The naive belief I hold that humanity as generally decent has tripped me up again. I should have known Michael Jackson wouldn't even be in the ground before "psychic" scavengers would be all over him like some sort of disgusting, odious tumour.
James Van Praagh, one of the least competent or convincing "psychics" currently on the TV circuit, will go on Oprah soon to give the results of an interview he has conducted with Jackson posthumously.
Doctors and police needn't worry themselves about the details of Jackson's death, Van Praagh has already found the answers. When asked if foul play was involved, Jackson apparently told him, "I felt sick that day, very sick. My doctor Conrad told me to rest, but I had to practice moves for my upcoming concert. I was tired, very tired, then I collapsed".
Asked where he is now, Van Praagh was told, "I am surrounded by happiness. I never felt more happier."
Not to be left out, consistent barrel-scraper, Sylvia Brown is going on Montell Williams to talk about her recent conversations with Jackson's spirit. "He is doing well. Very well. He does not miss this physical world."
I hope I'm not the only person who finds this abhorrent and disgusting.
Why is it OK for these "psychics" to piss all over someone's memory by putting words into his dead mouth?
It shouldn't have surprised me that these people are speaking for Michael Jackson, because this is what they do all the time. This is how "psychics" make their living. People pay for them to rape the precious memories they have of their dearest loved-ones by tackily sticking on their own hastily conceived addenda.
When someone we love has gone, all we have left are our memories. The images that come to us when we think about them and the joy or wisdom or happiness they gave us is what lives on. These are what exist of them now. Memories of a loved one are their most important legacy. To the godless, it is the only way that they carry on past their mortal end.
Yet many people seem to think nothing of allowing certain self-appointed strangers the liberty to add to or subtract from those memories at will. Indeed they are glad for them to make up meretricious pleasantries to appease the applauding masses while holding no remorse for the genuinely special legacy they are shitting on.
James Van Praagh, Sylvia Brown, John Edwards, Derek Acorah, Colin Fry and the many others are, in my opinion, making their money in one of the most cynically dishonest and outright disgusting ways imaginable.
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Yeah, agree. Van Praagh is clearly making stuff up. I've heard a couple that sound genuine though - Bonnie Vent and Christian von Lahr.
ReplyDeleteWe certainly agree on your first point - Van Praagh is clearly a fraud, and not a very good one.
ReplyDeleteHowever, On your second statement, I think we differ.
To be honest I'd never heard of either of the people you mention, and I had no idea there was such a rich community springing up around the practice of delivering final messages for Michael Jackson. Although I'm sure it's only my naivete that leaves me at all surprised that it is.
I believe I've found the "channeling" sessions you're referring to.
Bonnie Vent - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtyAH90E-y0
Christian Von Lahr - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWZoYZUSCbA
Like every channeling I've ever heard, there's simply nothing here to suggest that either of these people are communicating with Jackson, or anyone at all besides their own imagination. Indeed one of Von Lahr's callers actually challenges him to answer a factual question to check it is Jackson he's talking to, and he dodges it with some fuzzy sort of "Michael doesn't want to talk about that" sort of bollocks.
Neither says anything but the sort of meaningless generalities that anyone could have come out with, except Von Lahr who said that Jackson actually died of Mercer disease which, as far as I can tell from a bit of research, simply isn't true. Amusingly, Bonnie Vent actually includes in her reading a rant at some of the other mediums that have been talking for him and tells us, apparently without irony, that she is one of Michael Jackson's favourite mediums to speak to.
These two "mediums" change nothing, I am a long long way from convinced. If you suspend, for a second, the assumption that it's even possible for the dead to contact us, then these people are doing something almost unspeakably presumptuous and despicably base. Deciding what a dead person would say on their behalf as soon as they're no longer around to correct you.
What makes anyone believe that Michael Jackson, in life one of the celebrities most reticent to divulge any information about himself, would suddenly, upon death, start chatting to any old no-name crank medium who decides to ask him something?
Maybe there's something about heart attacks that makes recluses uncontrollably chatty, but frankly, I don't buy it.
supporting any faith has never hurt anyone. ridiculing someone's faith hurts everyone. i wonder who's in the right??
ReplyDeleteWell, unfortunately, whether someone's feelings are hurt has no baring on the veracity of the provoking statement. So the implication that I am wrong if somebody is upset by something I have said is a non sequitur.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I would also argue with the statement that "supporting any faith has never hurt anyone".
