Poll: Do you believe in Magic?

[Paddy the Second]

So I've been reading Least Helpful.com recently, which posts ridiculous reviews from around the internet, and not intentionally funny ones like Three Wolf Moon. Something that comes up a surprising amount is magic, with Christian lunatics who are probably members of One Million Moms railing against Harry Potter for glamourising "witchcraft and wizardry" when all those who practice it will be sent to hell. Also apparent are people complaining on shitty films about magic users "God! Magic isn't real, why would anyone be dumb enough to believe in magic?" And to round it all off actual witches or wiccans complaining about the misrepresentation of witches in fiction, choice quote from a review of the movie of Roald Dahl's the Witches "yet again we are the bad guys and this movie is really scary if you are trying to raise pagan kids."
I'm not discriminating against you if you practice magic, but maybe don't call yourselves a word that over thousand's of years has come to be an irreversible signifier for evil. Call yourselves something different, and more awesome, don't you want more members of your secret societies? Call yourselves something like nature masters, that would be cool.

Enough rambling, so Escapists, do you believe in magic? As for myself I'm fairly certain Houdini existed, even if his tricks could be explained they're still technically magic.

 

[Limecake]

Enough rambling, so Escapists, do you believe in magic? As for myself I'm fairly certain Houdini existed, even if his tricks could be explained they're still technically magic.

Well in that sense I guess I do believe in magic? If by magic you mean sleight of hand and illusion (smoke and mirrors etc.) but those are tricks not really what I would call magical.

In fact Houdini was a big skeptic, he offered money to anyone that could prove to have supernatural powers and never had to pay a single person. He spent a lot of time debunking psychics and other who were passing off their magic 'tricks' as some sort of supernatural power.

It was his training as a magician that helped him recognize the tricks these people were playing on others. The thing about magic is most people just want to believe it's real even though it's quite clear it isn't real.

I'm pretty sure magicians don't want to be associated with Wicca and most 'witches' are simple pagans who don't cast spells. If they do it's no worse than praying to a god since any results seen from praying or casting spells are purely coincidental.

 

[Hazy992]

Define magic. Because if you're counting the likes of Houdini or Penn and Teller then you can't be talking about the magic of fantasy or mythology.

 

[Vuliev]

even if his tricks could be explained

Wouldn't that make them, you know, not actually magic? At least not in a literal sense.


Anyhoo, I'd like to believe that magic (literal magic, mind you) is possible, but all current evidence is pretty contrary to that. Of course, the whole "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" way of going about it would work for me too.

 

[teqrevisited]

Anything can be seen to be achieved with the right combination of science and deception.

 

[Paddy the Second]

even if his tricks could be explained

Wouldn't that make them, you know, not actually magic?

Well if David Blaine sitting in a box can be classed as magic Houdini actually doing something impressive counts too.

Enough rambling, so Escapists, do you believe in magic? As for myself I'm fairly certain Houdini existed, even if his tricks could be explained they're still technically magic.

Well in that sense I guess I do believe in magic? If by magic you mean sleight of hand and illusion (smoke and mirrors etc.) but those are tricks not really what I would call magical.

Magic is by it's (rather loose) definition transient, so it depends on what you class as magic, if you don't think Houdini counts he doesn't count.

 

[Phasmal]

I voted `No`.
I enjoy magic tricks, but I enjoy them for what they are. Tricks, not magic.

This is a personal irritation of mine because I am unfortunate enough to have someone in my familiy who does believe in magic (that in itself is fine), and accuses me of being `militant` and `blindly following scientists` because I do not (that's what pisses me off- as well as the smugness).

 

[Vuliev]

Magic is by it's (rather loose) definition transient, so it depends on what you class as magic, if you don't think Houdini counts he doesn't count.

Well, I guess that makes sense. "True" magic to me has always been the kind of stuff that's firmly out of the realm of technology and physics.

 

[Wayneguard]

I believe in miracles...

where ya from, you sexy thang.

 

[DoPo]

As for myself I'm fairly certain Houdini existed

Yes, and I am fairly certain you are correct. I believe we have evidence of that, too. He's not Gandalf, you know.

And magic, by definition, is something that is literally impossible under normal circumstances. A miracle of some sort. Therefore, if what he did was tricks that can be explained, then, yes, that means that it's not magic. After all, otherwise we should call every skill that is better than average "magic" denying people recognition for their aptitude.

 

[kannibus]

Sure. I've got a kickass deck and it only gets better from here on in.

 

[Rowan93]

Well, I believe in Friendship, and as we all know...

Sharing is caring?

 

[Circleseer]

So OP, what do you believe in, then?
I find your question quite vague. Dictionary.com has the following definition;

mag·ic
noun
1.
the art of producing illusions as entertainment by the use of sleight of hand, deceptive devices, etc.; legerdemain; conjuring: to pull a rabbit out of a hat by magic.
2.
the art of producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantation or various other techniques that presumably assure human control of supernatural agencies or the forces of nature. Compare contagious magic, imitative magic, sympathetic magic.



I assume you mean #2? But you did say; 'As for myself I'm fairly certain Houdini existed, even if his tricks could be explained they're still technically magic.'


So does that mean definition #1? If so, I think nearly everyone believes in sleigh of hand, it's not very controversial.

 

[370999]

I voted `No`.
I enjoy magic tricks, but I enjoy them for what they are. Tricks, not magic.

This my take, I do like slight of hand and the whole process of figuring out "how did he do that?"

 

[Scarim Coral]

Define "magic".

I kind of believe magic as in not every single thing can be explain using logic however I don't believe those who pratice in it (would that make me an oxymoron?) except when you use magic as a trick performance. No offence to those who pratice in it btut I just view those who by charm or potions from some hex/ magic site are just wasting their time.

 

[thylasos]

Magic is 'the art of changing conciousness at will', according to Dion Fortune, and I believe in people's varying ability to do that in various contexts, some of which are considered magical or spiritual.

 

[Jaeke]

Fireballs... no.


Sleight of Hand? Yes.

Even if it can be something learned and mastered, just the art of being able to master it and to convince and preform in front of others is its own kind of magic.

So yeah sure, magic in its own right exists.

 

[Mariakko]

"Magic is just science we haven't discovered yet" -I don't remember who said it but I like that quote a lot.