Michael Shermer Debunks James Van Praagh & Psychics
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- Опубліковано 11 лис 2007
- / skeptic
Michael Shermer explains how psychic James Van Praagh appears to talk to the dead by using such mentalism tricks as cold reading and hot reading. - Наука та технологія
Usually when someone tells you to be open minded they are actually asking you to ignore the truth.
Sundaydish1 I totally agree with your comment.
Sundaydish1 I agree as well..
+Sundaydish1 Yes from me as well.
Depends on the subject matter and context, but yes, in this case I would agree completely
Not true. It's the opposite.
Being open minded does not mean suspending your ability to think critically.
+Angelica Guerrero Marry me?
your mind is abit too open calvin
Subs1338 how so
What's so surprising to me about Van Fraud is how well respected he is in the "mediumship game" yet how really poor he is at it. I have a friend who sometimes will cold read people as a party trick. He knows and tells the person that he has no psychic ability, yet my friend is far better at cold reading that this guy.
because its all about the MEDIA. if they put him on a single TV show for whatever reason, people will assume, there is something special or reliability about it which doesn't validate at all.. people are ignorant and stupid i must say.
thenewcoming exactly. I like to call that “The Emperors New Clothes” syndrome, where when even the obvious proves otherwise, people will still believe it because they are told so, (especially if by the media or some other”credible” or authoritative force( creating great numbers of believers resulting in even mire followers
Your friend sounds like a real party animal.
I think he used plants a lot of times when he first came on scene so some of his readings seemed to be really impressive. I think that’s how he established a name for himself and even though he totally sucks at cold reading, the reputation is already there. I remember years and years ago watching him do a call in show on Larry King. I was sitting there watching him bomb call after call and then this one call came in and it was just nonstop hit after hit and like really specific stuff. I couldn’t figure it out because Larry wouldn’t have been in on something like that.Then it occurred to me that he most likely had a group of people calling in and he’d just need to recognize the voice and whatever name they’d agreed on and then he could just rapid fire anything at all and the caller would be saying “Yes! Oh my God! Yes!!!” It wouldn’t have had to have been prearranged with the show. If none of his posse actually got through to the show, then no harm, but he’d knock everyone’s socks off if one of them did. One reading like that and confirmation bias and wishful thinking takes care of the rest.
And have and open wallet....I mean mind....open mind....
LOL, love it!
Thanks.
Hilarious!!!😂🤣😂
There ought to be a law against frauds like that. Or at least they shouldn't be allowed to charge money.
I agree but when you think about it, they stay in business because people choose to ignore the facts because the lies are comforting to them and something they need for closure
Why? If you don’t like what he does don’t spend your money on it... not everything needs to have a law regulating peoples stupidity
It’s not people’s stupidity. These are people who genuinely want to believe what they are being told because they are distraught. It’s like if you took advantage of a small child and found a way to justify it and blame them
For not knowing better.
@@lisacox3750
Comparing ignorant people to little children is perhaps accurate, which makes it worse when these charlatans take advantage and profit from people's misery while providing them with no actual benefits.
Priests usually give the same false hope but they don't charge anything.
Problem is, it's a matter of belief and you can't regulate human stupidity. Because then, you'd have to outlaw giving money to churches. You'd have to outlaw commercials where they tell you buying that car or deodorant will make women love you. Shit, even good luck keychains. Any money transaction based on belief.
This is a great video. What's said about Van Praagh also applies to John Edwards, Theresa Caputo and the late Sylvia Browne.
ajosephcirene
Sylvia Browne is dead?
That explains the weird voices I hear whenever I'm in front of a large group of people.
ajosephcirene well, she also predicted she could be off by a decade or 2, so that makes her right again.
TheWatchernator
Well, if she made that prediction then I suppose you're right. I mean for a so called psychic to be off by ONLY 10 or 20 years I guess one could call that a "hit".
ajosephcirene it was a joke
TheWatchernator
Of course it was. So was my reply.
