An Open Letter to Dr. Phil: Get Real

Dr. Phil,

As a T.V. psychologist, your oft-repeated advice to viewers is "get real." But the content of your Jan. 10 show was anything but. Instead of taking your own advice, you gave an uncritical platform to phony 'psychics' who abuse people's emotions in order to fool them.

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Self-proclaimed psychic mediums John Edward and Char Margolis have made their fortunes by using manipulative psychological tricks and other devious methods to pretend that they can communicate with people's deceased family members.

Skeptics, scientists, and professional magicians have explained over and over how phony mediums like Mr. Edward and Ms. Margolis perform their acts and take advantage of the bereaved. World-famous magician and demystifier James Randi has often been invited on such shows to help audiences understand what's really going on in these so-called 'psychic' readings. Yet on your show, you excluded the voices of reason and let deceit and superstition win the day.

The JREF has offered John Edward a prize of $1 million if he can demonstrate his claimed abilities under mutually agreed-upon scientific conditions and without cheating--but he refused. Mr. Edward has been caught cheating at his performances in the past.

Char Margolis recently appeared on WGN Morning News and "failed miserably" in the words of one anchor, clearly revealing the generic questions these 'psychic' fakes use to pry information out of their victims which they later take credit for.

When national media outlets give such a large platform to hucksters who make false promises and beguile the public, they are as much to blame for the public deception as the fake psychics themselves. I challenge you to provide your audience with more truthful information and advice in the future, and to start by inviting James Randi or another guest from our educational foundation onto your show to inform the public about the tricks used by fake 'psychics' like Mr. Edward and Ms. Margolis.

D.J. Grothe
President, James Randi Educational Foundation

 

Follow D.J. Grothe on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jref

Comments

[repete66211]

06:18 PM on 02/28/2012

I know any press is good press, but why would you post this open letter on a website which regularly publishes anti-scientific alternative "medicine" flim-flam? I would go so far as to say I've seen much worse on the HuffPo than I ever have from any Harpo product.

[Bob Metcalfe]

02:20 AM on 02/29/2012

I did a rough count of several news sites. There's no more here than anywhere else at least that's free :-). Faux news has it too. Crap sells let's face it.

[pittelli]

11:59 PM on 02/01/2012

D.J.,
Not sure why my last post didn't appear, but why do you continue to pretend you are offering a "challenge". What is your challenge? He claims to be a psychic, not a scientist. You claim to be a scientist. So set up the parameters of your challenge up front. If he thinks he can beat the challenge, he can accept the actual challenge. That is a challenge. Otherwise, you are a bigger fraud than he is.

[Darius Xym]

11:27 AM on 02/03/2012

How can you set up the parameters of a test without dialogue with the claimant to determine what would represent a fair and self evident test of their powers? And in fact if the JREF explicitly wants the dialogue to ensure the test is as accommodating and fair to the claimant as possible. What they don't want is for the claimant to refuse because they had no involvement in the rules of the test, or to turn up and then make excuses after the fact such as the wallpaper interfered with their mind beams or some other nonsense.

[pittelli]

12:12 PM on 02/04/2012

You can do it quite easily and it has been done many times over the years (various achievements in flight, for example). JREF knows exactly what powers he claims to have and could easily set up a fair test in advance that the person they challenge and others could assess as to its fairness. What JREF doesn't want is a fair test that they might lose. They change the parameters however they want AFTER the person accepts the challenge, forcing the person to either drop out and let JREF claim that they "chickened out" or take an unwinnable challenge. It is a cheap publicity stunt. You don't claim to challenge someone, but then say that you will decide what the challenge is after the other person accepts. That is not a challenge. It is a fraud. I realize a lot of people are focused on the idea that these people are frauds and should be exposed. That's fine, but then offer a fair test up front that will expose them.

[Bob Metcalfe]

02:22 AM on 02/29/2012

Those that have tried, have all agreed to the protocols. And failed!

[Norge]

07:31 AM on 01/25/2012

Yes the psysics are clever manipulators and control freaks though they are not clever enough to win the horse races or the stock markets or lotterys to be able to retire with millions so they swindel their way through life..

[hiitthedirtboys]

08:52 PM on 01/15/2012

Dr. Phil??? I've heard many rumors he holds no REAL doctorate. Lets just call him "Phil".And thinking more on that line, I would never confess anything to a guy named "Phil".- LOL

[ed conn]

06:54 PM on 01/22/2012

I only watched his show once... That big marshmellow was telling people how to diet. I guess he knows everything.

[Justin Werner]

06:22 PM on 01/15/2012

Well, what do you expect from a TV show like "Dr. Phil"? If I want do deal with a psychologist, I will deal with a reputable one whose main job isn't entertaining people. It's really sad that at a time when America most needs people to be rational, careful, and thoughtful, many of those people instead turn to quacks, charlatans, religious loonies, and such.

[whoknew222]

06:21 AM on 01/15/2012

Sad, but true, and shame on Dr. Phil for promoting such propoganda. Knowing that disadvantaged people will seek guidance where it's affordably available and taking advantage of that sector only shows his true colors. Does he not have enough admirers and money yet that he needs to undermine the needy in order to profit? If he were sincerely helping people he would not be nearly as enterprising to advocate the mythical wish foundation using a medium based on illusion. It is offensive and demeaning to his patrons and patronizing at the same time. Pretending people need to be told what they want to hear rather than wanting to hear what they need to know is not conducive to his audience's well being but is to his ratings and bank account.

[mater]

06:28 AM on 01/15/2012

Don't respect him or watch him anymore.

[whoknew222]

07:13 AM on 01/15/2012

I caught a few minutes of that episode and when I did it was to see the extent to which they would go to manipulate someone's vulnerability and desire for closure. For the emotionally compromised innocent a bit of fairy dust will suffice until they attain a level of comprehension and ability to come to terms with realty if they are too young to understand, but smathering it on after that point is counterproductive. Knowing that this is edited prior to airing makes it all the more false. Some shows can get by with that for entertainment value but on an educational level certain ones need to stay to the mean if the intention is also to be benefitial.
Every time I see his show I become more convinced that there is more propoganda being spewed than truth, and all soley for the sake of making huge profits.

[cotter]

07:15 PM on 01/14/2012

Dr. Phil a time slot, can't be taken seriously. I do have an amazing hair tonic that I would like to demonstrate.

[Lewis Cox]

05:26 PM on 01/13/2012

While I'm sure Dr. Phil has helped others, this was a giant step backwards into the tawdry world of superstition.

[gneep]

09:09 PM on 01/12/2012

The technique is called "Cold Reading" and anyone can learn it!.......Look it up! google "the Art Of Cold Reading"

[kevin folta]

03:42 PM on 01/12/2012

These people are predators. The people they attack are the weak or injured, those with fewer tools and resources. Their claims should be vetted as stringently as drug claims and there should be substantial penalties for misrepresentation. Shame on these frauds.

[OuterBanx North12]

01:53 PM on 01/12/2012

Dr Phil is to psychology what Aqua Velva is to cologne.

[gneep]

09:11 PM on 01/12/2012

funny how his kind of psychology only applies to mostly white middle class women and morons.

[Bob Wood]

11:55 AM on 01/12/2012

There's a question going around on the net...How come you never see the newspaper headline..."PSYCHIC WINS LOTTERY..." ? Seems like a reasonable question to me...(sigh)