WEBVTT - Part Two: John of God: Oprah's Favorite Ghost-Channeling Rapist Surgeon 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.960 Welcome back to Behind the Bastards, the podcast where we 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:09.560 talk about terrible people. And this is part two of 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:14.560 our series on John of God. Bastard is also Oprah 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:18.680 Umr and Susan Casey, the author of that terrible article. 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:24.200 So pull up a fine Chilean red. Get ready to 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.960 hear some more. Um, I have to this is this 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:31.280 is off topic, but I want to tell something. I 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:33.320 just ran across to my guest Andrew T before we 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:35.120 roll in the epode, Andrew, how are you doing today? 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.280 What's up? J O G Ready to hear about the 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:40.760 rest of this motherfucker? Well, before we do that, I 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:43.960 just came across something on Twitter. Um, it's a book 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:46.639 that's being sold. It's like a it's like a part 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.479 of the Joe Biden grift, because like every politician has 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.000 a griff now. And this is a coloring book called 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:54.840 a Hot Cup of Joe and it has a cartoon 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:59.600 of sexy Joe Biden on it. Um. Yeah, a piping 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:06.000 hot coloring book with America's sexiest moderate Joe Biden. Uh. Yeah, 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:16.160 it's awful. It is abuse. Yeah that's ah well, that's 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:20.039 fucking horrendous. It's almost worth buying so you can have 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.360 it for whatever happens with the election, just to have 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:26.920 this fucking horrible thing. Yeah, I don't want to give 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:30.880 this person money, but I do want to see inside 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:36.880 this terrible, terrible criminal coloring book. Um. The sexy seventies 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:40.480 something politicians thing is one of the weirdest aspects of 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:44.040 modern politics that like you have these two old and 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:46.800 clearly not in the best of health men, Joe Biden 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:50.200 and Donald Trump, who both of whose supporters have to 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:54.720 depict them as like muscle bound, like like like like hunks, 0:01:54.720 --> 0:02:00.520 Like guys, they're dying men. Stop it, Like you don't, like, 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:02.920 even if you think they're the right person to be president, 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:07.240 you don't have to pretend that they're Like you don't 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:09.440 have to get thirsty about them. What is wrong with 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:12.720 you people? They both they're diapers, Like, let's talk about 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:17.400 that situation. They're not out here like bench pressing. Yeah, yeah, 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:22.160 they're not doing windsprints, Like Joe's abs don't exist because 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.959 he's an old sick man, and yeah, that's okay, that's 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.720 fine idea, but like whatever, like just stop it, stop it. 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:32.359 All of the flush on his face is melting day 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:36.280 by day. It's what happens here as you die? Like, 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:42.239 which is they're they're dying, yeah, like the like, yeah, 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:45.200 this is not on them because they're like pretty normally 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.240 aged men for their ages, like people, what you stop 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.560 making they don't have to make them sexy? What is 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.720 wrong with you? If I could just do a tiny 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.480 pull and just point out that Sophie's idea of a 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:04.000 sexy man is Popeye, we can just live in that 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:07.400 for a second. I dare you to find a better 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:13.400 example of uncut eroticism than Robin Williams as Popeye and 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:18.120 Popeye movie that absolutely exists. Look it up. It's fucking 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:25.720 something else. Insanity. Yeah, people made that. People made that 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.000 and no one stopped them, Isn't Is that Robert Altman? 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.320 I think so? Yeah, I think it's Robert Altman. You 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:36.480 keep talking, I'm gonna look it up. No, I'm not yourself. 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:45.200 Never mind. It's great, So we're all back from it. 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:50.360 Is Robert Altman. Yeah, all right, let's let's it's time 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:52.960 to get back into this episode. Talk about John of 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.000 God some more. I just had to that hit my 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.640 world like a fucking carpet bomb, and I had to 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:03.560 I just had to talk about it so your world, 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:07.560 Like like a cruise missile at your wedding. Yeah, like 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:11.680 like one of Ray Theon's fine products hitting a wedding. 