Yes, Mr. Van Praagh, this "computer system" is called the internet and people can access information through numerous social media sites. But given the time this was probably filmed, I would say that at least MySpace was already out.
rockabillylaker that’s what I thought also
How can you tell that someone is full of shit?
They call for an "open mind" instead of giving evidence.
Be open minded until your brain falls out.
there is life after death, just not for the person who is dead.
+addicted2gta i can talk to the dead. they just don't talk back
Peter L well that's very rude of them.
Absolute fraud. It breaks my heart how many sweet and innocent people have lost millions to James Van Praagh. :-(
Don't forget uneducated
@@yiurock4084 Being educated has nothing to do with it,people with degrees fall for all kinds of things.
I’m shocked over all these comments on here. 😂
I would recommend LEARNING how to do Mediumship. Once you connect to someone’s loved one and get evidence that you would never know, then you will personally EXPERIENCE what it’s like to talk to spirits. ❤️
Mediumship goes against everything we were taught in church and science. It’s financially feasible to accept this as truth, as “they” would have to RE-WRITE history and the Bible. 🤦♀️😁
Mediumship is very real. 😊
Try it for yourself. It’s very amazing and healing.
I’m a student of James’s. His mediumship courses are one of the more affordable and better ones.
I’ve taken many courses trying to connect to “dead people”.
It was through his course that I actually gained the skills to be able to do it.
Anyone can be a medium if you learn the correct techniques and practice at it.
You should try it. You’ll be a believer when you actually connect with someone’s loved one that has passed and get information that you could not have possible known or could make up. ❤
Mediumship is very real.
The sad part is that it would be a financial and faith disaster for the world as ALL books and education in churches and schools would have to be re-written.
And if the masses realized that they could connect directly with god and spirits, you would no longer need church, or even the government for that matter.
The illusion that we are “weak” humans that need them to be “saved” would be “debunked”. 🤷♀️
😊
@@gjament Could you reach out to Jimmy Hoffa please? I need to know a few things.
The so-called psychics and/or mediums say they have a gift, WHY DO THEY CHARGE MONEY????? A gift should be given as a gift!!!
For those who believe that Van Praagh receives messages from the dead, answer this: Sylvia Browne died more than a year ago. She claimed to have a spiritual guide in the after life....how come she, of all people, has not reached out from the dead and spoken to Van Praagh or John Edward. You'd think SHE of all people would do so. I'm still waiting....
Because Satan won't let her (in my opinion)
Silvia was most definitely a conartist
I investigated her with a CNN friend we tricked her & her thuggs threatened our lives.....she used to ask for SSI # on questionnaire she makes you fill right before she sees you & you must stay in order or she blows it 😂
Ahh.. "Open Minded" the shyster's creed.
And by "open minded" they mean: Believe whatever your told without any evidence to justify said belief.
proving something can be faked is not the same as showing it can never be done
These things happen to me all the time. I'll be thinking of a song, then the song will start playing on the radio, or I'll hear the song when I walk into a store. I'll be randomly thinking about someone, then that person will be in front of me when I look up. I'll be craving a candy, & a person will start passing that candy out. I'll be thinking about a song or idea, then a person will be talking about it or singing it. I have a picture of something in my mind then see it when I walk home, etc.
Several things work for them. One is, the majority of their audiences already believe or want to believe their bullshit. Second, the mediums believe their own bullshit. Then, you add in a good bit of showmanship, and the fact that they are con men, meaning they can tell you a lie and totally believe it. What makes it so horrible is the fact these charlatans make so much money.
+jaxbus3000
Some of the psychics believe in themselves, but I believe the majority are out and out conmen from the outset. They learn the tricks of their trade and then apply them.
Van Praagh told my mother (who is a twin with my aunt Danielle) would never be lonely because she was an only child and knew how to deal with it.
What kind of a psychic ask questions in the first place? THEY s/be giving answers, NOT asking questions! Yes, Van Praagh is a fake.
They all are
Were any of the messages from beyond the grave negative?
