posted on Feb, 9 2010 @ 04:31 AM
Derren Brown is a stage magician. How could anything he does be relevant to somebody's religious faith?
Every word out of his mouth serves one purpose: to create the illusion he gets paid to create. Mostly, that illusion is that he has something to do
with what his subjects do, that his "knowledge of psychology" allows him to cause things to happen. Uh, huh.
No, his knowledge of psychology allows him to estimate what percentage of his subjects will do each of the various possible things in the situation.
His knowledge of stagecraft, which these days includes the art of tape editing, will direct the audience's attention to some subjects, and away from
those who did less interesting things.
As in all theater, the audience does at least half the work. Derren has the benefit of an audience rich with guys who think that if they tell a girl
that their nickname is Rick, then the girl will fall into bed with them, because Rick rhymes with another nickname for Richard.
Hey, that's not woo, that's science!
Wow. If you believe that, then what won't you believe? How are Indians so far behind because some of them believe in "pictures that drip
honey" gurus?
(Obviously, generations of exploitation by an Imperial power is irrelevant to the material situation of India. Clearly, the main problem is
home-grown bogus gurus. Right... and then the girl tells "Rick" that her name is Regina, pronounced in the Canadian style, and ...)
I like Derren Brown, because he is a good entertainer. What can be learned from him is theater. No small thing, theater. Not really psychology,
though, and not spirituality, either. Especially not anything about Indian spirituality.
Nice thread, though. Foe flagged.