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:15.000 Which you know, if you've ever thought not enough weddings 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.479 have missiles hit them, then you're the kind of customer 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:21.200 Raytheon is looking for. All right, we really should start 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:25.160 the episode now. So no human being has ever embodied 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:27.240 the phrase the road to hell is paved with good 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.600 intentions better than Oprah Winfrey. Like many of you, she 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:33.200 was a regular background figure in my childhood. My mom 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:34.839 would have her on when she was working from home 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.360 while we did chores, etcetera. Like she was just on 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:39.719 in the background all the time. And compared to the 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.760 other background figures of my childhood guys like Rush Limbaugh 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.479 and Michael Savage, she was pretty benign. At least she 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.880 seemed that way. Um. I don't know if I would 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:51.880 describe her as a monster, but her career has been 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:55.400 a masterclass and how to enable monsters. When Free was 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:59.520 a longtime friend of Harvey Weinstein, she regularly hosted Tony Robbins, 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.279 another se ex pest and self help guru. She is 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.520 largely responsible for making Doctor Phil and Doctor oz into 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:07.839 household names, and both of those men have gone on 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:11.120 to do incalculable harm to society. And of course she 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:13.360 is the reason John of God at his clinic were 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:15.480 put in front of the faces of millions upon millions 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:19.160 of guluble, desperate Westerners. After that Oh Magazine article was 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:21.800 published in two thousand ten, she dedicated a special episode 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.600 to John of God, inviting the author of that article 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:28.000 and a doctor onto her show. They were both total converts, 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:30.679 but how they and Oprah presented John to their audience 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:32.640 is really interesting to me. And I want you to 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:34.560 click that first link and play it to that thirty 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:39.240 eight minutes Andrew, because you went't expecting to find what well, 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:42.560 I went to just gather evidence to see what's true. Susan. 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:45.800 When you were there, did he I heard that he 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:51.960 actually invite medical doctors from around the world to come 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.360 up and witness him do these things. Is that correct? Yes? 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:57.520 And they always are sort of very careful not to 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:02.960 ever themselves against the medical the mainstream medical profession. They 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:04.800 you know, they're very much like they're not He's never 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.360 gonna do a heart transplant up there. It's like he's 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.080 going to do whatever he can do with his ability 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.760 to heal, and then you might have to go to 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:20.680 your doctor for the rest. Yeah, okay, and that's that's good. Yeah. 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:22.359 What do you think of that, Andrew, what do you 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:26.960 think of that framing? Um? Incredible? Incredible. I mean, the 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:31.880 one thing watching the clip is that, um, um, what 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.000 is sorry? What is what is the journalists? The quote 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.640 journal was a strong word for Susan. The one thing 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:43.760 watching that is that Susan looks almost exactly as I 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:48.359 thought you would, Yes, exactly the type of white woman 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:52.159 that would promote this ship. Yes. Yeah, And whatever picture 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:54.440 you I guarantee you a hundred percent of you, whatever 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:58.000 picture you have in your head of Susan Casey is accurate. Um, 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:02.039 because there's only one wild It's awesome, isn't it? Yeah? 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.680 Um yeah it's And then also like this this thing 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:09.800 where he's like he's not gonna do a heart transplant, 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:12.440 but it's like you might have to go to your 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:17.320 regular doctor for that is like yeah, just like key 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:19.840 like sweeping under the rug. It's like, well, of course 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.200 you will need real medical care. Also, what's really cool 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:26.000 about that is that it is very clearly and obviously 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:29.280 an answer of uh, Susan and this other doctor who 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.880 will talk about a minute whitewashing John of God. So 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:33.160 like they know that if they're going to be on 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.960 Oprah Show and talk to like a mainstream audience, they 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:38.120 have to put in a They can't just be all 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:40.480 like especially because if this is two thousen and we 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:42.520 we we aren't where we are now now you could 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:44.920 just say doctors are bullshit. This guy is the only 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.120 real healer in the world. You can get away with that. 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:49.600 Back then you had to be like, oh no, you 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:52.600 still regular doctors are still good, great for things. He's 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:55.880 just helping with other stuff and like that was necessary 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:59.600 to get people on board. Um. But John of God's 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:01.800 Cult produced propaganda two. And this is why I say 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:06.000 that Susan Casey and this doctor are like intentionally whitewashing him, 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.640 because for this episode of Oprah Show, they use clips 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.840 from a documentary that John of God's Cult produced. UM. 