I’ve always been fascinated by magic and magicians, not the flashy, Vegasy, David Copperfield kind, but the close-up, mind-bending, how-in-the hell-did-he-do-that? kind. I’m sure that part of the intrigue is my penchant for puzzle-solving, although when it comes to magic, not solving the puzzle is, somehow, the greater reward. I’ve read biographies and exposes and I am intellectually satisfied that the most magical of magical illusions are the result of the purveyor’s facility for misdirection; getting you to look here instead of there or think this instead of that. And, when such a performance is successful and done with appropriate flair, I’ve been known to chuckle nervously and gasp in amazement while my irrational brain function accepts wizardry as a legitimate vocation. Unfortunately for Planet Earth, this may be a universal mindset.
This week, BP released taped HD footage, (not the live, streaming kind), of the spewing well beneath the Gulf. Until then, only lo-res images were being released, even to the team of scientists charged with determining the extent of the oil flow. BP’s estimates of 5 to 10 thousand barrels per day which now may be revised to 100 thousand or more, were not merely mistakes in observation or arithmetic, but corporate sleight of hand. There is no doubt that BP’s first and foremost priority is to find a way to become history’s most magical escape artist.
This got me thinking about the broader implications of misdirection. We certainly have a long, documented history of charlatans, (Bernie Madoff, Ken Lay, Charles Keating), who have used the concept for personal gain in power or wealth. More troubling to me, our most popular ideologies are based on magic tricks; babbling burning bushes, resurrections, images in grilled cheese sandwiches and my favorite, aliens hiding in a volcano. Is it any wonder that everything from electing a government to buying a car, the nutritional benefit of Frosted Flakes® or curing ED, (for the record: no amount of Cialis© will transform your kitchen into an exotic lagoon), is rooted in a maze of smoke and mirrors into which we willingly wander? Has our evolutionary path conditioned us to tend toward the starry-eyed belief in bullshit rather than a rational postulation of fact? That would be a loud, rhetorical YES! Perhaps a constitutional amendment calling for the separation of Necromancy and State would be a start. What am I thinking? A Supreme Court challenge would only result in Clarence becoming befuddled by its pronunciation while Alito sticks pins in his Uncle Sam voodoo doll. I could just chill and accept the reality that nothing is at it seems, except for the occasional times when it is, just to keep us off balance. Or, I could call the Amazing Randi.
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For some purely delightful misdirection, guaranteed harmless to pelicans, shrimp and the collective beaches of Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, check out Peter Booth’s fantastic web site by following the link below.