Comments for Why People Believe Peter Popoff at http://www.randi.org/site , comment 1 to 13 out of 13 comments http://www.randi.org/site Sun, 19 May 2013 19:34:33 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1230-why-people-believe-peter-popoff.html#comment-21659 Hi Brunori, Quote "I wish I could remember the name of this other guy who starts blabering in tounges while closing his eye's and people send him everything." I'd bet it's Robert Tilton. One of the worst (best?) at his trade. - Blushingmule Thu, 24 Mar 2011 08:40:06 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1230-why-people-believe-peter-popoff.html#comment-21528 I haven't watched Popoff's tripe for 2 or 3 years, but last time I did, he was offering some magic wafer or water, so out of curiousity, I called the toll free line. "Talked" to an automated system (not a person), and over the next year or so, received mail costing >$10 for him to post. At least the $ isn't in his pocket. Try it yourself? - brucea Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:53:48 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1230-why-people-believe-peter-popoff.html#comment-21452 [b]@Brunori[/b] So you've learned that wisdom does [i]not[/i] come with age! Don't you wish our elders realized that? If it were true then the "elder statesmen" of the world wouldn't be constantly sending the young and unwise to fight and die in wars. They would be wise enough to prevent conflicts :'( Peter Popoff profits from young and old fools. >:( - Willy K Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:26:22 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1230-why-people-believe-peter-popoff.html#comment-21446 I honestly thought by the time I was grown I seen an end to all of this. I was stationed in Germany back and forth for almost 13 years and never seen anything like this over there. Capitalism alows for the theft of people plain and simple. I wish I could remember the name of this other guy who starts blabering in tounges while closing his eye's and people send him everything. Benny Hinn blows in people's faces and they fall over jiggling. Honestly, what the hell is wrong with people? I rememberd the look on my mothers face when I told her I no longer believed in the Church and she just went nuts saying that God saved her life when she was in a car accident back in 95. I returned with "why the hell do you give God the credit when the paramedics and doctors saved your life" I guess, God in forseeing everything, made sure there were Paramedics and Doctors in the vicinity. Why is it that if you mouth off to an old person you get the "You don't talk to your elders like that" I'm wiser than you, I lived longer and know a thing or two.... Then, after they give all their life savings to a preacher...He took advantage of me, I'm old, I didn't know what I was doing... - Brunori Sun, 06 Mar 2011 15:27:43 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1230-why-people-believe-peter-popoff.html#comment-21423 I thought Brian Dunning at skeptoid.com covered the issue of Hope vs. Hopelessness very well in his podcast "Despicable Vulture Scumbags" (Ad Hominem, I know). http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4089 - garman Fri, 04 Mar 2011 07:40:28 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1230-why-people-believe-peter-popoff.html#comment-21422 "written by bigdoggy, March 04, 2011 ...and very well written. As for Popoff, aren't there laws against this? Claiming money under false pretences, or something. " . With the usual snake oil salesman, it's possible to prove the nostrum is ineffective. Like the Power Band. But you can't prove that god is ineffective, as there's nothing to test, and too many people have the idea there is something like that. Probably immune from normal legal procedures. - I Ratant Fri, 04 Mar 2011 06:24:58 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1230-why-people-believe-peter-popoff.html#comment-21421 Steer them towards available social services and debt-relief counselling instead. Who says there's no other alternative? There's always one more.. - cdion321 Fri, 04 Mar 2011 06:22:26 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1230-why-people-believe-peter-popoff.html#comment-21416 The comment about the illusion of control and the link to the Wikipedia article on the Just-world fallacy set me thinking about the logic of religious belief. We love stories and the most popular stories generally support this just world fallacy; I guess it is something humans naturally find satisfying. In the stories that organised religions tell, there has to be a heaven and hell - or something much like them - to balance out the injustices of this world; it is as satisfyingly logical as knowing that [i]Terra Australis[/i] must exist to balance the geography of the earth. - Gaius Cornelius Fri, 04 Mar 2011 04:33:08 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1230-why-people-believe-peter-popoff.html#comment-21415 ...and very well written. As for Popoff, aren't there laws against this? Claiming money under false pretences, or something. - bigdoggy Fri, 04 Mar 2011 04:29:03 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1230-why-people-believe-peter-popoff.html#comment-21414 The evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne ([u]Why Evolution is True[/u] book and blog) was giving a talk on the insidious absurdity called creationism. While there are creationist atheists (Raelians, for instance), the odds are better than 9 in 10 that if the person your speaking to insists he has no relation to a monkey, he's also a religious devotee. But we can't just get rid of religion directly, nor do we necessarily want to. So what do we do? According to Jerry Coyne, we do what we've know we're supposed to since kindergarten. There is a correlation between religion and societal health. No, it doesn't show causation. This is true. Those that love yelling, "Correlation does not mean causation!" because they love to repeat "facts" whether they understand them or not may do so now. [courtesy pause] Okay, on we go. Correlation does show correlation, which is why scientists look for it. After we find correlation, we guess at causation and test that guess. Coyne says we make a large gamble on the causation, almost Popoff style, since the other way won't work we need for this way to work. If we assume healthy societies raise hope, critical thinking, and financial stability (rather than their opposites lowering society's health, hopelessness and instability spurred on by some other force), then to slam Popoff down and bury him beneath the corpses on a thousand other such scams, we must work to improve our society: we need to be nice to one another. ;D - Donovan from New England Fri, 04 Mar 2011 02:28:30 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1230-why-people-believe-peter-popoff.html#comment-21413 @Tudza: Part of the problem is that people in emotional distress will not necessarily see all the signs of a con which would be obvious to most people. This is why many funeral parlors press the bereaved to go for the most expensive option - take advantage of people while their critical faculties are not at their best. - MadScientist Fri, 04 Mar 2011 01:14:23 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1230-why-people-believe-peter-popoff.html#comment-21406 Popoff making money from god scams is proof there is no god. - Steel Rat Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:39:41 +0100 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1230-why-people-believe-peter-popoff.html#comment-21400 How about this for a reason. Give the guy $100 and you'll not only be poor, but a chump as well. - tudza Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:53:54 +0100