James Randi detailed account of the interview and his commentary on the ABC program. [www.randi.org]

Here's SkepDic on this incident.
John of God [www.skepdic.com]

Dr. Oz is pandering to his Oprah audience, if he didn't then he'd be back to the poverty wages of a heart surgeon.
He has a New Age streak which would be why Oprah picked him?
Apparently they are using Kirlian photography, which is a scamola.


[www.randi.org]
"Dr. Oz "
..."unblock and balance the chakras (energy channels), thereby boosting the body's natural healing capacities."
His "complementary care" team at Columbia follows up with studies using "Kirlian photography"."

Quote
Hippo
Hi, I am a long-time lurker, timidly posting for the first time.

I wanted to reply to Stoic's comment about Dr. Oz.

James Randi, the fraud debunker, appeared on a "48 Hours" show several years ago concerning a "healer" in Brazil named John of God. Dr. Oz would obviously be well aware of this, but chose to play dumb. I believe he's employed by ABC News and knows which side his bread is buttered on.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2010 05:12AM by The Anticult.

Thanks for the link to the Full Metal Jacket analysis, Stoic. Part two seems especially relevant to LGAT techniques, and Ray in particular.

More specifically about Kirlian photography. [www.skepdic.com]

James Randi, Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural [www.randi.org]

The good think about SkepDic is not that its all "true" but its often a good place to look at the other side of an issue, while one is researching something.
There appears to be no end to the New Wage businesses.

Hippo, welcome to the front porch at 'Ricks Place.'

All courteous persons who are concerned about manipulative marketing are welcome. I am sorry there is no way to reach out from the screen hand around glasses and a pitcher of lemonade or iced tea.

Am going to have to sit down and read the analysis of Full Metal Jacket.

It is worth reading all the references to how Kubrick uses different kinds of music in that film.

A lot of LGATs employ music, whether it is childhood playground music--Old Macdonald, or the use of punk rock, etc.

Re Dr Oz and his New Age streak, he can't have gone through the medical training and experience that he obviously has and retained any belief at all in Kirlian Photography--thats been so seriously debunked that even the newagers have more or less dropped it.
He is just cynically exploiting his chance to get on TV and become a national figure, with a 'supplement' empire to go with it.
Bread and circuses, it still works.

BTW, Kubrick was lying when he said--on record-- that FMJ wasn't an anti-war movie, its the most powerful anti-war movie I have ever seen. How he does it though is what is so clever.
From the writers conclusion:
[www.collativelearning.com]

" The surface narratives of all Kubrick's films since, and including, 2001: A Space Odyssey have been deceptive illusions. Those popular narratives were basically cover stories designed to protect Kubrick's own reputation and hence secure his lucrative contracts with the studios. Perhaps he knew that it would take decades for audiences to even scratch the surface of his film's deeper meanings, but the fact that he devoted his life to creating these intricate works shows that he believed we could unravel them.

Confiding in friends, crew and even family members was a luxury that Kubrick appears to have resisted. His discipline in this respect demonstrates his single-minded sense of purpose. He made films like he played chess - with skill, patience, cunning and absolute secrecy of his true intentions.

Maybe we can unlock some of that Kubrickian intellect in ourselves through our own disciplined study of these films. It will be a long time before Kubrick's artistry is surpassed or even matched and so his thought provoking influence will continue to resonate among us for generations to come."

James Ray's latest - a video with transcript from RumorRat.com, along with article here:

[rumorrat.com]

Video transcript, thanks to RumorRat.com:

Hi this is James Ray.

I’m sure you’re well aware that I, the families… in fact everybody who’s been touched or impacted by the tragic accident in Sedona, has been through a lot over the last several months.

You might also be aware that I don’t have a company any longer and so I’m unable to produce live events and to get out and to travel around the country as I once did, at least for the foreseeable future until this issue is brought to some closure.

But what I still have inside of me even yet is a deep desire and a passion to make a difference to provide value to help you in any way I can and I have a wealth of information still inside of me.

And so what I’d like to do… every week… maybe at least once a week, a couple times a week is I’d like to be able to provide that value to you in this way.  It’s my gift to you, just to share with you some tools and techniques and insights and knowledge… some ways in which you can deal with challenges in your own life.  Some ways in which you can design and really achieve the life you deserve.

And so I’m gonna ask you to join me here, via the internet and we’ll get together on a regular basis.  I look forward to it.  Thank you for your time. And we’ll talk soon.

