How would you define a disclaimer?

"I am going to do this, but don't hold me responsible for the effects on your mind, personal property or your health!"

"Please don't try this at home. I am an experienced professional!"

"Watch but don't try!"

You get the point? I hope.

A statement which absolves you of any responsibilities for someone trying to emulate what they have just seen
and consequently causing damage or personal injury to themselves or others because of a failed attempt is also one way to define the word "Disclaimer".

It's a warning, like on jack***.

In the area of mentalism, an old Robert Nelson disclaimer went something like this:

"I claim no supernatural powers nor help from supernatural agencies; but I do claim that just as radio transmits the voice, and television the picture, so too the mind transmits the thought."

Terry

Webster's would define it thusly:

Dis*claim"er, n.
1. One who disclaims, disowns, or renounces.

2. (Law) A denial, disavowal, or renunciation, as of a title,
claim, interest, estate, or trust; relinquishment or
waiver of an interest or estate. --Burrill.

3. A public disavowal, as of pretensions, claims, opinions,
and the like. --Burke.

A disclaimer in Mentalism would be defined as follows:
It does not exist!

Disclaimers are often ways people use to keep the gendarmes from tossing them in the pokey. For example, at one time, it was illegal to practice hypnosis in the state of Pennsylvania, which is where Kreskin is from. But Kreskin did hypnosis as part of his stage act. How did he get away with working in Pennsylvania? He claimed that he was not practicing hypnosis, and that hypnosis did not exist. He also challenged any doctor, psychologist or psychiatrist to prove by means of an EEG that there was a difference between hypnosis and a normal state.

David Hoy's disclaimer was "I'm a mindreader and I'm a fake!" Many of his audience members did not believe him.

Some areas have laws against anything that smacks of fortunetelling, so in areas like that, some mentalists will say, "What you are about to witness is not fortunetelling nor is it based upon supernatural powers. It is simply the application of talents that lie innate in every one of us. I have simply, by constant practice, increased my abilities to an unusual degree." And that may be considered a disclaimer.

So basically a disclaimer is a CMA statement.

Make no claims... offer no disclaimers. Easier said than done of course. It's hard to tread the line between taking advantage of the gulible and insulting the intelligence of the sceptical. However, my girlfriend is sceptical where mentalists are concerned yet felt that Derren Brown's mild disclaimers in his stage show actually weakend the experience for her, which wasn't what I expected to hear.

Try this.... Downplay the disclaimer as much as you can, in fact use it as a joke.... but never ever contradict it.


This works well in a comedy sense, because you can say great things of "Of course no actual mind reading just happened, I have some secret method of extracting a thought that existed solely in her mind....", ect.

If you tread a very fine line, you will not only have a disclaimer of any real powers, but it will show them that whatever just happened was really impossible and there is no explanation.

Just a thought...

In my view, a disclaimer supports Political Correctness.
You cannot legislate against stupidity.

I would refuse to tread this path.
Tom

I wholeheartedly agree Tom...It is my reason for not using one as well....I merely happen to know the definition!
~2

Like houdini I claim that every thing I do is acolplished by natural means, however I like the idea that some audience members make up their own definition of natural, still I never clainm supernatural.

Mentalism does not exist?