A segment with him airs tonight; an online report can be accessed at the ABCNews website.

Well,
I just finished watching that segment on John Edward on 20/20. It was pretty interesting. It was nice to see someone on TV standing up to John Edward like that. They showed how it's pretty clear that he gets very few hits, but how, when he forces you to find a connection. He gets many more hits than he really deserves. Of course he replies to this with a feeling of compassion, but indifference to the skeptics. That makes the skeptics appear to be rude, aggressive brutes attacking an innocent man. But overall, I think that segment showed a little better to some people that John Edward is indeed a fraud, and that he is even hurtful to people. That's what I think anyway. I'd like to hear other people's thoughts.

Dane

One thing I have to say:
When I first saw the preview of his show, I immediately went on the Internet to try to book him. Of course I learned that he has a 2 year wait line so I gave up the idea of talking to my dear grandmother.
That was 2 years ago. Now, after learning about mentalism and reading quite a lot about suggestions and other techniques, I watched him again last night. The result? I wanted to throw up.

Peter

At the risk of being accused of being overly cranky, I'd like to make a special appeal here:

There are many many threads in this forum and Inner Thoughts where people have discussed the ethics, legitimacy and reality of those who claim to really have psychic powers. These are obviously hot topics and all of us want to have our say, which is only reasonable.

That said, is it possible to put those kinds of comments in those prior threads?

I was thinking it would be really really really nice to discuss, for once, Edward's technique INDEPENDENT OF WHETHER WE THINK HE IS UNETHICAL SCUM.

I have already had my say on ethics so I will refrain. But could people who saw the show last night comment on the TECHNIQUES he appears to be using that mentalists might adapt to their own performances? Even if it is assumed that all that he is doing is legit, he clearly has a performance style that can be analyzed.

Many thanks,
Jack Shalom

Ian rowland has an article on his site somewhere which analyses John Edward.

http://www.ianrowland.com

Shrink,
Its in The Vault...an article titled JE - Crassing Over.
(A very apt Title indeed)

Howard

If you go to Banachek's site he has some articles that try and show that John Edwards is a fraud and is a danger to the magic/mental community. I don't know if I agree or not, but there is some interesting things brought up. You may want to check it out.

Hkwiles: yes that's the one..

Very very basic cold reading, lots of fishing. If you want to use his "technique" just get a theater full of people & say stuff like "I'm getting a name ... it starts with 'M', could the person thinking of 'M' please stand..." Cut out all the non-hits, AND make all the audience members sign an extremely stringent nondisclosure agreement before the show.

I honestly don't get the guy's appeal. He LOOKS like a sleazeball. But then so did Miss Cleo, and she did OK, for a while.

There was some good discussion of this guy (and the Pet Psychic, remember her?), including info from some audience members, on the discussion forums for Penn & Teller's "Series Whose Title I'm Assuming Can't Be Printed Here". Check it out.

My take on the segment was different. I kept waiting for the expose of the TT, CT, Add-a-No and self-folding bill to prove that John Edward was a fraud. I was relieved when these were not forthcoming.

Gianni

Gianni:
It's entirely possible he didn't do the effects you mentioned above, knowing full well that the camera could zoom in, and break down his work frame by frame, thus catching the dirty work.

I'm afraid that in his case, he's using Dunninger's mantra in reverse: "For those who do not believe, no explanation will suffice. For those who do believe, no explanation is necessary."

I find it strange that so many mentalists hold such distain for psychic readers and so many card mechanics idolize card cheats. Do I respect J E as a person, no. But sometimes I watch him and I gotta say, I respect his chops, the same as I respect a good second deal, even though I won't sit down at the table to play. Having said that, If you ever want a laugh, just browse through one of his books. I forget the title, but Larry King did the intro. In this book Edwards, while trying to debunk the the skeptics makes the following distinction between a lazy, (implication fraudulent) medium and a non-lazy (implication legit) medium. The lazy medium doesn't check his work according to Edwards, and makes statements like "Your father is dead" while the "non-lazy" (Edwards phrase) medium says "Your father is dead, is that correct?"
Hillarious, the man actually tries to convince his followers that the litmus test of good mediumship is good cold reading skills. Gotta love his chops, even if you hate the man.

