I briefly mentioned Jim Rose in the essay My Brief Career As A Psychicbut I don't think it conveyed in the least my respect and admiration for the man.
I've only seen Jim Rose once, and that was on the very much scaled down "Secrets Of The Strange" tour, which included the Rubberman and Mr. Lifto but more importantly a series of lectures revealing tricks and scams of all kinds.
I was impressed by Rose's tactics, including what I believe to be a pre-ordained heckler in the crowd, early on in the show, whose forced removal at Jim Rose's request set a no-bullshit precedent for the rest of the evening.
The reason I respect Jim Rose is because his show, at least the one I saw, could be a powerful vaccine against credulity. You see, the authors of the skeptical movement are often dry, and, besides, their readers already know what to expect. Jim Rose's reputation for bizarre and shocking displays attracted many people who would probably never pick up a copy of "Why People Believe Wierd Things". He used many of the same tactics of crowd control as cults and faith healers do to hold the audiences attantion. This is where the vaccine metaphor kicks in. By using those tactics, but making it clear for most of the show that they weren't seeing anything miraculous, and by revealing those tactics throughout the show, he gave the audience an experience which they would recognize if faced with it in some other place, a place where the same tactics were being used for purposes of actual indoctrination or non-entertainment trickery.
That's how a vaccine works. A harmless replica (Secrets Of The Strange) of a disease (New age, religious gobbledegook) is put into the body (Memory) so that the immune system (Critical thinking skills) can recognize it and are more able to destroy the real version of the disease.
At any rate, if he's doing the Secrets Of The Strange tour again, or if he does this sort of thing on his normal tour, I suggest you go see it.
Also, for those who happen to by Marilyn Manson fans, Jim Rose did one of the best, most open interviews I've ever read with MM for Rip Magazine in 1994, a couple of years before MM became a household name.
To visit the Jim Rose Circus official website, click either of the graphics at the top.
If you're interested, Jim Rose wrote an excellent book called "Freak Like Me: Inside The Jim Rose Circus". Unfortunately it's out of print, but hopefully Amazon can find it for you.
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This page was created by Daniel Johnson, amduscias666@hotmail.com