In the seventies of the last century, the Israeli mentalist —or perhaps better to say illusionist— Uri Geller caused a sensation not only on stages around the world, but also in homes where, glued to the television screen, still mostly blank and black, entire families were stunned by the magician’s feats.
Spanish viewers were exposed to his amazing paranormal abilities in September 1975, just two months after Franco’s death. It was in the interview that José MarÃa Ãñigo gave him, in which, just with the power of his mind, Geller bent a spoon until it broke. Miracle! And as if this were not enough, he also managed to start broken clocks without touching them.
Of course, there was more than one who believed that it was a crude trick carried out by a vulgar conjurer, although it would seem that the vast majority, delivered, astonished, pleased, considered his performance authentic, perhaps because they wanted to think that the power of the mind gives so much But neither were few who unsuccessfully tried to emulate the master, while there were those who went out of their way to unmask the fraudulent artist.
Uri Geller’s nemesis, at least in the United States, was fellow magician James Randi, who was already going around claiming that he was capable of reproducing any recorded case of supposedly telepathic or paranormal powers. And he did it and in public.
Since Geller, before proceeding to bend keys or spoons, used to trick the public with a pleasant explanation that dealt with what telekinesis consists of, which is the name of the power that allowed him to do it, James Randi was waiting for him there.
One night, after a performance by Geller that as usual left the audience stunned, Randi took the stage, and he repeated each and every one of the famous mentalist’s numbers with absolute accuracy. But not satisfied with that, he then proceeded to reveal what each of these tricks consisted of. The magician’s most important attribute, he explained, consists of his ability to distract attention at the precise moment he performs his tricks, that is, when he changes, for example, the key of a volunteer on stage for another previously folded without anyone noticing the deception.
In today’s politics that we have the misfortune to suffer from, there are plenty of tricksters like Uri Geller (government) and guys like James Randi (opposition), these eager to dismantle the crude tricks that sneak into us while they distract us with any bullshit of their invention. And what if it shows in these times of permanent electoral campaign.
Now, it is often the case that those who rail against the system turn out to be even more populists than the populists they vilify so much. It is already known: fascist or populist is the one who does not think like you. Illusionists all. The magic of politics only works when politicians are able to deceive their voters while making the switch.
But there is also Littlewood’s Law. John Edenson Littlewood (1885-1977), a British mathematician whose research on the laws of probability led him to conclude that, paradoxically, the least expected things, which could be called miraculous, occur with unusual frequency. Over the course of a human life, they occur at the rate of one miracle per month.
The law establishes that during eight waking hours a day we perceive every second that at least one thing has happened, which gives a sum of 30,000 days or a million a month. The possibility of a miracle occurring at this time is one in a million. So we can expect a miracle a month.
Disassembling Uri Geller as James Randi did ignores Littlewood’s law, since it rules out the possibility that, at least on occasion, Uri Geller was indeed capable of working paranormal miracles.
In the 28-M elections, let alone in the general ones, the Uri Gellers will face the James Randi of politics and vice versa. And no matter how much the polls say, it should not be ruled out that a miracle will take place that will surprise us all.
