There are "psychics" such as Browne who knowingly fleece the public; they would never take the Randi challenge, knowing in advance that they would fail. Then there are the "psychics" who do take the test because they honestly believe they have magic powers. And of course, they fail every time they're tested under laboratory conditions that preclude cheating.
I don’t know if so called psychic ability is something that can be tested in a laboratory.
I don’t even really believe in extra sensory perception , but there does seem to be some communication that cannot be explained. For instance, my daughter woke me up early one morning before scoop, all upset, saying that her sister had had a car accident and was afraid to tell us. About 7AM, the phone rang and I made my one daughter answer and ask her sister if she had had an accident . The older daughter said,yes, how did you know?
Yes, Randi and Uri Geller have been squabbling for years.
I have to admit I shed no tears over Sylvia Browne. She has the distinction of being one of the few people I know banned from Coast to Coast that has stayed banned. Usually Noory accepts their lame excuses a d goes back to business as usual. If I’m not mistaken, this was because of Shawn Hornbeck. You see, before Amanda Barry, there was a missing boy named Shawn Hornbeck, and Browne did pretty much the same thing. On e someone is missing so long the odds are that they are dead, so I think it’s pretty clear she was just going with the odds and guessing.
I think the reason that people( and I think it’s mostly women) go to psychics is that it’s less painful and usually cheaper( unless you end up with one of the big time con artists who steal people’s life savings by telling them its “cursed” or something) than going to a shrink. But you get to talk about yourself and your problems without feeling like you’re imposing like you would with a friend. The typical client is a woman, I think, with husband or boyfriend trouble, or one with nonspecific unhappiness or dissatisfaction in life. There may be issues with work, money, children or health. But remember, the shrink industry leaves a lot to be desired plus costs a fortune, so where are people supposed to go? I don’t think it has that much to do with politics. Oprah has certainly promoted a lot of highly questionable people over the years, but I don’t know if Sylvia Browne is one of them.