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Psychic Children: Reality Or Just Reality TV?


I’m a 360 skeptic: I’m skeptical about everything, including professional skeptics.

So I don’t rule out the possibility that on rare occasions a few people might experience some sort of psychic phenomena. Recently I watched a documentary series that purported to show actual psychic kids dealing with their powers. While I’m never had any special metaphysical powers, I can understand how these kids feel like outsiders due to the talents they have – or think they have.

The problem with “reality” TV is that it has to be entertaining. Sometimes the psychic kids series went over the line for me, using special editing techniques like quick cuts to heighten the suspense. And if the producers could goose certain scenes through such effects, what else did they goose?

I’m not saying the producers were deceptive but I’ve heard about others whose psychic talents were wanting at times: they couldn’t consistently produce the startling results and so sometimes they cheated.

As I watched the series, I wondered what was edited out. After all, who says the producer didn’t leave on the cutting room floor any scenes of mistakes, failures to perform? Sorry, but I need a more objective documentary that isn’t concerned with pumping the ratings.

Infotainment doesn’t cut it for me. Especially “reality” TV.

Comments

X. Dell said…
I'm wondering about this trend toward paranormal "reality" television. I don't really know how audiences perceive it (personally, I perceive them as a cue to reach for the remote). But I would be curious if they think there's any factual validity to them, or if they're simply watching for the same reason we tell stories around the campfire.
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