Psychic mediums

It's surprising the government doesn't shut down psychic mediums. Why are they allowed to prey on the gullible and weak?

The government has many laws against fraud. The FDA has stringent standards for new drugs; dishonest stockbrokers are barred from the securities industry; dishonest lawyers are disbarred; and medical doctors can lose their licenses.

Police departments used to have "bunco squads," which were in charge of investigating confidence swindles. Certainly, what psychics peddle is a load of bunk.

If you Google "psychic mediums in Connecticut," the names of 48 practitioners appear. All advertise openly, evidently without fear of prosecution.

For all but the terminally naive, their con is obvious. Let's say a middle-aged woman walks in (most customers are women). The medium looks at her and says, "I sense trouble with a man."

The woman nods sadly and says, "I'm in a difficult marriage." The psychic replies, "Ah, you have arguments with him….which sometimes get heated." (Another great leap of faith.)

The gullible woman nods more eagerly, and thinks to herself, finally, someone who understands me.

The psychic says, "Your husband, he is attracted to other women?" (In other words, is he human?) The woman thinks, wow, she understands my husband too!

Then the psychic might say, knowingly, "There is a loved one you miss." This could mean a lost family member, but could also apply to a long lost romantic love. And "miss," of course, could merely describe your feelings about a child who's gone to college. The gullible will immediately think of whomever they miss most.

Psychics who claim to communicate with the dead are the lowest of the low. One ad for a psychic in Connecticut said:

As we sit together in sacred space, departed loved ones and Spirit Guides are invited to communicate with you through me. This is done with the intention of healing and providing evidence of life after death.

Does the inclusion of the phrase "evidence of life after death" give them a "freedom of religion" out to their scam? After all, our Constitution does provide for freedom of worship.

And does saying "done with the intention of healing" shift intent -- in a legal sense -- to "healing," so that the psychics can claim to be psychotherapists?

Also, note that the ad does not claim that the dead actually communicate: it says that "departed loved ones….are invited to communicate." An invitation is not quite the same as an actual acceptance of that invitation. Thus, no fraudulent advertising.

One senses a lawyer's hand in the construction of that ad.

Most psychics would have to be sociopaths in order to pull such a scam; and, of course, it's sociopaths who feel most comfortable preying on the weak and gullible in the first place.

The real question: how big an idiot must one be to consult a psychic?

It's one thing for a young couple who've had a few drinks and to see a sign for a palm reader and pay $20 to have their fortunes told, just for giggles. But to really believe in this stuff, one must be weak-minded.

My guess is that the average type of person willing to pay a psychic partly just wants to be center of attention; she probably feels neglected, since others have most likely been conditioned to avoid her daily idiocy.

The psychics themselves will all burn in hell -- if there is such a place. Personally, I don't believe in hell, but those who go to mediums undoubtedly do. If they eventually wise up and feel burned by their psychics, they can at least take consolation that the psychics themselves will eventually be experiencing that same feeling, on a more epic scale.