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Sylvia Browne not even cold reading!

snooziums

Critical Thinker
snooziums
Joined
Sep 12, 2006
Messages
265
(Note: Okay, first off, while I believe in reincarnation, I do not believe in psychics, or the ability to predict the future. After all, if one could predict the future, then why wait until then?)

Back to the topic: I am taking care of my mother (she has surgery not long ago), and she likes to watch Sylvia Browne. During today's program, one of the guests said that she was afraid of fountains and statues. She went on to describe now she thought that she drowned as a child in a previous life in Rome, in a fountain with statues. She even did some research and found the fountain (I do not remember the name, something like "topilly fountain."

Well, after the guest describes all of this, all she does is ask Sylvia about it. And all Sylvia says is "yes." Then Sylvia says, "I was thinking of Rome when you were describing it."

Wait a minute! She said "Rome" when she was describing this! And all Sylvia can add to it is just a simple "yes"!?

So basically, Sylvia lets the audience draw their own conclusions and then agrees with them. So much for any special abilities. Anyone could do that. She is not even trying.

I just do not understand who so many like her, and will be willing to take 700 dollars for an 1/2 hour phone conversation, when all she does is reinforce the client's already made up opinion.
 
Well, isn't it obvious? She is clearly so wise, she doesn't really have to say much at all...
:)
 
snooziums said:
(Note: Okay, first off, while I believe in reincarnation, I do not believe in psychics, or the ability to predict the future. After all, if one could predict the future, then why wait until then?)
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Why do you believe in reincarnation? Or is it that you just think it might be case?
 
Even as a child, you would struggle to drown in the Trevi Fountain. The water is shallow, and there are always hundreds of tourists around in what is one of Rome's most visited tourist spots.
 
I bet as a child she saw the striking scence in La Dolce Vita, with Anita Ekberg in the fountain, and is 'remembering' that as her own.
 
Gee. A fountain in Rome with statues. That's SO spooky.

Oh wait a sec - can someone please name me a fountain in Rome that does NOT have statues in it or nearby?

*SNORT*
 
Richard said:
Why do you believe in reincarnation? Or is it that you just think it might be case?
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I stated before somewhere here (in another thread) that I do not accept it as absolute fact, just what I believe. I will not go into much detail here, since this is not the thread for that. And, some here tend to be "less than civil" as well.

BillC said:
Even as a child, you would struggle to drown in the Trevi Fountain. The water is shallow, and there are always hundreds of tourists around in what is one of Rome's most visited tourist spots.
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I think the tourists are a new thing. Over 100 years ago, there were most likely not that many people constantly around it.

And as for the water being shallow, a child can drown in as little as a few inches of water. I learned this in a safety class for children (since I was taking care of one), when they stressed NEVER to leave a child in a tub alone, even if there is only a couple inches of water. I would have not thought before hand, however it can happen, and more easier than one would think.
 
I never understand why it even matters if reincarnate. Regardless, the body and mind you are in now die, and clearly 99.999999% of us don't know we are in a new body. So who cares if we do reincarnate, we die anyway as far as WE know.
 
I join in the derail because it's fun.

Reincarnation without awareness of the fact is a scientifically provable reality. When I die, my coffin will get cracks and I will become worm food. As they digest I will reincarnate as a worm. Progress up the food chain and I become people again. Throw a soul in there as it's tricky, but since believers in reincarnation can't access the soul anyway, it might as well not be there, and thus, we have no problem.
 
snooziums said:
Well, after the guest describes all of this, all she does is ask Sylvia about it. And all Sylvia says is "yes." Then Sylvia says, "I was thinking of Rome when you were describing it."

Wait a minute! She said "Rome" when she was describing this! And all Sylvia can add to it is just a simple "yes"!?

So basically, Sylvia lets the audience draw their own conclusions and then agrees with them. So much for any special abilities. Anyone could do that. She is not even trying.
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This is, in essense, cold reading, just at it's simplest form. I mean, this is really simple cold reading.
Afterall, all you do in a cold reading is extract information, then bring it up later making it appear you have divined the information from the subject somehow. Sylvia just bypassed the 'bringing it up later part', and just agreed with the subject, which provides a very obvious example of how these charlatans use cold reading and how cold reading really works.
 
