Randi called a phony on TV

[Richard]

(That should read.. 'Randi called a phony on TV')

Here's is a short audio clip from tonight's "Enough Rope" talk show here in Australia. Mike Willesee made a show some years back called "Signs from God". Here is an mp3 what he had to say about Randi.

http://tinyurl.com/rnl48

[bob_kark]

I say we stomp him! Then we tattoo him! Then we hang him! And then we kill him!

[Beady]

I'm sure Randi has been called worse, many times in many places.

[MWare]

"Before I found God, I trusted in me. Yeah, that's pretty dangerous."

[Richard]

I say we stomp him! Then we tattoo him! Then we hang him! And then we kill him!

Ummm, no.. I say we let everyone know that he is wrong and has no real evidence. This guy also claims that the The Shroud of Turin is real etc. The transcript will soon appear on : http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/

BTW, Randi did not give him an award, it was Australian Skeptics.

[bob_kark]

Ummm, no.. I say we let everyone know that he is wrong and has no real evidence.
Well, I suppose you'd know best. How should we go about getting the word out?

[Richard]

To start with I have let Randi know. Next I'll get the matter placed on the home page of Australian Skeptics and take it from there.

[Richard]

I have found the award.....

'the Skeptic' Vol 7 No 2 - 1987

First Journalism Awards to Willesee and Beale

The Skeptical Journalism Award had its genesis in an
idea proposed by Dick Smith. Dick felt that, while the
presentation of an annual Bent Spoon Award served
to highlight the "psychic" charades that were
perpetrated each year and brought publicity to the work
of Australian Skeptics, it was important to provide
positive incentive to journalists to critically scrutinise
any paranormal stories that came their way. Dick
offered a prize of $1000 for the story, judged by AS,
to be the best sceptical treatment of a paranormal or
pseudo-scientific topic....

The entries were considered by the annual meeting
of the national committee which preceded the 1987
annual convention. After much discussion, it was
decided to award the "Skeptical Journalism Award"
and $1000 for 1986 to Trans Media Productions'
Willesee program for the story on Uri Geller, shown
on November 6 and 7. A transcript of the program
was contained in the Skeptic, Vol 7 No 1, and consisted
of a confrontation between Geller and Ben Harris,
magician and member of Australian Skeptics.
The judges decided that one other story was worthy
of special mention and a special award was voted to
Bob Beale, science writer of the Sydney Morning
Herald. His story concerned the pressure being
brought to bear on the sponsors of an Australian
Museum exhibit train to remove references to evolution
from the exhibit on human origins. Creationists sought
to apply pressure to the Commonwealth Bank, a major
sponsor of the exhibition, and Mr Beale's story was
instrumental in giving publicity to this unsuccessful
threat to intellectual freedom. Mr Beale was awarded
$500 and a special Skeptical Journalism Award for
this story....


http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/2ndcoming/skepticism.pdf (page 15)

[Richard]

http://www.randi.org/jr/7-30-1999.html

I received a storm of email and phone calls following the Fox television network special "Signs from God; Science Tests Faith" that was shown on July 28. Though I'm sure that I could almost write a book based upon the material that appeared in this incredibly inept presentation, I will limit my comments here to just the highlights...

[Polaris]

I say we stomp him! Then we tattoo him! Then we hang him! And then we kill him!

And I say we let him go!

[Skeptic Guy]

(That should read.. 'Randi called a phony on TV')

Here's is a short audio clip from tonight's "Enough Rope" talk show here in Australia. Mike Willesee made a show some years back called "Signs from God". Here is an mp3 what he had to say about Randi.

http://tinyurl.com/rnl48

He says that "you can't find faith through rational thinking".... how true.

[rebecca]

A phony? Who is this guy, Holden Caulfield?

[rustytunes]

I now refer to as him Mike Wooesee. I thought Andrew Denton could have gone a lot further, and taken him to task on some of those claims. As soon as Wooesee said that Randi was a phoney, Andrew had him by the short and curlies, but he let him off the hook. He said, "ok, forget James Randi"...

But to his credit, at least Andrew did raise the skeptical aspect of Wooesee's claims, albiet briefly each time, and I don't think that the audience was too impressed with Wooesee by the end. Perhaps Andrew should have given Wooesee a bit more rope...

[Piscivore]

A phony? Who is this guy, Holden Caulfield?

Heh, that's what I was thinking.

[John Jackson]

Of course Randi’s a phoney. Come on!! :rolleyes:

He’s a crook, a charlatan, a liar, a self-confessed fraudster; his million dollar challenge is fake, it’s biased, bent, fixed, can’t be won, and he judges it so that it’s impossible to win.

