Magic and Scouts

Lord Baden Powell, the founder of Scouting, was a great proponent of disguise, acting, magic tricks, and many other seemingly frivolous activities.

He recognised the value in a combat situation, being able to trick your enemy, or distract them, was a valuable skill.  Using sleight of hand and using a persons own mind against them, could be just what is needed to give you an advantage, and save many lives.  It can also be fun.

What is all of this about?  Scouts has a long tradition of Gang Shows that include acting, dress up, magic tricks and singing.

I would like to spend a bit of time on the magic tricks.

We all know that when we see a magic trick, that we are being intentionally fooled.  We pay to see it because it is entertaining (hopefully).  We suspend our disbelief at the door, accept it as it happens and afterwards wonder how it was done.  Because it was right in front of me, he/she couldn't have done it really, could they?

Magic rely's on simple distraction, special props, and sometimes other people in on the trick or planted in the audience.  But at its most basic, you are being distracted at a critical time, so that the "incredible" can happen.

Learning how to do magic, or at least how it works, will give you a basis in being critical when an incredible event happens, or when someone tries sleight of hand or magic tricks to sell you a product.  An example is the "Power Balance Bands", apparently "holograms are designed to work with your body's natural energy field. Balance - Strength - Flexibility."


This seems quite an extraordinary claim, so you would expect some extraordinary evidence to back it up.  It appears that all they have are some demonstrations that use Applied Kinesiology, and some testimonials.


This is hardly extraordinary evidence for a product that sells for around $60 AU, but can be purchased from the same manufacturer, for about 3 cents each, or from Skeptic Bros (they are the original Placebo Bands) for $2 each.

So if you are aware of the techniques used to promote the products, or you can at least recognise that what is being said about it or how it is supposed to work, is a bit dubious.  You can take a step back, assess and analyse the evidence, and make a truly informed decision.

So if you would like to see some really good magic tricks that anyone can do, read the Scout Magic book (quite an old book), or see some of the videos on Scam School.  I am sure that there are many other wonderful places to learn great tricks that can be passed on to scouts, or better yet, see if they can do some research and find some magic tricks of their own.