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:15.400 And in the actual documentary, UM, there is no time 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.000 wasted telling people that they need to consult their doctors. 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.000 So I'm gonna play next, Have you played next? Eclip 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.960 from that actual the documentary produced by the cult that 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:27.280 shows kind of how internally they talked about his healing powers, 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:32.080 and it's very different from how Oprah did physical healings 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:38.000 that cannot be explained away factors in He said to 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:41.480 me in reply to my question, can you help me 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:50.040 to become healthy again? And he replied, you are already healed. 0:08:53.679 --> 0:09:00.240 Holy sh it. Yeah. Uh so yeah, you see like 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:02.360 and that there's no talk about like, oh yeah, you 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:08.560 gotta uh you gotta fucking um yeah. No, he just 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:13.160 heals your ship. Yeah. So the doctor guy that Oprah 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:15.480 has on there is is a fellow named Jeffrey Rehdiger, 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:17.720 and he's really interesting to me because he is a 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:21.120 very real medical professional and was actually or is actually 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:24.160 a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty. Uh. He 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:27.480 researches spontaneous healing, which is like when people go into 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:29.959 remission or whatever. And there's no clear explanation why which 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:32.600 is a thing that happens. People get better from things. 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:37.040 We don't understand why that that's the thing that happens. Um. 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:42.160 And he is clearly there to inject both credibility and 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.079 skepticism into the discussions about John of God, kind of 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:48.480 like Dr Oz was earlier. For example, Oprah at one 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:50.360 point plays a video of one of John of God's 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.760 brain surgeries where he's like shoving stuff up people's nose um, 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:56.760 and Dr Rheteger is really up front and clear about 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:58.800 the fact that this brain surgery through the no stuff 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:01.200 is sleight of hand, that he's not actually performing surgery, 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:02.800 that he's that there's there's a ton of space in 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.840 the naval cavity and nothing inexplicable is going on. So 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:09.000 he does make he doesn't state that to the audience, 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:12.040 but he does that while he buys into the fact 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:16.160 that scientifically inexplicable healing occurs at John of God's center. 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:19.720 So I'm gonna play another clip from that Oprah episode 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.839 so you can kind of see how this skeptic talks 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:27.680 about this healing. Dr Jeffrey Rehdiger travel to Brazil also 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:31.400 to see John of God's work firsthand. Explain if you 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:37.360 can the medical risks of surgery without anesthesia or proper sterilization. 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.079 It doesn't look like he's like sterilizing the knife for 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.480 the probe or well. Yeah, as a physician, I have 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:47.640 to say, you don't try these kinds of things at 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:54.040 home and or with your loved ones. Uh. And you 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:57.760 know this guy says a second grade education. Um yeah, 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:01.800 I and I do have to say that these are 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:05.160 things that I don't understand. So I can't fully endorse 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:09.800 things that are beyond my understanding. Um, but I've seen 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:14.000 them happen. I've generally without annesty, Shaw, you see enormous pain. 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:17.240 I take care of people every day in pain from surgery, 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:22.360 uh and other events. The risk of infection is typically 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:26.360 great and something that we have to take seriously. So 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:28.959 that's followed up with these people who have gone through 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:33.080 these procedures. Maybe infections came later. Well, I think every 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:38.720 situation that spiritual healing is different. So did you catch 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:40.319 what went on there? This is really interesting to me. 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:43.440 So Dr Reddiger notes that the psychic surgeries, which like 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:45.640 use real knives and actually cut people, He notes that 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:47.400 that's dangerous, like he tells people not to do it 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:49.400 at home, But he also says he's not aware of 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:51.960 anyone getting infections. And then when Oprah points out that 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.320 he could have they could have gotten infected later, he 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:56.719 doesn't respond to that. You'll notice he doesn't say that 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:58.920 that's possible even He just sort of says that like 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:04.360 a bunch of things getting that's really Yeah, that's amazing. Um, 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.040 but it's the kind of thing because it's been acknowledged, 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.640 even though he doesn't then go on to state that like, actually, yes, 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:11.880 we we have no data that these people to suggest 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:14.880 these people aren't getting infected. We're not performing any follow ups. 