I don’t know why, but as each year passes there seems to be a more mean-spirited attitude within the magic community.
MAGIC magazine has a brand new reviewer by the name of Brad Henderson. In his debut review, he puts forth a review that oozes the most mean-spiritedness achievable. The review was brutal towards Kenton Knepper first and foremost, as well as his booklet “Miraculous Ploys”.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion. And clearly, he didn’t like the booklet. However, he takes up two pages in MAGIC to both slam and piss on Kenton.
Before we go further, let me state that I have NOT read Kenton’s booklet. You don’t need to, to clearly see the malicious attack on Mr. Knepper.
A colleague on the west coast brought the review to my attention. My colleague actually doesn’t like Kenton’s works. Strangely, he was appalled by the review and sent it along to me via fax and wondered if I knew whom this Brad Henderson (expletive) was.
I must confess, when I first read it I was utterly shocked. SHOCKED. I could not believe how overwhelmingly nasty the review clearly was.
Upon second reading, I laughed. Let me explain.
Mr. Henderson starts off with a disclaimer that the review “is not based on personal feelings. I have met Kenton, and I thought he was a pleasant human being. Unfortunately, I found this work offensive for several reasons”.
Mr. Henderson then begins a paragraph-by-paragraph attack on the book, it’s writer, his thoughts, his routines and calls him a liar.
Sidebar:You know what would be fun? At the next big magician convention put Mr. Knepper and Mr. Henderson on a platform face-to-face and have Mr. Henderson read that review out loud. Charge admission for it and use the funds for a cosmetic dental surgeon’s costs to fix Mr. Henderson’s teeth at the end.
Mr. Henderson portrays himself (indirectly) as an expert on Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and discounts Mr. Kneppers work with the earth-shattering revelation that the “concepts were not original to him”. Wow. Thanks for that one.
Mr. Henderson further betrays his lack of knowledge with this (hilarious) incorrect comparison: “Wonder Words is to NLP what Dave Dee is to Jay Abraham and other marketing programs.”
That was killer. I laughed out loud at that one. You see, Dave Dee has chosen to idolize and model marketing guru Dan Kennedy. While I’m confident that Mr. Dee IS familiar with Jay Abraham, using that particular analogy betrays his “knowledge” of what he’s talking about. Anyone—and I mean ANYONE—with a remote knowledge of marketing would see that clearly.
Without going back and listening to Mr. Kneppers Wonder Words tapes, I do recall him crediting NLP as well as the use of the term “linguistic deception.” Mr. Henderson puts down Mr. Knepper on the one hand yet credits him for bringing “this material” available to the community.
I do agree with Mr. Henderson that Mr. Knepper is claiming credit for bringing it into our magical community. And I do agree that he’s using established techniques. No question about it.
Although I have not seen Mr. Henderson perform, he is allegedly a skilled close-up magician and I’m willing to bet that he uses established methods to accomplish his tasks. I’m sure that if he has invented any new “moves”, they could also be traced historically prior to his creation.
Mr. Henderson claims Mr. Knepper is not a pioneer, yet Mr. Knepper was the first to bring this stuff to our community. First. And first would be… pioneering?
The “review” is littered with insults such as…
“…one of the most manipulative little pamphlets I have ever read.”
“… every other word is I..”
“…Good God, shoot me now.”
“…Nothing new. Just an overly scripted presentation.”
…and more.
I won’t detail the blow-by-blow insults that Mr. Henderson throws at Mr. Knepper. You can read them yourself. He rips apart basically every trick in the booklet (with a lovely backhanded insult in one form or another)
What’s my point? Easy.
This attack on Mr. Knepper is uncalled for. Indeed, I’m disappointed that the editors of MAGIC published that and I believe it tarnishes the excellent image of the magazine. If they paid him for it, they should get a refund.
If Mr. Henderson doesn’t like the booklet, fine. Quite frankly, I find that far too many reviews these days are over-hyped and over-positive. A negative review is fine. But not one littered with insults and degrading comments.
Clearly, Mr. Henderson’s biases spill over the cup, over the counter and into your lap. He has an axe to grind. And grind it he does.
This is pure speculation on my part, but I have noticed when Mr. Henderson is critiqued in any way, he immediately goes on an extreme defensive.
A simple stroll through the mental-list forum for “mindman” posts will reveal a consistent condescending attitude by Mr. Henderson. Other forums reveal the same.
Generally speaking, this attitude is prevalent in people who have inferiority complexes. People who need to put others down in order to look good. It’s sad. Very sad.
Let me wrap up this commentary by answering a few questions you may have in your mind.
1. I don’t know Mr. Knepper, have never spoken with him and I didn’t find anything in Wonder Words that I was able to use. This isn’t about Mr. Knepper or his book. It’s about negative attitude reviewers.
2. I don’t know Mr. Henderson, other than his prolific postings on various forums, including mine.
3. Mr. Henderson claims that he has received positive responses from his first review. Truthfully, I have not seen any. I have, however, spoken with quite a few who feel the same as I do.
I hope that someday there will be a return of balanced reviews that focus on the matter at hand. And, I hope that MAGIC fires Mr. Henderson and hires someone knowledgeable.