Due to my own stupidity, my social media pages tend to include a lot of adverts about what us scientists call bollocks. Today, I have been offered psychic readings, Tarot card reading and Reiki, to name but three. It’s my own stupidity to blame because I tend to bite when random adverts for pseudoscience appear on my timeline. Facebook doesn’t differentiate between a mug punter buying into fakery and someone taking the piss and now I’m paying a small price for my smart arsery.
I suppose I should be more tolerant of others and respect their beliefs. The trouble is, I find it very hard to respect people for believing in things that plainly aren’t true or real. Take so-called psychic mediums, for example. One of my colleagues at a previous employer went to an evening of mediumship and told everyone it had been an astonishing experience. “She talked about things she couldn’t possibly have known about,” she said. People nodded appreciatively. For once, I kept my mouth shut, although it wasn’t easy.
Having “messages” passed on from long dead relatives may provide some comfort to the bereaved, knowing the dead person is now happy in the spirit world. But there is not a shred of evidence that anyone has psychic powers at all. In fact, there are all manner of techniques for making it appear one has them, including cold reading, but in reality it’s all nonsense. Worst of all, some say it’s nothing better than fraud.
I am sure that some people genuinely and honestly believe they do possess powers that don’t exist. I’ve been unfriended on Facebook by someone I used to know who makes a tidy living from the spirit world. I’m prepared to believe they sincerely believe that they possess unique powers denied to the rest of us. However, my firm belief is they actually don’t. I cannot prove they don’t but then again I can’t prove there aren’t fairies at the bottom of the garden. Both are equally unlikely.
The Tarot reading invitations are comedy gold. Dealing random cards and making stuff up about what they then mean. My reaction to these frauds and charlatans – and indeed those who really do think Tarot is real – is to better utilise these card-dealing skills in a casino. What’s the difference? They’d still be persuading their customers to piss away money for no good reason.
My favourite pseudoscience scam came under the heading Equine Reiki – yes, for horses. I don’t own horses – my back garden isn’t quite big enough – but if something doesn’t work with humans, the odds are it probably won’t work with horses, either. But, I suppose, if you’re desperate, you’ll believe, and pay for, anything.
Unfortunately, real life can be harsh. We’re all going to die one day and when we’re dead we won’t be chatting to our bereaved relatives because we’re dead. And “healing energy” won’t heal a sick horse, never mind a sick human being. It’s definitely time for me to stop replying to the nonsense I see on social media. It only encourages them.
