Geller sued Randi and some other people for suggesting that his powers were just stage magic, contrary to his claims that he had paranormal abilities. Clearly, he was commited to selling the story that he had ESP, and not just when doing his stage act. Suing Randi for claiming that Geller wasn’t a psychic ended up costing Geller thousands of dollars. I’m going to quote this from Wiki, although some of the links are dead and I’m too tired to scrounge up newer material -
Later, Geller turned to dowsing and made money that way -
Uri’s Wiki page has a whole section covering his claims about his so called paranormal abilities.
Now that we’re into the internet age, Geller is hedging on his claims of supernatural abilities … sort of, in foreign language papers.
In conclusion, Uri Geller is a sketchy dude and he’s still trying to claim that he’s a real psychic wink wink stay in school, kids!
First, thank you so much for not only posting the links but pointing out the relevan parts. I appreciate that.
That post definitely says he’s sketchy though I had already called him worse. The part about the mineral dousing was what I was waiting to hear. That is not entertainment that is a con thus he’s a conman. I stand corrected.
Which is nonsense about dowsing, so I’d suppose he’s charging for his dowsing “expertise” in that sense, even if he was just lying about making money via dowsing for minerals.
Every time his name comes up you react as if it’s the first time and all the previous threads and posts never happened. Uri is a lying, cheating fraud, and it is not necessary to disprove every single one of his many, many extraordinary claims to show this. He is not just a performer.
This is remarkably worded to be able to cover himself while marketing,
Yes, the kit very well can teach the skills needed to dowse. After reading the book you will know how to tie a crystal to a stick and wave it around.
You can indeed use these skills to find lost objects etc. You can also just walk around, pick a spot, start digging and find these things and with similar results but you can use the dowsing skills too.
Sure it can help you on the path to success, health and happiness… If you are sedintary and this gets you to be around the things you’re looking for, which are not presumably in your house, then it will indeed up your chances somewhat of finding success and the exercise will help your health and if you don’t think about how silly you look, a nice stroll outdoors might indeed make you feel happy.
What facts have you presented that you are prepared to stand by? It’s my recollection that these threads tend to run along the lines of the skeptics being challenged on trivial points and even if they were completely wrong about them, this would provide no positive evidence in favour of dowsing or any other paranormal skill, however one wishes to define the term.
No, it’s pseudoskeptics being challenged on serious errors. They make wild, hysterical accusations against Uri Geller. Then they throw a tantrum when I tell them the real facts.
Yes, well this is the standard pseudoskeptic tactic. When their claims are challenged, accuse the challenger of supporting the paranormal.
It is, of course, a complete misunderstanding of my point.
Just to clarify my point: Uri Geller is an entertainer, specifically a magician performing conjuring tricks on stage. He does not really have any paranormal powers.
His act is no different to that of any magician. It’s no more real, and it’s no more fraudulent either. If you call him a fraud, then you also must make the same accusation against any magician who performs the linking rings, or the floating ball.
Whern a sensible sceptic sees Uri Geller perform, the response is “Oh, what a clever and entertaining magic trick that is, I wonder how he did it.” Accusations of fraud come only from the most ill-informed of pseudos.
That quite obviously doesn’t answer my inquiry. Please name some of these facts that you have presented.
Granting the existence of “pseudoskeptcs” and the accuracy of your description of their reactions for the sake of argument, what “real facts” have you told them?
Well, more accurately, I challenge your challenges of the challenges of the paranormal. By definition, this does not constitute support on your part for the paranormal. Indeed, it cannot. Similarly, nitpicking challenges to evolution do not and cannot constitute proof for creationism.
I’m happy to agree that Geller has no paranormal powers (indeed that paranormal powers don’t actually exist until proven otherwise), but this is quite different from what Geller has been claiming over the decades, and what many suckers have been fooled into believing.
Basically, I don’t understand the point of your argument. We’re criticizing Geller, but we’re doing so in a way that is not to your liking, or something? Is proving us wrong that important to you? Why?
If you recall, the reference was to previous threads about this subject.
See those threads for the facts I presented.
I’m attempting to fight your ignorance, which is the whole point of the message board.
Also, a point that the pseudos never understand. Their actions are counter-productive and damaging to real sceptics. They tell lies about dowsers/ psychics/ Uri geller/ etc in the belief that it will help to discredit them. But their lies are transparent and fool nobody. It is real sceptics that are hurt by this behaviour.
Also, if you read factually wrong information here, and then go repeating it you just might end up getting sued. As such, it is my duty to to correct factual errors.