Peter Popoff on 20/20 (with James Randi appearance)

[Scifinerdgrl]

I'm watching right now! ABC's website may have it on later if you've missed it.

FYI, miracle spring water, fake Dead Sea salt, and paper cut-outs of leaves to put onto coloring-book style outlines are his newest gimmicks.

[Mizled]

That's "Prophet" Peter Popoff to you. He claims that if you pay him then God will magically give you money... no seriously he does.

"A divine transfer is a supernatural event. This is not money you're going to make from your job... God is going to supernaturally put money into your account."

He has another product called the "Miracle Band" and you wear that while sending him more money and he'll give you information on how to use the "Golden Tablet" to make loads of cash.

I dunno seems pretty legit to me.

[barbos]

I am watching it too.

[Porky Pine]

I'm watching right now! ABC's website may have it on later if you've missed it.

FYI, miracle spring water, fake Dead Sea salt, and paper cut-outs of leaves to put onto coloring-book style outlines are his newest gimmicks.

You lost me on the last part there. What's his scheme there?

[mrzyphl]

C'mon, Popoff is practically giving away this water at $28 per droplet. I mean how could he possibly make any money on that? Do you think that water just falls from the sky or something?

[Craigart14]

I guess you can't keep a good crook down. Wasn't Peter Popoff exposed by James Randi? IIRC, Popoff--like all the revivalists--had staff member interview audience members before the show started. His wife was reading the interview notes to him during meetings so he could miraculously "call out" candidates for miracle healing. Randi and colleagues intercepted her transmissions.

Craig

[Scifinerdgrl]

You lost me on the last part there. What's his scheme there?

It went by pretty fast. Something about laying the paper leaves down on the outline then praying over them or something. *shrug* I guess if I paid better attention to religious instructions I wouldn't be here. :devil1:

[Scifinerdgrl]

I guess you can't keep a good crook down. Wasn't Peter Popoff exposed by James Randi? IIRC, Popoff--like all the revivalists--had staff member interview audience members before the show started. His wife was reading the interview notes to him during meetings so he could miraculously "call out" candidates for miracle healing. Randi and colleagues intercepted her transmissions.

Craig

Yep, and reviving begins at home! He's resurrected himself as a late night infomercial miracle merchant. Praise the LAWD!

[Sultanist]

Here's an "Inside Edition" report which I imagine is similiar to what was seen on 20/20.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bUm-zcmswxE

If anyone stumbles across a recording of the 20/20 segment, please link us because I'd like to see that too.

I have a little different reaction to this. And one which probably won't be well received here.
But I'm to a point with this that I'm losing sympathy for the marks.
I mean if Popoff's audience (or Robert Tilton's or whoever) was standing in front of me, I'd now be saying to all of them: "what the fuck are you thinking you bunch of stupid dipshits".
I know they're excused because they're ill and they want healing and shit, but I aint buyin that excuse. Since when does being sick mean you give the time of day to utter buffoons and freaks of nature like this Popoff. And I'm supposed to feel all sorry for you and shit when you do. Bullshit.

[ppnl]

Here's an "Inside Edition" report which I imagine is similiar to what was seen on 20/20.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bUm-zcmswxE

If anyone stumbles across a recording of the 20/20 segment, please link us because I'd like to see that too.

I have a little different reaction to this. And one which probably won't be well received here.
But I'm to a point with this that I'm losing sympathy for the marks.
I mean if Popoff's audience (or Robert Tilton's or whoever) was standing in front of me, I'd now be saying to all of them: "what the fuck are you thinking you bunch of stupid dipshits".
I know they're excused because they're ill and they want healing and shit, but I aint buyin that excuse. Since when does being sick mean you give the time of day to utter buffoons and freaks of nature like this Popoff. And I'm supposed to feel all sorry for you and shit when you do. Bullshit.


You speak truth. In fact I think main stream Christianity should be held responsible for these freaks. If you are really serious about combating sin you should start in your on house.

[Sultanist]

In fact I think main stream Christianity should be held responsible for these freaks. If you are really serious about combating sin you should start in your on house.
Absofuckinglutely, ppnl. Before Billy Graham or the Cardinal of New York
or the pastor at the First Baptist Church should ever even be taken seriously, then he or she needs to be on record as having done everything he or she could to expose and condemn all this flim-flam and bunko. Because, if not, then those religion fuckers are nothing but accomplices in my book.
I mean how fucking ridiculous is it to see those assholes telling us all about what sinfulness is, but at the same time completely ignoring what goes down with this televangelism. Such fucking hypocrisy.

