Postby Guest » January 25th, 2003, 8:34 pm
First of all, I don't agree or disagree with the idea behind, nor do I endorse or explicitly not endorse P&T's new show. In other words, I understand where they're coming from, and what they want to do. I also disagree with a lot of how they're going about it. So I can't really say that I fall on one side of the line or the other.
That being understood, here is a slightly expanded version of the comments I posted to another forum about the show:
Well, for starters, it didn't expose Van Praagh or Edward. It just said that they were frauds, discussed techniques they might be using, showed Van Praagh's questionable release, and interviewed two guys who make it their life to prove these guys as fraud who made some undocumented claims about what happened at a Van Praagh taping (I won't mention how much the evil part of me would like to see those guys taken to court over the release, which they presumably had to sign to get into the taping). Oh, and a couple people who acknowleged being skeptics said that what Edward said at the seminar they were at was "general". There was no evidence provided, so it was only attempted exposure, they didn't really expose anything on those two.
The only person they actually exposed was Altea, who they caught red-handed. Well, that, and Mark Edward exposed himself, for whatever that's worth.
So, I have mixed feelings. I think they were dead on in busting Altea, who was stupid enough to get caught (although she probably deserves it). The stuff on Edward and Van Praagh didn't prove anything, and I have a big problem with those who make huge claims, particularly of fraudulent activities, but who can't provide the evidence to back it up.
I also don't dig Penn being an expert on how communication with the dead would work if it really existed. Hell, these folks are (supposedly) communicating across from another realm. Some days I can barely understand what my mom's telling me when we're talking over cellphones, and she's only a 4 hour drive away. The folks Edward and Van Praagh claim to talk to are an eternity away; I'd expect things to be a little fuzzy. So the fact that the details don't come through clearly doesn't prove or disprove anything.
We don't know what real communication with the dead is like, if it does exist. Who's to say that the real thing doesn't look similar to what really good fake readers can do?
Also, FWIW, on one of his recent appearances on Larry King Live, John Edward gave a very logical explanation of how he communicates with the dead/how others might (visual, aural, tactile, etc.) and why that may cause things to not make perfect sense all the time. If he is faking, he's definitely got a very well thought out line of BS to back it up.
I don't know that I believe he can really talk to the dead, but I'm also not so presumptious to declare as a fact that he doesn't. I haven't seen solid proof either way. Lots of "he could be" or "I'm certain he is", but very little, "in this tape, you can clearly see him caught in the act of...."
FWIW,
Andy