UncaYimmy posted on November 17, 2009 23:59
Some people think that Anita is finally going to have her claim tested. What they don't realize is that she has already had her claim tested several times - and failed.
Anita is a master of spin. Somehow she has managed to make people forget the tests she has failed or simply failed to complete. This is why I view her test at the IIG as nothing more than a grab for attention. Sure, she denies this is all about attention, but the fact of the matter is none of this needed to be made public. She started out with her website almost two years ago and immediately submitted a claim to the IIG for their $50K Challenge. Several months later she began trolling skeptic websites talking about her claim. We all know why.
The truth is she has repeatedly failed to demonstrate her claim. In fact, in her early negotiations with the IIG, she specifically said that she did not want to be tested on missing organs. Strange, isn't it, that what is her "strongest" perception today is one she didn't think she could do when she first contacted the IIG!
The evening where Anita claimed to detect that Dr. Carlson was missing a kidney, she was actually testing her claim. She had a form she was supposed to fill out with her perceptions. She did, in fact, fill it out. Only she didn't say anything about a missing kidney. After Dr. Carlson revealed that Anita had failed the reading and told her about his missing kidney, she didn't say anything about it. It was two days later via e-mail that she invented the story about how she "really did" detect it but was too scared of being wrong to write it down.
Sure.
Anita conducted a "study" where she went out on the streets of Charlotte with some skeptics assisting her in reading strangers off the street (strange, I know). Three of them filled out the same form that Anita did. This form was based on one I had designed, but she had wrecked its usefulness in proving her claim. However, it was more than sufficient to demonstrate that she had no ability. In other words it was heavily tilted in her favor.
The results? Two of the "controls" had better scores than Anita. Dr. Carlson of the F-A-C-T skeptics group declared that Anita demonstrated no ability whatsoever. This was based not only on this "survey" but on the readings he personally witnessed at other F-A-C-T meetings. Anita's excuse? It was only a "study."
Sure.
Before that Anita claimed that she could detect what chemicals were in medicines using her special powers. A member of the JREF mailed to her crushed pills. Anita, in her own words, spent a few hours with them. She was unable to identify them. She claimed that she needed reference samples but could not afford them (these were common over the counter medicines). Strange, though, she can afford a thousand dollars to fly to Hollywood, but she can't afford $10 for some cold medicine (or ask for some from friends). She never completed the test.
Before that she claimed she could do readings using photographs and videos. She claimed to have detected ailments by looking at people on TV. So, yours truly, sent her a picture of me. She failed miserably. She also tried it with another skeptic. She failed. She then refused to be tested on photos any further because that was not her "strongest" claim anyway.
Sure.
Anita also tried to test herself by asking her boyfriend to do things like clench a fist or put his hand in water. She would then try to detect which hand was doing what. She failed miserably. Of course, her excuse was that she was testing things like the lighting conditions and how much of the person she had to see. Rather than admitting defeat, she explained that she actually learned about the limitations of her super powers.
Sure.
What Anita fails to grasp is that during these failed tests, she was actually having perceptions. It's not like she said they weren't working. For example, when I go to the eye doctor, I know what I can and cannot see. Only on the blurriest line might I confuse a c with an o. Anita actually thought she was right. These images were appearing in her mind. A sane person would logically conclude that it was all just her imagination. Not Anita.
Anita will fail the test, but nothing will change for her because she doesn't want it to change. She has told me that nobody will be allowed to take these perceptions away from her. Try as I might, I have been unable to get her to understand that normal people don't have "vision from feeling" and perceive bleeding uteruses, fatty tissue around the heart, or missing organs. She has said that many of the images come involuntarily. That would scare me. It doesn't worry her, which is why she says she won't see a mental health professional.
I know the real reason why: Like she said, she won't let anyone take these perceptions away from her.