what do you think about cold readers?

okay. everybody knows by now im sure that the famous john waters was a cold reader. cold reading is basically an old parlor trick used by many old "psychics" (not to dispell all psychics as fake mind you) where one goes through a process of deductive reasoning in a room of people. theystart out with saying....."the spirits are telling me a name, I think it's john? or don? or dan?"

and go on frm there.

now. with this in mind, and the fact that shows like john water's show sported legal disclaimers on it stating it was for entertainment purposes only, do you think john a well as other cold readers are frauds?
or even better, do you think they are actually harming people more than helping by providing false statements of loved ones passed to relieve their pains?

Do you mean John Edward of 'Crossing Over' and not director John Waters of 'Cry-Baby' and 'Polyester'? I'm assuming that's who you are talking about.

As for harming people, I don't think he does much. I've seen a few of his shows, but in a nutshell, most of the time it was him locating someone in the audience that had a loved one die, him telling them that their dead loved one wants them to know that he/she loves them and they need to quit mourning him/her and go on with their lives.

If people wanna believe that stuff (especially when it's clearly stated that it's entertainment only), then let `em. It's like deliberately placing your [emotional] self in front of a loaded gun. People are responsible for themselves. If they're being harmed by it, then they need to wake the hell up. Read the disclaimers. I say that fully realizing how utterly difficult that is for some people to do. But if they're gonna set themseves up as prey, predators are only gonna do what comes natural. Sorry. I have no sympathy.
Now I do believe there are actual psychics out there. But they are rarely ever on tv and certainly don't host their own show. The psychics that I have personally known can be counted on my thumbs, but from what I can tell of them, they're rather solitary creatures... and while they gotta pay bills like everybody else, they'd rather not be on national television to do it.

my .02 cents.

Asides from hypnosis and NLP, I'm also very much into mentalism and cold reading. If you want to learn cold reading, then I suggest you check out 'The Bible' on the subject:

Full Facts of Cold Reading

It's what I'd call a 'semi-trade' book (meaning you can't get it from Amazon), but unlike a lot of magic/mentalism sites, you're not required to answer questions about Tenkai or what Teller's first name is before you can buy it...even so, it's all you'll need to know.
Ian Rowland's book not only shows the how to's, but also the how to totally fuck up a cold reading as well...perfect for putting psuedo-psychics on the spot :D !
Also has some nifty tips about applying cold reading principles to dating and sales too!

Personally, I think it's kind of exploitative, but most cold readers argue that it is therapeutic for the bereaved...either way, forewarned is forearmed. It's a neat trick to be able to convince people you have psychic powers though....I guess it's like people who believe in Ouija boards and the like! :p:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HeadlessBill

Do you mean John Edward of 'Crossing Over' and not director John Waters of 'Cry-Baby' and 'Polyester'? I'm assuming that's who you are talking about.

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ummmmm...yeh. that's who i meant. lol and I know who john waters is. im a fan of his movies but you also forgot serial mom, pink flamingos, cecile b demented and ofcourse hairspray. thanks for the reminder though.

I think it's more effective as a tool of law enforcement... but really who takes day time tv seriously? in the event that you take out the curlers, put on some pants and leave the trailor park long enough to miss your 'stories', then naw, john edwards probably isn't going to do too much harm to you.