I watched this interview between Richard Dawkins and Derren Brown the other day. It's all about the tricks that psychics use to get people to believe them, and about how that relates to religion.
What struck me about the discussion was that Brown could easily have been talking about the diet industry rather than psychics, and that weight loss proponents use similar psychological tricks to dupe people. A deeper analysis is beyond me at the moment, but I noticed a few things as I was watching:
Weight loss industries rely as much on showbiz bravado as psychics, including the use of simple, vivid images that draw people in, such as the Before/After transformation archetype.
That psychics, and weight loss companies and advocates, are types of industries that are unregulated and know they are peddling junk. Brown talks about psychics investing in the lie of their profession because people need the comfort of the belief that their loved ones are still with them, they frame their work as being good for people, kind. But Brown also points out that this is exploitative and that people should decide for themselves what they need. I think the diet industry is similar, framing the products and services they sell as part of a "comforting" fantasy of escape and transformation. I think this is equally unethical.
I was fascinated by Brown's comments about what happens when psychics misread a situation, or fail to get a hook. He said that it doesn't matter if they get it wrong, they are rarely found out because their clients want to believe in them, they suspend disbelief to a staggering degree, they blame themselves if things don't turn out as they'd hoped, or the psychic's smoke and mirrors distract the punters from what's really going on. Sound like diet mentality to you?
Even more stunning were Brown's comments about punters taking offence when their illusions are shattered, that they don't want to know and don't care when psychics are unmasked. It would be really interesting to see if a similar process goes on with dieters.
I liked Brown's point about cultural relativism and how that works to the benefit of psychics. The idea is that all beliefs are equally valid. But Brown and Dawkins reject that, they take a view that belief systems need evidence and testing to establish their legitimacy. With regard to psychics and diets I am inclined to agree.
7 comments:
I think your comparison of psychics with weight loss plan hucksters is spot on.
And this: "...they are rarely found out because their clients want to believe in them, they suspend disbelief to a staggering degree, they blame themselves if things don't turn out as they'd hoped."
Prior to finding the FA movement (only recently!), this describes my belief in every diet I've started - and failed - in the past 20 years!
(And not to change the subject, but before I realized I was a atheist, the same was true for religion.)
Very interesting comparison! I like that.
...punters taking offence when their illusions are shattered, that they don't want to know and don't care when psychics are unmasked. It would be really interesting to see if a similar process goes on with dieters...
Of course it does. Have you really never met a person, who's been a dieter all their life long and even if you show them SCIENTIFIC proof that dieting does not work or that BMI is BS, they don't wanna believe, no matter what. They accuse you of wanting them to be as fat and miserable as you are, when they are fighting so hard and are way better people than you... *headdesk*
And even if they got that proof from an unbiased source (in this case: thin) or someone, who's an authority to them, they'd probably be devastated. Or refuse to believe it anyway (like some people using the "help" of psychics do, when confronted with, let's say, a priest, if they're religious).
To believe psychics or the diet industry, one has to be really naive in a way or really desperate. And I don't mean that in an offensive way, I - just as, I think, most of us fat-acceptance folks - have been there and done that. The difference is, some people (most of us here, again) at some point manage to recognize it as BS and choose to get a life instead of constant dieting and self-loathing...
@Noelle
Thanks. Welcome to the movement!
@Pauli
I guess I meant that although, like you, I have anecdotal evidence a-plenty about this coming out of my ears, I'm looking for more formal evidence - something I can cite! - that this is a process that goes on with dieters.
I'm not sure about the naive and desperate part, there are plenty of people who diet who are neither. Maybe it's about a certain kind of naivety, a belief in a certain kind of authoritarian pseudo-science. Dunno!
Yes, a certain kind of naivety - that's why I pointed out that most of us used to believe in this kind of "diet marketing talk". I think it also takes some kind of desperation, even if one doesn't seem desperate in general, with dieting, there is always this "I have to lose weight/I must not gain weight" pattern of thought, which is mostly very desperate... I hope I'm not being very incoherent :)
That's a very good point. Also when it comes to the question "Do psychics know what it is they are doing? Are they deliberately deceiving?" - well, I have no idea whether there exist any psychics who do genuinely believe they are experiencing genuine psychic power, but I think there are definitely both kinds of pro-diet anti-fat advocate. Some do know that they are taking money from suckers. Some I think genuinely believe that they are helping people. Like Richard Simmons, maybe.
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