Randi Needs Help

The following is a letter dated May 11, 1991 from magician James "The Amazing" Randi to friends, sympathisers, and the skeptical community. It came to us via the international skeptics computer bulletin board.

Uri Geller has announced that he intends to sue me "in every state and in every country." He currently has four lawsuits against me, two of which I have won (ata cost of over $155,000 in legal fees), and one of which he has told me he is bringing in Japan, with one just served on me in California. This latter case concerns two statements I made about him in response to questions by a reporter for the International Herald Tribune: (1) Geller has fooled some scientists, (2) His tricks are the same kind that used to be on the back of cereal boxes when I was a kid.

It appears that this is a frivolous lawsuit, and Geller may be using the legal process both to break me financially and to silence me from speaking what I know to be the truth. I have a right under the Constitution to fairly say what I know to be true, and I will not surrender that right.

I have resigned from the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, since the Committee is always named in the suits, and in order that CSICOP will be spared further involvement in such suits if and when I again mention Geller's name.

This has been a very difficult thing for me to do.

Should these actions continue, I will be forced into silence from my inability to support further legal costs. CSICOP has been silenced, and I'm next, it appears.

I now have no further funds to continue my defense. It has been suggested that a legal fund might be set up for my defense against these harassing actions by Mr. Geller. I hope that can be set in motion.

I'm in trouble, folks. I need help.

James Randi

Rick Moen, secretary of the Bay Area Skeptics has the following comments (while noting that he is speaking only for himself, and specifically not purporting to speak for Bay Area Skeptics, CSICOP, or the Network of Local Skeptics' Groups):

The skeptics' movement owes a monumental debt to James Randi. Now, it is quite simply time to begin paying him back.

Randi was one of the founding members of CSICOP, has been easily its most prominent member, and is to this day perhaps the greatest bulwark of the skeptics' movement. I find it difficult — and dispiriting — to imagine the skeptics' movement without him.

Most skeptics will have been unaware of this series of lawsuits, which has been sapping Randi's time, energy, and funds for the last couple of years, with Uri Geller's vastly greater resources making possible a very effective campaign of attrition.

Gratitude is only one reason why skeptics should help Randi. There's also self-preservation. If Randi can be beaten down this way, you and I may well become quick, easy, and obvious next targets. The time to put an end to this sort of thing is now. Unfortunately, time is short, since at least one of these lawsuits must be answered later this month.

No one else is coming to Randi's defence. It is up to us.

Get The Word Out. There are, of course, the local skeptics' newsletters, but also skeptics have more friends than you may realise. Contact your local magicians' society, members of the press, and sympathetic notables.

Offer On-The-Spot Help. A group of skeptics near a museum of magic have been asked to visit it and acquire Polaroid photos of magic tricks on the backs of cereal boxes, from the time when Randi was a kid. These photos may end up being worth — literally — millions of dollars in court. Also, if you know of sympathetic law firms in your area, please put them in touch.

Encourage Contributions. As I write this, arrangements are being made to set up a trust fund solely for Randi's legal defence.

Fight Back. Is Uri Geller by some chance coming to your area? Do you have perhaps an untapped flair for making picket signs? (Please, be very, very careful and be scrupulously legal, though.)

Organise. Become active in your local skeptics' groups, and encourage those groups to join forces to oppose these sorts of intimidation tactics. Get in touch with your fellow skeptics. Write articles. Participate.

Rick Moen, Secretary, Bay Area Skeptics, 4030 Moraga, San Francisco, CA 94122, USA

Tel: 415-564-4225 (home) 415-571-0222 (work) 415-571-1132 (fax)