This week's Herald column from yours truly examines the belief some have in the paranormal and pseudoscientific and why it can be cause for concern:
...Last week in Calgary, 1,400 people turned out for an evening with Sylvia Browne. While the self-proclaimed psychic/clairvoyant is not exactly filling arenas, it was more than turned out to hear, for example, Ann Coulter a few weeks ago.
While Browne is not "controversial" in the sense that Coulter is, it's far more disconcerting that people would pay to see the former than the latter.
It is curious that so little is asked of those who claim to possess such remarkable abilities. If someone can communicate with the dead and/or see into the future, then not only is that an amazing gift, but it would offer untold insight into our world and whether there is a world beyond.
However, if Browne's claims are phoney nonsense, then we should be asking why someone would make -- and profit from -- such claims.
As if that weren't enough to frustrate the skeptical, we are also in the midst of World Homeopathy Awareness Week (WHAW), which, surprisingly, is not the work of those who wish to call attention to the bizarre and unproven claims of homeopathy.
The media coverage of WHAW has somewhat mirrored that of Sylvia Browne's tour. Scant coverage, but one does encounter some healthy skepticism in the reporting on WHAW or homeopathy itself.
Again, given the stakes, more media interest might seem appropriate. Either homeopathy is a major scientific breakthrough or it's pseudo-scientific nonsense.
The evidence indicates that it's the latter. As a committee of British MPs recently concluded, "the systematic reviews and meta-analyses conclusively demonstrate that homeopathic products perform no better than placebos."
There may be nothing inherently wrong in taking homeopathic remedies in the hopes of triggering a placebo effect. However, there is a greater danger when it becomes a replacement for conventional, science-based medicine.
Similarly, the potential for harm exists in believing the claims of psychics or clairvoyants. It's one thing to take some comfort in a psychic's warm and fuzzy prediction of a new job or love interest, but it's much more concerning when psychics are brought into help in missing persons cases.
Last year, the mother of missing Ontario girl Tori Stafford sought out the assistance of a clairvoyant, who told the mother that Tori was still alive. As we later learned, Tori was killed shortly after being abducted.
If police give credence to such predictions, there's a real danger that precious resources could be wasted.
In 2002, Sylvia Browne told the parents of a missing 11-year old Missouri boy that their son was dead, and that his body would be found in a wooded area near some large boulders. In response, police did indeed refocus their search efforts. Ultimately, the boy was found alive in 2007 in an apartment building in a nearby city.
Again, it would be truly wondrous if people possessed psychic and clairvoyant abilities, and if water really did possess memory, as homeopaths claim.
The James Randi Educational Foundation has a standing $1-million offer for anyone who can demonstrate, under controlled conditions, either of those two claims. That this award has not been claimed is as telling as any scientific research.
As was famously said by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts."
You are free to believe what you want, but others are free -- and in some cases obligated -- to expose that which you hold to be true.
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