In 1988 Australia a phenomenon called channeling was becoming very popular indeed. Channeling is when an ancient spirit decides to enter a human body and speak through them. This is usually for the purpose of imparting some great wisdom that the spirit feels we need to know. It looks like a painful process and involves much writhing and speaking as if one just had good swift kick in the nether regions. Australia's channel 9 decided that things were getting a bit out of hand and thought they might be able to find a way to encourage some critical thinking in the populace. They contacted James Randi for some ideas and Carlos was born. Randi enlisted 19 year old Jose Luis Alvarez to play the part of a channeler who was being possessed by a 1000 year old spirit by the name of Carlos. Jose would give free performances to packed theatres. He spouted spiritual teachings and extolled the various powers of crystals. People lapped it up and worshipped the wise spirit and his nonsensical advice. Various items were offered for sale at outrageous prices after the performances. A piece of dried tar was passed off as an ancient Altantis crystal. No money was ever taken from the people though. There was no need to fleece the sheeple on top of tricking them.
Now this hoax wasn't designed so much to fool the Australians as it was to show how uncritically the media reports on such matters and the media did not disappoint. They eagerly lauded Carlos and sang his praises with credulity. There was never any effort to expose the truth even though a little bit of digging would have brought the whole house of cards down. Clues to the hoax were blatantly planted by Randi. Radio and TV stations that Carlos was said to appear on never even existed. Magazine articles were presented that were obvious forgeries. One simple phone call could have exposed all. But this was a story that brought in the viewers and so no such effort was made. There were some red faces indeed when the hoax was eventually revealed. You know that saying "you can't believe everything you see on TV"? News flash....it's true.
The thing that struck me about it all though is the fervor of the die-hard believers. Even after the truth about Carlos was divulged, there were folks who STILL believed that he was the genuine article. There it was, in your face proof that it's not real, yet they held on to the delusion with a zany intensity. I just find that odd.
You can see James Randi talk about the Carlos affair here.
Now this hoax wasn't designed so much to fool the Australians as it was to show how uncritically the media reports on such matters and the media did not disappoint. They eagerly lauded Carlos and sang his praises with credulity. There was never any effort to expose the truth even though a little bit of digging would have brought the whole house of cards down. Clues to the hoax were blatantly planted by Randi. Radio and TV stations that Carlos was said to appear on never even existed. Magazine articles were presented that were obvious forgeries. One simple phone call could have exposed all. But this was a story that brought in the viewers and so no such effort was made. There were some red faces indeed when the hoax was eventually revealed. You know that saying "you can't believe everything you see on TV"? News flash....it's true.
The thing that struck me about it all though is the fervor of the die-hard believers. Even after the truth about Carlos was divulged, there were folks who STILL believed that he was the genuine article. There it was, in your face proof that it's not real, yet they held on to the delusion with a zany intensity. I just find that odd.
You can see James Randi talk about the Carlos affair here.
Comments
I think anyone who is skeptical has probably thought about perpetuating a hoax in the name of demonstrating our own human perceptual, rational and logical fallibility. This probably goes doubly so when you've got a history of being a shit-disturber.
But I also wonder if it isn't asking for trouble of the wrong kind. Of the "you're psychic but don't know it" variety - which Randi himself has had to personally deal with.
Do you know, was there any back-lash against the stunt?