Using the very ad hominem slurs skeptics love to accuse the rest of us for using, the article starts off with plenty of cheap comments about Coffey's fashion choice, among other things, including a not so subtle homophobic slur.
Describing a sting by skeptics, the article exposes Coffey for a charlatan. A group of skeptics have created for themselves a covert operations team: Guerrilla Skepticism. Specifically, according to the article, this was the:
"...brainchild of Susan Gerbic, co-founder of the Monterey County Skeptics, and creator of the Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia project. She and several others had been working for months on the project, gathering the funds necessary to purchase tickets, arranging various strategies to control for “hot reading” (online and other research tactics that some psychics use to increase their hit rate), as well as attempting to find people willing to participate. "This was too mouth watering for Helms to ignore, he had to join in the fun and take part in the Coffey debunking sting. Oh the fun they had, dressing up, posing as true believers and using fake names.
Okay, so I wasn't there, and it's quite possible Coffey is a fraud. It's also possible the "Bumble bee crew" (oy) is lying. No doubt a combination of both. On the skeptic side: misunderstanding and willful ignorance of psychics in general, their tactics, and the whole damn point of it all. I abhor Republicans, religious fanatics and, oh yes, skeptics, but I don't go around posing as one of the enemy, giving myself and my "team" a silly name, and infiltrating those groups. To what end? For one thing, I'd feel too damn sullied by associating with those I keep in contempt.
It just seems that there are so many issues in our world that would benefit from the energy spent debunking psychics. Sure, people are financially duped and emotionally assaulted by frauds, but compared to animal abusers, child abusers, globalist fascism to name a mere three out of hundreds, the debunk squad needs to get a clue about the real world. Playing Jr. G Man to the paranormal realm isn't really that important a job. Despite Helms' urging to fellow skeptics that:
"ACTIVISM IS THE KEY to creating the change we skeptics want to see!Oh, and one more thing. Scary to know Helms is an associate professor of psychology.
So get out there, join up with your fellow skeptics – not just online, but in “meat space” – and DO SOMETHING!" - Helms