If this wasn’t true, believers would have to justify their not winning the million dollars. ;)

[Richard]

Phoney.. yes.. You know, sometimes I make errors with Engnisch. Anyway, here is the Michael Willesee transcript.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1718105.htm

----8<--- snip --------

MIKE WILLESEE: James Randy is a phoney. I mean he forgets that he once named me Investigative Journalist of the Year and sent me a trophy. Fortunately I threw it away, I didn't take it seriously.

ANDREW DENTON: But, okay, put aside James Randy. Why not give it to somebody that's not carrying any strong religious belief to absolutely thoroughly investigate?

MIKE WILLESEE: We were quite prepared to do that, but all the people who criticised us, not one person asked to see the footage, including all the footage that didn't go to air. Not one person asked to interview any witnesses. Not one critic made the slightest attempt at investigation, so now tell me who I hand it over to?

[socialsniper]

Shouldn't we just ignore this guy? Quoting him and making a big deal out of it gives him unnecessary exposure.

[Ipecac]

And I say we let him go!

Noooooo!!

[rjh01]

A letter has been published written by Dazza about James Randi on the have your say (http://www2b.abc.net.au/guestbookcentral/list.asp?guestbookID=181) page Would he [Mike] please tell him [James Randi] this to his face, on camera and with one,,just one piece of evidence? Then we'll see who the "phoney" really is.Mike said it, it's up to Mike to prove it.

[CurtC]

Wait - which phony did Randi call on TV? What did they talk about?

[princesspoppy]

http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/fighting/fighting0028.gif

[Richard]

Wait - which phony did Randi call on TV? What did they talk about?

You can read the interview here:

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1718105.htm

He talks about Randi (or Randy as it says) near the end.

[l0rca]

A phony? Who is this guy, Holden Caulfield?

<3

[jazzalta]

He is a phony. See the above clip.

[Lonewulf]

<snip>

MIKE WILLESEE: I said earlier in the interview that you won't find faith simply through rational thinking. It is a gift. I also said that if you want faith, all you have to do is open your heart, at least recognise that God might be there. In the meantime, if you rely on your own rational thinking, then you're pretty well saying, "I can out-think God and I'll decide for myself if he's there or not," and you can't out-think God. And if there's no God, don't bother thinking about it. It's all a waste of time.

ANDREW DENTON: Mike Willesee, I admire your questioning spirit. Thank you very much.


Okay... so you can't find faith through rational thinking... you have to accept it as a gift... and if you're relying on rational thinking, then you're out-thinking God... and if there isn't any God, then you can't bother be rational, because there's no point at all...

And yet, Mike is being congratulated on his "questioning spirit"? What part of his spirit is questioning?

I know the interviewer has to at least be polite, but come on; that's either plain dishonest or short-sighted.

[rustytunes]

<snip>

ANDREW DENTON: Mike Willesee, I admire your questioning spirit. Thank you very much.[/B]


Okay... so you can't find faith through rational thinking... you have to accept it as a gift... and if you're relying on rational thinking, then you're out-thinking God... and if there isn't any God, then you can't bother be rational, because there's no point at all...

And yet, Mike is being congratulated on his "questioning spirit"? What part of his spirit is questioning?

I know the interviewer has to at least be polite, but come on; that's either plain dishonest or short-sighted.

That comment by Andrew knocked my socks off - but I thought it may have been a little sarcastic?

[TheBoyPaj]

He is a phony. See the above clip.

That clip does not show that Randi is a phony. All it proves is that people get very angry and abusive when their sacred cows are challenged.

Does that TV host really think that he was offering his opponent a chance to debate? He didn't let Randi get a word in. Typical woo behaviour.

[Lonewulf]

That comment by Andrew knocked my socks off - but I thought it may have been a little sarcastic?

Didn't sound sarcastic to me, but who knows?

It sounded to me like he admired the guy, at least slightly; and I can see why. Mike Willisee seems to be a calm, charismatic man. Doesn't make him any more right, but he wasn't exactly ranting and raving up there. Plus, it is Andrew's job as host to at least try to be polite.

However, I know very little about Andrew myself, and haven't listened to his stuff before, so who knows? I may very well just not know his communication style.

[rustytunes]

Andrew is basically a comedian, with a good body of TV and breakfast radio work. I understand that he is also responsible for Tench (http://www.davidtenchtonight.com/touch/index.cfm).
Willesee was on primetime TV for many years, perhaps there is a certain amount of respect or even awe?