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Electronic Frontier Foundation Sues Uri Geller

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the totally-saw-that-coming dept.

reversible physicist writes "The Electronic Frontier Foundation has sued spoon-bender Uri Geller for using 'baseless copyright claims' to silence critics who question his paranormal powers. Brian Sapient posted on YouTube a 14-minute excerpt from the 1993 PBS NOVA program 'Secrets of the Psychics,' in which skeptic James Randi says Geller's spoon-bending feats were simple tricks. YouTube took down the video after Geller complained — his lawyers claim that 10 seconds of the video are owned by Geller. A shorter excerpt of the video is still up on YouTube."

2 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. Re:More on this.... by Lord+Ender · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    the majority religions still provide useful and positive services to their members.
    Do you realize how much resources societies spend on religions? It seems large numbers of the devout, especially the fundamentalist and evangelical types, have serious psychological and emotional problems (other than delusion). If all the resources spent on this religious "folk psychology" were instead used to hire REAL psychological help, or to better educate these desperate religious followers so that they can rise out of poverty, the world may just be much better off.

    Lots of these people need medicine! Giving their money away to some guy who claims to be an expert on magic, and who tells them that they have depression because they are sinners or don't have enough faith will not cure them.

    Listen, old man. Your gray beard gives you no special powers over younger people. Try using arguments instead of insults.

    The idea that religion benefits people enough to justify its high cost in terms of time and money is being called into serious question in intellectual and academic circles today.

    And don't get me started on the ability of religion to get scoundrels into political office...
    --
    A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
  2. Guns don't kill people by mangu · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    ALL religion gets shoved in a corner, but the only ones we really hear about are the nutjobs who get put on TV


    This is an argument that religious people use very often, but I think it's fallacious.


    Religion, when badly used, is more dangerous than any weapon. Religious people should accept the responsibility for all the bad effects that religion can bring. If religion can be used to convince people to kill, maim, perform terrorist acts, then everybody who preach or practice religion has a share of responsibility for that.


    To claim that not all religions are bad is akin to the argument defended by gun nuts that guns can have lots of good uses. If there existed no guns, there would be no crimes committed with guns. If no religion at all existed, there would be no religious fanatics at all. There could exist other kinds of nutjobs, but it would be rather difficult to convince an atheist to commit a suicide terrorist act, for instance.