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Oz and Phil are a disgrace to their titles

I despise “psychics”, so I’m happy to see John Oliver go after them. He makes a very good point, too, that those media personalities like “Dr” Oz and “Dr” Phil who cheerfully endorse psychic quackery on their shows are just as evil.

It wouldn’t be John Oliver if they didn’t have a gimmick. This time, they’ve set up a website with their “psychic”. Go ahead, get a reading. It’s just as accurate as John Edward.

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Comments

  2. acroyear says

    Re: Matt Lauer (for whom otherwise, the less said the better) – He’s always had a problem falling for psychics and pseudo-science. He’s never given it the same level of skepticism that he gives politicians. He used to give the anti-vaccination ideas a lot of on-screen credulity until Dr. Nancy slammed him and shamed him on it, on the air.

    And gee, now Dr. Oz is on the show in her place…I wonder why…

    His credulity at the read, hot or cold, is even stronger if the medium has a pretty face. News is definitely better off without him.

    Relatedly, Steve Harvey, also supposedly a ‘smart’ person, falls for cold-reads all the time.

  3. quotetheunquote says

    jkrideau:

    I found a playable link here:
    LWT “Psychics” show
    Not complete, but has most of it. It’s a really good show, but depressing – “nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the ________ people” (or words to that effect) sort of material.

  5. euclide says

    You could put some blame to the people creating a TV series like “Medium”, or adding paranormal elements on some episodes of a non fantasy tv show (even if any police prodedural, except the Wire, is basically as realist as Harry Potter)

    And there is still an astrology section in every newspaper

  7. lumipuna says

    To be fair, for the longest time I didn’t realize “Oz” is actually a surname, not a nickname. Anyone going as Dr. Firstname generally comes off as quacky regardless of actual substance or qualifications.

  8. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    Did Lauer really fall for it, or was he simply being polite to end the “interview” quickly? – (oh, the followup showed that he did indeed fall for it.) Either way, it doesn’t make him look good. I wonder why he fell for what was an obvious hot reading with his stories of fishing with his dad being so freely available. Would’ve looked better for him to respond with, “yes. Thank you for reading what I’ve published, tell me something new”
    you’re done Matt

  10. jrkrideau says

    We had a Psychic store open downtown a few months ago with a “psychic” in the store so you could have a walk-in reading.

    I am not sure if business is goinig well or badly but they now are advertising “Appointment with a Psychic”

  13. microraptor says

    There was a psychic reading store in my town a few years ago.

    It lasted a couple of months before closing. The store has since turned into a marijuana dispensary, which is, I think, a much more effective means of getting in touch with such things..

  14. KG says

    There was a psychic reading store in my town a few years ago.
    It lasted a couple of months before closing. – microraptor@13

    Due to unforseen circumstances?

  15. skeptico says

    We had a Psychic store open downtown a few months ago with a “psychic” in the store so you could have a walk-in reading.
    I am not sure if business is goinig well or badly but they now are advertising “Appointment with a Psychic”

    Why would you need to make an appointment to see a psychic? Wouldn’t they already know you were coming?