Quote:
Originally Posted by newmark  John; are your objections to psychic readings due to your belief that they can't possibly be true, 'because all of this stuff is nonsense'?
Or do you just object to the lack of certified training courses, licensing etc?
And do you really think any amount of regulation will protect those without any commonsense from being conned by others? |
Good questions. I don't think they
can't possibly be true. I think they're a lot of old twaddle. I believe there is absolutely no valid evidence for psychic powers and a great deal of evidence that their appearance is persuasive to people unless they know how to recognise how that happens.
I don't know how to answer the regulation point. I think it's a matter for democratic decision how we regulate doctors, healers, conjurors, stage hypnotists, etc., and I don't know what's in place already. I'm sure in some cases the law can be useful retrospectively, but considering how many 'psychics' there are and how many people use them, they ought to be regulated in how they present themselves. I can't get into details without the background. These days, our political decisions on such matters are more often informed by the scientific viewpoint than they used to be, and there are sometimes great strengths in that. I'm not saying that we should make all our policies according to that, and we should also try to protect the freedom of people to believe different things, like magick, LoA, spirits and so on, and to go to alternative practitioners of many kinds. There need to be some distinctions made about what we accept as a society and what we don't, in any field, and how to protect vulnerable people from harm is part of that.
Just to say that people aren't stupid or that something's going to get them in the end, sorry Angela, seems irresponsible to me, and I'll accept the accusation of being too serious if it just means wanting to discuss these issues and having a moral opinion.
It's a bit like if someone were selling 'miracle cure' medicine on the street. You'd have to look into the rights and responsibilities and freedoms of the seller, the buyer and the general public, but might want to check what's actually in the bottle, whether all reasonable means of detection turn up anything healing in there or not, or whether the guy is just filling his bottles up from a muddly puddle.