to not understand how you can just ‘become’ a psychic

[acquiesce]

OK so I went to school with a girl who I still have on FB. She has always been heavily into MLM, until her most recent one failed and she took herself off social media until yesterday when she posted this message

‘From tomorrow I will be offering psychic readings. I have been practicing on family and friends to gain more confidence and light. Going forward this will be part of my light work and so the price for this will be £10 per reading’

And so many commenters are lapping it up!

She’s so irritating but so fascinating. I don’t know how she makes money from this though, how are people this gullible? And wtf is light work???

I’m clearly doing something wrong working!

My DS claims to be a medium.

She's actually a large.

actually with extreme religion I WOULD be concerned about family welfare. If you use faith for comfort and socialising, fine. It is when it is used to make decisions that things get problematic.

FalsePriest

I thought my new boyfriend was a psychic because he kept telling people they had rolls of fat on their neck.
It turned out he was a Four Chin Teller.

whattodo "I think if you’re going to believe in something with no evidence whatsoever, you should be prepared to have the mick taken.

There shouldn’t be as much protection surrounding religion as there is."

I agree with the last part and religious schools and so on really horrify me. However, I wouldn't think taking the mick out of someone's religion at work,or at school, would be okay.

the reason I asked this question is I do think there are a quite a number of people who follow a religion or a god and then happily say that being psychic is rubbish and that confuses me somewhat.

*I think the world would be an immesurably better place if there was more open criticism of stupid and baseless beliefs whether they're religion or psychics or fairies
*
Damn right.

But this thread has gladdened my heart. It is mercifully free of the usual "'ave a bit of respect" bollocks.

Maybe I spoke too soon.

Why is it not OK to take the mick out of religion?

Why is it not OK to take the mick out of religion?

Because you might offend someone, Tabby and offending people is the most despicable crime imaginable these days.
Everyone has the right NOT to be offended. Whatever shite they believe/peddle/practise/inflict on others.

the reason I asked this question is I do think there are a quite a number of people who follow a religion or a god and then happily say that being psychic is rubbish and that confuses me somewhat.

True.

Riverside, I’m an atheist.

I would never take the piss out of someone’s religion to their face cos that’s not necessary and you’re not going to change their mind. I am scathing about religion with my atheist friends though and I do always feel a little disappointed when I make a new friend and then find out they’re religious. It never fails to amaze me.

EveningShadows

But in a discussion about religion that a theist has willingly engaged in do you still avoid being critical about their beliefs?

I wouldn't march up to anyone and inform them that their belief system is childish twaddle, but on a thread where they are earnestly trying to make their book of babble sound sensible I have no hesitation. And for that I am frequently called intolerant and bigotted...quite often by people who precede their remark with an "I'm an atheist, but...." which annoys me no end.

We are all being led to believe that offending people (as Monster just pointed out) is about the worst thing you can do. And I'm with Stephen Fry on that...."You're offended. So fucking what?"

Tabby, absolutely! If it’s a discussion that they’re happy to have I’ll get stuck in!

I'm particularly scathing about people who are posing as some sort of psychic person with a "gift" that they want to sharemake money off the back of.
Let's not forget that these psychics are part of a multi million pound industry. Lots of vulnerable sections of society are bled dry by these seers of the future.

I wouldn't ever take the mick out of someone's religion.

I'd like to see schools go secular, in fact I think it's essential.

but I'd not randomly take the mick out of anyone's beliefs, no. It just seems rude and unnecessary. If it was affecting my life in some way - which I think might have happened to specialsubject? - but that's different.

My parents are religious and I don't take the mick. If they want to have a serious chat about stuff, which sometimes they do, because they have been ill and at some point I'll probably be in charge of a religious funeral - then occasionally they will ask (still!) why I don't believe and then a conversation ensues.

but general piss taking for someone's beliefs just doesn't sit well with me. I did once get cross with a colleague who told me an atheist should never be permitted to be in a church though! She really meant it - she said I should not enter for weddings or funerals and that the people who had asked me to attend should just do without me

What a cunt.

