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Transcript:
I’ll be honest–when I first saw this New York Times headline, I rolled my eyes: “Two Magicians Warn the Supreme Court About Junk Science.” The eye-rolling wasn’t because warning the current US Supreme Court about junk science is about as worthwhile as warning my dog about the environmental costs of bacon: not only do they not care, but they are actively in favor of the bacon. Or the junk science. I may have lost track of my metaphor.
No, I rolled my eyes because Penn and Teller have, in the past, been the ones spreading junk science. I was a HUGE fan of theirs as a kid, and they’re a big reason why I became a juggler and magician, why I became a fan of James Randi, and why I do what I do today on this very channel. But back then, they were never actually very good at critical thinking. They knew that psychics were phony because they knew they were using magic tricks and lying about it, but their “skepticism” about a bunch of other stuff outside of the world of magic was actually just capital-L Libertarianism. That’s why their Showtime TV show, Bullshit, featured them “debunking” topics like the government trying to ban smoking inside bars and restaurants in order to protect workers and other patrons from second-hand smoke. That wasn’t something they did in season 8 when they were running low on topics–that was episode five of season one! That season ended with them debunking climate change, and then they went on to target veganism, school violence, recycling, yoga, exercise, college, hair, gun control, the Endangered Species Act, reparations for slavery, hybrid cars, NASA, the United Nations, taxation, and criticism of Wal-mart. Like, they were against the criticism. They were pro-Wal-mart.
So yeah, I was, let’s say, skeptical that they might have anything of import to tell anyone about the dangers of junk science. But happily, I was wrong: they are, all these years later, getting back to talking about what they know, and they’re doing it for a truly great cause.
In January of 1998, 64-year-old Betty Black was found murdered in her home in an obvious robbery-gone-wrong. Her neighbors saw two men get out of a car and enter her home just prior, and one neighbor immediately identified the driver as Richard Childs, but none of them knew the identity of the second man. One witness, Jill Barganier, went to the police station and viewed several photo line-ups. She identified Childs, but did not see the second man among the choices. She described him as similar to Childs: white, medium build, with long hair.
One of the photos police showed to her in the line-up was a friend of Childs’ named Charles Flores, a large Hispanic man with short hair who told police that at the time of the murder he was making breakfast with his wife in a neighboring town.
Despite the fact that he had an alibi and bore no resemblance to the witness’s sketch, the police were sure Flores was the second man and they arrested him. So they brought Barganier back in and an officer “hypnotized” her in order to improve her recollection, telling her that hypnosis allows her to tap into the “tape recorder” in her brain. She again stated that both men were white, medium build, with long hair, but the officer repeatedly asked her if the second man actually had short hair, neatly cut hair, trimmed hair, and then told her that oftentimes memory can improve as time goes on after the hypnosis.
At the trial, 13 months later, Barganier’s story had changed: she knew for a fact that the second man was actually Charles Flores. She even knew his name, which the judge pointed out, saying “Honestly, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to pick out who is the Hispanic individual in the courtroom.” He allowed her testimony regardless.
With no physical evidence against him, Flores was convicted and sentenced to die.
Richard Childs, on the other hand, admitted to being the person who murdered Betty Black. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison but only served 16, getting out on parole in 2016.
So, the man who admitted to murdering Black has been free for ten years, while the man who was convicted of being there at the same time based on an eyewitness who changed her story after being hypnotized is in prison waiting to be executed.
I think that the wildest part of this story isn’t even that the cops HYPNOTIZED someone into identifying the guy they’d already arrested. As of 2023, Texas no longer allows testimony that is influenced by hypnosis, but that law isn’t retroactive. But the wildest thing is that even back in 1998, Texas didn’t allow officers to participate in the hypnosis! This wasn’t even legal back then! There is absolutely no reason this guy should be on death row!
Hypnosis is, of course, not a way to “tap into a tape recorder inside your brain.” It’s a party trick that charismatic people can use to successfully influence the behavior and, yes, even memory of suggestive people. I’ve mentioned this in the past but hypnotists travel in similar circles as magicians, and so I’ve met a few. They were all weird freaks. I honestly think that a lot of people, mostly men, get into hypnotism because they have a genuine desire to manipulate people, mostly women, into doing whatever they want. It’s gross.
And so, yes, Penn and Teller are perfect people to point this out. An attorney helping Flores try to get a new trial reached out to them asking if they would write a brief to the Supreme Court explaining that hypnotism is, well, bullshit, and they did. And I think that should be applauded. Sure, the Court is currently infested with compromised conservative assholes, but we do now live in a political age of taking television entertainers seriously. Not only do they stand a better chance than some no-name psychologist who studies misinformation, but they also got the New York Times to publish an article and a video about the case, which will increase public pressure for the Court to take up the case. If they do, they have a chance to set a precedent that could help more people falsely imprisoned based on pseudoscience.
On a personal note, seeing Penn and Teller stand up for science and justice in this case really gives me hope that two people I admired so much as a kid, and who influenced me so much, can bounce back to at least being not terrible. Back in 2022, Penn publicly announced that he’s moved away from Libertarianism thanks in part to being invited to lead anti-mask rallies, and then seeing the anti-vaccine crowd erupt against the COVID vaccine. And honestly, kudos to him. Even in this short clip from the Washington Post, he’s still wrong–he doesn’t think people should be forced to wear seatbelts but they should be forced to not drive drunk, which suggests that a person who doesn’t wear a seatbelt has no chance of ejecting themselves into anyone else and killing or injuring them. He still doesn’t fully understand that individual stupid decisions can have drastic negative consequences for other people. But he’s at least admitting that he was wrong. A little bit.
Does it make up for that long list of rational ideas he “debunked” in Bullshit? No, not at all. They had a huge audience and they told them second hand smoke was fine, which likely stemmed public support for legislation that has absolutely saved lives, and quietly mumbling about how he might have been fooled by some bad science years later, which he did at a conference I attended, isn’t quite enough.
But if he can help save this one life, the life of Charles Flores, then yeah, maybe I can go back to simply admiring him for his actual talent instead of cursing his spreading of dangerous misinformation.
