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Mainstream Media Reports Reality
2008.07.10 (Thu) 14:26
Everybody's favorite skeptic pal Skeptico is pretty on-the-ball, and contacted us about an article in the Phoenix New Times from reporter Megan Irwin. Thanks, Skep. Funny thing is, we already knew about the article in advance — Megan contacted us about it to get some research done. The article? An absolutely fair and balanced — for once, in the accurate meaning of the phrase — look at the claims of Allison DuBois, our good old Queen of Medium Media Bitchiness.
And boy, does Megan get it right:
That's the thing about DuBois. She's charismatic as hell, and most definitely has friends in high places, but when it comes down to high-profile cases she claims to have worked, the cops and the family members of the victims deny she was any help.
And that's, as always, what it comes down to — Allison says a lot, but nobody who should actually have reason to know ever, ever backs her up. Why hasn't Allison folded up her bullshit psychic shop and called it a day? Well, because she still has so much money to get! Er, we mean, she still has so many bestselling books to write! That is, uh, she still has so many lectures to be paid for! Um, wait...she still has so many people to help?
Nah, just fucking with you. The first three seem pretty spot on.
Megan got in touch with us (through a series of trying technical glitches which, honestly, demonstrated to us just how dedicated and clever a journalist she is) because of our Allison DuBois series of Rants, and in particular because we are still occasionally in touch with Karen and Kris — the sisters of Domini, a deceased woman whose memory and family Allison has outright fucking stomped on in her neverending lust for fame and money. (For the record, one more time: Allison, you're a disgusting fuck.) We let Karen know about Megan's intended article, and they got connected — the result is a stellar article that, for the first time, has a mainstream media outlet looking at the facts about Allison DuBois instead of just swallowing her bullshit stories.
The most excellent part of Megan's article is how this intrepid reporter approached the piece: in short, she collected stories, asked Allison about them, took Allison's claims to the other people involved, gave Allison their responses, and reported Allison's reactions. Across the board, Allison displays her deluded and/or deceptive callousness:
DuBois doesn't see what Randi and others are so upset about.
"The big argument is that we're tricking people out of money. Our clients don't think that. They're very happy.
"I don't know who you're speaking for," she says to her critics. "You're spinning your wheels, wasting your time on people who want to get help."
Ah, Allison! Once again proving that you're the sneering, arrogant ass we all know you to be. Whether or not your "clients" are happy, Allison, you are still tricking them out of money. If you were delivering what they are paying for — contact with their dead relatives, information about the future, whatever — then you wouldn't be tricking them. But since neither you nor any so-called psychic can deliver that, you are, by definition, taking money to provide a service you are not providing.
Clear enough yet, you deluded cunt?
We were especially happy to see that Megan was able to take Karen's statements about her sister Domini, which directly refute Allison's claims, and put those in front of Allison for comment. Basically, all of the information that Karen and Kris provided us with for our Rants was put in front of Allison, most notably: that Domini died as a result of melanoma (which had nothing to do with cigarettes, contrary to Allison's claims); and that Allison never saw Domini at the end of her life to "put her mind at ease" (the only people who saw her in hospice care were her family members, despite Allison's direct claims). And what is Allison's response to these assertions?
"If they weren't there every day of my life, and every day of her life — which they weren't — they can not call into question my affection for Domini," she says.
So...wait. Your "affection" is all well and good, kid (though we even have our doubts about that), but fuck that — what about the items that Karen has offered as actual facts? Allison doesn't seem to be disputing those at all! Does that mean that Allison now tacitly admits that her claims about warning Domini to stop smoking being psychic revelations are flatly wrong? And how about Allison's statements about taking away Domini's fear on her deathbed? Does that mean that Allison quietly acknowledges that she didn't see Domini in hospice care and that her "touching" story about easing her friend's mind was pulled from her ass in an attempt to make a buck?
Quoth Allison:
"The thing that was nice was, I was able to take her fear away," she says. "And when she was getting ready to pass she was, like, 'You're right. I can see my grandfather, and I know that they're there.' It was very important to me that she knew that before she died."
Karen corrects her:
Karen says it's all a lie. Her sister died of malignant melanoma, and her death, as she describes it, was gruesome. Domini saw no one but family in the months before she died and, two weeks before her death, entered a drug-induced coma that she never came out of. There was no wide-eyed deathbed vision.
"I want to clarify: The last time Ali saw Domini she was still walking around," Sitts says. "She was cognizant and was nowhere near dying."
Sitts says her sister was terrified of dying because she thought she was going to Hell. She held on to life to the point that her body began to decompose.
