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?
Mostly or totally as Idont use them and many are bullshitters
There is a difference between psychics and con-artists? I guess every con-artist is not a psychic, there is that.
Politicians and Priests and Televangelists. See any Difference?
The public should know there is a wide range when it comes to psychics and fortune tellers. Let the buyer beware. Some are just entertainment and a select few may have credentials in their reputations.
They're entertainers. People choose to pay them, and to believe what they want. Any reading I've ever had they clearly (and are obligated to by law) state that the reading is for entertainment purposes only.
I think it is a little of both, entertaining and preying on the uncouth.
There are some who are genuinely good at reading people, but rather than super natural abilities, i ascribe this to hyper observance. When i was younger and befor i was half blind, I could "read" peopel very well just by watching them. I beleive that good "psychics" also do this, only they may be even more observant than I was. I was able to freak people out by tellign them things I surmized by their expressions, how htey moved and so on.,,, although my ability to "read" them was not wholly conscious on my part. It was more liek from watchign them i got impressions which usually turned out to be true.
There is nothign supernatural aobu tit. We ar eanimals and hae instincts and senses tht observe of which we are nto always conscious of. In our evolutionary past they served us well for survival and determiing the intentions of others. I think it is more of an istinctual ability, but some people may be able to learn it. Although, I myself woudl have no idea of how to go about teaching it to somebody else, and beign partially blind now, I no longer am able to do it. (I assume if it were supernatural, I'd still be able to do it, so I have come to a different and mroe comon sense explanatio of the source of it).
I have heard that soem intelligence agencies knwo how to teach hyper obaservance. I am told a great deal depends on the natural abilities as to how successful teaching it can be.
So, anyway, the hyper observent person can be in a way doing a legitimate "reading". Whether or not they are tryign to help the person or defraud them depends on th eperson's nature of whethr or not they are honest.
Magicians don't actually think the audience thinks they are wizards or doing real magic. "Psychics" and "fortune tellers" know that their customers are taking the subject seriously. They are preying on people's emotions and selling them snake oil.
If there were penalties for lying our entire Congress would be doing hard time..except Bernie.
Most fortunetellers merely tell people what they want to hear.
There are already plenty of laws about getting money by false pretence
It should be "enter at your own risk". Firstly, ESP can neither be proven nor disproven. Stephen Hawking tried and failed to produce conclusive results. Even a consistent "lucky guesser" is just a possible outcome or set of outcomes. Human behavior and it's connection to celestial progression and the changing of the seasons is a valid study with some efficacy, but it's also a tool for charlatans and swindlers to hornswoggle you.
Ummm, they are already subject to arrest in most places. (Bunco, fraud, taking money under false pretenses, etc) Would you prefer to tar & feather them instead? Or maybe try learning a little about a subject before posting? And would you include astrologers, transcendental meditation teachers, yoga instructors, psychiatrists, et al?
At the very least, they should have to post disclaimers stating that they have no proof whatsoever that any of their "powers" are real and that their services are for "entertainment purposes only."
Oh, and about magicians. There are some out there who don't acknowledge that what they are doing is a trick/illusion and deceive people.
I got pissed off watching an act on America's Got Talent (I think) where the act pushed the idea that what they were doing was real--due to some supernatural powers they had. And the freaking judges acted like they thought it was real as well--absolutely disgusting. I had to stop watching.