ianzin:
It may be the case that you have never heard of a professional magician calling Uri anything but a fraud, but how large is your data set? I am very confident I know more professional magicians than you do, and have known them for longer, and mix and mingle with them on a more regular basis. The number who have anything bad or unkind to say about Uri is very small They are in a tiny minority. Most are either neutral towards him or like him very much. I’ve been friends with Uri for years, and I think he’s a really nice guy.
Uri has been welcomed to several major magic conventions over the years, most recently the ‘Genii’ anniversary convention last year, where he was interviewed for two hours about his life and work and won a standing ovation. I wasn’t at that particular event, but I was at the Macmillian International convention in 2008 when he was given a prestigious award and spent hours afterwards with hundreds of magicians who wanted to shake his hand, have their photo taken with him and get his autograph. He was enormously popular, and it was rather like watching a rock star sign autographs for a couple of hours for enthusiastic fans!
You could easily know more professional magicians than I do, but I wasn’t referring simply to the few I know personally, but also those that have written and spoken publicly on this subject. Geller may have many fans within the profession, and he may be a very nice person, but he still a fraud in my book.