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On 01/21/08 the NY Times published an article titled "In Brooklyn, a Psychic for the Famous, or Rather, for Their Pets", a mish-mash of credulous, un-questioning, un-skeptical sentences of the sort that you would not expect to find in a reputable source such as the NYTimes. In the article, they talk about Christine Agro's "career as a pet psychic". They go on saying, with a straight face one might add how Agro is a "trained clairvoyant natural healer". I had no idea that you needed to be trained to be delusional, although some sort of training in stupidity is required in order to believe in her "powers".
As I was reading through the "article" I kept waiting for some sort of critique of Agro's work. I found none. The reporter was just too happy to report on such success story. Here is a sample of the ridiculousness of the article: "Part medium, part mediator, she began doing readings that gave voice to the needs of the Weber family's dogs. Kindly don't throw us in the car without telling us where we're going...." Well, maybe they should have let the dog know in advance as well, so it could call it's other dog friends and cancel their dinner tea party plans as well.
She is such a good psychic that she "doesn't need to see the pets to talk to them, just a land line"....and $100 per half hour. She "reasoned with the Weber family's dogs as she might her own 3-year-old son, explaining the basics of compromise, occasionally using her training to remove some negative energy along the way". She's teaching the basics of compromise...TO A GODDAMN DOG, FOR FUCK'S SAKE! And this bullshit is what gets reported in the NYTimes?
Of course, as usual with all charlatans, there is some anecdotal evidence to support her claims. Mr. Weber's wife, Nan Bush (well she didn't take his last name, maybe Mrs. Agro could have used her skill at teaching compromise to help him out a bit. Well I guess she's better with dogs than grown up humans!) coos that "She does see everything, I've recommended her to so many friends." Now how she knows that Agro does infact "see everything" is a mystery to me.
But that's not even the worst. Now read the following quote and be horrified just as I was : "Recently, says Ms. Agro, some of her clients have started asking if she’d consider working on behalf of those other creatures who can’t articulate their needs: babies and toddlers. Ms. Agro is now working on developing that business, under the name the Psychic Mom.....it seems likely that Psychic Mom will find some eager clients" This is the height of journalistic irresponsibility. It is one thing to promote a "pet psychic" which is, at worst, laughable, idiotic, moronic, stupid and any other derogatory term you can think off. However, to promote a "pet psychic" turned "baby psychic" is all the above and dangerous. It is the kind of reporting you'd expect on one of those weekly gossip magazines, or the kind of thing you'd see on Oprah.
I had always trusted the NYTimes to give me accurate, good journalism. After this article, I don't think I'll be able to read it so trustingly any longer.
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3 comments:
I've often wondered what would have happened if a psychic had claimed to have the power to determine what Terry Schiavo really wanted. Would the courts have accepted such testimony? It's scary that these people who claim powers are believed at all. But, how much worse it would be if their testimony were trusted in court!
Btw, if you happen to know any cases where a psyhic was "used," please let me know. I'm concerned about what epistemology will come out the victor in our government; reason or mysticism.
I am sure some psychic must have claimed to know what Terry Schiavo really wanted. I am also confident that any lawyer who would even try to present such "evidence" in a court of law would be laughed out of there. I have enough confidence on our judicial system to believe that such a travesty would never occur. But then, never say never! If such thing did in fact happen we'd better pack up our things and get out, because that would be the beginning of the end.
The NYTimes is just getting to be awful. Worse yet, it's probably still the best of its kind in America.
I like what you said about her "training." It's like that South Park about psychic detectives.. "You're not a real psychic! You HAVE to fill out the form on the back of the comic book and send them $10 to be a real psychic detective!"
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