Newsfront

Welcome to 'enlightenment'

Herald on Sunday (17 August) reporter Russell Blackstock has been along to check out Avatar - not the movie, but a self-improvement course founded by an ex-Scientologist.

Blackstock's "induction into self-empowerment" began at the organisation's first New Zealand event in Auckland's Mercure Hotel, with two "Avatar masters" whispering into his ears from either side. "Would you like to rise above the sorrows and struggles of the world and see them as they really are?" one asks.

"Would you like to experience the state of consciousness traditionally described as enlightenment?" the other adds.

Avatar, whose headquarters are in Orlando, Florida, is believed to have more than 100,000 followers in more than 50 countries. It is alleged to use multi-level marketing techniques to recruit young newcomers, who may go on to spend thousands of dollars on courses. On offer at the Mercure event were a nine-day international programme costing $3050, or a two-day workshop for $402.50. Blackstock didn't sign up for either, but did attend a free one-hour session featuring a video of Avatar founder Harry Palmer addressing a conference.

"I'm going to tell you about impressions," he began, before launching into a tale about dinosaur feet imprints found in a desert creek alongside others left by early humans. "Let me now tell you a story about two frogs stuck in a pit," he continued. This was followed by another yarn about a lion cub that had been adopted by a flock of sheep.

Before forming Avatar in 1986, Palmer and his partner ran the Elmira Church of Scientology, until the church sued them for trademark infringement. In 2005 the Florida Department of Health found he used the term 'psychologist' illegally and made him sign a cease-and-desist agreement.

Otago University psychology lecturer Jackie Hunter says Avatar looks very warm and fuzzy on the surface. "When you delve a bit deeper, it is all largely based on a concept of 'me, me, me'," he says. "Focusing almost solely on oneself, however, is unlikely to bring anyone much true happiness; just the opposite."

Blackstock also reports how a distraught Kiwi couple said they felt "helpless" watching a close family member rack up tens of thousands of dollars of debt after being introduced to the Avatar programme. "She looked like someone who had just had a mental breakdown or was sedated. Beside some obvious changes in her behaviour, her critical thinking was non-existent. She was acting like a robot."

The couple say their relative has now left Avatar and is recovering from her experience.

Skeptics look beyond belief

The Sunday Star-Times (1 June) has published a lengthy profile on the Skeptics by freelance journalist Jeremy Olds

"Magenta-haired" Auckland University microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles said it felt like Skeptics was the wrong name for the group "…we're critical thinkers."

Olds described the society's inception in 1986, and earlier struggles with names. "[T]he late Bernard Howard … recalled in a 1999 editorial: 'We were worried about a name for our new baby - a snappy New Zealand Skeptics or a lengthy dignified New Zealand Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, on the US model.'

"They went for the latter, but brevity soon won out."

The Skeptics were said to be enraged when Stratford psychics Alex and Donna Fairclough claimed to have helped locate missing person Stephen Murphy (NZ Skeptic 111). Spokesperson Vicki Hyde told a local paper the comments were irresponsible, because the psychic industry exploits the vulnerable. "It gave [psychics] a legitimacy they don't deserve," she recalled.

"I don't really care what they have to say. We know the truth and that's the way it is," Donna Fairclough responded.

"Jeers like hers don't faze the skeptics, though, who believe criticism leveraged against them is mostly based on misperception," Olds wrote.

"They say, 'skeptics? Oh, they pooh-pooh everything and they're nasty to people and they refuse to believe anything,'" said Vicki Hyde. "And we say, there's a difference between belief based on faith and belief based on evidence."

Gold (whose founding of Skeptics in the Pub was also described in the article) said he agreed: "The term can have negative-sounding connotations attached to it. People tend to hear 'skeptic' and think, 'Cynics - you guys don't believe in anything - you're just there to debunk knowledge,' when it's kind of the complete opposite."

Astrologer didn't see that coming

A Petone man who claims to be a famous Indian astrologer has been caught out in a sting by a local journalist (Hutt News, 19 August).

The reporter paid an initial $20 consultation fee for some career advice from Pandith Balraja Swami, who counted turned-over sea shells, traced the lines on his palm, and dropped a pinch or two of coloured powder on his forehead. The reporter was told his job prospects would greatly improve, there would be money, marriage and maybe even babies.

But there was a catch. The reporter had too much bad black magic standing in his way, and it would take the astrologer at least three prayers totalling $450 to heal him. Cash up front was required. Sensing the reporter was hesitant he lowered the fee to $300; his son offered to go with the reporter to collect money for a deposit from an ATM.

One of the astrologer's customers had contacted the Hutt News the previous week; Atamira Te Paki said she had gone to see Pandit Balraja Swami after reading an advertisement in the paper. She was only charged $10 as an initial consultation fee, but was then told it would take three prayers at $150 per prayer to cleanse her black magic.

Sue Nicholson (!) warned people to be cautious and said she would like to test him. "I get a lot of Indian people come to me because they have been frightened by other Indian astrologers and I say: 'Don't even bother'."

The Hutt News has declined to take any more advertising from Pandith Balraja Swami.

Hamilton fluoride battle over

The seemingly interminable battle over the fluoridation of Hamilton's water supply (see NZ Skeptic 108-112) may finally be over (TVNZ, 3 September).

The Hamilton City Council says Safe Water Alternative NZ (SWANZ), a group established to lodge a judicial review to test the council's decision to resume fluoridation, has now withdrawn from the review.

A High Court hearing set for 9 September was cancelled and fluoride will remain in Hamilton's water supply. The council says as part of a settlement, it will not seek costs from SWANZ.

SWANZ says it wants the council to provide unfluoridated water stations for the almost 12,000 people who voted in a referendum last year against having fluoride added to their water. The Hamilton metropolitan area has a population of 212,000, so it seems an even 200,000 are at the least not too worried about fluoride. In which case, good luck with that.

Dad wants public to fund dodgy treatment

Another call has gone out for the public to fund treatment at a dodgy overseas clinic (NZ Herald, 17 July).

Auckland father of two Luke Elliott (33) wants $30,000 to travel to the US for injections of Etanercept, an anti-arthritis drug, into his neck, in the hope it will restore his life after a stroke nine years ago left him unable to speak and with limited movement. The treatment is offered by Dr Edward Tobinick, a registered medical practitioner who has been using Etanercept in this off-label manner for about 14 years. There have been no proper trials of the treatment, and just a week after the Herald article's publication, Dr Tobinick sued Dr Steven Novella (soon to be seen at this year's NZ Skeptics Conference), along with the Science-Based Medicine website and SGU (Skeptics Guide to the Universe) Productions, for an article he wrote about it on the SBM site in May 2013.

Dr Tobinick's claims and practice raise many red flags, says Dr Novella. "In my opinion he is using legal thuggery in an attempt to intimidate me and silence my free speech because he finds its content inconvenient."