Talk:Dannion Brinkley

message: Someone keeps trying to remove criticism of Dannion's claim he was a CIA sniper. One said the L.A. Times article "Blinded by the Light" about Brinkley wasn't in the newspaper archives. Let the record show the article is real. Here is a link, and here are the parts about Dannion:
http://articles.latimes.com/1995-03-24/news/ls-46593_1_death-experience
:Lightning shot through the telephone and into Dannion Brinkley's body, welding the nails in his shoes to the nails in the floor--and sending his soul on one of the most bizarre near-death sojourns ever recounted.
: According to his best-selling book, "Saved by the Light," Brinkley traveled to a luminous crystal city where he met 13 silver-blue spirit beings, learned of calamities in store for the Earth and saw his entire life flash before him.
:Or so the story goes. ...
: Brinkley says his life review covered "at least 6,000 fistfights" that he had between fifth and 12th grades. That averages out to two brawls a day, nonstop for eight years, making Brinkley the Wilt Chamberlain of schoolyard pugilism.
:He also says he was a Marine Corps sniper during the Vietnam War, dispatched to Cambodia and Laos to assassinate enemy officers and politicians. But military records show that Pfc. Brinkley was never a sniper, never saw combat, indeed never left the United States during his 18 months in the service.
:He was a truck driver stationed in Atlanta.
:Brinkley declines to offer any evidence of overseas duty, saying the government is covering up his record because it is classified. But several sources inside and outside the military (including ex-Marines involved in the same covert operations Brinkley claims a role in) say his tale is full of holes and that the so-called secret files are all public. ...
:... His 1994 book claims that the beings of light in his near-death journey correctly foretold dozens of world events, including the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the 1986 radiation leak at Chernobyl. Unfortunately, as noted by the Sunday Times of London, visions of the future are "traditionally revealed before they happen rather than afterwards, thereby making them more convincing."
:Still to come, says Brinkley: a 1995 nuclear disaster in Norway and a U.S. economic collapse by 2000.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.5.13.15 (talk) 20:12, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Brinkley's dubious military claims 

message: Dannion claimed he was paralyzed for a week and could say only a few words at a time after being hit by lightning in 1975; however, he sounded quite loquacious when the Augusta Herald visited him in the hospital after the incident. No mention is made of paralysis; hard to imagine the newspaper omitting such a detail if it was true:
:Phone Call Almost Cost Him His Life
:By Carl Langley, Herald Staff Writer
:"If there's a moral to my story it's this: Don't ever talk on the telephone when a lightning storm is developing."
:The warning came from Danny Brinkley, a tall, well-built young man. He was speaking from his bed in Room 922 at University Hospital. 
:A lightning bolt that Danny's doctor said was sufficient to kill almost anyone else landed him in the hospital Wednesday night. He expects to be there through the rest of the weekend.
:Danny, a former Aiken High football player, was waiting for his wife, Sandy, to finish supper Wednesday night when he decided to make a telephone call to a friend.
:He went into the back bedroom of the trailer, called his friend and was negotiating the purchase of an automobile.
:"I had just finished the call and was starting to hang up when he (the friend) said, 'one more thing...'"
:That was the last statement Danny remembered for several hours. For after that unfinished remark came a blinding flash of auburn light, the sensation of an icepick being driven into his ear, a tremendous surge of pressure into his back between the shoulder blades and a sense of being burned in an acid bath."
:"I've never felt anything like that," Danny recalled. His body was snatched from the floor by the burst of electrical energy, leaving his shoes behind, and hurling him across the bed flat on his back.
:Mrs. Brinkley recalled the sensation of a flow of static electricity sweeping through the trailer from the bedroom where the telephone was located out through the kitchen and dining area.
:She rushed to the bedroom to tell her husband that "lightning has struck somewhere around here," only to find Danny sprawled across the bed, his stocking feet hanging over the edge.
:His tongue had started to swell and there was no visible sign of respiration. Frantically, Mrs. Brinkley began pounding away on her husband's chest, stopping only to grasp his tongue and pull it away from his windpipe so he could breathe.
:"I was out for a few minutes, and she saved my life," Danny said. With breathing restored, Mrs. Brinkley called the Aiken Paramed ambulance service and he was rushed first to Aiken County Hospital, then on to University Hospital.
:A neurosurgeon treating Danny said the force of the bolt would have killed an elderly person, a young child or most adults not in the physical condition of Danny, who is 6-2 and weighs 190 pounds.
(Article from Friday, Sep. 19, 1975)
75.5.14.128 (talk) 01:07, 5 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: More discrepancies in Brinkley's story

