So a PhD from Columbia goes on Larry King to hail the age of child psychics

[Yllaria]

@Sampiro

For those not familiar with the evidence of this claim.

Thank you for the link - I had missed that.

[mischievous]

@Sigmagirl

Oh, HELL yes!

Keep in mind that I’ll be talking to the people with PhD’s in genetics and biochemistry, a population that might be expected to contain fewer credulous idiots than the PhD’s in psychology. Or not, considering that one of my current co-workers (non-Columbia PhD, if that matters) believes in homeopathy. But only for animal medical care!

[Abby_Emma_Sasha]

@Abby_Emma_Sasha

Yep, Bill is Kate and Oliver’s dad.

As it happened, the HBros played a concert at a county fair when I was teen. My friend and I were in the front row and as the Bros left the stage Brett kissed my friend and Bill kissed me(on the cheek).
In keeping with the OP, John Edwards is a douche. Why can’t Nina Simone’s ghost come sing at my house?

Shit. I meant Edward. John Edward is a douche. John Edwards I like very much.

[Liberal]

@Voyager

But it Jesus were alive today, he’d be in Gitmo - damn bearded Middle Eastern insurgent.

He is alive today. And yes, He’s in Gitmo.

[Sampiro]

@eleanorigby

Hildegarde* lives!

I have an embarrassing confession, domina: I know who Hildegarde von Bingen is (I have several of her CDs in fact [well, not her’s obviously, but…), but I’m afraid I don’t catch the reference. Could you explain please?

Kudos to those who caught the Chucky Margolis line! Rarely does the Dope disappoint on such matters! (Ironically that is the first CM sketch and the only one on YouTube and the only one that doesn’t have the “Hey Mar-gooo-lis!” line, but nevertheless it’s a great study in '70s fashion and in the science of applied laughtracks.)
I think Bill is the “grown up” in the sketch. After Goldie Hawn he married Cindy Williams (of Laverne & Shirley fame) and had two more kids. I’ve read that he and his kids with Goldie are long estranged.

Regarding Lisa Miller, by “a Ph.D. from Columbia” I should have specified that that’s where she’s employed. According to her online vita her Ph.D. is from U Penn and her BS is from Yale (both still Ivy). Here’s a Columbia sponsored faculty site about her “interests”.

Ah, and no references on the Tommy Chong line. Norma Desmond: "I wrote that with my heart!

[Sampiro]

@Liberal

He is alive today. And yes, He’s in Gitmo.

They just better not feed him after midnight if they don’t want him to turn into Anti-Christ and kick their butts.

(Oh sorry… that’s Gizmo- I think Jesus you can feed after midnight as long as it’s kosher and as long as it’s not figs [they piss Him off for some reason].)

[Yllaria]

I think the Hildegarde reference must be to the many visions that she had and the little book that she wrote about it. Very big on divine revelations, Hildegarde was. They used to lay her right out.

[Sampiro]

@Yllaria

I think the Hildegarde reference must be to the many visions that she had and the little book that she wrote about it. Very big on divine revelations, Hildegarde was. They used to lay her right out.

“Wrote a song about it… wanna hear it? Here it goes! Hit it sisters! O vos felices radices… yeah yeah…”

Thanks.

[Terrifel]

@Sampiro

They just better not feed him after midnight if they don’t want him to turn into Anti-Christ and kick their butts.

(Oh sorry… that’s Gizmo- I think Jesus you can feed after midnight as long as it’s kosher and as long as it’s not figs [they piss Him off for some reason].)

No no, He gets pissed if there are no figs. Even though they give Him the Farts. But He’s the Messiah; He don’t care. When He gets a jonesing for figs, watch out. He may start death-raying at random, Prince of Peace or no.

And don’t even try suggesting that He miracle Himself up some figs. He’ll get right up in your face about it. “I’m sorry, did I die for your sins just so I could provide My own damn figs?!”*

Jesus, he be fig crazy.

*as prophesied in the apocryphal Tenth Beatitude, “Blessed are they who bring me some figs, dammit.”

[Punoqllads]

@Sampiro

MILLER: For instance, we now have the notion in physics of superimposition, that one dot of light can be in more than one place at a time.

