Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Sylvia Browne is a performer. She has an act, and she performs it in a classic method used by stage magicians. By being vague and fishing for fragments of possibilities in people's lives, like a stopped clock, she'll be right twice a day. She uses religious faith as a cover. When she is wrong, she'll say something like "I'm not perfect, only God is." Which is a way to tell skeptics to just shut up and stop asking uncomfortable questions, how dare they argue with God's plan? In a case like this, where a 44 year old woman died of heart failure and believing her daughter was dead based on this psychic expert saying so, it's really a level of fraud that should be criminal.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder So maybe Sylvia Browne is a performer like the GOP would like us to believe Limbaugh and Beck are "entertainers", akin to professional wrestling. Same, but different. Enough people believe the schtick to keep it going.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>it's really a level of fraud that should be criminal.<< Absolutely 100% agree. I wish there were some way to criminalize this kind of predatory behavior. People pay psychics. In some documented cases, people gave up their life savings to mediums to speak to a dead relative. It's just appalling.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***She uses religious faith as a cover. When she is wrong, she'll say something like "I'm not perfect, only God is." Which is a way to tell skeptics to just shut up and stop asking uncomfortable questions, how dare they argue with God's plan?*** Oh, you mean like this? "For more than 50 years as a spiritual psychic and guide, when called upon to either help authorities with missing person cases or to help families with questions about their loved ones, I have been more right than wrong. If ever there was a time to be grateful and relieved for being mistaken, this is that time. Only God is right all the time. My heart goes out to Amanda Berry, her family, the other victims and their families. I wish you a peaceful recovery." - Sylvia Browne <a href="http://www.sylviabrowne.com/amanda-berry" target="_blank">http://www.sylviabrowne.com/amanda-berry</a>
Originally Posted By Mr X Details Fees Phone reading with Sylvia - $850 Phone reading with Chris - $500 (in-person appts. also available with Chris) To Schedule an Appointment To schedule an appointment with Sylvia or Chris, please call or write to: Sylvia Browne Corporation 6000 Hellyer Ave Ste 150 San Jose, CA 95138 (408) 379-7070
Originally Posted By Mr X ***The length of time for your reading varies with each individual depending on your questions to a maximum of 30 minutes. Most readings average between 20 to 30 minutes*** Wow...I don't think even lawyers and doctors make that much for 20-30 minutes of work!
Originally Posted By ecdc Let's say, for the sake of argument, that psychics are a real phenomena. Let's further say that their defense of failure, 100% of the time, under controlled conditions, happens because "it doesn't work like that" and "I can't control it." Fair enough. Science can only test the observable and falsifiable. Anything else falls outside of the realm of science, including then, psychics. That's *exactly* why no one should ever spend any money on them. It's why psychics should never charge for their services, because by their own admission, a controlled setting like a professional reading can't work.
Originally Posted By Tikiduck Join the inner circle, 18 month gold membership, only 79.95! There's a sucker born every minute.- P.T. Barnum
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan There are so many people who believe in psychics, that's why eventually she became a regular feature of the Montel Williams show. Whenever I would see her, I would shake my head as audience members gasped in awe of her special powers. It just seemed hopelessly phony to me, and the more you read up about various times she assisted police, it gets fishier and fishier. Hell, maybe I'm psychic. I knew she was full of it years ago, and it turns out my prediction was right. No charge, folks. You're welcome.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 One of my favorite moments of an early Daily Show was Beth Littleford (I think) interviewing Dionne Warwick and saying "The Psychic Friends Network went under. Did no one... see that coming??"
Originally Posted By ecdc <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/09/sylvia-brownes-amanda-perry-psychic_n_3240157.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...157.html</a> Good article on Sylvia Browne and psychics in criminal cases. <a href="http://www.csicop.org/si/show/psychic_defective_sylvia_brownes_history_of_failure" target="_blank">http://www.csicop.org/si/show/..._failure</a> Even better article on her success rate. She claims to be successful about 85-90% of the time. A close study of transcripts about cases she's commented on show that her success rate is actual...wait for it...0% The articles note the difficulty in validating or invalidating psychic claims because they're usually so vague. (Psychics love to say that a crime was committed in or near water; it sounds specific, but it's actually very common.)
Originally Posted By barboy ///What a disgusting, opportunistic liar(Syvia Browne)/// PLEASE WAIT....... I'm not so sure that is totally fair to say. We don't know that she willfully/purposeluy told these famlies untruths.......just trying to be fair here but is it possible that Browne believes in what she tells people, even though she has been proven wrong on those occasions? I will be the first to call her irresponsible but I am not ready to call her a disgusting liar(even though she might well be one I've read 3 of her books and thumbed through probably another 3 or 4 and find them to be entertaining reads but there is no way that I can call her a charlatan/liar or even one with a real gifting either....... But the bottom line is, for me anyway, she best stop "divining" because she can adversely affect people's lives which is terribly irresponsible.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>just trying to be fair here but is it possible that Browne believes in what she tells people, even though she has been proven wrong on those occasions?<< If she believes it, then she is delusional, because she couldn't have been more wrong. But I don't think she believed it. If someone asks if their abducted child is dead or alive, you have at best 50/50 odds of guessing correctly. But the safer bet would be to say the child was dead, because that so often turns out to be the case. Imagine that Amanda Berry had been killed at any time during her horrific ordeal. Browne would still be able to claim (and you can bet your bottom dollar she would have) that even though she may have been alive back at the time of the Montel Williams show taping, she was "seeing" her spirit's fate, and sometimes these are shadows of things to be, and a whole lot of other nonsense. If you claim psychic abilities and go around making bold claims, and those claims are 100% wrong, then you can't claim to be psychic. To continue making a living as such is to be a fraud and you have to be a liar to do it. This wasn't just one "oops" wrong prediction. She haas gotten it wrong every. single. time.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I've read 3 of her books<< Thus damaging your own credibility somewhat. Just sayin'.
Originally Posted By Tikiduck A friend of mine recommended seeing a psychic. I went to the place and knocked on the door. "Who is it?" she asked. I turned around and walked away.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Remember the Psychics Friends Network phone line? I wonder what kind of hiring process you go through to get hired there? Do they all have to make like they believe each other is psychic? Or do you think they hire and make everyone sign something saying they will never talk about the obvious fraud they are committing?
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Real psychics don't need contracts. They know right off if the other person will abide by the terms or not.
