Is stage hypnotism black magic?
I loved this question first thing this morning and the video that went along with it. I'm inspired to write a blog post.
What's going on here? It's quite clever really
Firstly, the people are having fun!
Famous person and an authority figure.
The hypnotist, Michael C Anthony, is a renowned entertainer, having won Male Entertainer of the Year with Campus Activities Magazine, among a number of other accolades. The people would likely have heard of him and have seen others having fun at a hypnosis show and are curious about it. Having credibility as someone famous gives the entertainer a perceived authority, which is helpful for the entertainer in influencing people to obey commands.
Rapport is a key element for the hypnosis phenomenon to take place
Michael is a master at building rapport with an audience. He has many years' experience doing so and has written a number of books on the subject. He is a born entertainer and would have had the audience super fired up with energy and having a lot of fun prior to this video.
A high-energy state is a hypnotic state
When people are in this fun, high-energy state, they are hypnotised. i.e., they are not thinking so much with their critical/analytical mind, they are cheering, clapping, laughing and having fun; they are thinking more with their subconscious mind and are open to suggestion without questioning it.
During the 'entertainment' before this video was taken, the hypnotist fired up the people to be in a heightened state of energy, celebration-type energy! He would have fired up the idea that it would be 'so cool' if you're the lucky one to get up on this stage because we're going to have more fun than you've ever had in your life!
The somnabulists
Kids are more open to the suggestions being given here
Notice that all the ones who scrambled up on the stage are all kids. There are adults in the audience but they didn't get up. Adults have been trained out of using the power of their subconscious mind, having the idea that it is dangerous or black magic or that they can be controlled to do something they don't want to do. The peer pressure among adults would be more along the lines that it would be unseemly for them to behave in such a whimsical way. But kids are still open to using the power of their mind, even for entertainment, until someone brainwashes them out of it too. So these kids are up for a laugh without thinking about it too much.
Peer pressure
Plus peer pressure would be another factor that would help the hypnotist greatly, and the entertainer plays on this beautifully. The participants want to be seen as cool and funny among their friends!