Thread: Is this for real?

that's all based on suggestibility. look up derren brown. instand conversion on youtube.

Originally Posted by ranma187

that's all based on suggestibility. look up derren brown. instand conversion on youtube.

Right, and those people were all self-confessed doubting atheist/agnostics! Assuming you think that was legit (I'm not sure, but assuming), that is the sort of thing that leads me to agree with Mes: most of you guys (and I) would probably fall for it too.

Wow, I almost forgot I made this thread... I don't get into the R/S very often...

Anyway, I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks this is ridiculous. It's no wonder some other religions think Chrisitians are crack-pots with this sort of thing going down. Though admittedly, there are other religions that do some equally weird shit, but anyway...

I remember going to a church one time with my mom after we moved to a new town. She wanted to find a new church so we were scouting the area. We ended up at one place - I can't remember what type of church it was now - but we went in and sat down, and it seemed okay at first, and then when they started signing one of the hymns, a few people started sobbing and rolling around on the floor and speaking in tongues. No shit. This actually happened right in front of my eyes. My mom and I were horrified and we left immediately.

Come to think of it, that may have been the turning point in my beliefs. I knew my whole life that Christianity just didn't fit for me. I never REALLY believed it, but I always went along with what my family did. But since that moment, I knew that I wasn't Christian. I still accept everyone's beliefs as their own and have no problem with people believing whatever religion they want - Do what you will as long it harms none - but I knew that I wasn't going to be a part of it.

Originally Posted by Spamtek

...most of you guys (and I) would probably fall for it too.

Not me. I was a working magician for a few years and I knew plenty of "mentalists" and similar types of magicians. So I understand what it's really all about.

The only difference between a magician and sorcerers, faith healers, psychics, etc... is that the magician freely admits to using trickery. In other words, people claiming to have magical powers - or powers from God - are merely performing magic tricks while pretending they aren't. So they use trickery combined with intentional deception and not for the purpose of entertainment.

In the case of "faith healers", it's simply "mentalism", "hypnotism", and whatever other "...isms" you want to attach to it. It all just depends on their routine.

It's all about showmanship. That is all.

Ranma, edit your sig. You're stretching all the pages out with that unparsed link.

Well, I'm quick to concede my point to anyone with more experience in fooling crowds of people than I am. Something still tells me that I would still fall for it though, because no matter how individualistic I act I know I'm radically swayed by the opinion of the crowd. I don't like that, but I've seen it in action enough to know it's true for me.

Originally Posted by Oneironaught

Ranma, edit your sig. You're stretching all the pages out with that unparsed link.

Hey, speak for yourself. Some of us aren't running at prehistoric monitor resolutions.

Originally Posted by Spamtek

Hey, speak for yourself. Some of us aren't running at prehistoric monitor resolutions.

Fine, my wide-screen monitor is plenty wide but, on "standard" screens, it does stretch out too far :p

Originally Posted by Spamtek

Well, I'm quick to concede my point to anyone with more experience in fooling crowds of people than I am. Something still tells me that I would still fall for it though, because no matter how individualistic I act I know I'm radically swayed by the opinion of the crowd. I don't like that, but I've seen it in action enough to know it's true for me.

Oh so true. Take some popular psychology experiments where they show that a person tends to lose his or her individuality and conform to the crowd.

I remember one example where a doctor sat a few people down next to one another in a row. He showed them several pictures and had them say which pattern was the simplest out of all the pictures or some such thing. All but one of the participants were told to pretend to guess the most ridiculous answer. The one guy who was NOT in on this, the one guy who was used as a guinnea pig, eventually started saying what the other participants were saying just because he felt uncomfortable being the only guy to guess something different. I've seen countless experiments like these.

Does anybody know if the seisures those people were having were subconsciously induced, or were they just faking? I mean.........damn?