Fakes, Frauds, and
Placebos
Comedian-actor-iconoclast Woody Allen seems to love the "absurdities" of life. One he likes to tell is his version of the Abraham and Isaac story from Genesis 22.
According to Allen, Abraham believed God commanded him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, because "it was a deep, resonant voice, well-modulated, and nobody in the desert can get a rumble like that." Later, when Abraham was embarrassed that he did not get God's "little joke" about Isaac, God said to him, "It just proves that some men will follow any order no matter how asinine as long as it comes from a resonant, well-modulated voice."1
Although Allen takes the story out of context — God was testing Abraham, not teasing him — he cleverly points up the need for discernment. Some people will believe anything, especially when it comes through the voice of religion.
That seems particularly true for New Age "easy believism," where some outrageous, off-the-wall, and snake-oily assumptions and programs are swallowed whole by persons desperate to find health, wealth, happiness, or just plain answers and meaning to life in a largely inscrutable world.
Some psychic arts turn out, upon close examination, to be well-intentioned fakes; other fringy New Age products and protocols are thinly veiled scams and frauds; still others produce results — but for reasons different from those
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advanced by their practitioners. (We have already considered the "placebo effect" in chapter 18.)
In the field of mystical medicine, techniques such as acupressure, kinesiology, and "Touch Therapy" are all based on the assumption that an invisible energy flow (Chi) surrounds the human body and affects muscle strength. By pulling on "indicator muscles," this energy field can be "read" to diagnose widespread ailments and food intolerances, or so the theory goes.
Dr. Paul C. Reisser recounts an example of this method: A therapist pulls downward on the arm of a patient who holds various foods in the other hand. "If the arm seems weak, the food held will be deemed undesirable for that person, regardless of its nutritional value. Such practices are said to reveal the 'wisdom of the body' in determining what it needs or what is wrong.
"Unfortunately," Reisser adds, "they have no basis whatsoever in physiology, and require the therapist (and, if possible, the patient) to accept the idea of an invisible energy flow."2
I saw this method of "testing" at the Celebration of Innovation in San Francisco.3 A young man wearing an array of rainbow pins was trying to decide which one of five styles of wire pyramids was right for him. The salesgirl at the pyramid booth told him to place the pyramid, an open-framed affair, over his head and press his thumb and third finger firmly together.
She then pulled on his fingers until they separated. The pyramid offering the greatest resistance (purportedly producing the strongest finger bond) was the one he should buy, she said.
As it turned out, he plunked down $34.95 for the second-most expensive model and went merrily on his way. The next customer was a man looking for a pyramid to reduce stress while driving on freeways and "going into places like Seven-Elevens" (the jiffy convenience stores). I smiled, picturing the reactions of other freeway drivers as he tooled along in the fast lane with a wire pyramid over his head!
Meanwhile, Brett Bravo — psychic counselor, teacher, healer, jewelry designer, and organizer of "Emerald City spiritual spa" — was delivering a lecture on how to use crystal mystique for health.
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Sit on the floor, she said, and hold a crystal in your left hand. Look at it for several minutes. "It will begin to balance your energies." Next, lie on your back, put the crystal on your solar plexus, and place one hand over it. "Cosmic rays will penetrate, and physical rays will stimulate your emotional body."
How to be sure your crystal has been properly cleansed? Bravo, who said she'd had a relationship with rocks since she was five, and who once analyzed drilling cores for Shell Oil Company, allowed that we could choose from (a) burying our crystal for a week, (b) washing it in sea water, (c) giving it a smoke treatment (a sage smudge is a favorite of Native Americans), (d) running a demagnetizer over it, or (e) putting it on our forehead and adjuring, "Clear!"
"The myth is for you to decipher; you do with this what your heart tells you to do," she said with a shrug.
While Bravo extolled the curing effects of crystals, however, she declared belief in the power of birthstones to be without merit — "they don't have anything to do with anything."
And nobody in the room challenged any of her assumptions. At times I thought, somebody oughta just stand up and shout, "Bah, humbug!" or words to that effect.
As social psychologist Theodore Roszak has observed, "It is the myth that we accept without question as truth that holds influence over us."4
The call for discernment regarding New Age technologies and claims should be especially loud and clear when these are processes involving the human body.
