Claimant, heal thyself?

[KnotKnitWit]

I noticed that the claimant, Bich Ba Do, has a hearing loss severe enough to require him to be accompanied by an assistant. If his 'healing skills' work, why has he not restored his own hearing?

Can anyone remember other claimants whose 'skills' involved healing yet who, themselves, suffered from a medical condition more severe than the occasional headache?

On the same track, one of the claimants (Ian Conger, the ouija board guy) has had difficulty due to the poor spelling of his 'receivers'. If the transfer of data from a 'sender' to a recipient or recipients is truly the result of paranormal means, then why would the spelling ability of the recipient(s) play any part at all? After all, the 'sender' is looking at the words and all the 'recipient' is doing is to write down what is sent. If the 'phenomenon' involves Ian influencing a ouija board, why would that board not be influenced correctly? Particularly as the use of a ouija board is, in this instance, a letter-by-letter procedure.

I realize that people who think that they have abilities outside of those claimed by the rest of us, why can these people not 'heal' themselves or spell a word at which they are looking? And, why can they not realize that the inability to do these things simply makes them look foolish?

Personally, I think that Mr. Bich will evaporate and that Conger is gaming but I'd like to hear your opinions on this. IOW, does Sylvia catch colds or does Uri ever get the runs?

(Edit, spelling)

[IXP]

My guess on Conger is that he was tricked by some friends into thinking the Ouija board was working. He then applied for the challenge, and these friends and tricksters naturally disappeared. He has assembled a new crew, but is not having much luck, and is probably quite perplexed about it. I think he might actually come the the obvious conclusion eventually, but we won't be likely to hear about it.

IXP

[CFLarsen]

I noticed that the claimant, Bich Ba Do, has a hearing loss severe enough to require him to be accompanied by an assistant. If his 'healing skills' work, why has he not restored his own hearing?

That's a very naughty question.

[LordoftheLeftHand]

KnotKnitWit:
Sounds like you are trying to apply common sense to a paranormal claim. Shame on you :)

LLH

[KnotKnitWit]

My guess on Conger is that he was tricked by some friends into thinking the Ouija board was working. He then applied for the challenge, and these friends and tricksters naturally disappeared. He has assembled a new crew, but is not having much luck, and is probably quite perplexed about it. I think he might actually come the the obvious conclusion eventually, but we won't be likely to hear about it.

IXP

Thank you for your comment about Ian. Since he seems to be having a problem getting his 'group' together, I thought that he was stringing JREF along and playing games. Your view makes a lot of sense and is much kinder than mine.

If your view is true, that would be really sad. I like jokes but I don't like those that make someone else look like a fool. (As opposed to someone making themselves look foolish, of course.) There's nothing funny about that.

knw

[LordoftheLeftHand]

My guess on Conger is that he was tricked by some friends into thinking the Ouija board was working. He then applied for the challenge, and these friends and tricksters naturally disappeared. He has assembled a new crew, but is not having much luck, and is probably quite perplexed about it. I think he might actually come the the obvious conclusion eventually, but we won't be likely to hear about it.

IXP

We did something like this to my friend’s nephew when we were kids. We held a fake séance (where everyone was in on it except the nephew). We burned a message onto the back to the Ouija board ahead of time and rigged some cheesy props. He got so scared he ran all the way home in the middle of the night and wouldn't come over for months. We got in a lot of trouble :( We were bad.

LLH

[KnotKnitWit]

That's a very naughty question.

I know. Nasty of me, isn't it? :D

I think the concept goes along with why 'psychics' don't play the stock market or enter lotteries. They claim to be able to do for other people that which they cannot do for themselves.

Mr. Bich (if I'm right about the oriental placement of surnames) has mentioned his own deafness several times and then claims to be able to cure serious illness in others. That fact, alone, should make even the most gullible person stop and think, 'Whoa!'.

[KnotKnitWit]

KnotKnitWit:
Sounds like you are trying to apply common sense to a paranormal claim. Shame on you :)

LLH


:o (Hangs head in shame.) How could I ever have done such a thing?

[KnotKnitWit]

<snip>

:( We were bad.



You were young.

I did a few things I'm not particularly proud of but growing up and getting a little empathy seems to cure that in most of us.

In my case, I played a joke on a fellow guest at a pajama party and it turned out that the joke was on me. Even though it was funny enough that I still laughed myself silly, The Frozen Bra Saga did teach me how the original victim might have felt.

Toned me down a bit...

kkw

[LordoftheLeftHand]

You were young.

I did a few things I'm not particularly proud of but growing up and getting a little empathy seems to cure that in most of us.

I've always had a vicious streak, although I've gotten much better at controlling it or at least limiting it to words, not actions.

LLH

[NoZed Avenger]

[COLOR=black]I've always had a vicious streak, although I've gotten much better at-

-hiding the evidence allowing them to trace the crime to you . . . . ?




:)

[Blackwell]

My guess on Conger is that he was tricked by some friends into thinking the Ouija board was working. He then applied for the challenge, and these friends and tricksters naturally disappeared. He has assembled a new crew, but is not having much luck, and is probably quite perplexed about it. I think he might actually come the the obvious conclusion eventually, but we won't be likely to hear about it.

IXP

Or maybe Ian took the whole thing a little more seriously than his friends. I imagine the ouija board could be exciting when you're sitting their with a group of friends at a party, but deep down, maybe most of them realized there was nothing truly paranormal about it.

In any case, I doubt we'll see the claim tested. Ian's been lurking here regularly since his last post; my hope is that he's been mulling over the questions we've asked him (which he still hasn't answered) and will come to the logical conclusion on his own. Not as satisfying for us, but I'd rather see someone come to his senses than have him cling to his beliefs even after a failed test.

[KnotKnitWit]

<snip>...but I'd rather see someone come to his senses than have him cling to his beliefs even after a failed test.
.

I agree. One of the things that I find really difficult to understand is that people would fail a test, sometimes abysmally so, and then simply come back with the same claim.

One might think that being unable to demonstrate their claimed 'powers' might give them some food for thought. (I'm speaking of the 'serious' :rolleyes: claimants, not the ones who are obviously mentally ill.) What kind of a sad, sterile life must one lead to believe one has psychic powers and to then believe that one still has them even after public failure?

I think that it takes a certain neediness to want something so badly that you ignore all evidence to the contrary. As Mr. Bich does when he sees no paradox in claiming to heal while he, himself, suffers from an unhealed medical problem.

[rjh01]

What kind of a sad, sterile life must one lead to believe one has psychic powers and to then believe that one still has them even after public failure?

I think that it takes a certain neediness to want something so badly that you ignore all evidence to the contrary.

Lots of people have this problem on other issues like religion, their children, other beliefs.