Magicians sulk about JREF-again!

I don't get it ?

What a confusing thread. What exactly is their beef ?

Do they believe that psychics and mediums are real, or are they concerned that with places like JREF showing they aren't real that they will have a harder time passing off their magic tricks as real ?

I really don't get it...
 
I posted in the thread so I'll give you a magician's perspective.

Lot's of performers have mentalism acts. Some are keen to distinguish what they do from psychic ability with a disclaimer. Some are less inclined to do so -- after all, when you cut a woman in half (and hopefully put her back together) we don't make a big deal about saying it was just an illusion. That second group lets the audience believe whatever they want. So, for some, Magician X really is psychic.

Then there are those who think they may actually have some limited powers. They don't see any reason not to "augment" them with tricks.

All these parties have a different stance about what is ethical. Arguments ensue. Pretty much like any forum. Magicians have no special insight into skepticism -- they are a much broader sample than JREF. So there is a lot of ill-considered crap flying around and a few bruised egos.
 
I just posted on that thread (I'm MovieMan over there) to remind them that Harry Houdini was debunking fake psychics and mediums long before Randi came into the scene.
 
AdMan said:
I just posted on that thread (I'm MovieMan over there) to remind them that Harry Houdini was debunking fake psychics and mediums long before Randi came into the scene.
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Now dont go introducing facts to them,it wont help ;)
 
Azrael 5 said:
Now dont go introducing facts to them,it wont help ;)
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:D

Still, I couldn't let this other statement go unchallenged:

I can assure you the Spiritualist churches do a lot more to weed out false Mediums than JREF do, they are after all in a better position to do so.
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There are more than a few folks on that forum who are way into woo. I used to try to engage in discussions there until I finally realized that the level of discourse was so low it was a complete waste of time.

Here's an old thread where psychics were being defended (our old pal Jim Callahan weighs in):
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=115395&forum=15&start=0

A psychic (not mentalist) who uses cold reading and charges money is defended.
 
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Magicians are human beings and thus they can be silly and follow crap just like anyone else.

One of my best friends who is a former magician is the one of the worst woosters I have ever seen. He follows everything from homeopathy to conspiracy to aliens to psychics to religion to NLP and you name it.

He is under the false impression that because he is a magician he must be super trained to catch frauds. Which he isn't, I witnessed for myself how he falls for really lame cold reading.
 
I have been a member of that site for years but I visit rarely and haven't posted for years. It is so close to being an excellent resource for magicians but fails because of silliness like that.
 
Google is your friend.
Go to the link in the OP, and when you arrive on the "thread not found" screen, copy and Google the URL. You will get at least one result. Note that for every Google result, there is a "buffer link" you can press that will take you to a version of the page that Google has cached for your convenience:).

Et voila:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:idBMgd1NZwoJ:www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php%3Ftopic%3D430354%26forum%3D15%2665+http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php%3Ftopic%3D430354%26forum%3D15%2665&cd=1&hl=no&ct=clnk&gl=no&source=www.google.no

ETA: I can't show the second and third page using this method. Maybe someone else have tricks up their sleeves.
 
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Safe-Keeper said:
Google is your friend.
Go to the link in the OP, and when you arrive on the "thread not found" screen, copy and Google the URL. You will get at least one result. Note that for every Google result, there is a "buffer link" you can press that will take you to a version of the page that Google has cached for your convenience:).

Et voila:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:idBMgd1NZwoJ:www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php%3Ftopic%3D430354%26forum%3D15%2665+http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php%3Ftopic%3D430354%26forum%3D15%2665&cd=1&hl=no&ct=clnk&gl=no&source=www.google.no

ETA: I can't show the second and third page using this method. Maybe someone else have tricks up their sleeves.
Click to expand...

For page two, Google this: http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=430354&forum=15&start=30

For page three, this: http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=430354&forum=15&start=60
 
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