Skepticblog

Well, according to a group of hard working  psychics whose banner motto reads ” …to show that there is ample evidence for the paranormal as well as to expose the irrational and religiophobia of professional skeptics and belligerent atheists,” I have now reached that coveted plateau where few can brag to have attained. In their Sept 13, 2012 article “Physicalism is Dead,” (these are their words folks…) I have been called out as that four letter word so treasured as the ultimate insult for so many centuries: “Mark Edward is Scum.”

I must be doing something right.

In said article I’m held to the fire for telling, “one of the tricks involves pre-screening people in the audience: something actual psychics don’t do! In typical skeptical fashion, he just makes shit up.”

Not exactly. The article is a pretty rough go, but I found it amazing to note how the “actual psychics” and their believers go right off the cliff into their rant without thinking things through one little bit.

The writer goes on:

” Here is what one actual psychic — one Helen Hoffman — had to say in a comment below, all emphasis added:

“I happen to do psychic readings, & I have never ‘interviewed” people Before I read for them(!!!)

Not Likely to do Pre-Show Interview

Helen, that may well be true for the thousands of readers cluttering the psychic faire market and sitting in back rooms of psychic shops waiting for a walk-in, but you missed my point entirely. I wasn’t writing about your centuries old ilk  in “Psychic Blues” except as brief unimportant footnotes in the history of the current plague of mediums running rampant and unchallenged in America. The people who do make use of pre-show information and “screening” are the Big Fish. These are the people I’m after and the “actual psychics” least likely to spend time on-line making wild assumptions about my work and comparing it to their own.

Yet dear Helen (who I have never heard of) prattles on:

“These money-hungry jerks give those of us who really DO see the future, etc. a bad name. I tell my clients what I ‘see’ in my visions, nothing more and nothing less. 99% of the time I had never even met the person until I read for them.”

Incredible. Of course not. It’s not necessary in your case. You don’t need to bother. You are not pushing a reality television show, hawking books or appearing on Dr. Phil or Anderson either, right? You are happy in your own comfortable insulated world of fuzzy woo, oblivious to the real money-making racket going on everyday, twenty four-seven. Complete and utter denial.

Helen’s percentage ratio also of course begs the question about that left over 1% . Does this mean you know that one out of 100 before you read for them? If you do,  you have a leg up on the psychic sitting next to you at the faire who might not. That’s a clear advantage. One percent can make a huge difference to gullible people who want to believe. Psychics know how to take the tiniest shred of information and pump it up into what can at first appear as astonishing hits. When taken apart, dissected and examined through transcripts or on video replay their glib verbal manipulations tend to fall apart like rotting fruit.

“Mark Edward is paraded as a “good guy” who swindles you so you won’t get swindled again (gotta love that logic) by ‘real’ mountebanks in the future, but I say we call him what he really is: scum.

The first part of that last statement actually does hold some logic if you think about it. But it would be counter-intuitive for any “actual psychic” to embrace the truth of their own awkward statement. Yep, chances are if you read my book, you are not likely to get “swindled again,” … even by Helen.

Very Likely to do Pre-Show Interviewing

BTW: Contrary to Helen’s opinion, I’m not making a huge money-hungry greedy killing with my skeptical activism. In fact all told, my current pursuits in trying to make a dent in what passes for spirituality in the real scumbag universe ends up frequently costing much more than I make.  But don’t boo hoo me. Skeptics do what we have to do when we see red and witness close-up the sham compassion running the Big Media show. Every day I have to wake up and face the facts: Few if any people want to know what the real psychic deal is all about. The truth refuses to sell even as another casting company trolls for the latest psychic detective.

We are the minority. To my way of thinking that fact is far scarier than any ten ghost hunter reality shows.

You can read the whole ugly tirade  (including the requisite Edgar Cayce “scientific” studies at Duke University blathering) here:

http://physicalismisdead.blogspot.com/2012/09/mark-edward-is-scum.html