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Old 19th February 2012, 12:06 AM   #1
Ron_Tomkins
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The works of Randi and others need to be spread to Latin America

As a Latin American, I am very familiar with just how much and in how much intensity, woo is present in the media, and in the daily life of Latin American people.

I've just seen the video Orphia Nay Posted and the first thing I thought was: I wish I had a full documentary of Randi's trajectory, of what he does and how he does it... with spanish subtitles, or overdubbed to spanish.

The Latin American societies need to have their dose of debunking and skepticism in their media. There is just too much presence of woo and mysticism in their daily media consumption, and they completely ignore that people like James Randi exist. In fact, expressions such as "debunking" or "cold reading" doesn't even exist in their dictionary. When I hear my family speak at family reunions, about how there's such and such psychic who's "really accurate" because he will tell you "You will meet a person whose first name starts with either a C or a B", you understand that these people are not familiar at all with what "cold reading" is.
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Old 24th February 2012, 10:51 PM   #2
Darth Rotor
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Originally Posted by Ron_Tomkins View Post
As a Latin American, I am very familiar with just how much and in how much intensity, woo is present in the media, and in the daily life of Latin American people.

I've just seen the video Orphia Nay Posted and the first thing I thought was: I wish I had a full documentary of Randi's trajectory, of what he does and how he does it... with spanish subtitles, or overdubbed to spanish.

The Latin American societies need to have their dose of debunking and skepticism in their media. There is just too much presence of woo and mysticism in their daily media consumption, and they completely ignore that people like James Randi exist. In fact, expressions such as "debunking" or "cold reading" doesn't even exist in their dictionary. When I hear my family speak at family reunions, about how there's such and such psychic who's "really accurate" because he will tell you "You will meet a person whose first name starts with either a C or a B", you understand that these people are not familiar at all with what "cold reading" is.
Ron, two points:

1. "Not invented here" may be an obstacle

2. What's stopping you?
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Old 24th February 2012, 10:58 PM   #3
Orphia Nay
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Ron, hopefully the film will do well, and eventually be dubbed in Spanish. Another reason to spread the word about it and maybe donate to it.
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Old 25th February 2012, 12:19 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by Ron_Tomkins View Post
As a Latin American, I am very familiar with just how much and in how much intensity, woo is present in the media, and in the daily life of Latin American people.

I've just seen the video Orphia Nay Posted and the first thing I thought was: I wish I had a full documentary of Randi's trajectory, of what he does and how he does it... with spanish subtitles, or overdubbed to spanish.

The Latin American societies need to have their dose of debunking and skepticism in their media. There is just too much presence of woo and mysticism in their daily media consumption, and they completely ignore that people like James Randi exist. In fact, expressions such as "debunking" or "cold reading" doesn't even exist in their dictionary. When I hear my family speak at family reunions, about how there's such and such psychic who's "really accurate" because he will tell you "You will meet a person whose first name starts with either a C or a B", you understand that these people are not familiar at all with what "cold reading" is.

Ron, I am not currently in Latin America, but I grew up in Mexico.

I know that, at least in Mexico, there is a skeptical movement, but I agree it needs help and encouragement for it to grow.

See http://escepticosunidosmexicanos.blogspot.com/, for example.

I am willing to do what I can to keep spreading the movement from outside. Hope I can help.
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Last edited by AdMan; 25th February 2012 at 12:21 AM.
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