Uri Geller is a Fraud. The Amazing Randi is Amazing

Posted by Greg Laden on June 22, 2008
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Obviously, Uri Geller is a fraud. Always has been. He had tricks he uses to make people think he’s bending a spoon using super natural powers, or moving compass needles, etc. Mainly, he uses cheap tricks to fool gullible ready-to-be-fooled people.

Don’t be a ready-to-be-fooled person!

Here’s are three videos that are currently popular on YouTube regarding this. The first shows a typical Geller show:

Here’s James Randi talking about Uri Geller:



Lately, there’s been an obnoxous email being sent around to everyone by a person who as far as I can tell does not exist with the name of David Mabus. Mabus actually stuck a comment on this site. So my response, of course, is to use my Blogging Powers to undo the effects of a certain percentage of David Mabus’ efforts.

Anyway, there is a video that Mabus refers people to, and I urge you to watch it. It is obnoxious. This is supposed to be proof that Uri Geller is for real, but it is actually nothing other than proof that Uri Geller is a dork and David Mabus is a moron. See for yourself:

And finally, if you really have a lot of time to kill, here are some more Randi videos, in four parts:

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Comments

  1. #1 stavros
    June 22, 2008

    He he, Uri Geller is really pathetic! I have also posted a compilation of his most lame attempts some time ago!

    He never stops to amaze me…

  2. #2 stavros
    June 22, 2008

    BTW, the third video you have posted just shows how people would try to find anything at all to “prove” their irrational beliefs: Uri mentions the numbers: 1, 20, 19, 40, 1, but somehow the “editor” of the video only listens 1, 19, 1 and from this somehow he deduces 911!!!

    Like the people that found Pi in the crop circles he he he…

  3. #3 JanieBelle
    June 22, 2008

    Uri Geller is a Fraud. The Amazing Randi is Amazing

    Yes, and the sky is blue, water is wet, and women have secrets. Very insightful, Hallenbeck.

    (just kidding – kisses)

    That idiot Mabus spams all over. I’ve even been a recipient. The best thing about that was that I was CCd next to the likes of Randi, Dawkins, Hitch, and Dr. Elsberry. If nothing else, it was good for my ego.

    He periodically spams AtBC as well, where his “efforts” are also rectumfied into the ether.

    Thanks for the vids.

  4. #4 carr2d2
    June 22, 2008

    watch http://www.spoonscience.com in the upcoming days for a special treat fresh from TAM 6!

  5. #5 Edmund
    June 22, 2008

    I wonder if Mabus is actually for real. Aren’t kooks supposed to have bad spelling and grammar? In one of his long rants, he links to a youtube video that depicts a kitten sniping Richard Dawkins. That video appears to be part of a group of “Christian soldier” videos created by one person as a clear work of satire. Is David Mabus also a satirical character?

    One objection I’ve come across to Randi’s expose of Geller is that claims of psychic powers were just part of Geller’s act, and Randi spoiled his very successful career. On the surface, this seems like it could have merit, but I’ve also read that Randi feels Geller’s claims went beyond what is acceptable in the magician business, into fraud territory.

    Does anyone know more about such boundaries? Is it specifically the claim of psychic powers that puts one into fraud territory in Randi’s view? Is Randi’s view representative of some group consensus in the magic/entertainment business? I just have never cared much about magicians or that form of entertainment (I liken it to pro wrestling in the US — I know it’s fake, so why bother watching it?), so I simply don’t know what’s acceptable.

  6. #6 JanieBelle
    June 22, 2008

    Edmund,

    Both Randi and Angel are very up-front about the fact that what they’re about to f your mind with is an illusion. It doesn’t matter that you know, they’re good enough that you gonna have your mind blown anyway. It’s honest entertainment.

    The problem is that Geller and Edward and Browne and their ilk are deceptive, claiming supernatural powers they obviously don’t have, take money from people under that false pretense, and generally cause a great deal of harm.

    StopSylviaBrowne.com is a great site to see what kind of pain and misery the crap these creeps push can cause. To my mind, she’s the sleaziest of the sleaze, and irks me the most of all of them. (I confess, however, that I’m not as up on Geller’s past.)

    That’s on top of just plain stealing little old ladies’ money by fraud.

  7. #7 Greg Laden
    June 22, 2008

    As far as I can tell, Marbus is not for real. This must be Uri himself, hitting hard times.

  8. #8 Zarquon
    June 22, 2008

    Mabus (real name Markuze, apparently) is not Geller. He’s entirely his own nutter.

  9. #9 Edmund
    June 22, 2008

    Janie,

    I don’t think Uri Geller is in the same boat as Sylvia Browne. He seems much more similar to a typical magician, performing magic tricks up on a stage, or at parties, etc. Although he apparently no longer claims psychic abilities, he once did, and that was his biggest sin (as far as I can tell from my admittedly limited research…). He was just performing magic tricks and convincing people it was really magic.

    Sylvia Browne takes people’s money to supposedly channel their dead loved ones and gives them information supposedly relevant to their lives. She offers them predictions about their futures, etc. People believe her, and on top of giving her their money, they also make important decisions about their lives based on what she says. That’s harmful and I don’t think Uri Geller stooped to this level. Of course if he did, then he is no better than Sylvia.

    I’m not trying to defend Geller. I just wonder where the line is drawn that separates a magician/entertainer from a fraud that needs to be outed. Assuming Geller’s only sin was claiming that he had supernatural abilities, are there rules in the magic/entertainment business that state you can’t actually claim to be doing magic? Who sets these rules?

  10. #10 Stephanie Z
    June 22, 2008

    Edmund, if Geller just wanted to claim powers while on stage, that would be one thing. Selling a ton of crap to people based on those claims, as he does at his website (http://www.uri-geller.com/), is a bit different. When he’s making money “helping” people tap their own psychic powers, he’s well into fraud.

  11. #11 Michael J
    June 23, 2008

    I remember seeing a doco where Uri was selling himself out to dowse for oil from an aeroplane. This goes a little beyond being an entertainer.

  12. #12 Greg Laden
    June 23, 2008

    Zarquon: Thanks for that.

    are there rules in the magic/entertainment business that state you can’t actually claim to be doing magic? Who sets these rules?

    That is a very hard sentence to parse! But I get your point (It depends on what you mean by “magic”…) I think magicians are not supposed to claim that their stuff is real, they are not supposed to encourage the kiddies to try to saw each other in half, and they are not supposed to reveal the nature of their tricks.

    If there is anyone who set them, it may have been someone like Dunninger back in the old days, or it may be the American or International Magicians’ Guild, but that is a guess.

    A trip to the magical wikipedia may do the trick here. ..