The Festering Turd That Is Sylvia Browne

I'm an agnostic. I use to think that I was an atheist but as it turns out I simply don't "not believe" any more than I "believe" so I have realised that the closest approximation — and it's a very close one — is agnosticism. I acknowledge the possibility that there are deities, one or even many for that matter but until science discovers a way to measure their existence or the existence of matter reacting to those deities I can't know for sure. Believing fairy tales is for suckers. As far as I'm concerned you either know something or you don't. But that is of course what I think and as such you are free to think otherwise… and as long as you keep your stupid beliefs to yourself, so will I. Alternatively you can always write a lengthy post about how "we can't know how old the earth is" and that "creationism is just as valid as science". And I promise that I won't read it.



The earth is by the way 4.54 billions years old and creationism is a load of bullshit. And as soon as anyone (including science itself) offers proof that any of those are otherwise I will change my mind… or rather… I will evolve. Pun intended.

But what I really wanted to talk about is Sylvia Browne.

If there ever was a pedlar of horse crap, her name is Sylvia Browne. Whilst a part of me would like to link to her website I won't, I'm sure you can find her yourself if you're really curious. I'm not going to give her even the tiniest of visits via this post.

I will embed a video though and you can watch that in case you don't actually know who she is.

Now I don't have anything against her personally. I've never talked to her or anything like that. I have friends and acquaintances who believe this snake oil saleswoman though. Now I suppose a part of me understands why people would like to believe in an afterlife, in something greater than themselves. Or well, at least I can have sympathies for those people but at the same time… to me… the very reason that I don't think there is an afterlife is the very reason to make all of this count for… something. To make everything out of this, because this is basically all you get and then… blank. End of sentence. The end. Nada.

You get the picture, right?

Which is why I think self-proclaimed psychics, people like Sylvia Browne and Allison DuBois are vermin. Parasites that feed on the fears, tears and money of the poor people who have lost their loved ones and fear that those loved ones aren't in a better place.

Or to quote Cracked.com in their article "4 Dangerously Influental Dimwits".

Sylvia Browne predicted that MS would be cured in 2012. The common cold would be cured in 2010. Obama would not be re-elected. There would be a tsunami in Florida this fall. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will break up. She has predicted that for four straight years. There are lots of lists of her failed predictions to peruse, but that's harmless, right? She's like your loopy aunt who drinks too much schnapps and tells you what a big boy you've become when her hand is on your inner thigh.

So she's wrong, a lot… but that's only part sad and annoying. The much sadder part is the huge number of poor people who believe everything these self-proclaimed psychics say, blissfully ignorant — and with less money — to the fact that they're just making shit up. That's all they do. That's all she does. And how is that in any way respectful to the one you have lost?

But yeah, I know that nothing I say will change what some people choose to believe. And, well… you should be entitled to believe anything you like, even if that "anything" is pretty fucking stupid. But consider this my part in trying to enlighten someone. At the end of the day it's really all I can do. The next part isn't up to me even if I'd like it to be.