# Seemingly intelligent person tells you they believe a magician 'actually has some powers' **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 29, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027 "2012-08-29T13:08:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/1 "2012-08-29T13:08:35Z")
What is the correct response in this situation? I was talking to someone at a party the other day, and they came out with this. I was a bit floored. My first reaction was to call them an idiot, but that didn’t seem socially acceptable. I tried to explain that it was all just showmanship, but they weren’t convinced, and I had to back away from the topic before it became a pointless argument. The person in question acknowledged that most magicians are just doing tricks, but that this one was so good, he must have had super natural powers. (NB The magician in question was Dynamo, and even though I haven’t seem him in action, but I can categorically say he doesn’t have powers.) When I think about it, someone once told me this about Derren Brown too, even though he is quite open that he doesn’t even claim to be a magician. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/2 "2012-08-29T13:15:28Z")
“If I show you how to do the trick, would that mean you have supernatural powers too?” ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/3 "2012-08-29T13:21:28Z")
Arthur Conan Doyle thought his friend Houdini uses magic powers, even though Houdini insisted it was just tricks. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/4 "2012-08-29T13:24:22Z")
If he didn’t have supernatural powers, his name wouldn’t be “Dynamo,” now would it? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/5 "2012-08-29T13:26:39Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > My first reaction was to call them an idiot, but that didn’t seem socially acceptable. Maybe not socially acceptable, but it sure sounds accurate. How socially acceptable is it to make idiotic proclamations? ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/6 "2012-08-29T13:28:15Z")
Had a similar situation when a very respected colleague, quite out of the blue, started telling me of the benefits of homoeopathy. Just smiled, nodded politely and walked away thinking just a little bit less of her. Imho there are very few situations where it’s socially acceptable to point out someones ignorance/stupidity, I will only do so for very close family and a couple of friends who I would expect to do the same for me. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/7 "2012-08-29T13:40:51Z")
> [@Szlater](#): > > Had a similar situation when a very respected colleague, quite out of the blue, started telling me of the benefits of homoeopathy. > > Just smiled, nodded politely and walked away thinking just a little bit less of her. > > Imho there are very few situations where it’s socially acceptable to point out someones ignorance/stupidity, I will only do so for very close family and a couple of friends who I would expect to do the same for me. I know what you mean, but it really grates on me to allow such a nonsense to be allowed to pass unchallenged. Alternative medicine is almost as bad, although at least the practioners of this claim it is real (I don’t think any magician actually claims they can do real magic). I was enjoying a conversation with someone at a dinner party once, when they got onto Reiki. I managed to nod in agreement, up until the point they claimed that their Reiki person (practioner? distributor? Reikirier?) was so good, they could deliver reiki over a phone call. Again, I had to bite my tongue. I also know another woman (and it seems to almost always be women) who is really, really nice, but believes in crystals and other such rubbish. She believes she can harness ‘Dolphin energy’, as well as communing with the Archangels. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/8 "2012-08-29T14:00:51Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Arthur Conan Doyle thought his friend Houdini uses magic powers, even though Houdini insisted it was just tricks. Gotta wonder about him- didn’t he think some double exposed fairy pictures were also real? ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/9 "2012-08-29T14:04:02Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Gotta wonder about him- didn’t he think some double exposed fairy pictures were also real? Yes, if my recollection is correct - the cottinger (sp?) fairies. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/10 "2012-08-29T14:06:22Z")
Houdini actually _did_ have magic powers. [Hear me out] Houdini was able to do what he did due to a combination of supreme muscle control, supreme flexibility, the patience of Job, years of study, and a flair for showmanship. Those five things in combination are far beyond the skill of all but a handful of people on the earth at any given time. So were his powers supernatural in origin? No. But did he have “magic”? Absolutely. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/11 "2012-08-29T14:13:14Z")
Well, if it was someone whose intelligence I really did respect, I’d ask “What the heck makes you think that?”, pointing out the flaws in reasoning until I hit clear irrationallity. At which point, of course, rational discourse can’t get them out of a position they didn’t arrive at through reason, so it’s time to give up. For someone I didn’t know that well, I think my response would be along the lines of “Well, he certainly has the ability to convince _you_; I guess that’s something.” And then immediately change the subject. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/12 "2012-08-29T14:16:36Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Houdini actually _did_ have magic powers. [Hear me out] > > Houdini was able to do what he did due to a combination of supreme muscle control, supreme flexibility, the patience of Job, years of study, and a flair for showmanship. Those five things in combination are far beyond the skill of all but a handful of people on the earth at any given time. > > So were his powers supernatural in origin? No. But did he have “magic”? Absolutely. This is actually what came to mind when I read the OP. **Bakhesh** , is it possible that this was a misunderstanding? I’m not familiar with Dynamo, but there are, for example, some mentalists who have developed such acute means of perception that they are able to do astonishing things without any physical gimmicks or preparation of the area. There is nothing paranormal about this, but these might qualify as “real powers” in some people’s mental shorthand. To give a personal example: when I get careless, I sometimes refer to “real vampires,” meaning people like Arnold Paole or Mercy Brown whose bodies were mutilated post-mortem, ostensibly to stop a plague. I don’t believe that these folks actually clambered out of their graves or otherwise brought doom and destruction unto their people from beyond the grave, but that’s what it might sound like if you didn’t know what I was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/13 "2012-08-29T14:19:13Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > This is actually what came to mind when I read the OP. **Bakhesh** , is it possible that this was a misunderstanding? I’m not familiar with Dynamo, but there are, for example, some mentalists who have developed such acute means of perception that they are able to do astonishing things without any physical gimmicks or preparation of the area. There is nothing paranormal about this, but these might qualify as “real powers” in some people’s mental shorthand. > > To give a personal example: when I get careless, I sometimes refer to “real vampires,” meaning people like Arnold Paole or Mercy Brown whose bodies were mutilated post-mortem, ostensibly to stop a plague. I don’t believe that these folks actually clambered out of their graves or otherwise brought doom and destruction unto their people from beyond the grave, but that’s what it might sound like if you didn’t know what I was talking about. Possibly, but this did follow on from a conversation about psychics and mediums, so I think it referred to genuine supernatural powers. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/14 "2012-08-29T14:29:21Z")
Otherwise intelligent people I know believe all sorts of crazy things. One guy told me he knew of a guy who died, I mean really really died, and then popped back up 3 days later! And made rabbits lay eggs or something. I just stay away from those subjects. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/15 "2012-08-29T14:35:26Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > How socially acceptable is it to make idiotic proclamations? Based on how often this happens, the answer looks to be “Entirely.” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/16 "2012-08-29T14:40:07Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Otherwise intelligent people I know believe all sorts of crazy things. One guy told me he knew of a guy who died, I mean really really died, and then popped back up 3 days later! And made rabbits lay eggs or something. I just stay away from those subjects. [Jim Gaffigan on Easter](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJAxRVeKnTE&feature=player_detailpage#t=77s) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/17 "2012-08-29T14:41:53Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Houdini actually _did_ have magic powers. [Hear me out] > > Houdini was able to do what he did due to a combination of supreme muscle control, supreme flexibility, the patience of Job, years of study, and a flair for showmanship. Those five things in combination are far beyond the skill of all but a handful of people on the earth at any given time. > > So were his powers supernatural in origin? No. But did he have “magic”? Absolutely. In the interests of fighting ignorance, this is wrong. Houdini was a magician. He performed conjuring tricks. No amount of muscle control or flexibility or lock picking will allow him to do [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuviK9kKBp4&feature=related). The tricks, that he invented, are now easily purchasable at any magic shop. Inventing the tricks took skill. Performing them doesn’t. Anyone can do it. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/18 "2012-08-29T14:55:49Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Gotta wonder about him- didn’t he think some double exposed fairy pictures were also real? I was remembering that he started believing in spiritism after his son died and checked wiki to be sure. Because I can give the grief-stricken some slack in that area. Per wiki: > [@](#): > > Following the death of his wife Louisa in 1906, the death of his son Kingsley just before the end of World War I, and the deaths of his brother Innes, his two brothers-in-law (one of whom was E. W. Hornung, creator of the literary character Raffles) and his two nephews shortly after the war, Conan Doyle sank into depression. Yeah. That’s heavy. I wouldn’t want to listen to him going on, but I would probably put no effort into shutting it down. Regarding the fairies, apparently there was a lot of fairy belief going around, at least in a metaphoric sort of way. You remember the famous editorial that ended in “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus?” I read the whole thing once and was surprised to see, “Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies.” ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/19 "2012-08-29T14:56:43Z")
Is the OP sure he didn’t mean that the magician had [Powers](http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s285/irishwhiskeychaser/PaddyPowers/Powers2009.jpg)? …hey, you do 3 kids parties a Saturday for the rest of your life sober… ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027/20 "2012-08-29T16:20:13Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > Alternative medicine is almost as bad, although at least the practioners of this claim it is real (I don’t think any magician actually claims they can do real magic). I was enjoying a conversation with someone at a dinner party once, when they got onto Reiki. I managed to nod in agreement, up until the point they claimed that their Reiki person (practioner? distributor? Reikirier?) was so good, they could deliver reiki over a phone call. Again, I had to bite my tongue. My massage therapist uses reiki. She only used it on me once, and I didn’t say anything, because everything else she does actually works. If she tries to waste my time with more of it, I’ll have to have a little talk with her. Although I should say, it worked exactly as she said it would. But I think that muscle was about to heal anyway. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-intelligent-person-tells-you-they-believe-a-magician-actually-has-some-powers/633027.md?page=2)