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:17.120 I didn't take any attempts to actually determine whether or 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:19.840 not people got infected. Letter he doesn't say that. He 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:23.000 gives a non response so that the show can move 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:26.360 on and the audience can move forward content that John 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.480 of God, that these are real, serious skeptical people, and 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:31.680 that that makes John of God even more real because 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:34.600 this this medical professional has betted him with the requisite 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.280 amount of skepticism even though none of that was actually done. 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.200 It's amazing, like this is a master class and how 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:43.720 to white and like it's laundering bullshit. Yeah yeah, it's 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.680 even like the way that like they can claim they've 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:51.880 addressed the infection risk by saying because they brought it up. 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:56.400 It's fucking revolting. That's crazy. Yeah, it's awesome. Um. I 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:59.320 want to play one more clip from this episode because 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:04.160 we just gotta believe and this is what medicine and 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:08.320 psychiatry need to examine, is I believe the powers of belief, 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.240 the powers of the mind are far more powerful than 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:13.640 we have even begun to explore. I believe that's an 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:17.280 unexplored wilderness in terms of research. So you said that 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.760 since you made that trip as the skeptic and then 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:22.760 you were there in the presence and then had the 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:26.360 whole bleeding experience yourself, that it turns your life upside down? 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:31.160 How how so well, if you can say, there's something 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:33.240 to the effect that I believe this in my head, 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:35.040 but I don't believe it in my heart. I don't 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.640 get it is too much. And then a little incision 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.240 manifests on this skin over the area of your heart. 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:43.600 That means none of this is what we think it is. 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:45.960 It's something I don't know what that means. And there's 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:50.839 I'm sure religions can layer on many different interpretation. Yourself 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:54.680 a religious person. Because of this, I am actually more 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:58.360 interested in the development and cultivation of a spiritual life. 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:05.240 All right, yep, So that's interesting. One of Reddiger's claims 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:07.600 is that like while he's watching John of God performed 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:11.560 these surgeries, he spontaneously started bleeding from a whole, which 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:15.640 is like kind of like a stigmata thing. He's introduced 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.520 as a skepticum who traveled to John of God's center 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:20.760 in order to take samples and medically vet whether or 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:24.560 not this man was a serious healer. And he says 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:26.480 later in that interview quote, some people I spoke with 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:28.920 were able to remember the events going around them completely, 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:30.800 and some people seem to inter a sort of altered 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:33.480 state during these surgeries. When I was assisting in one 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.800 of these surgeries, John of God cut this woman's corny is. 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:37.800 She didn't flinch, she didn't try to pull away from him. 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:40.240 I can't explain that I heard some people use the 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:43.120 term spiritual anesthesia. I have no way to understand that. 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.040 It's interesting that he says that, because like there's actually 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:48.640 a lot of reasons why someone wouldn't feel, uh, they're 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:52.760 eye getting scraped. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. It's like it's 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:57.000 like perfectly explicable and like lending essentially the name of 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:01.000 your institution and by claiming to be baffled to give 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:05.640 it like credence is like God truly pathetic. It's also 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:09.880 like even accepting his words at face value until the end, 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:13.760 it's like, Okay, yes, the brain can do a lot, Yes, 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:18.320 psychology is more powerful probably in terms of physiological stuff 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:21.600 than you know we give it credit for. And then 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:25.080 pivoting too, I want to have a spiritual life is 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:32.400 like just an abdication of curiosity. Yep, it's just like 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:34.640 what do you Yeah this, I mean, it's it is 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:37.360 remarkable that some of these people don't feel pain. Probably 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:41.040 it's documented in other media, you know, other types of 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:44.520 formats of this kind of ship and sure worth exploring. 