message: Dannion Brinkley is a near-death experiencer whose NDE was first told to NDE researcher Raymond Moody shortly after it occurred in the 1970s. Brinkley's story of being hit by lightning while on the phone has been investigated by Moody and others. Yes, Brinkley's story is self-described but it is also confirmed by researchers. To call it "self-described" is a pejorative non-neutral POV that implies that it Brinkley has made it up. That is not acceptable in the lead of a WP:BLP. On that basis, I am removing the phrase. If there are reliable sources that dispute that he had an NDE, they can be added to the article as well. --EPadmirateur (talk) 04:35, 21 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I am beginning an extended edit of this article to document Brinkley's story and support it with reliable sources. --EPadmirateur (talk) 23:28, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Extensive modifications are complete. Much new information was added about Brinkley's hospice and veterans advocacy work. --EPadmirateur (talk) 05:44, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Nice work! I shortened the introductory section and made a few minor edits. 75.4.233.180 (talk) 06:59, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Self-described" attribution is POV 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
After reading this article I had several major concerns. First, this article contained contentious material in the second sentence, and in other places throughout the article. Under the BLP (biography of living persons) rules of Wikipedia all material in this article must be written in a disinterested form, conservatively and with regard to the subject's privacy. I'm not sure if we can totally achieve that with this article, but let's rise up to the challenge and do the best we can. 
My primary concern is that within the second sentence it is already getting into "he said she said" claims. I hope we can find a better way to present the information so that it is as conservative and respect privacy.
I tired to make simple updates to the form of this article but I found the major issue was mixing the controversy/skepticism about Brinkley with the things he says in his books. Therefore, I extrapolated all of the "skepticism and controversy" and put it into its own major heading. I retained as much skepticism and controversy as possible and added another category called "special powers." I think it's reasonable to assume that if someone says they're psychic and "reading minds," a fair and balanced view would be to that other people think that's not possible. I cited the Skeptics dictionary. Maybe there's a better way to lay out this "Special Powers" section. What do you think?
In the fair and balanced vein, while I was researching this article I came across a  video by Brinkley addressing the claims of the first NDE controversy. I added a citation so people can navigate to Brinkley's side of the story. Brinkley has the right on his Wikipedia page to let people know his side of the controversy.
One of the major things I discovered while researching this is that Brinkley says he didn't wake up in the morgue. In his official response video, he says that a publicist made that up to make the story sexy. I looked in the book to see if that was the case. Here's what it said on page 54 of Saved by the Light.
"I couldn't move, which is a bad state to be in when orderlies are coming to take you to the morgue."
I believe that implies that he was not at the morgue. Therefore, I updated that section (and removed a line that said he woke up in the morgue) and quoted what the booked said on page 55. I think I wrote it is the most conservative why to talk about someone being dead and coming back. When his friend says, "he's still alive," it can mean that he died or did not die. 
I also added an additional "fair and balanced" sentence under military service. I think it's reasonable to assume if he  was in the CIA and his missions were classified, then he wouldn't openly tell people the specifics - or as he says, "camouflage" them. That needs to be added to keep it balanced. 
Additionally, much of Brinkley's fame and prominence comes from the fact he has had multiple Near Death Experiences and survived some intense events and surgeries. To provide as much information as possible, I added a new header (Other near death experiences) with a conservative account of these events. 
I did not edit anything under Hospice and Volunteer work.
I noticed on Brinkley's websites he says he has won a bunch of awards for hospice and volunteer work. I tried to search for these online but couldn't find any sources. Can anybody verify these?
http://thetwilightbrigade.com/dannion-brinkley.htm
Other simple edits include:
I noticed in the discussion that someone didn't think the article explained who Dannion was above and beyond his books. I agree. It didn't. I added a broader description to include speaker, hospice volunteer and a figure in the New Age and New Thought Movement. Since Brinkley won the Lifetime Achievement award from George Noory (cited) I think it's safe to say he's prominent. His work speaks for itself that he is a part of New Age and New Thought.  
I added a Television header because a TV show should not go under a Books header. 
I added numerous   throughout the article.
I provided citations and references for everything I added.
All said, I believe the best way to write this article is to tell the most conservative facts of Brinkley's story (maybe we're saying too much) - by way of what he says (and make it clear it's what he said) and other citations (like Moody). Then, lay out the controversy and skepticism, but keep it balanced. This means as editors we have provided as much fact as possible and still allowed everyone the ability to decide for themselves what they think is true when the truth isn't obvious.
I look forward to working with everyone to get this article edited, updated and into tip top shape. 
all the best,
Threxnova (talk) 04:06, 17 June 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Major Updates and Article Edits 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified