An Honest Liar

[Benwahwah]

www.anhonestliar.com

This is a great documentary about James Randi. His views on questioning everything and calling out the charlatans has influenced my line of thinking when I contemplate conspiracy theories and the world.

If people want to believe conspiracy theories that aren't real, then so be it. But when people are profiting by deceit that is where things get fucked up. Wolfgang Halbig is a prime example of this, he is taking people's money saying he will do one thing with it and then doing other things.

That is why I appreciate Daglord's work in showing what a charlatan Halbig is and I struggle to understand why EY backs him so much. EY has always been against monetising EY.com, but for some reason thinks that what Halbig is doing is fine. I just don't get it.

Anyway, check out An Honest Liar, it is available on Netflix.

[What]

"A Lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is just getting its pants on"

Winston Churchill

[Daglord]

I hadn't heard of james randi before this. thanks for that. just finished. I love docs. especially true crime, suspense, interesting people, etc. & that was a good one. he's a great influence imo. I like his style & swagger. will be watching this one again.

listening to this now as I browse the forum:

Uploaded on Apr 20, 2010
http://www.ted.com Legendary skeptic James Randi takes a fatal dose of homeopathic sleeping pills onstage, kicking off a searing 18-minute indictment of irrational beliefs. He throws out a challenge to the world's psychics: Prove what you do is real, and I'll give you a million dollars. (No takers yet.)

& regarding halbig... the more I think about it, I wouldn't be shocked if ey sent that OG link to halbig's SH justice FB page himself. I can't see how halbig would come across that thread on his own. doesn't seem like an mma forum kind of guy ya know? though he is probably a guy who sits around & googles his own name. lol. more likely though (imo), ey sent that link to him to show that he was "defending him against shills" (lol) and prob made some pitch about his forum. halbig then mentions ey's name & ey shoots his load. full retard. it really is unfathomable. I think it's gone way past trolling or not being able to admit when you're wrong though.

just a thought anyway. I have no idea. but his constant promoting of wolfgang & his cause in light of mountains of evidence that prove he is a fraud & ignorant about the facts of the case, while maintaining he is objective about him is the very definition of "shilling". THE IRONY.

[Benwahwah]

Here is a thought I've just had. EY says he won't monetise the website but surel that isn't his choice to make? As he has told us, the site was set up and is owned by Skynet, surely it is up to Skynet whether the site gets monetised or not? Unless EY is actually Skynet. Dun dun Dun!

[Devil's Advocate]

I do not like Randi and never have, something about him just doesn't sit right with me. He reminds me of Richard Dawkins and Neil Tyson-Degrasse, extremely smug and condescending about anything that they disagree with, or believe to be incorrect. Randi virtually stalked Uri Geller until he ran him out of America, and he has destroyed the careers of many people who claim to have supernatural or extraordinary powers.

What I don't like is that he encourages a mindset that is too scared too think outside the square in case of being ridiculed or publicly shamed. Rather than expose how a "charlatan" is doing a trick, he simply shows how HE would do the trick, which his followers all lap up and consider to be enough proof to hang the charlatan.

Just because Randi can show how a magician would appear to bend a spoon with the power of his mind, does not necessarily mean that his the same method used by Uri Geller for example.

Randi came out when he was in his 70's, and confessed to being gay all of his life. So, here we have a man who spends his life hounding other people and calling them frauds, when in fact he lived the vast majority of his life as one.

[Benwahwah]

So you think it is right that people are profiting from pulling the wool over someone's eyes?

The difference between Dawkins and Randi is that Randi is saying that psychic powers may exist. He is even offering a $1m reward for anyone who can prove it under controlled conditions for crying out loud. It's also funny that Uri Geller wasn't able to perform his tricks when control conditions are met.

Yes Randi hid the fact that he was gay for many years, but how does that really affect someone? He didn't take people's money based on the fact that he was straight. He took it based on the fact that he was going to entertain them.

[Canuckster]

Randi is a douche

[Daglord]

randi being gay doesn't affect my opinion of him @ all. not in the slightest. it's his business (imo) & didn't affect anyone else but him. In addition, I don't think people were lining up to come out of the closet @ that time like they are now.

I guess my thinking is that if these psychics weren't frauds, they shouldn't have any problem with someone calling them out. IIRC, no one has been able to prove their ability under controlled conditions & they have been challenged/propositioned many times to do so with quite the reward if successful. I get that magic can be entertainment, an escape or a way to promote out-of-the-box thinking. there is most definitely a place for that form of entertainment. from what I saw in the doc, he is going after the charlatans. the faith healers & monetizing physics. I have no problem with that.

but fire away, I'm new to randi & interested. from what I have seen so far, what he was doing is honorable imho.

What I don't like is that he encourages a mindset that is too scared too think outside the square in case of being ridiculed or publicly shamed.

I can see where youre coming from here, but that's where I think it's important that he is only going after the charlatans & not the entertainment types. again, I just heard of this guy last night so correct me if I'm wrong.

[Devil's Advocate]

I don't care about his sexuality either, the point I was trying to make is that hiding your real self for so many years, and living a lie, is kind of contradictory to his ethos. At least that's how I see it. I'm not saying that the people he exposed didn't deserve it, although I think there were some inconclusive cases among them. The Randi challenge is slanted in his favor, which is one reason that no one has taken it on. He's a party pooper, a grinch running around telling kids that Santa and the Easter Bunny aren't real, sometimes people need a little hope and wonder in their lives to get by. I agree with canuckster that the guy is a douche, he seems like a douche and that's my main gripe against him.

[Daglord]

Spoiler:

Uploaded on Nov 16, 2006
Today James Randi still offers a $1 million prize to anyone who can prove they engage in paranormal activity, the prize used to be $10,000. Over the years James Randi has seen hundreds and hundreds of entrants, and for some astonishing reason absolutely none of the people can perform their paranormal acts under controlled conditions that take cheating out of the equation, hmmmm I wonder why. Time and time again the frauds(I mean psychics) have to come up with lame excuses as to why their con (I mean powers) won't work in a test. Here you see James Hydrick perform his "miracle" and 10 minutes later fail at the same miracle when cheating is taken out of the equation.

Spoiler:

Uploaded on Nov 15, 2006
James Randi is a leader in the skeptical community who has been debunking paranormal and supernatural claims for most of his life. A magician himself James Randi is excellent at exposing the frauds that make up the paranormal and psychic communities. He offers a one million prize to anyone who can prove a paranormal claim scientifically and to this day nobody has won the money. Sylvia Browne has been ducking him for quite some time.