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I'm going to do some speaking with people at a political stand. Basically it's a stand in the street, or in a shopping mall, where my copatriots and I will attract people and explain to them about the ideas of our party (liberalism, anti-racism, against religious laws being forced on the citizens, etc).

I thought I might utilize some mentalism to attract people to the stand. Did you ever try doing magic for political purposes? Do you have any tips, or recommendations for books to read?

Thanks in advance!

dup wrote:I will attract people and explain to them about the ideas of our party (...anti-racism...).

Reverse Out of this World or Oil and Water?

Sorry, that was slightly facetious.

I think doing mentalism for these purposes is a bad idea. A bit of colourful magic to get people to come over might not be too awful, but any kind of association between superior mental powers and your political opinions sounds awfully dodgy to me. What will it suggest if people realise you are doing tricks, but dressed up as "reality", or does your brand of mentalism comprise only obvious tricks?

I haven't really developed my brand of mentalism yet. In my few shows I usually did memory magic, ideo-motor effects (or other effects allegedly based on ideo-motor effects) and some body language reading. Also a little bit of hypnosis without actually calling it that.

I didn't think about the fact that people could be scared away by political mentalism, but it's a good point. I'll have to keep everything very 'light', and avoid hinting at any unnatural talents.

My original thoughts, while a bit hazy, were to do some body / mentalism effects, humorously tied to political events and figures in my country. Like showing how four people can lift a person with just two fingers from each - all the time talking about how the governmental bodies are the 'heavy person' and the private sector is the 'thin person' that has to carry him on his back. etc...

That sounds like it could be fun.

A lot of those physical Georgia Wonder style stunts could work in this context.

I do political mentalism, pm me

Yipeee...
As far as I am concerned, Art is not art unless there is some philosophy about morality or politics. There are no issues more relevant and important to humanity than those two issues. Not cancer, not particle physics, not metaphysics, not history, psychology or magic. Look at Bob Marley, for example So like Dr Todd, I like to make things political.

Personal, I don't like the metaphorical presentations of effects, that is when the metaphor is explained explicitly. I think it comes across as slightly corny tbh. But I suppose it depends largley on you're political views. I tend to view all authority systems cynically and cannot think of one superpower which is not morally repugnant. But as far as I know about you're own situation from you're brief discription I tend to agree with what you have stated, but unfortunatley internationally I am not the greatest fan of Isreal and certainly no sane person can defend Hamas either. The situation with respect to the middle east is incredable volatile and I think there is much need for redemption, forgiveness and compassion on both sides of the 'wall' in those conflicts and anything which might tend towards that I end I would support. There is a brilliant film called 'Freedom writers', which ignoring the hilarious Southpark satire, I interpreted as a brilliant allegory for the middle east situation.

But I am tired, so the future me will ask why on earth I clicked submit...

Sam my friend,

I'm not much of a fan of some of Israel's current policies either. Some of them are required by reality (as you mentioned, it's pretty hard to support Hamas either), while others are based on surrender to religious fundaMentalism, fear and fearmongering on both sides of the equation.

All the same, I love my country and my people. It's a democracy with voting right for everybody, and I believe things can change for the better if we just raise public awareness in Israel itself. That is why I came to this forum asking for advice on methods and effects which might begin to shift the floodgates.

Thank you for your candid opinion.

dup wrote:Sam my friend,

I'm not much of a fan of some of Israel's current policies either. Some of them are required by reality (as you mentioned, it's pretty hard to support Hamas either), while others are based on surrender to religious fundaMentalism, fear and fearmongering on both sides of the equation.

All the same, I love my country and my people. It's a democracy with voting right for everybody, and I believe things can change for the better if we just raise public awareness in Israel itself. That is why I came to this forum asking for advice on methods and effects which might begin to shift the floodgates.

Thank you for your candid opinion.

You're welcome, and I fully commend what you're trying to do and wish you the best of luck. It always makes me smile when I see someone with the bravery to criticise their own country, especially when they love it.

Thanks. I'm pretty sure things will work out for the best, one way or the other.

What about Ian Saville?

http://www.redmagic.co.uk/

Cool, I never imagined Magic for Socialism existed. Ian is very entertaining, and maybe I can learn from him.

Thanks!

Brilliant Nik!