@carriemaizey contacts whith what or whom?
3. The problem I have with this is that it is not just a requirement to have an open mind but to believe. I feel that I have an open mind, I like to read, discuss and explore things, yet I do so while asking questions. It does not erode my sense of discovery it simply enables me to understand more. Many I speak to say "It is easy to be sceptical". But I feel that they have that mistaken. It is easy to be ignorant whether someone believes or not. to challenge ideas is tough.
Wow. This is really sad commentary. Maybe I would have felt the same at one time. I then attended one of his appearances in Canada. I was only one audience member of about 6,000 people. I remembered reading somewhere years before attending, that wearing an item of your loved one's could assist with a stronger connection. So my Mom had passed early in my life, and I wore a pair of her earrings that night. I also took an 8 x 10 photo of my 14 yr old nephew, my sister's only son, who had passed in a car accident several years earlier. The theatre lights were dim. He couldn't have known I had that photo tucked into my bag, or was wearing my Mom's earrings. My sister was seated elsewhere in the theatre, as we got our tickets at different times. He said to the audience, "Someone has their Mom's earrings in, and has a school photo they brought of a loved one which is upside down." He weeded out the 7 or so people fairly quickly who hsd jumped up, and had someone bring a microphone to me. He then said "No offense, but this message is not for you, it is for someone you're related to who is here". I said 'My sister, she's here seated elsewhere, as we didn't get seats together'. He asked for her to stand up. The things he said to her no one would or could gave known. Including that her son said she had 2 cavities and needed to go to thr dentist, he knew his hockey jersey number from his school league, he knew of an NHL player's first name who had the same swedish name. He knew specific details about pet dogs, and also about the special pen he gave my sister on the last Mother's Day he could celebrate with her. There were countless specific details. Until you receive info like this, which I hope you might one day, it's best to suspend disbelief. It is a true gift to have a real reading, and not some fake, which I realize is rampant.
If this guy is so sure that Van Praagh is doing "cold readings", "warm readings" etc., then he (the psycologist) should be able to perform a 'fake' reading and prove what he's saying! Most debunkers throw out these justifications for their skeptism but they would be far more convincing if they proved what they "say" by 'demonstrating' how Praagh and the likes, do what they do.
No doubt that there are 'fakes' out there but I can assure you there there are real psychics out there too!
Love this exposure!! They're the bane of hunanity, parasites, leeches, taking advantage of people's grief, guilt and naievity! Excellent video!! Bravo!! Xx
I have a sure fire way to piss of a medium, you get every "hit" in a cold reading session, you need to be open minded and think about any connection you could have with the "shot" no matter how trivial, my final victory was when he asked, does anyone have a connection with "L", my hand went up....my grandfathers next door neighbour was called Len......he stopped picking me after that even though my hand went up to every "shot" he tried
WHAT SHOW IS THIS??????
This is especially so when there is no one there around you. You may feel yourself being 'touched', or hear a certain song that you have not heard for years being played more than once, all these are 'messages' trying to contact you. Trying to tell you something. This is why children and animals especially are particularly close to the 'spirit world'. Because their minds are open. They simply believe. No more, no less.
good comeback at least a believer with a thought provoking argument thanks
@ebrobaru To give you an example of a reading I had last night. I kept hearing "Roger" in my mind... so I asked the lady... "Do you know a Roger"... to which she replied No.. she knew nobody with that name. At that moment I then saw in my head a picture of a friend I knew who's name was Roger... and his surname was Marsden. So I then said to her... well if it's not Roger then someone has the name "Marsden" and she reeled back in shock as her surname was "Marsden". (cont)
@ebrobaru That's vague? He was very specific. Explain the score when the readings were switched.
Van Praagh speaks of the importance of harmonising his vibrations with the departed. I sneezed yesterday and owing to the vibration thus created I found myself faced by one of my late acquaintances.
ill find one later for you as i am busy working
Dr. Dorreen Virtue sure knows what she's talking about. LOL!
