Magicians Hating Magicians

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Luis Vega

Elite Member
Mar 19, 2008
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Leon, Guanajuato Mexico
luisvega.com.mx
I wanted to make this thread because I could never undestand why some magicians hate other magicians,it´s like musicians hating other musicians...
but finally I understand why is this kind of behavior, not that I hate magicians, but I certainly don´t like some of them and I understand why.

First of All, so It is clear...hate is such a strong word to use I prefer to use other words like "not like" and here in my hometown are very few magicians like 2-3 and I have never met them...until past saturday.

I went to a wedding as a guest not as a magician, so I only carry light also because I had a tough week in magic and I wanted to rest to avoid getting overwhelmed with the magic..have a breath

So I was there and some people recognize me and ask me to do some magic and I was happy to do it, mostly because they ask me very nice and they recognize me and not my magic so I was flattered.

I did a quick and nice show in my table and It was good they were very entertained...

and suddenly some guy approach and orders me (yes orders me) to hand him my deck of cards and I gave him my deck. he turns out to be a magician and he started to do some magic, apparently he had a lot of props in his pockets and he even went to get his jacket to his car to have more props...

Ok so, from the point of view of a magician he was a horrible magician, not only his patter was stupid and pointless, but he treated the audience like stupid people, he didn´t stopped talking even when somebody of the table ask him something he seems to ignore them, his skill was worse and he did little to nothing to change that...

then after his show he proceed to talk to me and I really didn´t like this guy, he question me about everything from how much I charge to how I do my magic, apparently he has been doing magic 10 years and he told me that I was doing everything wrong because I didn´t go to magic conferences, apparently he goes to every congress (except for United States, he says he hates america, and he doesn´t speak english) and he told me that he was better than me and he did this, and knew this magicians and bla bla bla

well some things I knew he was exagerating a lot (like he told me he charge 800 bucks per hour and he had a crappy car and he was very bad dressed for a wedding with sport pants and a dirty shirt) among other things so I could not believe him in a lot of things.

I certainly don´t hate him, but he teach me exactly how I MUST NOT BE, and I thank him for that. I wouldn´t hang out with him, but I´m sure not all magicians are this way, I knew there are magicians that are also great people that know how to me humble.

just as a quick note....I got a gig from that wedding and the client told me that he like me more, because obviously the other magician had more magic and had more experience, but he told me that he like the shows where the spectators get to talk and participate like I did in my short show and he hated (he used that word) egotistical people a lot....

some quotes to end this thread:

-never compete between magicians in a show, respect the magician that is doing magic first, even if he sucks
-if you have magicians friends,I hope you hang out with them because they are great people not because they do good magic
-be humble
-don´t hate magicians just because their ways are different than yours, everyones has his style

so that´s it...thoughts?
and If you have met another magicians how was like? share your story
 
May 3, 2008
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I completely see what you mean though. But you have to ignore the fact that he does magic and think of him as a person too. Honestly, he seemed like a bit of a obnoxious jerk. Someone who's that full of himself must be pretty bad. But I used to dislike other magicians slightly until recently. I was really just trying to make myself seem better because I wasn't impressed by their shows. Then I attended a magic convention in my city and everything changed for me. After that, I found out that one of my friends I met this year has a dad who's a professional magician. It was actually really cool seeing him give advice on my sleights.
 
