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Strange Tasting Fish Sticks
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1988 - 2013
The Big Brother is watching you
1095 Posts

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Yesterday I read "Socilogy for dummies.". A very basic book on sociology concepts. It really made me start to think and write this..

I think...
Magic can apply to sociology in so many ways, I think. Think of the social context and subculture of magician's when viewing other tricks, by, other magicians. From the perspective of a magician and from a sociological standpoint, we are all actors on a stage in a social context. We are as who other people see us. In a sense, a magician blurs the line between what is real and what is not, thus skewing their perception.We shape our own idenity in how others see us, and this in turn effects how we see ourselves. Criss Angel shapes his own identity, that is, how other people see him, by his "freak" or "punk" magic. He has his own style. Similiar, Ponta the smith is seen as elegant and smooth. We are all unique this is why I think it is very important for ust o take advatange of our own idenity, and thus uniqueness, and not copy someone else's. As said in the book on showmanship I read, something along the lines of : "He was one of the most skilled and ardent magicians I Know. But as long as he was imperssionating a man of this world, he was doomed to failure.".

What's even more interesting is that, in the subculture of magicians, we place values on diferent aspects of magic than would the an outsider of the subculture, such as layman, would. For example, magicians aer often impressed by when other magicians' do difficult tricks or tricks with great skill. Laymen could care less about skill and, as long as the trick is "amazing" in their own context, it doesn't matter how easy or hard it is. Thus, outsiders of the subculture of magicians have different values and viewpoints on certain aspects of magic than those in it.

I've always believed something, and I never experssed it here, but I alawys thought in the subculture of magic , magicians were far too picky. Who cares if something looks "unnatural"? Now saying this may be a deviance from the "norm", naturalness IS important, but I think there are better things to critque than how natural a move lokos. Quite farnkly, I think most spectators wouldn't notice (unless it was very severe), and probably don't care about this technical aspect.

We as magicians all want to change the world in one way or another, whether its reducing exposure, or simply making someone's day.
How do we do this? How do we as magicians inspiere social change for the better of magic?

Social change usually does not happen overnight, it takes time. All social change happens for some reason, and it has all end up to where it is now. IAn example would be to start erading a book vfrom the very end. This is the way socially, the world works, I think. IThe end doesn't make much sense, at first, until we look what LEAD up to it.

Dramatic social change that happens quickly usually results from consequence of a ttragegy or painful circumstances.. I can think of one specific example, but it deals in numismatics and not magic. When John F Kennedy was shot, the country reeled iand it was a very painful event for many people. This inspired social change, in fact, the same year, they the US mint created the kennedy half dollar, in commerance of him. It still exists today. This is an example of darmatic social change that happened quickly.

I think one way we can inspire social change for the better of magic is through strong social ties and networks. We are all connected socially in some way. I may not know the a person who lives in my neighborhood, but I may be a great friend with someone across the world or in another state. I think strong social tise, which don't obviously have to be people in our own neighborhood, have a very strong influence on society in general and thus creatnig a social movement/change.

I think this strong social networking with people, friends, peers, other magicians, etc, with subjects that interest us can help change society for the better, in some way or another. It may take time, but I think it's possible. The stronger the social network/tie, I believe the more strong the social movement.

We simply have more resources available to make a social movement.
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