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:47.800 But being like, yeah, I want to see what I 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:52.080 want to learned more about these spirits is like incredible. 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:57.040 He's he's such a piece of ship. And yeah, obviously, 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.360 like I've scraped my cornea before when I was out 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.560 hashing in the woods, and uh, it didn't hurt. It 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:05.800 hurt afterwards, like because just like it fucked up my ability, 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:07.960 like my eye was taking in too much lighter, so 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:10.240 like it it was like kind of blinded me. It 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.720 was very much debilitating afterwards. But the actual getting scraped 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:15.920 by a branch and the eye it didn't cause pain, 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:17.880 which is part of why it took me a while 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:21.880 to realize what had happened. Um, yeah, I don't know. 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.280 It's like there's also a lot of data on how 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:27.520 um altered mind altering states like people have in these 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:31.720 religious moments can impact perception of pain. Worship is definitively 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.680 a mind altering state. John of God requires his patients 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.040 to go through an elaborate series of meditations before and 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:40.680 after treatment. UM and I actually found a scholarly study 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:43.680 of his his surgeries conducted by doctors from a Brazilian 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:46.920 medical school. They note the surgeries were always performed by 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:49.120 John of Godden, occurred in a large, non sterilized and 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:51.280 open room with dozens of spectators, most of whom were 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:53.640 other patients and their relatives or friends. During each of 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:57.080 these surgical sessions, approximately five patients usually remained standing will 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.920 side by side in front of one of the room's wall. Rarely, 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.080 patients were submitted to the surgeries while they were seated 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:04.479 in a chair. Visible surgeries were performed in a few 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:07.160 minutes in a very grandiose in theatrical way, invoking strong 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:10.560 emotional involvement and even perplexity among the audience. Incisions were 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:14.080 performed with either sterilized scalpels or kitchen knives, and surgeries 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:17.360 were performed in rapid succession. The cleanliness of the instruments, 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:20.080 contrasted to reports of other media mystic surgeries performed by 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:23.439 dirty or even rusty implements. So you notice the stories 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:27.000 about this guy that incredible sources state always say that 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:29.440 he's just using like random kitchen knives, sometimes even that 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:33.600 they're dirty. Um, when actual scientists studied, like they know 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.359 his knives are always sterilized, and he's not cutting open 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:40.320 people deeply and removing organs. He is scraping their skin 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:42.520 in their eyes. The fact that they don't get a 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:44.720 lot of them don't get infections isn't weird. Have you 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:47.280 ever gotten a scrape that didn't get infected? You've probably 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:50.639 gotten a lot because your body is reasonably good at 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:56.080 not dying from random scrapes. Um, otherwise there wouldn't be people. Uh, Like, 0:17:56.320 --> 0:18:00.439 it's it's very frustrating. Another frustrating thing is that this 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.479 study goes on to note that like they don't know, 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:07.760 like they couldn't find any evidence of infections among John's patients, 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:10.040 But they also note that they didn't actually get to 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.040 follow up with any of these people further than a 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:14.320 day or two on because like, the a lot of them, 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:18.159 like we're traveling in from elsewhere, so like the paper 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:20.480 is a proper scientific paper, and it concludes that, like 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:23.200 we need to do more research and track these patients 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:25.800 for longer term to determine whether or not anyone's getting infected, 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:28.119 which is what you say if you're an actual scientist. 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.280 Dr Reddiger, on the other hand, just gets on OPRA 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:34.080 and announces that this is all inexplicable, like science can't 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.200 explain this. It's like, yes, it can. You just didn't try, 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:41.720 Like you didn't even try, and I hate I find 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:45.040 science doesn't work when you don't do it. That's a 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:49.480 remarkable conclusion. Yeah, thank you, doctor. I found a good 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:52.680 critical right up of Dr Reddiger's performance on the blog 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:56.480 Science Based Medicine. I'm gonna quote from that now. Unfortunately, 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:58.720 the camera angles used made it impossible for me to 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:00.960 judge whether John was doing what he claimed, and the 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:02.919 only close upshot that was presented, it was clear to 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:05.000 me that the knife never touched the woman's