Psychics = whack-a-mole.

[Big Les]

Or perhaps Groundhog Day?

http://heritage.scotsman.com/myths.cfm?id=210612007

Nice that the only comments got in before closure were from sceptics - good job lads.

But this guy has been about as roundly debunked as it's possible to be. His own TV show exposed and fired him. But like the Terminator, he absolutely. Will. Not. Stop. And it's the same story with the others; they get whacked by the rubber mallet of scepticism, and another one pops up nearby. Then the one you whacked just now pops back up as well!

This is what we're dealing with here; a mixture of overwhelming apathy from the majority, and a hardcore of fingers-in-the-ears bleevers who are able to sustain these frauds through an entire career. Robert Lancaster is doing sterling work with Sylvia, and many others have achieved great things in exposing psychics, from Houdini to Randi.

Sometimes it seems like ice-skating uphill. Are there that many fence-sitters to be convinced by our earnest antics in the press and (for most of us) in our everyday lives? I hope so.

I suppose the point of this thread is; has any psychic been so thoroughly debunked as to destroy, or even harm their career in a significant way? I can't think of one, and that depresses me.

[Cuddles]

I suppose the point of this thread is; has any psychic been so thoroughly debunked as to destroy, or even harm their career in a significant way? I can't think of one, and that depresses me.

Of couse, if you can't think of any that might be because they've been debunked so severely that no-one remembers them any more.

[Big Les]

Or they've been erased from the timeline. That gives me an idea for a TV show pitch - PSI-TIME-COP!

[fuelair]

I like Whack-a-mole! Maybe an offshoot : Whack-a-psychic where little figures of Slyvia, John Dedwards and Urine Gello pop up out of their BHoles only to be smited back with the mighty Hammer of Randiness.

[Tricky]

I suppose the point of this thread is; has any psychic been so thoroughly debunked as to destroy, or even harm their career in a significant way? I can't think of one, and that depresses me.
Well, there was Margery Crandon (http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/Crandon,%20Margery.html).

[Rrose Selavy]

Originally Posted by Big Les http://forums.randi.org/helloworld/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?p=2344598#post2344598)
I suppose the point of this thread is; has any psychic been so thoroughly debunked as to destroy, or even harm their career in a significant way? I can't think of one, and that depresses me.


Randi vs James Hydrick comes to mind - He came clean soon after that and I don't see a comeback tour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hydrick

[Big Les]

Well, there was Margery Crandon (http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/Crandon,%20Margery.html).

Yes, that's as definitive as it gets I think (not that I would wish alcoholism on any of them :( ). But even that link says:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and other prominent supporters of spiritualism never gave up their trust or belief in her.

And how many newcomers were there post-debunking who knew little of it and cared even less?

Randi vs James Hydrick comes to mind - He came clean soon after that and I don't see a comeback tour.

True, but he was a "psychokinetic" like Geller; the psychic mediums and clairvoyants aren't using such manual magic tricks and so are harder to debunk by way of demonstration; there's always some leeway for bleevers to explain away and casual observers to still come away thinking there could be something to it. And of course Geller continues to fester away with the same old tired parlour tricks; I suspect Hydrick simply had a sense of shame about the whole thing and couldn't put himself back in the public eye after Randi did such a number on him.

[JQH]

I like Whack-a-mole! Maybe an offshoot : Whack-a-psychic where little figures of Slyvia, John Dedwards and Urine Gello pop up out of their BHoles only to be smited back with the mighty Hammer of Randiness.

A Hammer of Randiness brings a concept to British minds that I'm sure you wern't intending!:eye-poppi

[fuelair]

A Hammer of Randiness brings a concept to British minds that I'm sure you wern't intending!:eye-poppi

Never assume:) :D (I am extremely familiar with British porn - wrote a term paper in high school on Fanny Hill -that was in '63 or '64 - and terminology).
Specific example: Randiana (collection from a periodical of that name). It is, though less often, used over the pond anyway!!