The Demon-Haunted World_ Science as a Candle in the Dark - Carl Sagan [116]
there must be limits to how far the media can go in setting up a misleading situation ... I, for one, can simply not accept that telling a lie is an acceptable way of reporting the truth... Every poll of public opinion shows that there is a suspicion among the general public that the media do not tell the whole truth, or that they distort things, or that they exaggerate, or that they are biased.
Mr Robinson feared that Carlos might have lent credence to this widespread misperception. Headlines ranged from ‘How Carlos Made Fools of Them AH’ to ‘Hoax Was Just Dumb’. Newspapers that had not trumpeted Carlos patted themselves on the back for their restraint. Negus said of Sixty Minutes, ‘Even people of integrity can make mistakes,’ and denied being duped. Anyone calling himself a channeller, he said, is ‘a fraud by definition’.
Sixty Minutes and Randi stressed that the Australian media had made no serious effort to check any of ‘Carlos’s’ bona fides. He had never appeared in any of the cities listed. The videotape of Carlos on the stage of a New York theatre had been a favour granted by the magicians Penn and Teller, who were appearing there. They asked the audience just to give a big hand of applause; Alvarez, in smock and medallion, walked on; the audience dutifully applauded, Randi got his videotape, Alvarez waved goodbye, the show went on. And there is no New York City radio station with call letters WOOP.
Other reasons for suspicion could readily be mined in Carlos’s writings. But because the intellectual currency has been so debased, because credulity, New Age and Old, is so rampant, because sceptical thinking is so rarely practised, no parody is too implausible. The Carlos Foundation offered for sale (they were scrupulously careful not actually to sell anything) an ‘Atlantis crystal’:
Five of these unique crystals have so far been found by the ascended master during his travels. Unexplained by science, each crystal harnesses almost pure energy... [and has] enormous healing powers. The forms are actually fossilized spiritual energy and are a great boon to the preparation of the Earth for the New Age ... Of the Five, the ascended master wears one Atlantic crystal at all times close to his body for protection and to enhance all spiritual activities. Two have been acquired by kindly supplicants in the United States of America in exchange for the substantial contribution the ascended master requests.
Or, under the heading THE WATERS OF CARLOS’:
The ascended master finds occasionally water of such purity that he undertakes to energize a quantity of it for others to benefit, an intensive process. To produce what is always too little, the ascended master purifies himself and a quantity of pure quartz crystal fashioned into flasks. He then places himself and the crystals into a large copper bowl, polished and kept warm. For a twenty-four hour period the ascended master pours energy into the spiritual repository of the water... The water need not be removed from the flask to be utilized spiritually. Simply holding the flask and concentrating on healing a wound or illness will produce astounding results. However, if serious mischance befalls you or a close one, a tiny dab of the energized water will immediately assist recovery.
Or, TEARS OF CARLOS’:
The red colour imparted to the holding flasks that the ascended master has fashioned for the tears is proof enough of their power, but their affect [sic] during meditation has
been described by those who have experienced it as ‘a glorious Oneness’.
Then there is a little book, The Teachings of Carlos, which begins:
I AM CARLOS.
I HAVE COME TO YOU
FROM MANY PAST
INCARNATIONS.
I HAVE A GREAT LESSON TO
TEACH YOU.
LISTEN CAREFULLY.
READ CAREFULLY.
THINK CAREFULLY.
THE TRUTH IS HERE.
The first teaching asks, ‘Why are we here...?’ The answer: ‘Who can say what is the one answer? There are many answers to any question, and all the answers