"I want to stress what a terrible state my sister was in when she died. Because if Allison had known, I'm sure she would have written something about that. But she wasn't there," she says. "The day she died, we were washing her and her ass actually came off. You could see her bones. It was the worst thing I've ever been through in my life. When Allison writes about my sister's death, it's really romanticized, and the fact of the matter is, it was ugly and painful."
So when confronted with Karen's claims that clearly counter her own, all Allison can do is feign offense and pretend that her affection for Domini is being "questioned"? No, Allison, you deluded twat — what's being questioned, as always, is your hazy recollection and/or misrepresentation of the facts.
And Allison's answer to Karen's claim:
DuBois says Karen Sitts is absolutely wrong. She says the only reason she wasn't around during hospice was because the family wouldn't let her in.
Wait: "absolutely wrong"? Karen says you weren't there, douchebag. You now say that you weren't allowed in. Gee, sounds like Karen is one hundred percent correct, actually. See, she wasn't talking about your feelings on the matter, Allison — just, once again, the motherfucking facts. And you, Allison, just admitted that you lied when you claimed you were there at the end of Domini's life. Your claims, therefore, are demonstrably, utterly false. Thanks, Allison, for confirming what we already suspected with a pretty high level of confidence.
Allison continues with this:
"It's frustrating. I memorialized her, and half the world is in love with her and praying for [Domini's daughter] Marissa. That's all positive. I don't see how that could make them angry."
Allow us to take a stab at enlightening you, Allison. How about because you shit all over the actual memory of their sister with your cheap, fake bullshit which is — unequivocally and completely — done in order to gain fame and fortune for yourself? You infuriatingly ignorant fucking cunt.
Of course, by writing this article, Megan has now firmly "declared" herself an enemy of DuBois fans worldwide — and this, of course, simply because she reported reality, both to Allison and to her readers. Is it any wonder why we call these fucks credulous asshats? (As Megan delightfully reported — we loved that bit.) Folks, if reality makes you think someone is mean, then you are clearly angry because you want to live with your delusions. In which case: live with them, but shut the fuck up, and stop pretending that your groundless claims have anything to do with the facts.
The thread following Megan's article is pathetically typical of the idiot crowd. Since they are utterly unable to argue any of Megan's points — you know, since she's just reporting the actual facts — they resort, as always, to attacking Megan directly, bringing up irrelevant (and incorrect) bullshit, and generally tsk-ing at Megan's mean, mean attack on poor little Allison. Poor little Allison, who is, of course, by no means poor, having fleeced most of these very same idiots to earn her millions.
You fuckholes. Wake up.
There's also an excellent page of letters following the publication of the article, which actually comes down just a hair on the side of reality. Sure, there are plenty of idiots slamming Megan and repeating bullshit claims (like major news outlets never release the names of children in biographical articles like this), but there's also a good number of folks pointing out the quite objective nature of the article — how Allison comes off looking like a fool because she's a fool — including a guy who claims to be a medium himself, yet still understands the need for verification of Allison's claims. (Boy is Allison gonna get him.)
The kicker, though, was a reaction from Allison herself on Megan's New Times blog:
Allison DoBois, the (um...) psychic/medium, predicts that her next book will be about--me. Well, kind of.
In this week's cover story, I profiled DuBois and her rise to fame as the namesake for the TV show Medium. DuBois did not like the story. As she wrote in an e-mail last night, "Well the Phx. PD must love you. Me not so much."
When I did not respond immediately, she wrote again:
"You and your family are sooooo going to enjoy my new book this year."
And less than an hour later:
"I'm so glad you are good with public record. Yours will be too."
Hmmm, why does she need public records to dig up stuff on me or my family? I'm saying, wouldn't she just know that the most embarrassing thing out there about me is a story I wrote about myself.
Of course, as Megan (along with our rational readers) already knows, Allison "writing about you" in a new book means she'll make up some new stories that make you look bad, and herself look good. You know, Allison, if you'd just market your books under the fiction section, we'd think slightly better of you. Slightly.
Meanwhile, we can't wait to see what bullshit she makes up about Megan. What we're wondering, of course, is if she'll be stupid enough (oh, pretty please!) and Megan will be financially secure enough (oh, pretty please!) for a lawsuit to happen. More likely, she'll make silly veiled references and Megan will get to laugh her ass off when the book reaches print. More likely than that, some PR person will get to Allison and point out that talking about Megan at all would be a pretty fucking stupid idea.
Not that that will 100% guarantee she won't do it.
Welcome aboard, Megan. The reality-based community is pleased as punch to have you around.
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[ Filed under: % Allison DuBois Week % Bullshit % Media & Censorship ]
Comments (12)
Infophile, 2008.07.10 (Thu) 19:30 [Link] »
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