The $3.5 Million Exorcism

Critical thinking continues to grow in importance as electronic media exposes Americans to thousands of sales pitches each day.  The snake oil salesman I referred to last week who pulled into town with his wagon to sell his magic tonic only arrived at long intervals.  Today’s equivalent arrives to our computers or phones every second.  Without a healthy skepticism, questioning before buying or believing, Americans can be tricked into buying all sorts of worthless products and services.

The latest example comes from Reuters, but was all over the Internet about 10 days ago.  “A self-proclaimed psychic who was paid $3.5 million by an elderly Massachusetts woman in exchange for claiming to cleanse her of demons pleaded guilty on Thursday to trying to avoid paying taxes.”  Was the 70-year-old woman a victim of the psychic or was she a victim of that airy-fairy-land that many Americans occupy in their minds, willing to believe in all kinds of mystical, new-age, super-food, and super-supplement mumbo-jumbo?  They develop imaginary allergies and fears of safe foods and life-saving vaccines by ignoring scientific evidence in favor of Internet rumors and unrealistic promises backed by celebrity endorsements.

The first question that comes to minds is:  If she’s a psychic, why didn’t she see the problem with the IRS coming?  The easy, and correct, answer is that she is not a psychic at all.  (No one has ever proven under controlled laboratory conditions that they have psychic powers.)  Anyone who is really a psychic would be winning money at the racetrack or at the roulette wheel.  But they claim they only use their powers for good – good apparently being defined as conning innocent people out of their hard-earned money.  (In some cases the victims of these scams include innocent taxpayers when police employ so-called psychics in crime investigations for fear of being accused of not doing everything possible.

I’m sure some of these people sincerely believe they have some extraordinary power, just like some who work in the media sincerely believe they are journalists doing the work of the people and not just trying to create juicy headlines to sell more airtime, and some politicians sincerely believe they are public servants more interested in the good of the nation than in their own reelection.  These days real journalists and statesmen are rare; real psychics are non-existent.

The second question is:  Where are those consumer protection agencies when we need them?  Obviously, it’s ridiculous to expect government agencies to protect us from our own ignorance and gullibility.  In these days of high velocity, sophisticated sales tactics, it takes critical thinking, a healthy skepticism and the understanding that being open minded does not mean accepting every whacko idea that comes along.

The psychic in question was sentenced to 26 months in prison, ordered to reimburse the woman and fined by the IRS.  Perhaps that will give her time to do a reading or two for herself and enjoy some of the spiritual cleansing and strengthening she was so eager to sell to others.