I agree with your sentiments, but bashing people makes them more defensive. When Triskadecamus started this thread I was sure the greatest obstacle would be getting RVers to participate. Using the thread to take potshots at Glenn Wheaton or HRVG doesn’t help. Saying “I don’t think they’re interested” or “They have some issues, but we’ll try to work them out” is much better. As far as I can tell HRVG participation is not required.
Hopefully some RVers will still participate. It may be wise at this juncture, instead of asking them to be subjects, ask if they would help define the protocol. They risk nothing in doing that. Once the protocol is complete, it may be easier to find subjects when the protocol has been approved by fellow RVers.
FortMarcy, the potshots are not exactly flowing in one direction. Mr. Wheaton and Company are not above name-calling and aspersion-casting themselves, on both this message board and their own. They have indicated that any questioning of their “ability” will be considered an insult, and that any testing by an outsider will not be tolerated.
That being the case, the participation of anyone in HRVG is highly unlikely. But they haven’t fired a single salvo on this thread, yet they have been denigrated here. How does this help achieve the objective of the thread? After reading this thread, would a remote viewer be more or less likely to volunteer? It just seems to me that the discussions here should be about the study, and the sideshow should be relegated to more appropriate forums.
If you could find a remote viewing group that would be willing to participate in an experiment by an outside group to determine the veracity of remote viewing itself, please help us out. We have people willing to come up with target photographs and/or drawings-what we need are people willing to try to “recieve” said pictures, and the conditions they would be willing to work under.
Thanks. I have been trying to get my relatives who believe in Healing Touch to do this same test. I have run into the same problems this thread is having with the Remote Viewing crowd.
I once let a couple of them do an “analysis” of my body. I know full well the problems I have had, and was curious if they could pick up on ANY of them.
After missing all the major things wrong(past and present), and telling me they got strong feelings from my right knee, I tried to tell them my history and let them know that I had never had ANY problem with that particular body part.
They just told me that this confirmed how good Healing Touch was, since they were telling me something I didn’t even KNOW was wrong.
In my head, all I could hear was…
“And for three easy payments of $19.95 we can solve that problem…”
No, the HRVG group fired their salvos in the previous threads here, and over on their own message board. The participation of anyone from HRVG has always been highly unlikely, given the obvious prejudice of Glenn and others.
I’m sure these comments don’t help, but I’m also fairly sure they don’t hurt, either. It’s been obvious that anyone of the “I don’t have to prove anything to you” ilk (toward whom most of the denigration has been directed) wouldn’t be participating in the first place, and anyone who would like to prove it to us ought to see that people here are still attempting to devise a fair test, especially after reading this thread.
I’m actually surprised nobody started a Pit thread about things in the previous two threads (unless I missed it). Heck, I’ve started Pit threads over less insulting responses than what I got from Glenn Wheaton. It didn’t seem worth the trouble, though, and I laughed most of it off, instead. Perhaps others who participated in the earlier discussions felt the same way.
It also occurs to me that most of what appears to be denigration here is, really, the pointing-out of ignorance (of proper scientific testing, of logic, etc.). That’s what this message board is supposed to combat. While it’s not appropriate to bring up unrelated ignorance in a thread (for example, I could post to this thread about a friend getting recently suckered in by a naturopath, but I won’t), Glenn’s mistaken ideas about a “competent authority” are directly related to the subject at hand: the testing of Remote Viewing. Perhaps I, for one, could use different words than “silly” or “ridiculous” to describe Glenn’s statements, but I’d be stuck with transparent synonyms, anyway. Would calling Glenn’s objections “logically-challenged” really be any better?
Freedom, you’re quite welcome. Good luck with making you relatives “see the light” even with this new information. I predict the first objection will be along the lines of “what does a nine-year-old know?”
Well, I haven’t generated even any imaginary Pit responses, mainly because it’s so abundantly obvious that the HRVG people are totally serious about this, and it would be supremely tactless, pushy, and obnoxious of me to drag them to the Pit and flame them for what they truly believe. It would be like dragging Great-Aunt Betty to the Pit and reaming her out for crocheting all those baby afghans. Hey, it’s her hobby, leave her alone…
Only total assholes deserve Pit threads in their honor, and IMO nobody at the HRVG even comes close. The same way that one swallow doth not a summer make, a few snippy remarks do not a Pit thread make.
Sorry, guys. You’ll have to try harder to inflame the Evil Straight Dope’s ire.
Tris, I’ve been doing some checking on the history of Remote Viewing, and there seems to be quite a few links between SRI(the institute responsible for promoting RV to the U.S. Government) and the Church of Scientology. Please be very careful giving out your real name and/or address to any groups that have ties to either SRI or the government-run programs, o.k.?
Well, the cat’s out of the bag now, I signed that pit response I mentioned, and it has been just sitting there in a dark closet all this time. Not much chance in staying hidden from the forces of RV now, eh?
Thanks for the heads up, Czar, but no one is after me. I am the least worthwhile target for identity crime in the world. I already have no credit, I don’t own anything, and the CIA already has my name. They got bored with me decades ago, as did the FBI. I turned myself in to the IRS again last year, as I do every year, and demanded that they audit my Short Form return. They refused, again.
The Mormon Church has Evangelist missionaries in a group apartment in the same building with me, and they won’t even talk to me. I haven’t seen a Seventh Day Adventist in years. The only telemarketers who call here are looking for the guy who had the number seven years ago. I don’t even get offers for credit cards. Just because there is a conspiracy, doesn’t mean that there is anything for them to find out. Some people are just so damned dull that even a peeping tom won’t spy on them.