Responsible New Age opinion makers like Marilyn Ferguson and Ken Wilber concede that a field like holistic health offers numerous opportunities for fraud and deception. Ferguson has suggested that ground rules should include "making sure that the unorthodox procedures are used only to complement proven conventional treatments rather than subjecting consumers to needless risk."5
In this area, psychic surgery has been exposed for its prevalent use of sleight-of-hand procedures, such as folding the fingers to simulate their actually penetrating human flesh. Another is storing blood and phony tumors in a fake thumb made of plastic.6
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The Rocky Mountain Skeptic newsletter reported that Bela Scheiber had palmed on a gauze concealed in his hand some of the material a psychic surgeon named "Brother Joe" had ostensively pulled out of his uncut body. When he had the blood sample on the gauze analyzed by the Chematox Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, it turned out to be "non-human cells consistent with fowl [chicken] blood."7
Those who have debunked the psychic side of firewalking found that the secret lies in knowing the distinction between temperature and heat, and between the concept of pain and the concept of being burned. A metal skillet, heated to 400 degrees in an oven, for example, contains much more "burnable" heat than a cake baked at the same temperature. While the stunt may help participants overcome fear and develop self-confidence, the claim that firewalking involves paranormal powers is specious.
Still, it seems no one is immune to false beliefs. Peter Glick, a social psychologist at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, reported on psychological testing that showed that all of us are susceptible to a belief in astrology. Those who believe in horoscopes are more likely to distort the evidence they receive so that it doesn't challenge their prior beliefs. But even skeptics, though they tend to view information more objectively, may fall prey to faulty reasoning when the description of the horoscope is flattering, as most horoscopes are.
Glick writes: "It is known that people tend to be inordinately impressed with the accuracy of descriptions containing such vague statements as 'though you are a friendly person, at times you are rather shy' — even though such statements can apply to almost anybody."8
When in May 1988 the media spotlight shone on the Reagans' use of astrology forecasts, the president did not deny that he read horoscopes. And Nancy Reagan's press secretary confirmed that ever since the 1981 attempt on the president's life, the first lady had often consulted "a friend that does astrology" in San Francisco to seek reassurance of the president's safety.9
The Philadelphia Inquirer said that Nancy Reagan, after consulting an astrologer, insisted that her husband sign the U.S.-Soviet nuclear missile treaty at 1:33 P.M. on December 8, 1987.10
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Reagan, who signed the treaty with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at exactly that time, denied making policy decisions based on astrology.
Astrology assumes that the position of the stars and planets influences human events, and it categorizes people according to the astrological alignments prevailing at the time they were born. There is no evidence that these claims are true, and amid the White House astrology flap, scientists expressed dismay over "the apparent return to medieval superstition" in the guidance of international affairs.
The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of the Claims of the Paranormal issued a statement which said that dozens of rigorous tests in recent years by scientists have found that horoscopes "fail completely in predicting future events." In one test, said Andrew Fraknoi, an astronomy professor at San Francisco State University, two scientists examined more than 3000 predictions by astrologers and found them to be correct less than 10% of the time.11
"Scientists have been warning for years that the uncritical prominence given to astrology may have a deleterious effect on the public," the statement continued. "The intrusion of astrology into the highest levels of national security thinking now is a cause for further concern . . . . [I]t is vital that the public have a clear understanding between science and pseudoscience."12
The astrological system was established in ancient times, Fraknoi added; and since then the Earth's position has shifted slightly relative to the constellations so that the signs of the zodiac viewed now are not those seen by the ancients.
Another claim of astrology is that the gravitational and tidal effects of the heavenly bodies can influence the life of a child. But scientists have calculated that the gravitational influence of the obstetrician who delivers a baby is six times greater than that of, for example, the planet Mars. And the tidal effect of the obstetrician is greater by a factor of two trillion!
The same fuzzy mechanism of wishful thinking and uncritical reasoning is at work in channeling.
Persons seeking news from departed loved ones want to hear reassuring things from "the other side." And the most popular mediums seem to be the most adept at psychology, watching the expressions of the seekers for clues, drawing
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them out, following up on vague information tentatively advanced, making it more specific if they receive confirmation.
Science writer Karl Sabbagh offers an explanation:
I believe that the human brain has a ratchet, and it is one that swings into place whenever people are confronted with something they really want to believe in. Whenever they come across an example of a phenomenon that reinforces the belief they are interested in preserving, the mainspring of their belief tightens a little bit. But, if a little later they come across something that doesn't reinforce the belief, something that even contradicts the hypothesis they are fondly nurturing, the wheel rotates in the opposite direction but the spring doesn't loosen — it's still as tight as it was, and their faith is unshaken.12
While we already dealt with the modus operandi of channelers in an earlier chapter, it is important to again mention it, stressing that this is an area where deception and fraud are rampant. Says Patricia Rochelle-Diegel, a Ph.D. psychologist and trance medium in Sedona, Arizona, who gives "immortality consultations": When a channeler claims to be the "exclusive channel or energy [for an entity] . . . a little light should go on that says 'Greed'!"14
Diegel, a cheerful, plump woman who likes to wear large strings of pink and blue beads over a matching blouse, notes that Jane Roberts, the famous channeler of "Seth," "was walking around smoking while giving [Seth's] messages" in a casual manner. Seth, speaking through Roberts, claimed that he spoke only through her. But an estimated 300 mediums claim to have channeled Seth, and Roberts is now dead. Which presents an interesting dilemma: Either 299 mediums are deceived, or else they are liars. Or Seth lies. Or Roberts lied. At the very least, mediumship is suspect.