it all depends on how important magic is to you.
and sense we are talking about magicians, then im sure it is important.
Its all about self esteem.
we all want to have a high positive self esteem and we dont want someone making us feel bad about it, or even showing us up.
there are 2 main scenarios for increasing self esteem, One is reflection, and one is comparison.
For reflection, it is the scenario where your friend tony (example) plays saxophone, now i dont play saxophone, so for starters my interest in saxophone is low. for him it is high. also the person has to be close to me,like a close friend or sister/brother or maybe cousin., Now lets say tony does really well in sax and wins a important contest or reward for his sax. Now tony feels really really good. he just succeeded higher than everyone else in sax. Now i really dont care, but tony is my friend, so im like YEA man my friend tony is the best sax player around.
We bask in their reflected glory.
the other kind is comparison. its where my friend tom is a magician, and i am a magician, we both really like magic. Also with comparison, the relationship doesnt really have to be to anyone, it could be a brother, sister, friend, neighbor, friend of a friend, or just a stranger. now lets say that he wins an award in magic. now i can either look at this in the reflective way, but its hard to because i am comparing my self to him. i feel worse because i want to do better.
now if i won that award it would make me feel better, saying that im better than everyone around at what i like to do.

that might be why that guy had to show off in front of u, he was being lowerd in self esteem, so he had to do something to raise his self esteem.
but this happens in all kinds of fields.

thats just my psychological view on the situation.\
 
Dec 24, 2009
61
0
Would've told him that he can go back to his 800 dollar gigs and shut his mouth. I'm very blunt with people that come at me in such a way, hate people that like.

Yes I do hate, I dislike many magicians, but hate only certain people.
 
Feb 27, 2008
2,342
1
33
Grand prairie TX
but finally I understand why is this kind of behavior, not that I hate magicians, but I certainly don´t like some of them and I understand why.

You dont hate some magicians. You hate certain types of people.
The title of their work has nothing to do with their personality. Though it might raise their pretentiousness,but they are already inclined to acting that way.
 
Jun 27, 2008
219
1
Illinois
It's not an issue of magicians hating magicians; it's people hating people, only in this case, both people happen to be magicians. As long as the world turns, there will always be people who hate other people.
 
D

Deleted member 2755

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I don't like magicians because the majority of them are egotistical pricks. Simple. :) After my experiences with magicians, I really only talk to about 4 or 5 of them. I'm not saying they are all jerks, but from my experience, the majority of them are. They have such big egos it's ridiculous.

"Hey man, how you doing today?"
"Eh... Mediocre at best."

-Doug
 
I don't like magicians because the majority of them are egotistical pricks. Simple. :) After my experiences with magicians, I really only talk to about 4 or 5 of them. I'm not saying they are all jerks, but from my experience, the majority of them are. They have such big egos it's ridiculous.

"Hey man, how you doing today?"
"Eh... Mediocre at best."

-Doug

It is just awful. This is why people say that young magicians suck, they are too full of themselves to admit to any flaws.

Mikk.
 
Feb 27, 2008
2,342
1
33
Grand prairie TX
It is just awful. This is why people say that young magicians suck, they are too full of themselves to admit to any flaws.

Mikk.

Again,its not a magician thing.
Its teenagers. We think we are superman.That we know way more than the adults.
Theres a reason why its a cliche. Just listen to that taylor swift song 15. She describes how dumb we are at a young age but she's nice about it.
 
Jan 1, 2009
2,241
3
Back in Time
It is just awful. This is why people say that young magicians suck, they are too full of themselves to admit to any flaws.

Mikk.

It's not just young magicians, it's also the old guys who have been doing this for years or whatever.

But you kind of neglect the fact that most magicians NEED to have some sort of ego problem. It comes with the job. Along with any other job in the entertainment industry. Actors, Singers, etc etc. There is always going to be a group of people that suffer from some sort of ego problem for whatever reason.


I don't really like magicians because the majority of them seem to appear exactly the same. They all have those goofy grins on their faces, they all tend to try too hard to push their magic on people, and most of them tend to be huge kiss asses.

Plus the majority of Magician websites I have seen show no diversity between them. A dude in a tux with a spread of cards in his hands, along with a goofy grin that makes you want to call the cops on him. Nothing to make them stand out.
 
Jun 8, 2008
128
1
I don't like magicians because the majority of them are egotistical pricks. Simple. :) After my experiences with magicians, I really only talk to about 4 or 5 of them. I'm not saying they are all jerks, but from my experience, the majority of them are. They have such big egos it's ridiculous.

