To read or not to read?

[coldreader]

I hope that forum members can help me resolve an ethical dilemma.

When I was a teenager, many years ago, I looked around for something distinctive I could do to break the ice at parties and make friends. I hit on palm reading, mainly because no one else I knew was doing it and it sounded cool.

In the course of studying palmistry I came across my city's bylaws against fortune telling. Forewarned -- in the conventional sense! -- I took care never to make predictions during readings. My routine was to tell the subject that the palm was like a map, showing them where they had the power to go. Then I'd proceed with what I later learned was a cold reading, always emphasizing the positive -- I was, after all, trying to make friends.

My palm reading did have the social result I wanted, but after a while I began to feel very uncomfortable with how seriously some people took it. I stopped for several years and only started again when a friend asked me to do readings for a charity fundraising. I've since been invited to perform at several fundraisers.

When giving a reading, I state first that I am not a psychic and will do only a personality analysis. This approach usually goes down well enough, except once with a Baptist church that kicked me out of a bazaar on the grounds that as only God knows what will be, if I made predictions that would prove I was a harmless charlatan; therefore, not making predictions smacked of satanism.

My ethical dilemma relates to the fact that, as you know, many people want to believe in psychic powers, sometimes desperately. I am concerned that despite my not-a-psychic caveat and upbeat readings, I am contributing to harmful beliefs that open up emotionally vulnerable people to exploitation by predators. For example, a young woman came back to me after a reading, said I'd seen the real her, and asked me seriously if she should consult a voodoo priest who advertised in a local tabloid. I talked her out of it, but it was an unsettling experience.

I am a regular reader of Swift and even have a Randi doll that sits on my computer desk to remind me daily that there is still sanity in the world. I would value the views of forum members about the ethics of doing palm readings to raise funds for charities.

 

[fls]

Can you turn it into a lesson on how psychics fool people?

Linda

 

[schlitt]

I hope that forum members can help me resolve an ethical dilemma.

When I was a teenager, many years ago, I looked around for something distinctive I could do to break the ice at parties and make friends. I hit on palm reading, mainly because no one else I knew was doing it and it sounded cool.

In the course of studying palmistry I came across my city's bylaws against fortune telling. Forewarned -- in the conventional sense! -- I took care never to make predictions during readings. My routine was to tell the subject that the palm was like a map, showing them where they had the power to go. Then I'd proceed with what I later learned was a cold reading, always emphasizing the positive -- I was, after all, trying to make friends.

My palm reading did have the social result I wanted, but after a while I began to feel very uncomfortable with how seriously some people took it. I stopped for several years and only started again when a friend asked me to do readings for a charity fundraising. I've since been invited to perform at several fundraisers.

When giving a reading, I state first that I am not a psychic and will do only a personality analysis. This approach usually goes down well enough, except once with a Baptist church that kicked me out of a bazaar on the grounds that as only God knows what will be, if I made predictions that would prove I was a harmless charlatan; therefore, not making predictions smacked of satanism.

My ethical dilemma relates to the fact that, as you know, many people want to believe in psychic powers, sometimes desperately. I am concerned that despite my not-a-psychic caveat and upbeat readings, I am contributing to harmful beliefs that open up emotionally vulnerable people to exploitation by predators. For example, a young woman came back to me after a reading, said I'd seen the real her, and asked me seriously if she should consult a voodoo priest who advertised in a local tabloid. I talked her out of it, but it was an unsettling experience.

I am a regular reader of Swift and even have a Randi doll that sits on my computer desk to remind me daily that there is still sanity in the world. I would value the views of forum members about the ethics of doing palm readings to raise funds for charities.

There are many ways to look at this, here are a few:

-With your disclaimer you are actually helping to debunk psychics, by showing people that it can be done convincingly using non psychic techniques. - Therefore what you are doing is a positive thing.

-The very act of doing this gives the suggestion of validity to the phenomena, even with the disclaimer. - Therefore what you are doing is a negative thing.

-The people who do not beleive your disclaimer, and think that you really are psychic, are going to beleive this stuff regardless of whether you are doing your act or not. - Therefore what you doing this has no effect.

