Debunk Paranormal

First of all, I would like to say that I fully support the efforts of Debunk Paranormal to get the truth out there, and this is not directed at anyone here at all.

I am all for calling out fraud.  My personal approach is to call it like I see it, however there are some cases where I feel discretion is the better way to handle it.  I mean, who gets anything out of a pissing contest other than some mild entertainment?  But I digress.  My point here today is about those who call out frauds who have other agendas than exposing lies.

Let's just say, for a moment, that one of the guys from the ghost hunting shows comes out and says "okay you got us..we acknowledge there is editing and faking done to keep the show going".  Will that take away from the many years of presenting paranormal investigation in a false light?  Will they all of a sudden become the good guy for saying aloud what we already know?  Frankly, my first thought would be what is in it for them to speak up.

I have been rather amused watching all of the reporters from "News of the World" scramble around with "Yes, we were told to do this!" and "We were made do things that were unethical!"  Hoping...PRAYING that other news outlets will see that they are honest enough to admit their knowledge of what was done and get hired somewhere else.  Are they beacons for the truth?  Well, maybe the ones that left when they were asked to do these things and are now coming forward..but what of those who went along with it?  I'm not judging people for doing what they feel they need to do at the time..that's between them and their conscious.  But coming out with the truth to save your own ass is nothing to be impressed with, in my opinion.

Harry Price is a name I come across often in paranormal research.  I used to actually think there was something to his observations because I had also noted the many frauds he called out.  He had been a magician and saw some of the tricks that spiritualists used, and called them on it..much as Harry Houdini did in the 1920's.  However the difference between Price and Houdini was this...Houdini wanted to call them out because he saw their faking and felt it needed exposed.  Price called them out because, in my opinion, he was setting the stage for his greatest show of all..his own fraud and deception, the Borely Rectory being the biggest example.  After all..if someone is calling out the BS, wouldn't it stand to reason that their word would have some credibility if there truly was something unexplained going on?

If someone is calling out fraud to get the lies out of the way for the truth to shine through ..excellent!  More power to you and you have my full support.  But...if someone who calls out fraud and is only doing so to save themselves, it is nothing more than a rat abandoning a sinking ship.  And if someone is calling out fraud so their BS will be taken seriously...then any step forward from the exposure will be an automatic five steps back for true researchers.  Because those of us looking for the truth have to weed through all of that.  It makes us suspicious, it makes us cynical, and sometimes it makes me wonder why I ever started in the first place.

And then I remember..because I AM looking for the truth.  And the truth is out there..but so are the lies.  And I will be wary of all, including those who expose fraud, because I never want my objectivity to fall victim to someone else's agenda.