The End of the World with Michael and Stu
The Apocalypse is Everywhere. The End of the World with Michael and Stu is a (hopefully) insightful and (hopefully) humorous exploration of the rise of apocalyptic news, apocalyptic thinking and apocalyptic culture. Each week, we’ll be looking at a work of art, a piece of media, or an historical event related to the (hopefully not) impending End of the World.
The End of the World with Michael and Stu
65: Across the Great Divide
This week we are discussing psychics, specifically psychic medium John Edward of Crossing Over with John Edward. This program which ran from 2001 to 2004 purported to connect living people to their dead relatives by means of Edward's psychic mediumship. We go over a brief history of psychics from ancient times to the present before digging into Edward's methods and claims; does he really offer a genuine line of communication between the living and the dead, or is he merely a mediocre practitioner of cold reading who is taking advantage of grieving people in order to acquire wealth and fame? We also get into the century old antagonism between mediums and stage magicians.
We open the program by noting the recent passing of Pope Francis I by revisiting a tweet from an old friend, the legendary poster Louise Mensch.
Episodes of Crossing Over on Archive.org
John Edward's appearance on Larry King Live
John Oliver's takedown of psychics from 2019
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