[Cynthia of Syracuse]

This seems a better fit for GRD.

[EthnAlln]

Here's an "Inside Edition" report which I imagine is similiar to what was seen on 20/20.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bUm-zcmswxE

If anyone stumbles across a recording of the 20/20 segment, please link us because I'd like to see that too.

I have a little different reaction to this. And one which probably won't be well received here.
But I'm to a point with this that I'm losing sympathy for the marks.
I mean if Popoff's audience (or Robert Tilton's or whoever) was standing in front of me, I'd now be saying to all of them: "what the fuck are you thinking you bunch of stupid dipshits".
I know they're excused because they're ill and they want healing and shit, but I aint buyin that excuse. Since when does being sick mean you give the time of day to utter buffoons and freaks of nature like this Popoff. And I'm supposed to feel all sorry for you and shit when you do. Bullshit.


I'm partly of that mind. While I hate to see stupid and gullible people being taken advantage of, I ask myself...what's the alternative? For me, or some other court-appointed guardian to take control of their finances and allow them to spend money only on things we approve of? That would be far worse.

And, as long as people have the freedom to dispose of their own income, as of course they should, it is going to be impossible to keep fools from sending their money to knaves.

Given those circumstances, we might as well relax and have a good laugh at the idiots who fall for these things. As Mencken said (about chiropractors and Christian Scientists) "It eases and soothes me to see them so prosperous."

Incidentally, Jerry Falwell, who might appear to be mainstream since he actually has a congregation with a physical location, has played exactly this theme very expertly. He has delivered sermons explaining to his flock that the reason they are in debt up to their eyeballs is that they haven't given his church enough money. Falwell calls it "spiritual mathematics." And so the Christian loonies wall off yet another branch of knowledge in which they expect special scientific laws will apply to them and them only.

[EthnAlln]

I guess you can't keep a good crook down. Wasn't Peter Popoff exposed by James Randi? IIRC, Popoff--like all the revivalists--had staff member interview audience members before the show started. His wife was reading the interview notes to him during meetings so he could miraculously "call out" candidates for miracle healing. Randi and colleagues intercepted her transmissions.

Craig

Yes. I was watching the Tonight Show the night Randi came on with his tape. (Randi and Johnny Carson were good friends.) Popoff's wife was broadcasting the information on the cards the suckers had filled out when they entered. Popoff (the great healer) wore a "hearing aid" that really did improve his hearing. He was able to hear what his wife was broadcasting from back stage and pretend it was the Holy Spirit giving him the Gift of Discernment. It was a very transparent scam.

For doing that, Randi and Carson both received an avalanche of hate mail from people who accused them of trying to destroy their religious faith. But Popoff was banned from TV for a while.

Now, like Jimmy Swaggart, he's back again. Like the hydra, as soon as you cut off one head, two more grow in its place.

[Jolly_Penguin]

Can't they bust him for fraud?

[Sultanist]

Can't they bust him for fraud?
That's the downside of the First Amendment. So far what Popoff is doing, and "faith healing" in general, is protected by our Constitution.
As long as he does not violate laws in the process (like what led to the downfall of Jim Baker), then he gets a free pass to be a bunko artist.
A claim that the purchase of a vial of Peter Popoff holy water will get deities to heal you of sickness and disease or make you prosperous, is not against the law.

[EthnAlln]

That's the downside of the First Amendment. So far what Popoff is doing, and "faith healing" in general, is protected by our Constitution.
As long as he does not violate laws in the process (like what led to the downfall of Jim Baker), then he gets a free pass to be a bunko artist.
A claim that the purchase of a vial of Peter Popoff holy water will get deities to heal you of sickness and disease or make you prosperous, is not against the law.

This is a gray area in the law, although I think it really shouldn't be. Popoff is making specific claims that his Jordan River water really does bring healing and prosperity. The trouble is, his suckers are such losers that they blame themselves when it doesn't work.

I know the psychology of this. Some 35 years ago I had a graduate student, a devout Christian Scientist. When my wife was diagnosed with MS, he and his wife sent us a copy of Science and Health. Well, they were doing the best they knew at the time. The next year, their infant son died of menningitis, after having been "treated" by a Christian Science practitioner.

