Here's an interesting story: as the economy plunges into a recession and people panic over the prospect of lost jobs and money, psychics continue to make big money. Well, okay - it was a mildly interesting story when NPR's Day to Day covered it in November of last year. When a CBS affiliate did it in January it was somewhat less fresh. By the time CNN wrote about it back in February, let's face it, much of the appeal was gone. Yesterday, when Boston Globe writer Brian MacQuarrie found it in the back of the fridge, sniffed it, and tossed it the microwave for 90 seconds, it was probably time to throw it out.
Here is how this story is always written, and will probably continue to be written until we return to boom times: the economy is bad, people are worried about the future, they seek solace in the supernatural, they drop a lot of cash, the end.
A thought: might future versions of this story be more interesting if they explored whether or not people are getting their money's worth?
For instance, if this story had been about people shifting their investments into pyramid schemes or, say, scratch tickets, might it have included a sentence or two about the expected return on investment?
Maybe next time, the article can quote a single bit of proof that shows psychics can offer anything besides for-entertainment-only platitudes so generic as to be completely useless. In the Globe's piece, the wise insights offered by the soothsayers ranges in quality from:
I see circular reasoning. Not knowing when to do it or what to do; indecision about whether to buy or not to buy.
to:
It doesn't feel like you're going to lose your job.
Let's pause for a moment to let you catch your breath.
The first quote is an example of a general statement that applies to EVERYONE, especially in a bad economy. It may refer to the possible purchase of a home, a car, stocks, groceries, or that cute turban/mumuu combo you've had your eye on. The second statement is typical cold-reading doublespeak: "I'm not going to say you'll keep your job, but it feels like you are, which means that maybe you won't."
By including the slightest amount of skepticism, these rehashed stories suddenly become about something much more interesting: why is it that when the stakes are so high, and money is so tight, people make the seemingly irrational decision to spend upwards of $200 an hour for someone to tell them absolutely nothing of import? By the way: the psychic in the article who charges the most is the one who "receives direction from the spirit Joshua, an "ascended master" from biblical times." FYI.
Beyond the utter kookiness and to complicate matters even more, why would someone give all that money to people who say things like this:
"It's a relief from, 'When will he marry me?' " said Bingham, who charges $105 an hour. "I was always angered with the silly ladies who were living for love."
and
"I just told one lady that her life would be destroyed and that she would go through three months of hell, but then the sun would shine on the shipwreck of her life," Raymond recalled with a smile.
Holy crap, these people are douches. Let's recap: people are spending hundreds of dollars an hour for financial advice from jerks who admit they have no such expertise (or get their expertise from the spirits of Biblical characters). But at least there's this:
"We also wouldn't do something like putting an egg in a cemetery for $20,000 to make somebody's lover come back," Palermo stressed.
Because that would be silly.
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