J

Sure, you may like his chops, but it's hard for ME to overlook the sleazy things he does. I am quite sure he chose what he chose to do because he knew he'd have a better chance at fame, and that he'd be dealing with typically more gullible and submissive people because of the situations they are in. What I can't overlook is that he makes up things to people about people that have died in their lives. It's extremely powerful and emotionally overwhelming for them to imagine that their relative or friend's presence is in the room and communicating to them through JE. JE knows this, and takes full advantage of it, and only thinks of himself, and doesn't consider the feelings of the person he's reading. He even has the audacity to snap at them and make snide remarks when they tell him he's wrong about something. Then they feel like they are doing something wrong, and mentally grasp for anything they can hold on to that might correspond with what JE is referring to. There's almost always a branch for them to grab, no matter how flimsy.

Anyway, I know there are people that will disagree with some things I said, but that is how I feel about it. I know that those are just his cold reading methods (and admittedly "good" ones at that), but I don't think there is a good excuse for stringing people along with a subject as sensitive as death, just so JE can keep his television show, make books, and roll in his money.

Dane

Did anyone catch any of John Edward's Pay per View special? I just clicked by it and caught him in the beginning. You can't knock the fact that he covers all the bases why he's right and the spectator may be wrong. Some paraphrased quotes, "Remember to write down the messages from the people coming through, because they may not mean anything to you now, but down the road they may make sense to you" Brilliant! Also, another fav! "It's not only your immediate family that may come through, it could be step parents, friends, acquaintances I don't really always know or have any control who comest through.." So anyone who fits the profile of he's spewing, nice move John.

I personally do not think spirit readings are a very ethical way of making a living. I really don't think I could live with myself doing what he does no matter how much $$$ I was making. How could you live with other people, either they were on the inner circle and knew that you lied to people and took advantage of the emotional state for a living, or you'd have to lie and decieve the people close to you for the rest of your life. I suppose you could find an equally sleazy person that would be perfectly "cool" with what you did.

In conclusion, when he did a special with families of the 911 disaster I wanted throw up! It really did make me sick to my stomach. He deserves to exposed for this and sued for fraud. Sure it may offer some closure to these people, but how stupid would they feel when they found out they were decieved. And who has ******* audacity put words in the mouths of the 911 victims and tell their loved ones what they wanted to say to them. Miss Cleo looks like Mother Theresa compared to this lowlife!

Again, the ethics are already discussed on several other forum threads, and while I do not disagree with many of the views expressed regarding Mr. Edwards lack of ethics or not, the methods he uses are too familiar. I was in a room of very well educated scientific types this last Saturday, and used a few "wonder words" to let them puzzle over how I could determine a number they were thinking of! I found the entire process so very natural and simple, I felt like I could have become a big time used car sales person right then and there!!!
The tools are all around us, what we choose to build is up to the individual.

Hey now don't go bashing used car salesman! I did that for 15 years, if I only knew what I do now I could have done a lot better. "Your Grandpa Earl is coming through and wants you to have this car, he's telling me even though $250/month is all you wanted to spend, you'll be able to afford $399/month. Trust me, would I lie about what your dead grandfather is telling me?"

I do all kinds of readings all the time (for fun and ethically) and though I learned from various sources, including my acting, paying attention to these guys was very helpful.


Anabelle

The thing is, you're not getting any idea of what kind of chops JE may or may not have from watching the TV show. You're seeing 20 minutes or so of hits of varying quality; a couple of hours worth of nonhits get edited out. People who were actually at the show have indicated (quite circumspectly, because the nondisclosure agreement is apparently pretty scary (it binds them for one thing not to disclose that they've signed a nondisclosure agreement)) that the actual show is unimpressive.

I think he's a fool for agreeing to appear on 20/20.

What a stupid thing to do.

In this society, with perhaps the sole exception of child molesters (and even then one could make the case that they are not an exception):

Television Exposure = Publicity = Dollars.


Jack Shalom