"Hey man, how you doing today?"
"Eh... Mediocre at best."

-Doug

Yeah i totally agree with this. Its really a shame
 
Feb 27, 2008
2,342
1
33
Grand prairie TX
It's not just young magicians, it's also the old guys who have been doing this for years or whatever.

But you kind of neglect the fact that most magicians NEED to have some sort of ego problem. It comes with the job. Along with any other job in the entertainment industry. Actors, Singers, etc etc. There is always going to be a group of people that suffer from some sort of ego problem for whatever reason.


I don't really like magicians because the majority of them seem to appear exactly the same. They all have those goofy grins on their faces, they all tend to try too hard to push their magic on people, and most of them tend to be huge kiss asses.

Plus the majority of Magician websites I have seen show no diversity between them. A dude in a tux with a spread of cards in his hands, along with a goofy grin that makes you want to call the cops on him. Nothing to make them stand out.

I agree with you for the most part. But the last bit about the tux is still relevant with the new magicians too.
Blue jeans and a graphic tee and a packet display is the cliche now. The street guerilla magic that is even more uninteresting than the old school. Its all the same.New generation.
 
Jan 1, 2009
2,241
3
Back in Time
Whats funny is that a lot of people complain about being told off. They neglect to realize the one reason that David Blaine is able to perform on the streets.


HE HAS A FREAKING CAMERA CREW WITH HIM!. Think about it, if somebody came up to you and had a camera crew with them, You'd instantly think they mean business. This also the reason that you see guys from E and Theory11 make decent DVD's. Because they have a camera crew there. Therefore most people don't think "Who is this ass?" they are thinking that the person MUST be a professional, otherwise he wouldn't have a camera crew.

The one thing people could learn is that if you dress yourself up a bit better, people will take you a lot more seriously. But that's kind of a rant.

Most Magicians, Old and Young usually have some form of an ego problem and the internet has made it worse. Because you can't smack the taste out of a person's mouth when they are on the other side of the country and hiding behind a monitor.
 
Oct 29, 2009
971
0
Just around
Again,its not a magician thing.
Its teenagers. We think we are superman.That we know way more than the adults.
Theres a reason why its a cliche. Just listen to that taylor swift song 15. She describes how dumb we are at a young age but she's nice about it.
True true... Why do you think every other thread turns into an argument? Lot of teens on here, including me (except I try to act respectful).
 
Whats funny is that a lot of people complain about being told off. They neglect to realize the one reason that David Blaine is able to perform on the streets.


HE HAS A FREAKING CAMERA CREW WITH HIM!. Think about it, if somebody came up to you and had a camera crew with them, You'd instantly think they mean business.

its true. having a camera crew helps. well actually just a dude with a big nice HD camera works too.
but did anyone take time to read my post. i think that has a good answer to it.
instead of people thinking this guy is a prick. its a self esteem issue.
and high self esteem isnt all that good.
and im sure we all have SE issues.
There are 2 kinds of high self esteem, good and bad.
the good HighSE is the person who feels they are very good at something (magic in this case) but still look for constructive critisism, and if someone does come to them and say they suck, they will wonder why and what they can do to fix it.
someone with negative SE is the person who thinks they are the best and that if anyone gives them negitive critisism, they dont think of it and just blow it off and say, oh well that kids a dick he doesnt know anything about what he is saying.
even if a professional tells him something, he'll be like, what ever i dont need to listen to him.
so seems like that guy might have a little negative self esteem, or maybe you do. people with the neg dont usually know it, or even think they are in the wrong.
i know on many occasions i have thought that way. that i am the best and no one should tell me what to do. but i try to learn and take critisisms more now.
its hard sometimes but its the best way to learn
 
Dec 24, 2009
61
0
Apply the whole ego arguement to Penn and Teller and their whole performance style. Just really think about what they talk about and their presentation style.
 
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