The Exposure Issue

Where do you stand?

Most more-than-casual magicians have personal stance on the issue of exposure. No, not that kind of exposure; the exposure of magic secrets to the general public. What's yours? Are you a vehement opponent of the practice? Do you offer up secrets free of charge whenever anyone asks you how "it's" done?

I stand squarely on the fence on this issue. On one hand, I feel that anyone sincerely interested in magic will seek out secrets, so information of this nature should remain sub rosa. Seek and ye shall find.

But I also whole-heartedly believe that the exposure of magic secrets - not blatantly, and not on TV ala the Masked Magician, mind you - is a good thing, in the right venue. A book for the general public, ala Jim Steinmeyer's Hiding the Elephant, tips big-time methods like the workings of the Maskelyne-Kellar levitation. So what? If this excites one more person and sends them to a magic show, magic shop, or interests them in magic in general, then I'm all for it.

Make them work for it a bit (by picking up a book and - gasp! - reading), and the information they uncover is, I believe, well-earned. For those that are still uninterested after sating their desire to know how magic works, I'm of the opinion that the exposure won't matter in the long run. Shortly after they consume the clandestine knowledge we as magicians share, they forget about it, and you, the entertainer, will likely be able to fool them with the very same secrets they think they know.