Polls shouldn't be a matter of shock and awe tactics

The city is awash with crimson coloured top of the range vehicles. Yet we have not heard of a funds drive, and one wonders whether some people’s money grows on trees. Is it not the beneficiaries of graft oiling the wheel for yet another roller coaster ride? PHOTO: COURTESY

The words ‘illusion’ ‘deception’ ‘trickery’ come to mind in reference to the popular art form known as stage magic. When skillfully executed, good stage magic can leave naïve observers with the impression that the performer possesses supernatural powers. In truth, a conjurer of tricks uses sleight of hand and misdirection to achieve apparently impossible outcomes.

Misdirection is a form of deception in which the attention of an audience is focused on one thing to distract its attention from another. Magic works by misdirection. The magician exploits your tendency to look at the obvious while the real action is taking place elsewhere. Managing the audience’s attention is the aim of all theatre, it is the foremost requirement of theatrical magic.