In their book, The Fakers, magician-investigative journalist Danny Korem and psychiatrist Paul Meier describe a broad range of ways the mind and senses can be fooled: through sleight of hand; use of principles of psychology, mathematics, and physics; hidden mechanical devices; physical and mechanical deception; optical illusion; misdirected attention; use of a stooge; and luck and probability.15
These techniques — the stock in trade of magicians and
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illusionists — have been used as well by unscrupulous evangelists and faith healers. The Pentecostal or charismatic wing of the Christian church particularly needs to clean up its act in this area. The "miracle mongering" of many television evangelists and the slick purveyors of the "health and wealth gospel" should be called to account by responsible churchmen or denominational leaders. Unfortunately, little control exists over many of the most blatant charlatans because they are not responsible to any denomination and answer to no one other than themselves — or to figurehead boards who rubberstamp anything they do.
That psychics and mediums have been guilty of fakery and fraud is well documented. Some have admitted it; others — like psychic surgeon — "Brother Joe" — have been exposed.
When San Francisco Chronicle reporter Ben Fong-Torres and a photographer visited trance-channel Kathy Reardon, she introduced them to the spirit of a fifteenth-century Irish barmaid. Reardon lapsed into a trance, her face twitched and her shoulders hunched, but the spirit of "Moira" could not provide answers to specific questions. In fact, Moira gave several incorrect answers, Fong-Torres reported.
He added that when Reardon "came to," she seemed unfazed by Moira's performance. "If you feel it made a little sense, fine," she said. "If part of it was bunk, fine, too. I tell people, 'don't take anyone's word over your own.' "16 (For a comprehensive description of exposes of several well-known earlier psychics and mediums, see the TIME cover story of March 4, 1974.)
After a two-year study, the National Academy of Sciences concluded emphatically that 130 years of research had produced "no scientific justification" to support widespread belief in the existence of extrasensory perception (ESP), mental telepathy, or similar phenomena.17
The committee reserved its sharpest criticism, however, for the realm of parapsychology and claims of evidence for such things as "the putative use of mental power to bend spoons and jam computers." The committee chairman was quoted as saying that the quality of research in the field was surprisingly poor.18
Only when we learn to discriminate will we be able to "reject the bizarre and avoid being mesmerized by its
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novelty," observed Irving Hexham, a religious studies professor at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.19
Richard Ofshe, a University of California, Berkeley, professor who won a Pulitzer prize for his research on the Synanon cult, suggests reality testing that asks: What is the theory behind a program or technique; how do the procedures relate to the theory; and are there objective criteria for evaluation?20
Truth matters, says Timothy Philibosian, who runs a small organization in Englewood, Colorado, called Rivendell. Named after the city of sanctuary and wisdom in J.R.R. Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings, Rivendell is dedicated to discerning conflicting worldviews and evaluating claims of truth.
"We always ask people to define their terms," explained Philibosian's former partner, Daniel Davis, as the three of us lingered over dinner at Poppie's on Denver's south side. "I usually ask, 'What do you mean by that?' If they define vague terms by other vague terms, alarm bells should go off in your head that the person literally doesn't know what he's talking about."
" 'How do you know that?' and 'So what?' are other stoppers," chimed in Philibosian, an attorney who now devotes all his time to Rivendell.
For example, he continued, Shirley MacLaine tells a woman who has been raped that in a previous life she most likely had been a man who had raped a woman and now she's working off her karma.
"We ought to simply ask, 'How do you know that?' "21
When a therapist talks about "balancing your energies through psychic powers," the response should be, "What do you mean by 'energies'? What do you mean by 'psychic power'? Define your terms." Ask a medium who purportedly is in touch with an ancient Egyptian to identify a simple word, like the Egyptian word for "air." And if the entity comes up with a word, check it out.
Don't let others do your thinking for you. Children must understand not only what is true, but why something is true. They should begin to learn to analyze what they read, see on television, and hear in class. What assumptions are being made? What train of logic (if any) is being followed? Are
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propaganda techniques being used? Is there a hidden agenda? Are facts differentiated from feelings?
Asking the "right" questions, looking for evidence, weighing it, separating essentials from nonessentials, and assigning probability — these are important ways to decipher New Age pseudoscience.