We definitely were more easily duped in the past
Thank You.
I'm glad you mentioned Quantum Theory, because while it's a relatively new science and not wholly understood, there are still demonstrable and repeatable results with experimentation. Ever hear of the Young Double Slit Experiment? We can observe photons acting as both a wave and a particle. If you haven't figured out where I'm going with this, then I'll make it clear: There are provable results!
Be open minded to psychic readings? When someone who does not claim to be a psychic can replicate the exact results as a "professional psychic", then what you're doing as a career comes into question.
Thanks to Google I became a full time psychic medium.
Omg I love the narrators voice
I suggest too, that you take up the pendulum. Which is what I do often. A pendulum can be any weighted object dangling from string or a chain. Hold your pendulum between your thumb and forefinger, clear your mind, and ask your pendulum to show you the movement for 'yes'. The pendulum will begin to move. Take note how it moves because this is your 'yes' movement. [pendulums can only answer questions in a yes, no form.] Then do the same for your 'no'. Watch how the pendulum moves. This will
Michael Shermer looks exactly like the Bond villain from Tomorrow Never Dies here, it's uncanny!
Do you have all the answers about what is real?
@ebrobaru A skeptic will say "Well why didn't he just say Marsden to start with". Well for the same reason if you walked up to a stranger on the street and said "MARSDEN" they will just look at you having no idea what the hell you are on about. But if they said "ROGER" to you... they may turn around and say "What? sorry my name isn't Roger"
It is spirit's way of telling me it's a name coming through... then showing me the image of that person to narrow it down to a surname.
@frankmat The Million Dollar Challenge has very specific rules and procedures. One of them calls for both parties to agree to a protocol and to agree on what positive results would be. All these is done beforehand. So the point about that it is structured so that nobody can ever win it is really a mute point.
@ebrobaru Every psychic gets information differently. I am clairaudient and clairvoyant which means I hear things as a thought... much in the same way you would say to yourself "I've got to wash the car". The difference is via meditation I can distinguish my own thoughts and images in my mind... from those being given to me by the spirit world.
It's like a game of charades inside your head... but they have no physical bodies only energy which is why they can only project thoughts.
The project lasted for 20 years. No results in 20 years? You're kidding yourself. Even president Jimmy Carter who was introduced to it claimed that when they had a medium in a trance, she gave latitudes and longitudes for missing aircraft in the sea and when they checked the satellite, the planes were there.
@abbazin102 do you realize how unbelievable that story is? Of course I mean unbelievable not in the sense of amazement, but in the literal sense of the word that the story is not believable. There are so many other explanations for what you went through that would trounce any supernaturally transcendent soul renewal. I assumed you read my other post, so what would convince you that your claim is false? What would you accept as a better explanation for your experience?
2. You suggest that a 'visitation' (perhaps in a dream) could be a spirit contacting that person. But could it also be that it is the person's mind, their sub conscious, that creates the dream? Our minds have created many wonderful things, could this be one of them?
If your pendulum moves clockwise, then it is 'yes' confirming to you that it is telling the truth. This would mean then that you would have a spirit near you, watching you. You can then go ahead and ask your pendulum any questions at all. But the questions have to be formed so that your pendulum, answers yes, no, or maybe. No, is normally an anticlockwise movement, and your 'maybe wrong' answer is normally a diagonal movement. This is one of the simplest forms of 'spirit contact'.
Urgh! These people make me sick praying on grieving people.
Lol that ending though
@DoctorTachyon No, sorry, that video is as unsolid as any. The "predictions" were as always as vague as they can be
You may also experience 'smells' coming from no particular place, but smelling just as strong as if you were in front of whatever or whoever it is that is giving off that smell.
All of these things are 'messages' from the other side. And you must have an open mind in order to receive them to their fullest extent.
Yes, you can still experience things with a closed mind, but keep in mind that it is far harder for spirits to make contact with you if your mind refuses to believe.
