Oct 30, 2025 06:16 PM
(This post was last modified: Oct 30, 2025 06:46 PM by C C.)
https://www.skeptic.com/article/woo-woo-...ullibility
INTRO: There’s no way,” gasped NFL star Russell Wilson as mentalist Oz Pearlman seemingly plucked an ATM pin code from his mind on 60 Minutes. The venerable news program, known for hard-hitting journalism, looked more like awestruck children at a magic show as Pearlman dazzled correspondent Cecilia Vega with his “psychic” feats. During the segment, Pearlman correctly divined Vega’s childhood bedroom poster and even her dream vacation destination, prompting 60 Minutes to bill him as a master at making people think he can read minds.
It was an impressive performance—but if the late skeptic and magician James Randi taught us anything from his battles with spoon-bender Uri Geller, it’s that such “mind reading” is nothing more than very good parlor tricks in new packaging. Indeed, not once did Pearlman admit that he was using well-honed magic tricks to fool his credulous audience, instead choosing to blur the lines by attributing his work to an extensive study of psychology and body language. Pearlman did, however, admit his act “is based on a big lie—that I can read minds,” a confession that should give pause to any too-eager believer.
The astonishment on 60 Minutes carries an eerie echo of the 1970s, when self-proclaimed psychic Uri Geller convinced a great many people that he could bend spoons and read thoughts by paranormal means. Back then, even respected TV host Barbara Walters was initially taken in—until James Randi stepped up to expose the ruse. The key difference, of course, was that Randi never pretended to be supernatural like Geller. He admitted he was deceiving her. His craft was artifice, not alchemy. On Barbara Walters’ Not for Women Only, the ever-composed Walters was nearly giddy as she displayed a key Uri Geller had bent “with his mind.” Without missing a beat, Randi took another of her keys and bent it right in her own hands. When he told her it was merely “woo woo”—his wry term for a magician’s trick—the triumphant smile drained from Walters’ face, replaced by an embarrassed grin that seemed to say, “I can’t believe I fell for that.”
Randi famously assisted Tonight Show host Johnny Carson (a former amateur magician) in orchestrating Geller’s on-air flop (by preventing any trick props). Randi and other skeptics went on to document how Geller’s feats were done by ordinary means; for example, in Skeptic magazine Randi detailed Geller’s “moving compass” stunt as nothing more than a conjurer’s trick. Fast forward to today: Oz Pearlman may not claim supernatural powers (he pointedly told 60 Minutes, “I’m not a psychic, I just read people”), but in practice he follows the Geller playbook—dazzling the public and media with abilities that look like real mind magic, while keeping the methods hidden. And judging by 60 Minutes’ wide-eyed reaction, the media has learned little since the Geller era about not buying into the illusion hook, line, and sinker... (MORE - details)
VIDEO: Oz Pearlman on "60 Minutes"
https://youtu.be/GOR3QWX6fwk
VIDEO (1973): Uri Geller fails on The Tonight Show
https://youtu.be/TNKmhv9uoiQ
INTRO: There’s no way,” gasped NFL star Russell Wilson as mentalist Oz Pearlman seemingly plucked an ATM pin code from his mind on 60 Minutes. The venerable news program, known for hard-hitting journalism, looked more like awestruck children at a magic show as Pearlman dazzled correspondent Cecilia Vega with his “psychic” feats. During the segment, Pearlman correctly divined Vega’s childhood bedroom poster and even her dream vacation destination, prompting 60 Minutes to bill him as a master at making people think he can read minds.
It was an impressive performance—but if the late skeptic and magician James Randi taught us anything from his battles with spoon-bender Uri Geller, it’s that such “mind reading” is nothing more than very good parlor tricks in new packaging. Indeed, not once did Pearlman admit that he was using well-honed magic tricks to fool his credulous audience, instead choosing to blur the lines by attributing his work to an extensive study of psychology and body language. Pearlman did, however, admit his act “is based on a big lie—that I can read minds,” a confession that should give pause to any too-eager believer.
The astonishment on 60 Minutes carries an eerie echo of the 1970s, when self-proclaimed psychic Uri Geller convinced a great many people that he could bend spoons and read thoughts by paranormal means. Back then, even respected TV host Barbara Walters was initially taken in—until James Randi stepped up to expose the ruse. The key difference, of course, was that Randi never pretended to be supernatural like Geller. He admitted he was deceiving her. His craft was artifice, not alchemy. On Barbara Walters’ Not for Women Only, the ever-composed Walters was nearly giddy as she displayed a key Uri Geller had bent “with his mind.” Without missing a beat, Randi took another of her keys and bent it right in her own hands. When he told her it was merely “woo woo”—his wry term for a magician’s trick—the triumphant smile drained from Walters’ face, replaced by an embarrassed grin that seemed to say, “I can’t believe I fell for that.”
Randi famously assisted Tonight Show host Johnny Carson (a former amateur magician) in orchestrating Geller’s on-air flop (by preventing any trick props). Randi and other skeptics went on to document how Geller’s feats were done by ordinary means; for example, in Skeptic magazine Randi detailed Geller’s “moving compass” stunt as nothing more than a conjurer’s trick. Fast forward to today: Oz Pearlman may not claim supernatural powers (he pointedly told 60 Minutes, “I’m not a psychic, I just read people”), but in practice he follows the Geller playbook—dazzling the public and media with abilities that look like real mind magic, while keeping the methods hidden. And judging by 60 Minutes’ wide-eyed reaction, the media has learned little since the Geller era about not buying into the illusion hook, line, and sinker... (MORE - details)
VIDEO: Oz Pearlman on "60 Minutes"
https://youtu.be/GOR3QWX6fwk
VIDEO (1973): Uri Geller fails on The Tonight Show
https://youtu.be/TNKmhv9uoiQ
