JREF Swift Blog

We Provide The Tool, Use It Correctly

This is not a new video, but it needs to be brought to our attention once again as it demonstrates that tools are ineffective if they're not used properly.

In this video you'll see Glenn Beck interviewing John Edward, and it starts off great. "Could you sleep at night knowing if you weren't on the up and up?" asks Glenn, and we're hopeful as we watch John Edward squrim. And then comes the question - why won't you take the JREF Million Dollar Challenge?

And the answer tells us a lot.

John Edward can't answer that question, so he doesn't. Instead, he says "why would I be tested by a guy with an adjective as his first name?" Well John, why would we listen to a guy whose South Park appointed adjective seems so fitting?

(As an aside, it seems that the Australians know how to deal with this guy more effectively than Glenn Beck.)

But the failure here isn't with Edward, it's with Beck. He's invoked the challenge appropriately by asking the key question "If you can do the things you claim, why don't you win the million?" and then utterly and completely failed to follow up on Edward's non-answer. By laughing along with Edward, Beck has failed his audience and himself.

By the way, the "scientists" Edward mentions at the University of Arizona's Human Energy Lab is the notorious Dr. Gary Schwartz, and the testing was covered by Randi in this Swift article (you'll need to scroll down a bit). It's shocking what feats you can accomplish when you're allowed to peek.

Edward still owes us an answer. There is no excuse for not taking the challenge. If you don't need the money, great, you can donate it to any charity you'd like. And if you aren't willing to spend 30 minutes of your time to earn $1,000,000 for a charity, I think that actually does answer the question.

The answer is: because South Park is right.