@dmagron
That is true, we should also not be too closed-minded for that we will never discover the reality of such things.
I would be very interested to read some studies on this - specifically tests where shelving was placed in the op theater. If you can point me in the right direction?
You have made many other points, but here goes - 1. For me part of the problem is that you assume that when 'something supernatural happens more than three times' is that you are already attributing cause - i.e. the 'supernatural', and not considering that it could just be a random string of events without cause.
@33Barker Please, pretty please, explain how is Van Praagh a scientist!!!!
@DoctorTachyon Anyway, what´s your point? That Van Praagh is real?
@DoctorTachyon And why would PSI would?
Where particles can behave like waves,being in multiple states and location at the same times(yet we cant see it with our eyes)
@jlc012 excellent comment and very amusing also,thanks
@ebrobaru yes that os why I refer the Dean Radin speaks at google video where he discusses the many experiments by different scientists and their results and Rubert Sheldrake The Extended Mind where he discusses his experiments and results as well as those skeptics who play little game to discredit him.
@impalax327 So are you saying that Van Praagh is real?
Love James walking on the beach at 4:19. he's cool!
@frankmat Ok, so tell us, how does someone that has passed away conveys his message to you?
@DoctorTachyon JUst a little note, the video was not complete. It was edited. So, it´s a moot point
for spirits to contact you, either through your dreams - which are then called 'visitations' or through some other process. One sign of messages from the spirit world is if you suddenly begin to see pure white feathers around you. You may see a single pure white feather that floats down in front of you, or you may see more than one during the course of your day. These are 'messages' from the spirit world. trying to contact you. Other signs are hearing your name being 'whispered'.
Also examples of members of my family that have passed that have actually come back to communicate with me, over the years. This is not just me saying this, but it has happened to millions of others. Just because you may not have had experiences yourself, do not be closed-minded to the possibility of life after death and the sixth sense. You are then 'blocking' any messages from the other side, coming through to you, because of your disbelief. You have to be like a 'biological 'radio receiver'.
The same with the spirit world. Although there have been numerous tests, over the years, to see whether or not spirits do exist, the vast majority of those tests have proved inconclusive. However, if you research Florence Cooke, who was a 19th Century spirit medium, there is actual photographic evidence of her summoning a spirit. This 'spirit' was mentioned that her name was KATY KING. And the unusual thing about this was during the seances the spirit would actually touch the people and walk
Because the future is in 'flux' [always changing] by knowing future lottery numbers BEFORE they are drawn could, in some way affect what happens to your life - or other peoples lives at some point in the future, both spiritually and physically.
@ebrobaru Yeah I know. He does every trick all the other phonies pull. They never just devulge information. All he does is ask questions until he gets a favored response. What bothers me, is so many people think he's for real.
At the tiniest level smaller even than atoms Quntum activity occurs.Reality the world we perceive is described by two complete sets of physical laws.
I understand people get consolation by going to mediums, clairvoyants, priests..etc. But I still feel sorry for them, because they deprive themselves an opportunity to know about true nature of our world, and how much more exciting and beautiful it is than any irrational belief they hold. Understanding world and hence ourselves could serve of a lot more consolation to us even in our hardest times than things we embrace that are most likely are false.
FridaySternShow, ok I am left without words
To all those professionals, (both psychologists and psychiatrists), who believe that mediumship is real
, I have but one thing to say. Physician...heal thyself!
PT Barnum said it most accurately - 'There's a sucker born every minute!'
TY for typing my thoughts, I was too tired.
fuck i jus realized youtube wont let me put up links...i tried several times...ill send to your mail
be your 'no' movement. Then hold still the pendulum again and ask it to show you your 'maybe wrong' movement. Take note how your pendulum moves. This will be your 'maybe wrong' movement. Once you have found out the movements of your pendulum. Keep it still, clear your mind and ask the pendulum whether or not you have a spirit near you. Watch how your pendulum moves. Normally, it should begin to move in a clockwise motion for yes. If it does, stop the pendulum and ask it, 'is this the truth'?
