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JEROME DA GNOME
BANNED
2418 Posts |
 Posted - 06/06/2007 : 22:33:36 [Permalink]
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I disagree with police action. Plenty of people like to be fooled, it makes them feel better. Houdini used his power of celebrity many years ago to show these types of things false; yet people still want to believe. There are many things in society that are implied to be something they are not for the purpose of making a sale. The psychiatric industry could be called into question. What right does the state have to decide?
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What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires -- desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way. - Bertrand Russell |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2007 : 07:53:07 [Permalink]
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OK, my actual take on this is sort of in between Ricky's and those who want the psychics thrown in jail. In a lot of places you have to present a clear disclaimer on psychic services along the lines of "For recreational purposes only." Heck, I once went to a psychic reading for fun, and many of my skeptic friends have too. And it is fun, just like a magic 8 ball and Ouija board are fun.
I think the law should be that if someone is presenting themselves as having real psychic powers in a manner that any common and reasonaly sane and intelligent person would take serious, then they are committing fraud and should be fined, or if the take is large, even jailed. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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| Edited by - marfknox on 06/07/2007 07:54:12 |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2007 : 10:03:39 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Ricky
Originally posted by Dave W.
Ricky, even honest repairmen can be charged with fraud for unwittingly using fraudlent parts. The smart ones rat on their suppliers in return for leniency.
Psychics don't have such a luxury. |
To continue the analogy, the customer is specifically requesting for those fraudulent parts. |
To continue it further, most of the customers request the fraudulent parts thinking that they're genuine. Fair-trade laws are designed to protect the consumer in such cases, by removing the consumer's intent from the question of whether or not fraud has been committed. And the standard doesn't even demand that 100% of consumers be protected, but only "the average person," a hypothetical legal entity ("I thought I could use a hammer to repair my antique china" wouldn't be standing for a fraud case against Stanley Tools even if they made an advertisement in which they claimed that their tools could "fix anything"). Only if "the average person" would wind up believing something that isn't true would there be fraud.
I actually agree with you, Ricky. There needed have been a law specifically outlawing psychics and the like. The other anti-fraud laws should have been enough. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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JEROME DA GNOME
BANNED
2418 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2007 : 14:28:56 [Permalink]
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Dave said "To continue it further, most of the customers request the fraudulent parts thinking that they're genuine."
Shall the state now arrest phone sex operators?
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What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires -- desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way. - Bertrand Russell |
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furshur
SFN Regular
USA
1536 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2007 : 11:38:03 [Permalink]
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Dave said "To continue it further, most of the customers request the fraudulent parts thinking that they're genuine."
Shall the state now arrest phone sex operators? |
WTF?!? How do you come up with this? Do you have a tank of manatees that pick which line you write?
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If I knew then what I know now then I would know more now than I know. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2007 : 12:09:50 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by JEROME DA GNOME
Shall the state now arrest phone sex operators? |
Global warming, public schools and now you think phone sex is a scam, too? What next? The Good Humor Man? |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2007 : 15:17:48 [Permalink]
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Jerome wrote: | Shall the state now arrest phone sex operators? |
Ohhhhhhhhhh! I was going to make some sarcastic comment about how people who use phone sex know they aren't having real sex, and then I realized that you probably meant that the phone sex companies make commercials showing beautiful women, but the actual operators are most likely average-looking or worse.
Of course then you still have the problem that those commercials never claim that the women on the TV are the ones you are talking to, I don't think any reasonable person would assume they are, and if the phone sex companies are asked whether the commerical women are actual operators, they'd answer "No." |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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| Edited by - marfknox on 06/08/2007 15:18:29 |
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JEROME DA GNOME
BANNED
2418 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2007 : 19:01:46 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by marfknox
Jerome wrote: | Shall the state now arrest phone sex operators? |
Ohhhhhhhhhh! I was going to make some sarcastic comment about how people who use phone sex know they aren't having real sex, and then I realized that you probably meant that the phone sex companies make commercials showing beautiful women, but the actual operators are most likely average-looking or worse.
Of course then you still have the problem that those commercials never claim that the women on the TV are the ones you are talking to, I don't think any reasonable person would assume they are, and if the phone sex companies are asked whether the commerical women are actual operators, they'd answer "No."
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This made my laugh a great deal.
Thanks
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What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires -- desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way. - Bertrand Russell |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2007 : 20:35:59 [Permalink]
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This made my laugh a great deal.
Thanks |
Great, now I'm just more confused. Sarcasm or no? |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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JEROME DA GNOME
BANNED
2418 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2007 : 20:47:11 [Permalink]
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Yes, sarcasm.
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What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires -- desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way. - Bertrand Russell |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2007 : 05:04:44 [Permalink]
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Jerome, are you saying that you think the average phone sex customer thinks that they really are talking to a gorgeous woman (or bubbling co-ed, or tranny, or nympho barely legal teen - whevever floats their boat) opposed to just going with the fantasy and pretending it is real?
You've gotta be kidding. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2007 : 07:44:56 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by marfknox
Jerome, are you saying that you think the average phone sex customer thinks that they really are talking to a gorgeous woman (or bubbling co-ed, or tranny, or nympho barely legal teen - whevever floats their boat) opposed to just going with the fantasy and pretending it is real?
You've gotta be kidding.
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You're ruining it for him Marf.
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Philly shuts down psychics who profit!