Ray thinks his "guru" image will save him from being convicted. It has brought him everything in the past and he thinks it will do so again.

He believes that if we see what a fantastic, amazing guy he is (wow!) this will somehow sway a jury.

All he knows how to do is manipulate and sell, sell, sell and sell some more. He believes that selling is the way out and that he can sell us ANYTHING.

What a scumbag. He couldn't assist the victims in anyway (who he MADE victims). He couldn't answer ONE question by the authorities......he was TOTALLY uncoopreative. Yet now he just can't help himself......he just HAS to teach us "the laws of the universe". He HAS to play the role of "teacher" and to try to shove us into the role of student.

James Ray has proven, through his comission of manslaughter, that he is not qualified to teach anything to anyone. “I have a wealth of information inside of me”. This is true if he is talking about information that will separate you from your money. The other “stuff” is crap, garbage, ca ca that doesn’t teach anyone anything of value. On the contrary. Look at the lists and lists of people who have said he has screwed-up their life totally, and this was before Sedona.

Reflect reality back to him. Send him your comments, etc.

"What a scumbag".

"What a scumbag".


I would translate that effort as 'Forget the refunds, all you folks who have paid in advance. Instead visit my website every day, just in case I decide to put out a little vid (with some manipulative advertising attached) so I can keep convincing you what a great guy I am--at least until the trial is over and I can get back to business as usual.'

He has to stay in the teacher position, it is the bedrock of his denial. Once he steps off that pedestal he will be in freefall and I doubt that he has anything in that head of his to arrest or slow his fall.

James Ray is running a number of persuasion patterns there, and changing tactics from his Twitter nonsense which has backfired.

When he says "my Gift to you" he is trying to use the Robert Cialdini "Rule of Reciprocity" [www.culteducation.com]
Of course, its a sham, but it makes his followers feel like they are getting something for free, and then are obligated to give back.

Of course, he also tries to reframe Sedona as an "accident", and say that his company is bankrupt? That means all of his followers and everyone elses money is long gone, and there will be no seminars for all his followers who paid for them, and NO REFUND NO EXCEPTIONS for the cancelled seminars.
Notice he also plans to come back and do more LGAT seminars, after the trial if he gets away with everything.

He uses the old sales technique of saying he is providing VALUE to the customer, which is just a sales technique known for decades. You tell them about the VALUE they are getting, but in fact in this case its a mirage, an illusion.

So James Ray wants to continue his ONE-WAY communication, from Guru to follower on the internet. And in private, some of those folks are going to get hit up for some type of "donation or gift" to pay expenses.
And since it won't be through his company, all of those millions owed to everyone are gone.

When everything falls apart, many Gurus go back to being a sole proprietor for a while. The sad irony is that those who are going to get burned again, are the loyal followers, they always are the ones who pay the price.

Quote
JimmyProfit
James Ray's latest - a video with transcript from RumorRat.com, along with article here:

[rumorrat.com]

Video transcript, thanks to RumorRat.com:

Hi this is James Ray.

I’m sure you’re well aware that I, the families… in fact everybody who’s been touched or impacted by the tragic accident in Sedona, has been through a lot over the last several months.

You might also be aware that I don’t have a company any longer and so I’m unable to produce live events and to get out and to travel around the country as I once did, at least for the foreseeable future until this issue is brought to some closure.

But what I still have inside of me even yet is a deep desire and a passion to make a difference to provide value to help you in any way I can and I have a wealth of information still inside of me.

And so what I’d like to do… every week… maybe at least once a week, a couple times a week is I’d like to be able to provide that value to you in this way.  It’s my gift to you, just to share with you some tools and techniques and insights and knowledge… some ways in which you can deal with challenges in your own life.  Some ways in which you can design and really achieve the life you deserve.

And so I’m gonna ask you to join me here, via the internet and we’ll get together on a regular basis.  I look forward to it.  Thank you for your time. And we’ll talk soon.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2010 11:43PM by The Anticult.

Someone made a good point on Twitter, that in fact James Ray has a number of companies, not just one company of course.
[search.twitter.com]
So JRI was doing the live seminars, so the message is everyone's money for those seminars is GONE, and will not be refunded, so get stuffed.

But what about the other income streams from the Harmonic Wealth Coaching, Success Certain Coaching, and all the other product streams?
Where is that going?