Since there hasn't been one started, I thought I'd put down my thoughts on this year's International Magic Convention in London - specifically the recipient of the Berglas Foundation Award: Uri Geller.
Now, I am a relative newcomer to magic. I've been doing it as a hobby for a couple of years - I started after reading Derren Brown's excellent book Trick of the Mind, and buying the Royal Road to Card Magic as recommended in the book's suggested reading section. So as you can imagine I've approached magic with a dim view of people who claim genuine supernatural ability. I've always assumed other magicians felt the same, which made me suprised to find out a major magical organisation would offer him an award (for, as David Berglas put it, "inspiring a generation of magicians"), much less give him a standing ovation after his talk. I had always assumed Geller was unpopular in the magic world for claiming paranormal powers for several decades - but as I say, I am a relative newcomer to magic, so I could be mistaken.
The Q&A session that followed his award was filled with waffling on the question of whether he considered himself supernaturally gifted or not. He made it clear he believes in the paranormal, but oddly expressed regret that he portrayed himself as a psychic in his early career. He now portrays himself as a 'mystifier', apparently. Someone asked him his opinion on people like Sylvia Browne and those who claim to be able to help find missing children. He eventually said that he doesn't think such a thing as possible, but in the same answer said that he helped find two children in the 70s.
While plugging his jewellery range, he mentioned that his watches featured the equation E=mc^2 (discovered in 1924 according to him, not 1905 as so-called 'historians' would have it). He then went off on a tangent that this equation somehow proved the existence of a human soul. You could feel the embarresed silence in the room following his attempted logic.
I'm aware that I'm ranting, but I'm dissapointed that the guy gets respect from the one group of people that should know better. So, for everyone else that is involved in magic, whether beginners like myself or seasoned professionals: does Geller deserve any respect for inspiring magicians? Was the award justified?
Now, I am a relative newcomer to magic. I've been doing it as a hobby for a couple of years - I started after reading Derren Brown's excellent book Trick of the Mind, and buying the Royal Road to Card Magic as recommended in the book's suggested reading section. So as you can imagine I've approached magic with a dim view of people who claim genuine supernatural ability. I've always assumed other magicians felt the same, which made me suprised to find out a major magical organisation would offer him an award (for, as David Berglas put it, "inspiring a generation of magicians"), much less give him a standing ovation after his talk. I had always assumed Geller was unpopular in the magic world for claiming paranormal powers for several decades - but as I say, I am a relative newcomer to magic, so I could be mistaken.
The Q&A session that followed his award was filled with waffling on the question of whether he considered himself supernaturally gifted or not. He made it clear he believes in the paranormal, but oddly expressed regret that he portrayed himself as a psychic in his early career. He now portrays himself as a 'mystifier', apparently. Someone asked him his opinion on people like Sylvia Browne and those who claim to be able to help find missing children. He eventually said that he doesn't think such a thing as possible, but in the same answer said that he helped find two children in the 70s.
While plugging his jewellery range, he mentioned that his watches featured the equation E=mc^2 (discovered in 1924 according to him, not 1905 as so-called 'historians' would have it). He then went off on a tangent that this equation somehow proved the existence of a human soul. You could feel the embarresed silence in the room following his attempted logic.
I'm aware that I'm ranting, but I'm dissapointed that the guy gets respect from the one group of people that should know better. So, for everyone else that is involved in magic, whether beginners like myself or seasoned professionals: does Geller deserve any respect for inspiring magicians? Was the award justified?
