So, the kid is a Comedy Central junkie... and when he leaves for school in the a.m., he leaves his television on... After I come back from dropping him off, I go turn the t.v. off for him... Yeah, he's rotten. So, anyway... It turns out Comedy Central runs Peter Popoff's televangelism show on Wednesday mornings... where he sells Miracle Spring Water... guaranteed to bring answered prayers, & loads o' money.

For those who don't know, Peter Poppoff is an old school con... he was exposed as a scam artist in the 1980's by James Randi on the tonight show. A brief account of the story can be read here, though you'll find much more detail in Randi's books. I recommend The Faith Healers.

So, anyway... you hear a lot of people kvetching that his deceptive practices are tantamount to theft from the credulous, elderly, and poor... and he ought to be locked up. And, it's hard not to feel sympathy for that view... his business is reprehensible... And despite the fact that he's been unmasked, he remains in business - there's not enough profit in keeping the next generation of marks informed to keep him from having plenty of believing customers.

But can you shut someone like him down in a place like America? Is it right? There is the first amendment... And since he makes his dough in "donations" rather than fees, he's even exempt from the standard disclaimers that the "psychic" hotlines hucksters have to make in big letters on every ad: "For entertainment only". He isn't bound to do what the state-run lottery does, either, and put one's odds of a Popoffian miracle in small print at the bottom of the donation form.

Ordinarily, in free speech cases, my views are simple - the only reason to shut down speech is because you lack faith in your own views enough to let them stand on their own without government backing. Conservatives call it the "marketplace of ideas". But, in the marketplace of ideas, there is little premium on truth, whereas even false hope brings a steep price to the hopeless and desperate. But is that reason enough to abridge his right to do it?

I don't know. It seems that blatant false advertisement is not usually considered protected speech - and that it is a form of theft. But what about his more insidious kind? I doubt he solicits false testimonials from his followers, or that he makes any statements that could be proved false in a court of law. He simply manipulates the technically true or the incontestable, and withholds pertinent information, in order to create a deceptive appearance to his flock.

I don't know if legal action against him is in order. I do know that a counter-offensive of truth is in order. After Randi exposed him on the tonight show, Popoff was forced to file bankrupcy... All that is forgotten by all but the few skeptic enthusiasts who keep up with such things by now. But if a burst of sunlight can damage the growth, can't a steady stream of it kill the thing altogether?

What's needed is an army of Randi's... a mass movement of truth-tellers. But then, how to organize it? We don't have a profit motive that can galvanize our resistance... but surely we can organize? Surely we can hold our own tent revivals and draw the crowds with messages of truth and real hope just as well as Popoff can with lies and false hope? Wouldn't it be great if an army of truth-tellers set out to shut down all the psychic hot-lines, televangelists, and lottery boards - not with legislation, but just with the power of rational thought? Will that ever happen?