Misdirection and Manipulation

Lessons from Humpty Dumpty

Two of the most important items in a magician’s “toolbox” are manipulation and misdirection.

Manipulation is to a magician what etudes are to a pianist. Just as a pianist practices “running the scales” over and over until the process becomes “muscle memory” stored deep within the brain, a magician will practice the same “moves” with cards or coins over and over until they can be done without “thinking” and, this is especially important, without looking at the hands.

Misdirection is when the magician wants to direct a spectator’s attention elsewhere while the “dirty work” of the magic effect is being done.

I have a coin trick that I perform that, if done correctly, is not only stunning to watch but a real “fooler.” One surprising revelation occurs after another with coins disappearing, reappearing, changing places until, just when the one watching this effect being done is absolutely sure they have it “figured out,” there are no coins whatsoever. It is one of my favorite routines to perform.

Now, here is something interesting: I will begin performing this effect by saying, “Here are two coins. I use them for manipulation and misdirection.” This very statement causes people to stare intently at the very place where the “real work” of the effect is NOT being done. Our human brains are funny that way. By the magician’s saying, “Look here,” he directs attention away from where the real manipulation is taking place. That is the misdirection.

So, here is a question for you: what or who is Humpty Dumpty? You know the children’s rhyme:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men,
Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again?

What or who was Humpty Dumpty?

Everybody knows the answer to this. Right?

Just hearing the rhyme or riddle causes an image to come to mind. You have one now as you read this. That image is of an egg.

Why?

Go back and read the rhyme. Nowhere in it does it mention an egg.

Why is it that we think of an egg?

Because in 1871 an artist, John Tenniel, illustrated a book by Lewis Carroll. The book is “Through the Looking Glass” which was published in 1871. Tenniel drew Humpty Dumpty as a large egg sitting on a wall. By giving the egg a speaking voice in the book, the image of Humpty Dumpty as an egg has been permanently planted in people’s imagination.

Neither Carroll nor Tenniel were trying to “trick” the reading audience and, most likely, the answer to the riddle was intended to be an egg to begin with. My point, however, is that an egg is not mentioned in the rhyme.

By the way, there is a popular theory, among people who like to figure out the origin and meaning of things, that Humpty Dumpty was a large cannon used by Royalist forces during the English Civil War of 1624. When the wall on which the cannon sat was damaged, the cannon fell and couldn’t be repaired. It is a colorful story but there is no evidence to link the rhyme to it

Our culture is rife with misdirection and manipulation. Many people are being bamboozled and dumb-fuddled by it.

My beautiful bride and I live within walking distance of a magnificent park. When the weather is amenable, it is a great place to go. In the park there is a Japanese Garden with all sorts of plant and animal life - ponds with ducks and turtles, squirrels and other critters abound. There are attractive and enticing play areas for children, a reflecting pool, paddle boats to rent and ride. Various musical groups, sometimes even the city’s symphony orchestra, are performing. These are all good reasons to go there and walk. In addition, we get to enjoy and interact with our city’s diverse population.

Last January while we were resting on a bench watching the boaters and ducks, there was a boy nearby feeding the ducks.

(We’re not supposed to do that but . . . AND, he was having such a great time.)

The couple nearby watching over him were, I concluded by their looks, his grandparents.

I engaged the boy in conversation and asked him his name. “My name is Mohammed,” he said.

“That’s a wonderful name. It has so much wonderful history and meaning to it. How old are you Mohammed?”

“I’m five” he said, as he held up all the fingers on one tiny hand.

“Wow!” I responded. “That’s a handful.” His grandparents nodded vigorously.

“Mohammed, tomorrow is going to be the Houston Marathon. Are you going to run in it?”

Without hesitation he replied, “Yes!”

“How do you think you will do?”

He put his hands on his hips, looked confidently at me and said loudly, “I’m going to win.” That kid has a future.

It was an interaction that gladdened my soul.

We got up and headed back home and alongside the reflecting pool I asked my wife to stop so I could take her picture. That was a bit of misdirection and manipulation on my part because what I really wanted to do was surreptitiously take the photo of these young women sitting on a bench by the reflecting pool. (I’ve made the photo a drawing to protect identity.)

Perhaps they had all just received some horrible or wonderful news. I doubt that. They were likely being misdirected and manipulated by some algorithm that led them to sit there on a beautiful January day so focused on their damn devices that they were missing the joy of being - being in nature, being with their friends, just being.

I confess that I can get suckered into this world too. Though I am not on Facebook, or any other social media, except this and the postings of my teachings that go out via Constant Contact and are available on the Ordinary Life website. I do occasionally watch Reels. I love standup comics and the magicians who appear on Penn and Teller’s “Fool Us.”

Recently I saw a bit by one of my favorite comedians, Desi Lydic, on how “desperately” the American people absolutely wanted, needed and must have a ballroom. (You can search it out on YouTube) She had put together a multitude of clips of talking heads and politicians looking sincerely at the camera and lying about how the “American people are expressing their desperate need” for this structure.

I say these people were lying for two reasons:

First, I hang out with a fair representation of “the American people” and so far none of them has expressed such a “desperate need” for a ball room. It has never been mentioned. What has been talked about is the price of gasoline, the unwarranted war in Iran, and what will happen to the million people displaced now as refugees from Lebanon.

Second, these people sound a lot like me when I am lying.

The ballroom in question is a bit of misdirection and manipulation - and the desire of one terribly broken man’s insatiable hunger for fame and love.

Humpty Dumpty may or may not have been an egg. If, however, we do not wake up and pay attention, like him, we are headed for a great fall.