How about the 11 year old girl who died earlier this year of diabetes because her parents prayed for her instead of taking her to a doctor?
http://tinyurl.com/examiner-11-year
How about the triple murder and suicide that took place at a gym in the US about a month ago, about which the murderer wrote on his blog, "But this guy [his pastor] teaches you can commit mass murder then still go to heaven... I think his crap did the most damage"?
http://tinyurl.com/gymkillerblog
How about the 9-year-old girl whose family were ex-communicated by the Vatican after they had the product of her rape aborted?
http://free-from-faith.blogspot.com/2009/03/gods-love-vatican-and-rape.html
How about this enlightening blog post from an ex-Muslim describing some of the pain and difficulty she has had to go through as a result of doubting her faith?
http://treedreamer.com/?p=187
Or you could talk to the members and/or founders of the Religion Recovery Support group for their stories.
http://tinyurl.com/religion-recovery
Lastly I would like to take issue with the statement that I am ridiculing someone's faith. Throughout this blog, I have tried to address issues in a reasonably factual and thoughtful way and to avoid ridiculing people's beliefs.
However, if you are referring specifically to this post, and by "faith" you mean the belief that every other "psychic medium" has spoken to Michael Jackson, then I have no remorse in ridiculing them for their heartless and meretricious capitalisation on the death of another human and the suffering of his friends and family.
Dr. Christian von Lahr's channel is still producing positive results. It makes no sense to keep ridiculing someone FOR BEING RIGHT!
ReplyDeleteChristian Von Lahr said that the cause of Michael Jackson's death was MRSA. The coroner's report stated that the cause of death was "acute propofol intoxication".
ReplyDeleteSo Von Lahr was wrong.
Actually, Christian von Lahr DID NOT say Michael Jackson's cause of death was MRSA. Listen to the first segment of Coast to Coast. He said MJ's handlers approached a client while he was in Los Angels and THEY claimed he was dying from MRSA, and that this was back in February 2009, NOT in June. The client was in touch with von Lahr by cell phone. Free-from-Faith doesn't seem to require HIS facts to be correct when it wants to substantiate its allegations; they are only required from the one or ones being attacked by Free-from-Faith. These denunciation blogs are all the same; simply attack someone to get some personal attention from their fame and notoriety. You make up all the BS you want, because you are ACCUSING, and you feel the accuser doesn’t need to back up THEIR accusations – as if they should above judgment. We see this all the time. It’s all BS. James Van Pragg, Sylvia Browne, Christian von Lahr, you just want to attack true psychic celebrities to get some attention. I’ve just proven to you that you are undeniably wrong in Christian von Lahr’s instance. Why don’t YOU do something worthwhile and proclaim it, and then let us, and your accusers too, see if IT has any merit; I am so very sure it would not.
ReplyDeleteYa, what mom said. And stop hiding behind some sill-arse screenname, chicken! What is your name, address and phone number. WE WANT TO KNOW! Free-from-faith is a coward. Liar. Unreasonable? Hardly, you expect everything you complain about and those whom you complain about to give you every fact on a silver platter. You want to be spoon-fed with facts because you are too damn lazy to even research your charges. You don’t care if you are right or wrong, you just want to get a little bit of attention. Poor little child. Useless, arrogant, jerk. Go back to grade-school and learn a trade. My kids could write a more meaningful and fact-based paper on dirt than you can on this topic.
ReplyDeleteShanti Tuum
Here is my position: I don't know if it's possible to communicate with the dead, or if any of these particular people have done it. However, I think it's very unlikely, and therefore it would take some extremely compelling evidence to convince me.
ReplyDeleteNothing I've heard so far, from any of the people mentioned in the article and the comments, has included anything that compelling. All of the assertions made could have been made by someone who was not genuinely channelling Michael Jackson and therefore my scepticism remains.
I can't now find the video that made a specific reference to MRSA, so given that I'm unable to recheck my reference, I'll have to reluctantly admit that you may be right that he didn't state that as the cause of death. However, that doesn't actually change anything. Even if he wasn't specifically wrong about the cause of death, my broader point - that he has given no insight that could not have been given by a non-psychic - still stands.
Rather than name calling and capitalised shouting, why not direct me to some evidence that might change my mind.
Oh I believe whole heartedly you can communicate with the dead. And I truly believe Bonnie Vent is assisting Michael with unfinished business.
ReplyDelete