That cured them of the delusion, just too late for their son, unfortunately. Christian Science has one of the most exquisite Catch-22s devised by a human mind. You can't set any time limits on how long you'll try the faith healing before you call in the medical profession. Doing that negates the entire effect of faith healing. And I suppose if you hang on until the patient is dead and then lose faith, that is proof that you never believed in the first place, and no wonder the patient died. This couple have spent the last 30 years campaigning for child-protection laws and meeting furious resistance from legislators who will excuse any enormity committed in the name of religion.

[Sultanist]

This is a gray area in the law, although I think it really shouldn't be.

Popoff is making specific claims that his Jordan River water really does bring healing and prosperity.

I wasn't aware of claims of this kind being considered a "gray area" by the law, Ethn. I'm not aware of any religious broadcaster ever being charged with a crime because he was engaged in the faith healing con? Have you?
It's my understanding that "faith healing" is Biblical and a part of the Christian dogma. So I would expect that as long as we have a First Amendment, that will always be protected.

[Godless Dave]

I have a little different reaction to this. And one which probably won't be well received here.

Why would you think that wouldn't be well received here? I share your reaction, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[Godless Dave]

Incidentally, Jerry Falwell, who might appear to be mainstream since he actually has a congregation with a physical location,


Not only that, he was invited by one of the two major political parties to give the opening invocation at their 2004 convention. He doesn't just appear mainstream, he is mainstream - a mainstream con-man who said lesbians and feminists were responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

[Sultanist]

Why would you think that wouldn't be well received here? I share your reaction, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Because some time ago I expressed the same thing in another thread (which was discussing Robert Tilton's return to television) and got no support on it.
Because of that I was under the impression that most people feel these morons need us to be holding their hands.
I put this bunch in the same category as the people who are handing their money over to the practitioner's of the "Nigerian Scam". Both are about as braindead as human beings can get.

[Sultanist]

I mean just watch this short video and pay close attention to the young couple who are interviewed. They didn't even have any damn illnesses. They were just greedy. So they went and borrowed 25 grand and sent it to Popoff so God would make em rich.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bUm-zcmswxE

Jesus H Christ people like that oughta be neutered so their genes won't be passed on to future generations.

[EthnAlln]

I mean just watch this short video and pay close attention to the young couple who are interviewed. They didn't even have any damn illnesses. They were just greedy. So they went and borrowed 25 grand and sent it to Popoff so God would make em rich.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bUm-zcmswxE

Jesus H Christ people like that oughta be neutered so their genes won't be passed on to future generations.

What Mencken argued was that the faith healers improve the gene pool by slaughtering thousands of these cretins every year. His exact words were, "Is it really desirable to prolong the lives of children whose parents read and take seriously such dreadful bilge as is found in Science and Health? Such strains are manifestly dysgenic." Harsh, I thought. But, as Mencken said, nothing should be done about it. "When Christian Scientists begin to lose their freedom, then I begin to lose mine."

To respond to your other post, there have been many prosecutions of Christian Science parents (urged by my former graduate student and his wife (http://www.childrenshealthcare.org/), with the full realization that they would have gone to jail for the death of their son if their advice had been followed). But no, the practitioners themselves do seem to be protected by the First Amendment. What I meant to say was that I think all snake-oil salesmen should be prosecuted equally, both secular and religious. Right now, the religious ones are privileged.

[Queen of Swords]

Popoff (the great healer) wore a "hearing aid" that really did improve his hearing.

This guy was curing other people and yet he claimed that he needed to wear a hearing aid? Physician, heal thyself.

I suppose none of the audience called him on it. Pity.

[espritch]

You just can't keep the religion hucksters down. There is just too much money to be made selling Jesus.

[Perm]

The scariest thing is the lengths that people will go through to believe. They will be utterly and totally irrational in their search to believe in the irrational.

Doesn't bode well for mankind, imo. It means there are no (or not enough) forces of logic or rationality trying to pull them in the opposite direction.

[EthnAlln]

The scariest thing is the lengths that people will go through to believe. They will be utterly and totally irrational in their search to believe in the irrational.

Doesn't bode well for mankind, imo. It means there are no (or not enough) forces of logic or rationality trying to pull them in the opposite direction.

Well, it's not universal. It's in fact, peculiarly American (and maybe Russian---the Russians are notoriously credulous and superstitious). Hubert Selby once said, "Americans are born assholes, and their goal is to become an asshole with money." Popoff has realized the American Dream.