Published Again. I’ll bet the psychics never saw that coming!

My letter to the Lethbridge Herald complaining about their coverage of the recent Psychic Fair has been published.

Here it is:

Psychic’s claims demand skepticism (Thursday, October 9, 2008)

Re “Do you have the power?” Lethbridge Herald Sept. 29
The Herald has done its readers a disservice by repeating the slogans, jargon (i.e. “communicating with the other side,” “past life”) and bombastic claims made at the recent Psychic Fair without any critical reflection, let alone investigation. Re “Do you have the power?” Lethbridge Herald Sept. 29
The Herald has done its readers a disservice by repeating the slogans, jargon (i.e. “communicating with the other side,” “past life”) and bombastic claims made at the recent Psychic Fair without any critical reflection, let alone investigation.
In a recent and well-documented case from Barrie, Ont., a psychic told a teacher’s aide a student was being sexually abused.
The Children’s Aid Society subjected a severely autistic 11-year-old girl and her mother to a traumatizing and needless investigation. How can your reporter forget this when passing on the claims made by “Oren” that she can help solve murders and to give desperate families closure?
People often give away more about themselves than they realize to observant strangers who ask leading questions and note such things as body language, clothing style, manner of speech (“cold reading”).
In turn, people are often willing to suspend normal critical facilities, especially when they are grieving, worried or afraid. Organizations like the James Randi Educational Foundation and the Center for Inquiry have done stellar work in demystifying paranormal claims and “outing” frauds who prey on the vulnerable.
Pronounced skepticism should greet any extraordinary claimant of special knowledge or powers, be they proponents of the paranormal or self-professed prophets or healers working in the name of a deity. We expect close scrutiny and demonstrable qualifications from the regular medical and financial industries, not to mention those in the forensic sciences.
We should also expect our governments to enforce a high level of consumer protection against the claims of the “faith-based” and illusion-based health, analytic and advice industries.
James Linville
President, Lethbridge Freethinkers Society
Lethbridge

Whoot! This was the first published text with the LFS name attached, although the day previously, the Herald published a letter by our vice-pres. James Litwin on global warming. See the text on the society webpage. For some reason, the paper did not print his affiliation with our group.