Matharu's Rants and Raves

James Randi on Uri Geller’s reversal:

Although I’ve heard it said that you shouldn’t kick a person who’s trying to apologies, it’s clear that Geller’s actions over the years have contributed in a big way to society’s muddled thinking and resulted in the encouragement of other crazies to exploit and scam. I actually have very little sympathy for those scientists who endorsed Geller’s physic claims; fool on you. But it is Geller’s other victim that I have sympathy for i.e. society’s capacity to reason.

If Geller wants to right wrongs then he needs to embark on an aggressive and earnest campaign to apologise, and perhaps contribute some of his earnings to real education. How about appearing on well-known talk shows to renounce and apologies? From what I’ve seen of him over the years, Geller will likely try to make himself look good and claim that it was all part of “his show”, his act to “entertain”. Just remember all those legal actions he took against anyone who even dared to cast doubt on Geller’s so-called psychic ability.

Having had a quick look around, I cannot find an unequivocal statement from Geller where he renounces his claims for having psychic or supernatural powers. The closest I can find is this from Wikipedia:

In 2007, skeptics observed that Geller appeared to have dropped his claims that he does not perform magic tricks. Randi highlighted a quotation from the November 2007 issue of the magazine Magische Welt (Magic World) in which Geller said: "I’ll no longer say that I have supernatural powers. I am an entertainer. I want to do a good show. My entire character has changed."

In a later interview, Geller told Telepolis, "I said to this German magazine, so what I did say, that I changed my character, to the best of my recollection, and I no longer say that I do supernatural things. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have powers. It means that I don’t say ‘it’s supernatural’, I say ‘I’m a mystifier!’ That’s what I said. And the sceptics turned it around and said, ‘Uri Geller said he’s a magician!’ I never said that."[41] In that interview, Geller further explained that when he is asked how he does his stunts, he tells children to "Forget the paranormal. Forget spoon bending! Instead of that, focus on school! Become a positive thinker! Believe in yourself and create a target! Go to university! Never smoke! And never touch drugs! And think of success!"

In February 2008, Geller stated in the TV show The Next Uri Geller (a German version of The Successor) that he did not have any supernatural powers, before winking to the camera.

I think that last lines tells it all.

Note: Randi’s video seems to have been uploaded in December 2009 although it appeared on my RSS feed today for some reason. What has happened with Geller over the last 12 months or so?

I rather like these older videos from Randi:

Bends keys? Or bends truth?

Cracking!

Blinding!

Bend it like Geller!

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2010