henry
The Cosmic Force
Just got back from seeing the Amazing Kreskin do his show tonight. For those of you who do not know who he is, he is a 'mentalist'. The first half of the show involved several examples of his ability to pick up on people's thoughts. The second part was about suggestibility. Kreskin says there is no such thing as hypnotism, it is only suggestibility. He then went on to demonstrate it by calling up a large number of people to the stage after performing a pre-selction for suggestibility by having the entire audience stand up, close their eyes, and have their arms move up or down as he placed either a balloon or a heavy object onto them (via suggestion). Those who 'successfully' reacted were called on stage. Those whose arms stayed immobile sat down. I sat down. :)
He then told the group to close their eyes, raise one arm with the hand open and flexed open as far as they could, and that when he counted to three they would be unable to close their hands. He led them through several other bits like this. Fall asleep, wake up and make the happiest face you have ever made, the saddest face, etc. As the routine went on, individuals on stage would snap out of it and walk back to their seats. But there were still eight or so people at the end.
The highlight of the evening was when he finished the show by doing the 'invisible man in the room' that Laura talks about in The Wave. It didn't work on everyone on stage, but it worked on some of the people. For example, they thought they saw the microphone stand floating in the air because it was being held by the 'invisible man'.
As I was watching it, I had two thoughts racing through my head: first, that this was so cool to see the 'third man' trick that Laura references acted out; the second, it is really scary how easily some people are open to suggestion. I was thinking to myself about how it plays out in society with the media. And Kreskin was constantly talking about the media, name-dropping all the TV shows he has been on, all the celebrities he knows. And that patter was part of his suggestibility speel. The people who buy into Fox News,Regis, Huck-what-ever-his name-is, then open themselves to his suggestions.
What was frightening was how easily he could take control over these people. Once he got them, which didn't take long at all, he could take them in and out of the state of suggestibility in an instant -- which just means they were never really out of it, which is the even scarier part. They would appear to be 'normal', but then he would say a word and, 'boom', they would go under again.
The woman seated next to me went up with the large crowd, but returned to her seat before the end because she snapped out of it at one point. But even after she sat down, when Kreskin told the people on stage to raise their arms, she would raise her arm. Really creepy!
After the show, I was talking with some of the other people who were there. I mentioned the social implications of the show, the way the media do this day in and day out. I got blank stares. They couldn't understand the link... and these are not stupid people. They were all 'amazed'. I was thinking to myself, 'This stuff goes on every day."
Interesting evening....
He then told the group to close their eyes, raise one arm with the hand open and flexed open as far as they could, and that when he counted to three they would be unable to close their hands. He led them through several other bits like this. Fall asleep, wake up and make the happiest face you have ever made, the saddest face, etc. As the routine went on, individuals on stage would snap out of it and walk back to their seats. But there were still eight or so people at the end.
The highlight of the evening was when he finished the show by doing the 'invisible man in the room' that Laura talks about in The Wave. It didn't work on everyone on stage, but it worked on some of the people. For example, they thought they saw the microphone stand floating in the air because it was being held by the 'invisible man'.
As I was watching it, I had two thoughts racing through my head: first, that this was so cool to see the 'third man' trick that Laura references acted out; the second, it is really scary how easily some people are open to suggestion. I was thinking to myself about how it plays out in society with the media. And Kreskin was constantly talking about the media, name-dropping all the TV shows he has been on, all the celebrities he knows. And that patter was part of his suggestibility speel. The people who buy into Fox News,Regis, Huck-what-ever-his name-is, then open themselves to his suggestions.
What was frightening was how easily he could take control over these people. Once he got them, which didn't take long at all, he could take them in and out of the state of suggestibility in an instant -- which just means they were never really out of it, which is the even scarier part. They would appear to be 'normal', but then he would say a word and, 'boom', they would go under again.
The woman seated next to me went up with the large crowd, but returned to her seat before the end because she snapped out of it at one point. But even after she sat down, when Kreskin told the people on stage to raise their arms, she would raise her arm. Really creepy!
After the show, I was talking with some of the other people who were there. I mentioned the social implications of the show, the way the media do this day in and day out. I got blank stares. They couldn't understand the link... and these are not stupid people. They were all 'amazed'. I was thinking to myself, 'This stuff goes on every day."
Interesting evening....