-If you perform without revealing the reading to be fake, you are pomoting false beliefs in a convincing manner. - Which is a negative thing.

I think it really comes down to the way in which your perform. If your goal is to educate, then i would say this is not a bad thing to be doing.
Having said this though, i am not sure people would want to give you money for a fortune telling they knew was false. So preceding the demonstration with a disclaimer which indicated the following reading would be meaningless, would likely put people off paying. By the same token, revealing the reading was fake after it has been performed would probably annoy the person for having paid you money.
So to do this in a way that would be viable for fund raising, you would most likely have to present yourself as genuine?
Which would be a negative thing in my opinion.

Interestingly, as you may already know, this is how Sylvia Browne started also, but her stance was "Screw it, if people are stupid enough to believe it, i am going to exploit them."

 

[this charming man]

coldreader, have you watched any Derren Brown? As Linda says, maybe you could go the educational route.

 

[Cuddles]

If you're not pretending to be psychic, there really isn't a problem. There will still be ome people who firmly believe you just don't want to admit that the spirits are talking to you, but they are probably past helping. Everyone else will either get a bit of education in what is possible even without psychic powers, or will just have a bit of fun if they alreadt knew that.

 

[Southwind17]

Acquire a clown's outfit and some custard pies. It's completely harmless, and such a laugh!

 

[Miss Whiplash]

I agree with Cuddles. You aren't claiming psychic powers. You are doing an act for charity. If you were doing slight of hand, you'd still find a minority who believed you used the supernatural to palm a coin.

To me, this is no different than the Halloween carnival when I was a kid. One afternoon a year, an elderly lunchroom lady became the Amazing Madame Zolar and read palms for the princely sum of 25 cents to benefit the school. Of course all readings incorporated our eating habits she observed, year in and out. "You will be happy and prosperous in life, but first you must eat your carrots. "

 

[Ashles]

I disagree with some of the previous posters - even by claiming to be doing a personaility analysis you are misleading.

Misleading people about their personalities can still be damaging (although in probably usually a much more minor way). They may well end up making decisions based on what you say, decisions they would be better off making by having actually thought them through.

I guess if your 'readings' are so neutral that they couldn't be used in that way at all then I guess it's not really a problem, but any form of deception in this way and pretense of knowledge that doesn't exist unsettles me a little.

Especially when we bear in mind how what people recall from these sessions is often greatly exaggerated from what was actually said.

 

[TX50]

Just stop doing it! It's silly and all it does is help spread the "psychic" meme.
I'm sure there's some better way you could contribute to charity, if that's
a concern.

 

[RenaissanceBiker]

You should only use your powers for good. I once had a conversation with a couple of IT guys about a VB virus that showed up on a co-workers machine. I know a little VB so I was able to look at the code and figure out what it did. The older guy was just interested in reversing the damage done and preventing it in the future. The younger guy was a little too interested in how it worked and said, "One day I'm going to write a killer virus." I just gave him a disapproving look and said, "We must only use our powers for good." I can only hope he decided to follow my example, but I did make sure he didn't get a copy of that code that day.

Coldreader, you are in the same situation now. It is far better for you to only use your "powers" for good.

 

[insidespace]

I think this is a very interesting question. I have heard that people do things without knowing the reasons for doing them. So, although this person does not believe he (or she) is "palm" reading "really," nevertheless they may be!!

Everyone knows that *some* people, whether by skill or "psychic" ability, can read "things" like palms, tea-leaves, and the like. "How" this happens is controversial. Some say it is the "psychic energy" that comes through these people and it is not *really* the palms or tea-leaves. Others dispute this, saying that the palms and tea_leaves are the key. I guess no-one really knows.

However, this poster may in fact have that "psychic energy" whether they know it or not!!! So I would not feel anything wrong with this practice.

After all, no-one is "forced" to have their palm read, and even the most accurate and skillful palm reader would say they are not 100% accurate, so you can take it as you like, or not at all.

Remember, leaves are green because that is the light they do *not* use.

Hope this helps your understanding.