Definitions:

Superposition: the wavelike property of particles representing the chance of detecting a particular particle at a given point in the spacetime continuum.

Superimposition: the wavelike property of your cousin Darryl to be on your property eating your food and using your electricity at a given point in the spacetime continuum.

[Sampiro]

@Terrifel

He’ll get right up in your face about it. “I’m sorry, did I die for your sins just so I could provide My own damn figs?!”*

I wonder if it’s in his rider .

[DrDeth]

All apologies to modern Wiccans sincerely meant, but for dudes like this I think it’s time to dig out the old Malleus Maleficarum and try out all the cool tools. I vote we start with John Edward. I want to have Edwards bogus ability realy work just once, but he gets Heinrich Kramer or Cotton Mather. Please.

[Terrifel]

I believe that in such cases, Mather recommended the use of a device called the “Clowne-Hammer,” to be administered “freely by all, for the good of the Publick Commonweal, upside ye Head of ye Practitioners of Cold-Reading, Snake-Oil, and suchlike Domfokkerie.”

[ultrafilter]

@DrDeth

I want to have Edwards bogus ability realy work just once, but he gets Heinrich Kramer or Cotton Mather.

Or Jonathan Edwards.

[BrainGlutton]

MILLER: It’s such an important question, Larry. These children who are psychic are very, very different from children who are psychotic. Sadly, a psychotic child is faced with many challenges, difficulties with their emotions, difficulty connecting. These are healthy, beautiful, vibrant children who have had very powerful, discreet experiences.

KING: You believe they see what they see?

MILLER: These children have experiences which are so different from those which we would call psychotic. They are experiences which are guiding and informing of their own journey in life. And I think it’s our job to listen to them and support them in really integrating their experience into their on going growth and development.

Notice she’s not actually saying the “psychic” kids are really seeing ghosts, or anything supernatural or non-hallucinated.

[Jackmannii]

Unfortunately, being Ivy League-trained and having a bunch of letters after your name is no guarantee you won’t wind up a credulous ninny. And it’s not just individual professors - the universities themselves encourage ninnitude.

Columbia, Harvard and other Ivy League schools have also jumped on the Alternative Medicine/Woo bandwagon with various programs and courses. How much of it the administrators actually believe as opposed to signing on to this stuff to appear “relevant” and to make money is debatable.

As for Larry King, I’d much rather see him boosting the fortunes of psychics than promoting dangerous idiots like Jenny McCarthy and her antivaccine advocacy (she’s been on his show multiple times slinging garbage about vaccination and autism). Larry, though, will give a forum to just about anyone if it promises ratings.

[Sampiro]

@Jackmannii

As for Larry King, I’d much rather see him boosting the fortunes of psychics than promoting dangerous idiots like Jenny McCarthy and her antivaccine advocacy (she’s been on his show multiple times slinging garbage about vaccination and autism).

Sometimes she’s on with one of the Kennedys (can’t remember which- not Ted, one of Bobby’s boys I think). Lisa Bonet is also on that bandwagon. If it was just a politician or just Jenny McCarthy or just Lisa Bonet then I wouldn’t accept it, but the three of them together- that’s peer review.

[Catamount]

@Sampiro

I kept hoping one of them would suddenly see a giant yellow bird in the rafters and swear another of the girls was bewitching her and Larry would get all “ART THOU WITCHING HER! I ASK DOST THOU SEND THY SPIRIT TO VEX THIS POOR GIRL!”

And that right there is why it’s always worthwhile to click on a Sampiro OP.

[Nicolas_Bourbaki]

@BrainGlutton

Notice she’s not actually saying the “psychic” kids are really seeing ghosts, or anything supernatural or non-hallucinated.

Quoting directly from the Columbia page linked earlier:

Miller herself does believe in the veracity of psychic experiences . . . What is crucial is that a therapist not deny the possibility that a client’s experience is in fact connected to the material world.

[eleanorigby]

@Yllaria

I think the Hildegarde reference must be to the many visions that she had and the little book that she wrote about it. Very big on divine revelations, Hildegarde was. They used to lay her right out.

I’ve never hoid of Hildegarde von Bingen the singer who’s climbing the charts like that Mother Superior in “Sound of Music”!