The unadulterated views of a Northern skeptic. Please follow if you like the contents and feel free to re-blog any material. If you would like to contribute to The Yorkshire Atheist drop us an e-mail with your stories and suggestions at contribute@yorkshireatheist.co.vu
Some of my most hated people
source: cbsreality.co.uk
If you know who the guy in the picture is you’ll also know he is officially the biggest douche in the universe. This man is John Edward and he is a “medium”, he claims to speak to the dead; but guess what he’ll only do it for money.
If it isn’t clear enough already I hate mediums with a passion, they are plain and simple con-men who pray on the grief stricken and the gullible, all whilst claiming they are providing comfort. In my life I have witnessed the effects of this comfort on close relatives and co-workers, I have seen how it prevents them from moving on, prevents them from getting over their grief. Even upon demonstrating how psychics work (I have performed cold-readings on colleagues in several cases to show how psychics are frauds) it seems those who believe are unwilling to accept they have been lied to.
I want to make it clear I do not blame those dealing with their grief for holding onto their misguided beliefs, I understand it fully; letting go of those beliefs means admitting your loved ones might not still be here watching over you, the messages of how happy and peaceful they are conveyed by the mediums might not be true. Unfortunately however what we want and what is true do not always bear a resemblance. Mediums have been debunked repeatedly for over a century now (Harry Houdini famously sought to debunk the practice).
After nearly a century it is quite amusing to see several magicians still carrying on Houdini’s noble efforts to stop these charlatans, click the below links to see more:
Penn & Teller Link (NSFW)
The one point I often find amusing when seeing mediums faced with accusations and evidence of the fraudulent methods used by mediums they all seem to fall back on the same tired old line: “well I’m sure there are some frauds out there, but with me…”. Over and over again I hear this line, and I constantly think to myself, If psychics or mediums existed why in over the 50 years it has been up for grabs has nobody yet claimed the million dollar prize from the James Randi Educational Foundation? (JREF Challenge Link)
In my opinion these people are some of the most disgusting excuses for humans I have ever come across and the sooner the practice is stopped the better. Unfortunately I think that the will to believe when faced with a horrible truth is too strong for this farce of a profession to end any time soon.