 

[Apology]

I think by advising people that you're not a psychic you've done your duty. As long as it's only for charity and you don't go pro/charge for private readings, I don't see how it's different than getting a reading from Lunchlady Doris (lol Vampire).

Of course if you're uncomfortable with it, you should stop. I would never advise anyone to continue in an activity that they found morally questionable. However, I think under the circumstances that you've described, it's all right.

 

[Southwind17]

I think this is a very interesting question. I have heard that people do things without knowing the reasons for doing them. So, although this person does not believe he (or she) is "palm" reading "really," nevertheless they may be!!

Everyone knows that *some* people, whether by skill or "psychic" ability, can read "things" like palms, tea-leaves, and the like. "How" this happens is controversial. Some say it is the "psychic energy" that comes through these people and it is not *really* the palms or tea-leaves. Others dispute this, saying that the palms and tea_leaves are the key. I guess no-one really knows.

However, this poster may in fact have that "psychic energy" whether they know it or not!!! So I would not feel anything wrong with this practice.

After all, no-one is "forced" to have their palm read, and even the most accurate and skillful palm reader would say they are not 100% accurate, so you can take it as you like, or not at all.

Remember, leaves are green because that is the light they do *not* use.

Hope this helps your understanding.

So you think the clown suit and custard pies suggestion is not a suitable alternative?

 

[tracer]

When giving a reading, I state first that I am not a psychic and will do only a personality analysis. This approach usually goes down well enough, except once with a Baptist church that kicked me out of a bazaar on the grounds that as only God knows what will be, if I made predictions that would prove I was a harmless charlatan; therefore, not making predictions smacked of satanism.

Wait ... WHAT?!

You're a satanist if you DON'T make predictions?!

 

[Big Les]

I think you should absolutely carry on doing it, as convincingly as possible, and then spend as long as you did reading them explaining how it's all just a trick. Only the most entrenched are going to come away believing you in spite of your own protests to the contrary. The rest will feel silly and might resent you initially, but hopefully you'll have inoculated some people to the dreaded woo. Fighting fire with fire, as it were.

 

[danielk]

[...] the most entrenched are going to come away believing you in spite of your own protests to the contrary.

Indeed, as insidespace has just perfectly demonstrated.

 

[TV's Frank]

When giving a reading, I state first that I am not a psychic and will do only a personality analysis. This approach usually goes down well enough, except once with a Baptist church that kicked me out of a bazaar on the grounds that as only God knows what will be, if I made predictions that would prove I was a harmless charlatan; therefore, not making predictions smacked of satanism.

Wait.

Let me get this straight:

Only God knows what will be, therefore people cannot predict the future.

If you say you're making predictions, you're obviously a fake and are harmless.

If you say you're NOT making predicitions, you're an agent of Satan?

Computing...
Computing...
Compu***ERROR DIVIDE BY ZERO***

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

I think the solution would be to be more careful about which audiences you play to.

I'd avoid certain churches because I think those people would be most suseptible to believing that sort of thing and, as bad as this sounds, any place where there are lots of middle-aged women to be found.

 

[Blue Mountain]

Part of the shtick is that the palm, crystal ball, card, tea cup, etc, etc is only a prop to cover up the fact you're cold reading. Instead of reading palms, carry an ordinary, everyday object with you and perform a reading using that. Do not let the person you're reading handle or even touch the object.

Perhaps you could even perform the reading using a newspaper article or a "Dick and Jane" book. That may be enough to demonstrate to the person that it's not the object that matters.

 

[Southwind17]

Part of the shtick is that the palm, crystal ball, card, tea cup, etc, etc is only a prop to cover up the fact you're cold reading. Instead of reading palms, carry an ordinary, everyday object with you and perform a reading using that. Do not let the person you're reading handle or even touch the object.

Perhaps you could even perform the reading using a newspaper article or a "Dick and Jane" book. That may be enough to demonstrate to the person that it's not the object that matters.

How about a custard pie? At least you'll have something to look forward to regardless of the outcome! Oh yes, agreed, don't let the people you're reading handle or even touch it!