There are many things to dislike about end-of-year celebrations – the pressure to make New Year’s Eve memorable, the shameful amounts of money wasted on fireworks, drunken renditions of Auld Lang Syne. But perhaps the most annoying tradition is the reporting of ‘psychic predictions’ in various mainstream media.
According to a 2009 Neilsen poll, 49 per cent of Australians believe in psychic powers despite – it must be pointed out – a distinct lack of supporting evidence. However, as 2010 draws to a close, we have a unique chance to put some of these beliefs to the test by reflecting on the accuracy of psychic predictions made at the start of the year. After all, the rest of us face performance reviews at this time of the year, so why not critically appraise clairvoyants as well?
Surprisingly, some prophecies made for 2010 were frighteningly correct – more erratic weather, petrol price and interest rate rises. Never mind that these were already well-established trends prior to the beginning of the year.
On the other hand, most specific predictions were categorically wrong. According to a report on A Current Affair, this year was also meant to see: Tony Abbott deposed as Liberal party leader; an assassination attempt on Barack Obama (specifically, a flesh wound to the upper arm); health problems for Queen Elizabeth that would require her to step down; singer Jessica Mauboy embroiled in sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll; and a “huge” health shock for Elton John.
A psychic in The Cairns Post also predicted that we would witness an attempt on Barack Obama’s life in 2010, as well as experiencing a bigger financial crisis than ever before and the somewhat bold assertion that increased recording and reporting of UFO sightings would cause world governments to finally admit “the truth” about extra-terrestrial life.
According to the Courier-Mail’s crystal ball gazing, Tiger Woods’ marriage would be salvaged, Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom would definitely not marry, and Peter Costello would be prime minister come the end of the year. You can only feel sorry for Julianna Suranyi who, at least up until now, says her predictions “never” let her down.
Inexplicably though, psychics somehow managed to miss the result of the federal election, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Haitian earthquake, the Chilean mine explosion, the recent Christmas Island refugee disaster, and just about every other important news story of the year. Perhaps the cosmic energy just didn’t align in the way it was supposed to this year.
But does it matter if the psychics get it wrong? Surely it’s all just a bit of festive season frivolity, something to fill the summer editions of magazines and the off-ratings period on TV?
I’d argue that the end-of-year palaver where psychics claim their special spot at the window into the future is, in fact, dangerous. While the predictions rarely contain anything more than an educated guess into the personal lives of celebrities, and a few vague and ubiquitous generalisations about natural disasters, we have to remember that such fortune-telling is, at best, deluded, if not downright deceitful. In even entertaining such bunkum, we promote uncritical thinking and allow irrational ideas to sit alongside real news and commentary.
Of course the real harm comes when psychics intrude on the suffering of vulnerable people, such as during the year when high-profile Sydney psychic Debbie Malone had a vision regarding the location of missing Sydney girl Kiesha Abrahams. When a dam was drained at the insistence of the clairvoyant (together with any remaining hope of Kiesha’s family and friends) it wasn’t the first time that a psychic has attempted to interfere with police investigations, cruelly raising the hopes of a distraught family in the process. After Don Spiers’ daughter, Sarah, disappeared in Perth in 1996, the grieving family was contacted by over 400 psychics – something that Don later said contributed to his decline into chronic depression.
Once again then, the year doesn’t seem to have been a very successful one for the psychics – with an astoundingly poor strike-rate in relation to so-called predictions, and the continued abuse of vulnerable and desperate people.
So this new year, when the media once again fills with inane insights into the forthcoming year, can I add my own to the mix? I predict that in 2011 those with supposed supernatural powers will yet again fail to provide any accurate or helpful information about the future. And that, perhaps, is what will make the new year so exciting.
To access the original version of this article, see: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/dark-future-for-wrong-psychics/story-e6frfhqf-1225979109994
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