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| A Matter of Ethics. |
The misuse of our art, hobby, craft, profession, passion by those who would bilk the credulous should be of concern to all of us for it reflects on all of us. I agree with Dave Boyd that we cannot change with a simple disclaimer the held beliefs of those who see us perform, but we must make that disclaimer less we too become part of that nefarious group preying on the vulnerable.
Remember that those practicing our art not too long ago were considered in league with the devil. Witches were burned here in Europe and North America based on firmly held beliefs not evidence. The major church of that time held that witches must be, as so many people believe in them.As part of the dialogue, despite that it may be an old chestnut, I offer again my complete essay on ethics for this subject.
When a magician performs for an audience, even an audience of one, the audience is asked to suspend disbelief for the length of the performance. Fiction writers do the same thing. Neither the novelist nor the magician is working within the “real world.” As magicians, our make-believe world is a magic world where, assuming we do our parlor tricks well enough, the audience goes along and is entertained, even mystified. They leave the theater, restaurant, party or whatever venue we are working knowing that we are not in league with the devil or that we have not violated the Laws of Nature. We just did tricks that they don’t know how to do. Well-written, and sometimes not so well-written, fiction does the same thing. The modern novelist tells his public up front that the characters and the situations in which they find themselves are not real. He tells the reader that they should not confuse the characters with any person living or dead.
No reasonable person accepts a book of fiction with this disclaimer as a work of non-fiction. In the real world, works of fiction without a disclaimer have often been accepted as fact with disastrous consequences. “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion” and its part in leading to the Holocaust is arguably the most egregious example in history.
As magicians we do not put a disclaimer in front of our act reminding the public that what they will see and experience is a trick, a swindle or a flim-flam, even though it is. We do not have to tell the audience that we are going to pull the wool over their eyes and do things that are impossible. This is understood. After all, the Statue of Liberty is not really going to disappear. Is it? The single sponge ball the magician just put in someone’s hand is not capable of spontaneous reproduction. Is it?
Why is it necessary for an ethical fiction writer to warn his public that what they are about to experience on the printed page is not real, but not for the magician? Is it ethical for a magician to fool his public without warning, but not for others? In a recent national television program, the magician told his audience that he wasn’t sure if he could do a trick. Of course he did it very well much to the public’s amazement. Was he unethical?
Of course not.
That is part of the magician act and is expected. The subject of ethics in the organized magic…
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