Monday 21 April 2008

Psychic me this!

The news is a few days old now, but it's still fun (and easy!) to make fun of some people who can now be persecuted under the law. The psychics! Britain has taken the step of removing protection for psychics and mediums and putting them into new consumer rules that will protect the customer instead (what a concept!). Some choice quotes:

They think sceptics might bring malicious prosecutions to force spiritualists to prove in court that they can heal people, see into the future or talk to the dead.


They might be forced to prove that they can do what they say they can do??? Never! Balderdash! It'll never stand up in court! Heresy! Heresy! ... yeah, their claims will never stand up in court, and they know it.

"If I'm giving a healing to someone, I don't want to have to stand there and say I don't believe in what I'm doing," Carole McEntee-Taylor, a healer who co-founded the Spiritual Workers Association, told Reuters.


Belief has nothing to do with it. The key work to remember is: evidence. And not anecdotal evidence. Not subjective evidence. Evidence that can stand scientific scrutiny. I'm sure they have plenty of that after all this time, right?

"By repealing the Act, the onus will go round the other way and we will have to prove we are genuine," said McEntee-Taylor, from Essex. "No other religion has to do that."


Yes, once again, how dare they be forced to prove they are telling the truth. And since when is being psychic a religion? Or are they implying that religion should be forced to prove it's telling the truth as well? (Which I'm sure would be faced with equal equanimity from the priests... who would just pull out the "oh, the martyred we" card again...)

[END]

No comments: