Go above and beyond the requirements, especially your own. Take up a team sport. Sign up for a dance class. It's time to get your feet moving and your blood pumping. Your spirits will lift accordingly.

Love & Light,

Syl
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" vIQleS






Jan 17 2007 12:35A

Dear Sylvia,

I hope you add me as a friend. I think you are really great. I wish I had come up with such a fool-proof way of defrauding thousands of people out of millions of dollars without having to answer in court for ones crimes.
I have now become a psychic, and have started conning people - I'm not making millions yet, but thanks to your example I'm already making a lot more than when i was working for my living, and the only victims are the stupid poor people who give me the last of their savings for a 20min session, which basically just involves lying and guessing.

Thanks Sylvia.

PS. I hope that this is really you, even though its perfectly obvious that its not. Did anyone actually read the predictions? "

With his JREF Forum avatar, no less...
Very good!
 
I was just reading some of the comments and was amused that someone named Candace "sensed" that you weren't Sylvia.
I wonder how she sensed that?
 
Libel Laws

Azrael 5 said:
Can she sue?
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well she's a public figure, so therefor open to critisism, and as too slander -- 'pretend psychic' would have to be false. (I think that's how it works). -- so take the Challenge Sylvia .

P.S. the above is completely made up, as I am not a Lawer. -- Nor do I wish to sit through 'McLibel' again to see if they made any comparison between English and American legal systems.
 
Fnord said:
Keep the advice such that it could apply to anyone, anywhere, anytime -- such as you might find in a daily horoscope -- and keep it healthy and affirmation-filled. To wit:
Click to expand...
Dear Just,

Go above and beyond the requirements, especially your own. Take up a team sport. Sign up for a dance class. It's time to get your feet moving and your blood pumping. Your spirits will lift accordingly.

Love & Light,

Syl
Click to expand...
Dear Mr. Juustin:

My name is Hugh Lewis Dewey, of the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe. I represent Ms. Holly Golightly, who wrote to you asking for advice after breaking up with her boyfriend.

Ms. Golightly suffers from advanced, severe osteoporosis, rendering her bones quite fragile and delicate. On your recommendation, she signed up for a dance class, a completely inadvisable recommendation for someone with her medical condition.

Within minutes of her first dance lesson, Ms. Golightly's pelvis fractured from the unaccustomed strain being put on it, and, in the ensuing fall which broke her left femur, she suffered a severe concussion. She is currently hospitalized, heavily medicated for pain, and suffering blinding headaches. Her orthopedic doctors expect she will be required to go to a nursing home for at least three months of rehabilitation therapy after she is discharged from the hospital; her neurologist believes she will likely suffer the headaches for the rest of her life.

As her injuries are the direct result of her having followed your advice, we are seeking from you, on her behalf, ten million dollars in damages for pain and suffering, and another fifty million in punitive damages for offering such reckless advice.

Have a nice day! :)

Sincerely,

Hugh Lewis Dewey, Esq.
 
BPSCG said:
Dear Mr. Juustin:

My name is Hugh Lewis Dewey, of the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe. I represent Ms. Holly Golightly, who wrote to you asking for advice after breaking up with her boyfriend.

Ms. Golightly suffers from advanced, severe osteoporosis, rendering her bones quite fragile and delicate. On your recommendation, she signed up for a dance class, a completely inadvisable recommendation for someone with her medical condition.

Within minutes of her first dance lesson, Ms. Golightly's pelvis fractured from the unaccustomed strain being put on it, and, in the ensuing fall which broke her left femur, she suffered a severe concussion. She is currently hospitalized, heavily medicated for pain, and suffering blinding headaches. Her orthopedic doctors expect she will be required to go to a nursing home for at least three months of rehabilitation therapy after she is discharged from the hospital; her neurologist believes she will likely suffer the headaches for the rest of her life.

As her injuries are the direct result of her having followed your advice, we are seeking from you, on her behalf, ten million dollars in damages for pain and suffering, and another fifty million in punitive damages for offering such reckless advice.

Have a nice day! :)

Sincerely,

Hugh Lewis Dewey, Esq.
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Dear Mr Dewey,

My bank balance is overdrawn by £800. You are very welcome to all or any part of this. See you in court.

sincerely,

blah de blah.
 
Juustin, I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but if you've added the bleevers who've commented as Sylvia's myspace friends, you could send out a bulletin titled, "The Dangers of Using Psychics to Find Missing People", and quote from and link to Kelly's blog series. (If you haven't already done so.)

I repeat, I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but I thought of it in the hope that they might actually learn something, though (as shown by many of the comments) they're not too keen on reading. ;)

It might also be an idea to change "Sylvia" to "Justice for Sylvia" or something similar (like the "Justice for Killtown" myspace parody) to hopefully avoid legal wrangles.
 
skullerello said:
" vIQleS

Jan 17 2007 12:35A

Dear Sylvia,

I hope you add me as a friend. I think you are really great. I wish I had come up with such a fool-proof way of defrauding thousands of people out of millions of dollars without having to answer in court for ones crimes.
I have now become a psychic, and have started conning people - I'm not making millions yet, but thanks to your example I'm already making a lot more than when i was working for my living, and the only victims are the stupid poor people who give me the last of their savings for a 20min session, which basically just involves lying and guessing.

Thanks Sylvia.

PS. I hope that this is really you, even though its perfectly obvious that its not. Did anyone actually read the predictions? "

With his JREF Forum avatar, no less...
Very good!
Click to expand...

Thanks...

Actually - that's the avatar I use for all my forums... But those other forums didn't really mean anything... I mean - I was thinking about you guys when I was posting there... We're still good, right? Wait, come back - where are you going...

PS: Has the account been deleted? The link doesn't seem to work...
 
Myspace networks are funny. The other, also obvious and more vicious Sylvia parody site has "Natural Cures" guy Kevin Trudeau for a friend. And "Natural Cures" guy has Alex Jones in his top 12.

Natural bedfellows.
 
Apparently myspace stole my thunder. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. That other fake Sylvia page is awesome though.
 
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