R.I.P. Sylvia Browne

[wiigirl]

 

[FlightlessDuck]

And just how do you know that she was a charlatan?

Her repeated failures shows she is about as right as often as an educated guess is.

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/psychic_defective_sylvia_brownes_history_of_failure/

 

[Feralpeg]

Her repeated failures shows she is about as right as often as an educated guess is.

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/psychic_defective_sylvia_brownes_history_of_failure/

Of course, you only know about her failures. How many did she get right? Those things are never published.

I don't know if she was real, but I prefer to think she was since so many people believed in her. It's all about faith. There is no way to say for sure one way or another. Some are open to belief. Others are not.

As for failures, scientists get things wrong all the time. Does that mean they aren't scientists because they misinterpreted the data? No. It means they are human and humans make mistakes.

There is no way anyone will ever be able to say definitively whether or not she was able to talk to the dead or see the future. Your wish to not believe is no more valid than the wish of many to believe. You have no more evidence to support your view than they do.

I'm one of those people who doesn't disbelieve anything until it is proven to me that it cannot be. I find that to be a lot more comforting than automatically disbelieving just because I can't explain something.

 

[LilyWDW]

I believe she was a fraud. She used her skill at reading people and gaining information to make money. She did not speak to spirits.

I mean, i actually believe in spirits and the ability to speak to them. I just do not believe that those who have a true gift would not use it to gain money.

 

[rszdtrvl]

You can't survive without money.

I, for one, found comfort in what she told me when I had the honor to speak to her. I actually *paid* to ask her a question (a whole $40) that had been on my mind for years. On something that I really needed insight on.

I got an answer, and since then, I have been a bit calmer about things. I am typically a high strung person (I like to say my mind moves in a circle that never shuts down - it is constantly spinning) but since I spoke with her I have really been trying hard to not be so controlling and just let things go.

It was worth the $ for me to get that answer that I got. Even if it was not the answer I would have wanted, it would have still been worth it.

She did a *service* for me that I paid for. And did so happily. As she did to other families. Some that didn't have to pay.

You think the "Long Island Medium" is free??? And other psychics are free??? I wish!!!

 

[Feralpeg]

I believe she was a fraud. She used her skill at reading people and gaining information to make money. She did not speak to spirits.

I mean, i actually believe in spirits and the ability to speak to them. I just do not believe that those who have a true gift would not use it to gain money.

So, how is this any different than those blessed with beautiful voices? Using your logic, the person with the beautiful voice should only sing for free to give pleasure to others. Sorry. That's just not the way people work. Anyone who records and sells music is making money from their gift.

I find it hard to believe that if you had a gift and someone offered to pay you large amounts of money to make use of that gift, that you would turn it down. I wish I was an amazing artist or an incredible writer. I'd be selling my work for big bucks and totally taking advantage of my gift. The only difference between these gifts and a psychic gift is that the vocal and artistic gifts are definitive in nature and the psychic gift is not.

 

[PaulaSB12]

So, how is this any different than those blessed with beautiful voices? Using your logic, the person with the beautiful voice should only sing for free to give pleasure to others. Sorry. That's just not the way people work. Anyone who records and sells music is making money from their gift.

I find it hard to believe that if you had a gift and someone offered to pay you large amounts of money to make use of that gift, that you would turn it down. I wish I was an amazing artist or an incredible writer. I'd be selling my work for big bucks and totally taking advantage of my gift. The only difference between these gifts and a psychic gift is that the vocal and artistic gifts are definitive in nature and the psychic gift is not.

A person with a beautiful voice is giving you the benifit of that voice she/he isn't claiming that they are using the voice of a dead person. Silvia Brown told people that missing relatives where dead when they where not and where alive when they where dead. She also predicted that JFK son would be president.

 

[lauradis]

I wonder if she is as dead as she claimed Amanda Berry is. I'm not sure who is worse, the frauds that claim to speak with the dead or the delusional people who believe them. I'll never understand believing a lie just to make you feel better which is basically what believing in her "ability" is.

Kinda like main stream religion, but people still desire to believe.

 

[Feralpeg]

A person with a beautiful voice is giving you the benifit of that voice she/he isn't claiming that they are using the voice of a dead person. Silvia Brown told people that missing relatives where dead when they where not and where alive when they where dead. She also predicted that JFK son would be president.

She did give out false info. Did she also give out very real info? Many believe so. Again, no one was forced to go to her. People did so and paid money for a service THEY WANTED. She didn't chase people down on the street and beg for money. If people want to believe and they got what they wanted from her, then I have no problem with what she did.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I remember when she told Shawn Hornbeck's family he was dead. They never gave up hope though. Ben Ownby's kidnapping was just a few miles from here. He went to the same school as my kids:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/0...d-with-boy-after-being-kidnapped-4-years-ago/

 

[mom2boys77]

I'm not sure about Sylvia. She always seemed a little weird to me. But I had a weird experience over the weekend. A friend that I hadn't seen since July kept trying to get a hold of me saying it was very important. I called her Sunday morning and she said she had a reading with a medium and that my mom came through and wanted to tell me that she knows I'm still having a hard time and that she is still with me even when I think she isn't. She mentioned my 2 sons and also the daughter I had last year even saying I gave my daughter her first name as her middle name. She died almost 3 years ago so obviously didn't know my little girl. As if that wasn't amazing enough I had been very upset last Thursday and talking out loud asked my mom to give me a sign that she was still with me. Nobody could have known that. So I'm convinced some psychics are absolutely the real deal. As for Sylvia May she rest in peace.

 

[chobie]

All I know is that about 18 years when I was living in Seattle, she was on a local talk show and predicted an earthquake would happen in Seattle very soon, and a few days later we had one. In the 25 years I lived there there were only 3 earthquakes that shook the walls.

Maybe it was a luck, who knows?

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

Well, we only use 10% of our brain. Imagine the possibilities if we could use more! What else would we know?
Maybe some people like Sylvia get to use a bit more than the average person.

 

[Southernmiss]

I admit I watched her on Montel. Entertaining and the idea is fascinating to me. If mediums can bring comfort and peace to people so be it. I do believe in an afterlife and that some people have abilities I don't. Did Sylvia? I don't know but she sure made a living at it.

 

[Coonhound]

I had hoped that before she died she would apologize for swindling people out of their money at a time when they were most vulnerable.

Now that she is dead, I'm sure she had to answer to god for what she's done. I can just imagine what she's going through now. Hope it was worth it! I don't believe for one minute that she is in heaven.

 

[nephers]

ANY1 hear about Silvia Brown & research the sunken ship Lusitania?

A person with a beautiful voice is giving you the benifit of that voice she/he isn't claiming that they are using the voice of a dead person. Silvia Brown told people that missing relatives where dead when they where not and where alive when they where dead. She also predicted that JFK son would be president.