@TenancyTroublesAgain

assuming that comment was directed at my colleague?

Yes, it was doubly upsetting as I'd had a day off to attend a funeral. He asked if I had found the service comforting and I said "well, not really but I'm an atheist" - didn't really want to talk about a friend's funeral at work anyway tbh - and then he came out with that - why did I go etc etc.

actually my friend wasn't even a believer but her parents wanted a church so that was that. I resisted the urge to ask if he thought she should be barred from burial in a churchyard....

@Riverside2 It was about the fake psychic that the thread is about.

@TenancyTroublesAgain

oh

ignore me.

My exH reckons he's now a psychic medium. He was about as psychic as my big toe when I knew him. Hilarious!!

The thing is, Riverside, there are rather a lot of people all over the globe who consider that "mocking" their belief system is an offence worthy of murder. And there are even more who, while not directly condoning this, consider that their actions are not entirely unjustified.

I was utterly disgusted, for example, at the number of MNers saying crap like, "What they did was terrible, but their religion was mocked" after the Charlie Hebdo journalists were slaughtered.

It's because free speech doesn't really exist in countries where murderers like that are bred that attacks like Charlie Hebdo happen. We have free speech here and we are profoundly lucky that we do. It's being seriously and dangerously eroded by the "respect" brigade who like to bossily tell other people what they can or can't say.

Of course you don't have to mock anyone's religion if you don't want to...and there is, of course, a time & a place....but the idea that it's fundamentally wrong to do so is not a situation we should be in.

Couldn't agree more Tabby

A bit more mockery and a bit less respect of religious beliefs would make the world a better place.

Consider the Danish cartoonists a few years ago who drew a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. (Not even a particularly objectively offensive cartoon)

For exercising their rights to free speech, in their own country, not an Islamic state, they were subjected to hundreds of thousands of Muslims around the world (including the government of several Islamic countries) calling for their painful deaths, preferably by torture.

Obviously there was a response from the West to this. Political leaders of all nations, religious leaders including the Pope and many influential western journalists immiedietly came out to vocally condemn...

The cartoonists

It'd be funny if it wasn't so depressing.

A dead relative of yours told me DalekDalekDalek! You know the one, they're dead, they died a while ago... in some circumstance or another...

Oh my god, clearly you are talking about my grandmother. She died a while ago. And there were circumstances. Well I'm convinced!

Some people will make better psychics than others, because they'll be better at reading facial expressions and body language (cold reading isn't just about reading the first impression but the continuing reactions etc). That could certainly run in families whether by nature or nurture.

she said it was bad to profit from being able to do it and that if you profit from it you lose your gift...

I don't know where to start with this. Should footballers not take a salary? Or singers? Actors? Sculptors? Painters? They all start with a gift then hone their skills. It's a nonsense phrase scammers come out with to hide the fact that they're all about getting money out of you.

For me the main difference between being a psychic and being religious is similar to the difference between doing Santa Claus and being religious: it's about whether they actually believe it or not. Most psychics know they're making it up, and they know that they're getting 50% of their starting material from Google and Facebook.

Haven't RTFT but the answer to your question is that being "a psychic" is about cold reading.

Cold reading is a skill that anyone can learn and people who are very good at it are very impressive. Derren Brown is an example.

Lots of stuff on this if you google.

www.secrets-explained.com/derren-brown/cold-reading

www.secrets-explained.com/derren-brown/cold-reading

Tabby, oh, I see - no I was thinking on a personal level 1:1

I must admit I have never had a conversation with anyone saying "but their religion was mocked" of something like Charlie Hebdo and my flabber would be utterly gasted.

I wasn't on MN in those days!

MrsHathaway "cold reading isn't just about reading the first impression but the continuing reactions etc"

surely if you see a psychic you use the same poker face, neutral body language, complete lack of micro expressions etc you use in work meetings