A very evil man has been jailed for 10 years.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22380368
It is one of those rare occasions where I think a custodial sentence should have been longer than it was. James McCormick sold dowsing rods to vulnerable people (notably the Iraqi Government, although there's little commentary so far of which officials took bribes to contract for the dowsing rods) under the pretence they could detect various substances. In this case the key claim was that the dowsing rods could detect explosives. There is no record I am aware of of how many people died as a result of the sale of these dowsing rods. McCormick made millions from the sale of these dowsing rods and it is now up to the Proceeds of Crime Act to make sure that all of his ill-gotten-gains from the sale of dowsing rods is recovered. I am not hopeful.
But something that intrigues me about this story is the media's steadfast refusal to refer to dowsing rods. How peculiar! They are dowsing rods. The BBC, the Guardian, the Telegraph and the Standard all fail to mention dowsing rods. The BBC talks of 'swivelling antennas'. Elsewhere they are detectors, devices, gadgets. Anything but dowsing rods. Should I say it again? James McCormick has been jailed for knowingly selling useless dowsing rods.
Not all proponents of dowsing may be as criminally culpable as McCormick. But still, people and (allegedly) major corporations and police forces waste lots of money on these useless devices. Dowsing does not work. It has been proven time and time again. The local mad woman cannot detect water with an old coathanger. Uri Geller cannot detect oil with something that is basically an old coathanger. And James McCormick cannot detect explosives or anything else with his "swivelling antennas".
Where anyone has received money for dowsing of any description, the police should be taking an active interest. We would not accept that being sold other goods and services under false pretences was just one of those things. Why is it acceptable for proponents of dowsing, astrology, spiritualism, religion and all other types of mumbo jumbo to take money from people and get away with it? Other than the consequences of their actions, how are they different to James McCormick?