eye, and 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:07.320 when John actually appeared to be doing something, the camera 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.440 never focused on the woman's eye. How convenient, it was 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.159 almost as though OPRAH producers were making a conscious effort 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:15.440 not to show a camera angle that would allow viewers 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:17.560 to judge whether the procedure actually being done was what 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.280 John of God claimed. Personally, I'd have loved to see 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:23.359 an ophthamologist or even just a surgeon rather than a psychiatrist, 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:26.040 because Dr Rehdeger is a psychiatrist allowed to have a 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:28.800 close up view of John's activities. Rehdeger is also shown 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:31.160 in a video clip apparently bleeding from the chest, apparently 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:33.320 after having viewed John do his corny is scraping bit. 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:35.720 He expresses fear and is concerned that the bleeding doesn't 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:37.840 stop as soon as he thinks it should, pointing out 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:41.240 that he doesn't have a bleeding disorder. So again, Dr 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:44.920 Reddeger is a psychiatrist, which makes him a legitimate medical professional, 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:47.399 but does not make him particularly competent to rule on 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.200 whether or not someone's reaction to a light surgical cut 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:57.120 is inexplicable, because that is not what psychiatrist specialize it. Yeah, 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:00.600 but it's also just being like the arrogant so being 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:02.919 able to say, I can't explain it, so it is 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:07.159 therefore I won't explain it, won't find out how to 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:14.560 explain it, so it's therefore inexplicable. Yeah, it's super great, Um, yeah. 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:17.600 And it's also noted in that article that Dr Rehdiger 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:20.240 isn't just a psychiatrist. He's a psychiatrist who has built 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:24.000 an entire brand off of embracing spontaneous healing. At the 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:26.800 time this came out, he headed up the Initiative for 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:30.879 Psychological and Spiritual Development, and on his old website he 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:34.840 wrote this explaining what the institute did. Quote, we live 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:36.920 in a culture that has advanced enough that we can 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:39.639 send the person with a medical problem to the medical doctor, 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:42.800 a person with an emotional problem to the psychologist, a 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.919 person with a spiritual problem to the priest, minister or rabbi. 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.520 Yet the Initiative for Psychological and Spiritual Development is founded 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:51.919 upon the belief that beneath all and behind all the 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:54.480 masks and appearances that we present to the world, there 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:58.160 is something more, and whatever healing potential exists comes from 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:04.520 this place, which is right, beautiful, beautiful nonsense. So Dr 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:06.919 Reddeger's initiative appears to be defunct. Now I don't think 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:08.840 it exists anymore. I can't find evidence of that, but 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:11.639 I didn't look super hard, so maybe I'm wrong. He 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:14.520 does have a book out, however, called Cured with an 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:18.400 exclamation point, and it's about people going into spontaneous remission. 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:20.879 I don't know enough about Rehdecker to declare him an 0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:22.840 absolute grifter, but I do know that he was once 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:25.440 a ghost on coast to coast AM, which is like 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:28.400 Alex Jones for people who are a little bit less 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:32.160 racist than Alex Jones. Um, so I'm gonna I'm gonna 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:34.159 say it's probably fair to call him a griffin. You 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:36.520 don't go on coast to coast f M if you're 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:40.760 like a a M, if you're like a credible person. Well, 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:45.720 it's also like like the you know, not acknowledging that 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:54.200 spontaneous remission is a severe outlier event and like, yeah, 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:59.000 it's possible, but like putting your treatment faith in that 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:04.679 is insane. Yes, yeah, and yeah, but it's a great grift. 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:06.520 It's a thing. People want to read about it. People 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:11.440 love reading books about magical healing and ship Yeah. So yeah. 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:14.679 Dr Ddeger is part of the grand tradition in the 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:17.840 medical field of credential medical professionals who provide cover for 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:20.520 miracles slinging con men, and of course Dr Oz would 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:23.560 be another example of this type of person. Another example 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:26.680 is provided in Susan Casey's OH Magazine article about John 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:29.280 of God and this is her again attempting to do 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:32.320 some real journalistic research to talk about how it's not 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:35.320 weird to believe that this guy could be caring cancer quote. 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:37.880 The belief in the effectiveness of prayer is as old 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:41.640