Plastictowel said:
I never understand why it even matters if reincarnate. Regardless, the body and mind you are in now die, and clearly 99.999999% of us don't know we are in a new body. So who cares if we do reincarnate, we die anyway as far as WE know.
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Well, from the subjective point of view, not being able to remember who you were in a previous life is not the same as dying completely, since you will be conscious, only amnesic about the past.

Besides, we all just know we were once Cleopatra and/or Ceaser and/or Shakespeare and/or Queen Elizabeth I. Nobody was ever an illiterate fishwife or a agricultural slave, despite them outnumbering the famous people in history by, at least, a million to one. Strange.
 
Having full amnesia of your past life is the same being down right dead. It's a stupid thing to give credit to even if it was a reality. I enjoy "this life" I don't consider my next one or my past one. So to lose THIS LIFE is the only thing that would currently matter.
 
snooziums;1992685So basically said:
Fromwhat I have seen of her Montel episodes so far, the vast majority of info she gives is of this totally unimpressive nature, such as

Audience member: My son saw a pretty lady. Was this an angel?

Sylvia: Yes.

Audience: Oooooh!!!!! (Applause)

...or...

Another audience member: What is my spirit guide's name?

Sylvia: Fernando.

Audience: Aaaaaaaaah!!!!! (Applause)

(These aren't direct quotes, but are typical of what I've seen.)

So yes, a fair amount of what she does hardly even qualifies as cold reading.
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Ah, the benefits of being a movie buff...

This is not from someone's previous life. This is from someone's memory of Fellini's La Dolce Vita. In the movie, described on IMDB as "Marcello is a young playboy journalist who spends his days between celebrities and rich people, seeking for ephemeral joy in parties and sex...", there is a famous moment, where the female lead, Anita Ekberg, jumps into the Fontana de Trevi for a very sexy scene. Miss Wet T-Shirt, 1960, if you want.

Ekberg's name in the movie? Sylvia. I kid you not.
 
Plastictowel said:
Regardless, the body and mind you are in now die, and clearly 99.999999% of us don't know we are in a new body.
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True true, although how many remember when they learned to talk? How many remember when they learned to use the toilet?

quixotecoyote said:
When I die, my coffin will get cracks and I will become worm food. As they digest I will reincarnate as a worm...
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Actually, with embalming and all of the preservatives used in it, you will most likely never become worm food. What lasts will be "petrified" and what does not will be inedible to worms when they finally get into the coffin (which are designed to last for many years).

In addition, many burials are placed in concrete, and worms have a hard time eating through that.

Thank goodness I already pre-paid for my cremation. No worm is getting me, and I am not going to end up in a museum many years from now.

Skeptic said:
Besides, we all just know we were once Cleopatra and/or Ceaser and/or Shakespeare and/or Queen Elizabeth I. Nobody was ever an illiterate fishwife or a agricultural slave, despite them outnumbering the famous people in history by, at least, a million to one. Strange.
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Actually, most more sensible regressions reveal that the past experiences were nothing more than commoners. About 90 percent of the past life stories I have heard involve living in some middle-class or lower-flass situation, and not having fame.

It is only those rare cases where someone claims to be someone famous that get all of the attention. But then, even with living people, it is the more famous ones that are talked about more.

Plastictowel said:
Having full amnesia of your past life is the same being down right dead.
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Perhaps. But a side question: why to we go after someone who committed a crime, or some other event, then was medically diagnosed as having amnesia after the event?

CFLarsen said:
Ekberg's name in the movie? Sylvia. I kid you not.
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Actually, Sylvia is a common name. I knew personally a few people with that name. However, I almost feel sorry since they share their name with Sylvia Browne.
 
snooziums said:
Perhaps. But a side question: why to we go after someone who committed a crime, or some other event, then was medically diagnosed as having amnesia after the event?
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Firstly, there are no cases like this. It's a sneaky legal defense that always fails. As part of research on dissociative disorders, I tried to find one case of proven fugue in a criminal case in the US and Canada and the UK in the last century. I came up blank. It's good fiction, though.

However, to answer your question: because they need to be prevented from doing it again.
 
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