I differ heartily with the hard-core rationalistic worldview of the late author Isaac Asimov. But in my opinion he hits the nail on the head when he says: "Inspect every piece of pseudoscience and you will find a security blanket, a thumb to suck, a skirt to hold. What have we to offer in exchange? Uncertainty! Insecurity!"22
Daniel Davis says he sees an increasing self-centeredness in New Age thinking, corresponding to a disinterest in "difficult things . . . . Wanting to be rich without working, smart without studying, and holy without giving up any vices."23
The New Age movement, both Davis and Philibosian say, works rather like a giant placebo: New Agers don't want to deal with pain. So they seek relief through crystals, acupuncture, channelers, and other hoped-for panaceas and utopias.
"A fantasy world leads to disappointment in the future," says Philibosian. His observation was echoed in different words by Karen Hoyt of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project: New Age is "a culture stuck in adolescence . . . in great intensity. It's a way of escaping reality because people can't keep up with the changes in culture; the change is too rapid to process."24
New Agers, like everyone else, want answers. They seek transcendence. But all too often, their manufactured mysteries are promoted by hoax and hype rather than truth. And sometimes truth must wait.
As Al Seckel, director of the Southern California Skeptics society, remarked: "People must be able to live without the answers to some things rather than to have answers that are wrong . . . . There are real mysteries out there. The adventure is finding them."25
To which we would add the wisdom of the Old Testament Book of Job, as interpreted by a noted Jewish scholar, the late Robert Gordis:
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[T]he author of Job is more than simply a philosopher. By the alchemy of beauty he is able to get us to feel and appreciate and participate in the joys and glories of the world, recognizing that . . . after we have given all the explanations which human ingenuity and human insight can offer, there will remain a core of mystery. But it isn't only a mystery, it is also a miracle. It is not only something unknown; it is also something beautiful, and in that beauty, we can find what is required to face those aspects of life which personally we find painful, agonizing and even ugly.26
Chapter 26 || Table of Contents
1. Cited by Martin Marty from Theology Today in "Taken out of Context," Context Newsletter, 1 October 1987.
2. Paul C. Reisser, M.D., "Holistic Health Update: The Movement Comes of (New) Age," Spiritual Counterfeits Project Newsletter 9, no. 4 (September–October 1983): 4.
3. 6 November 1987.
4. Theodore Roszak, Making of a Counter Culture (London: Faber and Faber, 1970), 215.
5. Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy, Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s (Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher, 1980), 262n.
6. Cited in Stephen H. Allison and Newton Malony, "Filipino Psychic Surgery: Myth, Magic, or Miracle," Journal of Religion and Health 20 (Spring 1981): 57.
7. Bela Scheiber, "Psychic Surgery Comes to Denver," Rocky Mountain Skeptic 4, no. 3 (September–October 1986): 1, 3.
8. Peter Glick, "Crosstalk: Stars in Our Eyes," Psychology Today (August 1987): 7.
9. Reuter's News Service, 5 May 1988.
10. Cited by Associated Press, 3 May 1988.
11. Quoted in ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Karl Sabbagh, "The Psychopathology of Fringe Medicine," Skeptical Inquirer 10 (Winter 1985–86): 162.
14. Patricia-Rochelle Diegel, conversation with author, San Francisco, Calif., 6 November 1987.
15. Danny Korem and Paul Meier, Fakers: Exploding the Myths of the Supernatural (Grand Rapids: Revell/Baker Book House, 1980), 22–29.
16. Quoted in Ben Fong-Torres, "A Cynic in the Midst of the Believers," San Francisco Chronicle, 28 April 1988.
17. Robert Gillette, "Exotic Ways to Learn Doubted by U.S. Study," Los Angeles Times, 4 December 1987, pt. 1, 1.
18. Ibid.
19. Irving Hexham, "Yoga, UFOs, and Cult Membership," Update: A Quarterly Journal of New Religious Movements 10, no. 3 (September 1986): 14.
20. Cited in Robert Burrows, "Corporate Management Cautioned on New Age," Eternity Magazine (February 1988): 33.
21. Timothy Philibosian, interview with author, Denver, Colo., 1 December 1987.
22. Isaac Asimov, "The Perennial Fringe," Skeptical Inquirer 10 (Spring 1986): 213.
23. Daniel Davis, interview with author, Denver, Colo., 1 December 1987.
24. Karen Hoyt, interview with author, Berkeley, Calif., 24 November 1987.
25. Al Seckel, telephone interview with author, 10 November 1987.
26. Robert Gordis, "The Book of Job," Thesis Theological Cassettes (audiotape) 15, no. 7 (December 1984).