The light continues on, there's no ending on the beginning? What the heck is that? Sound like a riddle.
That's like finding the light in the darkness or full of emptiness.
Thank You Michael. For more be sure to take in the great, revealing episode" The biggest Douche in the universe" (John Edward) season six episode 15 by the masters of myth debunking Matt Parker and Trey Stone.
@DoctorTachyon I agree on that. But it works both ways
How did Dr. Doreen Virtue get through med school with such a poor understanding of what science is and how it works?
Its good to have an Open Mind but its also good to have " Open Eyes" too
@ragincaucasian319 how about ALL of them?
4. My last point is more of a personal one. I hope you do not think that I am being disrespectful in my questioning. I am simply someone in search of the truth, whatever that may be.
@4:08
"Your local neighbor"
As opposed to...? those nosey foreign neighbors?
what they have seen upon those shelves. The results were staggering, making scientists and skeptics alike think again about the survival of the human brain AFTER death.
The reason why three is the 'magic' number is because it is the perfect number by which we can judge when something stops being a coincidence. Because you know then - or you should know - that something or someone is trying to tell you something, trying to pass on a message to you from the 'other side' that you need to know.
"There are no endings, only beginnings" - That explains the allure of this crap right there. People are afraid of death and don't want to accept the idea that life just... ends. Its a coping mechanism - "This life may be tough, but when I die there will be a world of paradise for me!"
@Hooverdarnit Well, thank you for sharing your Ideas. I'll see you on the other side, in the same place.
The Shawn Hornbeck incident was the definitive debunking of Van Praagh. Telling parents their abducted son is dead in a railway car, and then the kid is found alive four years later, and the abduction had nothing to do with a railway. His only excuse is that messages are vague, despite him saying some very concrete things about the case that later all proved to be false. Crushing the hopes of these people finding their son, who was alive the whole time - sounds like a great psychic to me.
So can I take then that you believe it's possible to saw someone in half, put the pieces back together and then have that person walk away alive?
Hate to tell you, but I witnessed a Leslie Flint seance whereby spirit communication confirmed that James vanPraagh would be doing this type of work BEFORE JAMES EVER TRULY DEVELOPED -and I taped that communication.(Anyone interested in Leslie Flint's work?Go to the website.Great communication you can hear and learn from).Dr. Noreen Virtue's comments here are absolutely correct.Fear,indeed,will create such blocks to see the truth of people who do have the gift.Open mind/eyes.
@ebrobaru in my opinion it is because most have grown in a world where these things have been tied to silly religions. So taking on these ideas is sub-consciously taking on religion. At some level it is also the fear that accepting these things opens the door to the God conversation. At the end of the day it is about keeping your world view intact. And be clear that physics has had idea which have me with great challenge as well. People resist change. You opinion is quite valid.
Actually it's extractive micturation or as we in Britain say they are 'taking the piss'.
@DylanTownesDrake If I was psychic and just was picking up on some one from the past that died or if i went back in time and was looking at some one at the beach, but besides that what else could it be? well from your aspect of it I could be a liar, but not the people who I told before they told me who it was. So I donno? you tell me os that a coensidence? If so I have many strange coensidences I guess thats life though :)Namaste**
I meant in a bad way. It could alter the future for you in a bad way, or for someone else. That is why you only win, when you are MEANT to win.
Yes, things that aren't real often make me lose control. lulz
OOh, is that Bill Curtis narrating?
Give me a short psychic reading.
dr.Michael is right. . . Jamer can not talk to the dead peopel. . No body can. . Am l right?
But the movements of the pendulum are sometimes different to each person holding it. Never allow your pendulum to be touched by anyone else though. This is because you want your energy within the lead weight, be it a crystal, stone, wood or plastic. Your energy must 'connect' and so your form a 'bond' with your pendulum. This, as I have said, is another form of spirit contact.
Shermer is a psychologist? Or did the station get it wrong? Interesting, I never knew.