Are they simply entertainers-- such as a magician?
Or, are they preying on the weak like a con-artist?
Should there be penalties for purposefully misleading the public? Or, is it the public's responsibility to just stay away?
Hmm..depends. If they're like carnival status "hey this is just for fun, im gonna pretend to be spooky and read your fortune" its harmless entertainment as long as people don't think they're..real haha.
The problem is the stupid TV shows. "oh my gawd im a psychic for jersey and i'll talk to your dead family for money, I mean closure." Or john edwards back when he was relevant.
ugh. I have co-workers who swear up and down its real, and 100 % follow any advice given, and say things like "i know its real because my aunt is a psychic" uh..huhhhh....this is the same group of people who believe the earth is hollow and inhabited by lizard-men. I wish I was joking. FML.
I've changed my mind! haha. ban 'em all.
Years ago, M. Lamar Keene wrote a book called "The Psychic Mafia." Long before the internet, "psychics" had their own information storage system. They kept information about their customers, and if one would move to another area, their files were sent on to the next "psychic." They referred to those files as their "poems."
I can just imagine how much more streamlined it is now thanks to the internet.
Psychics have always been part of a criminal underground. They should be treated as such.
Or, better still, they should be treated the same way alchemists were. Alchemists claimed to be able to turn lead into gold. On occasion, they would be kidnapped and provided with full laboratories. Their price for release? All they had to do was produce some gold, and they could go. They couldn't admit they were frauds (it wouldn't have helped anyway), so they spent the rest of their lives in captivity with their beakers and chemicals..
Just get some "psychics," put them in holding cells, and have them do some reading on people in the next room. If they have a statistically significant number of hits, they can go. If not, they have to do it all over again. Yeah, that woulod be fair.
Pscyhics charge very large fees (I've never been to one so I don't know exactly what they charge), in order to "speak with the dead" or in some other way help the client/customer. Are psychics regulated like chiropractors? I've never been to a chiropractor myself.
The James Randi Educational Foundation was founded in 1996 to help people defend themselves from paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. The JREF offers a still-unclaimed million-dollar reward for anyone who can produce evidence of paranormal abilities under controlled conditions.
The prize is no longer available
adults are responsible for their thoughts & actions; i reckon that includes credulity. if fortune tellers get treated like con-artists, then yes, where to draw the line? are magicians cheating on our perception? on our children's innocent perception? i am all for un-nannying the people.
I've been forced to watch most haunted with some guy called Derek Acorah...why can't he get a real job working with police like in Izombie
it truly is amazing the shit people believe..from photoshopped jesus clouds,or gates to heavens in the sky,to amazing footage of the sun in front of clouds...blahhfuckingblahh
They do not present themselves as entertainers. And I do not think it is good for society to allow such people to part fools and their money. While it is funny in a way to do the WC Fields "never give a sucker an even break" routine, it does not contribute to the sort of civil society I want to live in.
One of my personal heroes, Harry Houdini, made it a point to actively debunk psychic and spiritualist con artists as he traveled the vaudeville circuit in the first half of the last century. He made a lot of enemies and was eventually murdered at the height of his fame during a stand in Chicago by those criminal interests. Entertainers are one thing, people who exploit the weak minded are quite another. We all have a responsibility to stay aware, but being duped by a professional conman is no shame, and the ones who do the duping are criminals, plain and simple.
I really admire James Randi for the same reason.
There's a fine line between freedom of speech/freedom to choose, and false advertising, fake products, and emotional manipulation. I don't see how we can quite punish them outright... if they themselves believe what they are saying and are not explicitly targeting under-privilaged, needy, under-educated, or other vulnurable people.
You may try to regulate the snake oil salespeople but what about the gullible snake oil buyers. Barnums famous quota, "A sucker is born every minute".
Mostly or totally as Idont use them and many are bullshitters