Before social media platforms existed, trying to get in contact with well known people, whether they were politicians, actors, singers or, of course, magicians, was often not easy. Telephone numbers, postal addresses and even emails early on were often concealed or only available through agents or other representatives of the important individuals concerned. This afforded these people a certain protection from the public. But social media has changed all that for ever. Celebrities quickly realised the potential benefits of having a high profile media presence, and some have relentlessly mined the medium to gather millions of followers and then expose them to their messages and influence.
This is all well and good, but of course creating such a window into their lives has laid them open to abuse and cyber attacks from those who seem to enjoy ruffling the feathers of successful, well known people.
Magic has suffered to a degree from this malaise too, of course. Craig Petty, who through his MagicTV and large YouTube presence has flooded the internet with his various video offerings and subsequently has raised his profile enormously, recently published a video in which he revealed that he had been the victim of a less than flattering Facebook post.
Although, to some extent compared to other ‘attacks’ this was relatively tame, he understandably was upset that a fellow magician had felt he had the right to post something which sought to ridicule Craig’s looks, mannerisms and gestures. It was personal and unequivocal.
Craig took to social media to complain and to question a post which he felt had been dropped in out of the blue and with no particular context – it was, he felt, just an unprovoked attack.
The person who had placed the post then attempted to justify what he had done by saying that Craig had often ridiculed others and their magic in his videos and so it was a bit rich that he should complain when someone else did similar to him.
And so on, and so on. To my way of thinking there is a big difference between objective criticism, such as a magic reviewer might give to a product or to a lecture or live performance, and a personal attack that is just designed to hurt and upset. The creator of the criticised product or the performer of the lecture or show might not like it when someone makes less than flattering remarks, but if the comments are backed up by factual analysis and justification and come from someone experienced and knowledgeable, I would suggest that is acceptable.
However, using social media simply to rant and rail against someone you don’t like is clearly an abuse of the medium. Would that same individual say exactly the same things to their target face to face? Almost certainly not. It’s the easy anonymity that the internet provides that leads to extreme examples of this type of abuse.
We like to think that magic is a brotherhood and that magicians are happy to rub along with each other, bound together by the mutual love for the art. What this example from Craig shows, is that even magic cannot be protected entirely from this modern sickness.