- 'If', Rudyard Kipling

"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us."
- Herman Hesse

Some people in magic accuse me of being 'exposer'. These pages, the dullest on the entire site, address this claim.

The first thing to say is that this accusation is false, but I understand why some people keep making it.

I could simply ignore this accusation, and friends wiser than myself (which is pretty much all of them) have suggested I should. It seems 99% of magicians ignore it anyway, judging by my emails, my ever-growing circle of friends and contacts, and my thriving trade - both commercial and intellectual - with my brothers in this greatest of performing arts.

The 'dignified silence' option has its merits, not least the fact that what I don't write can't be selectively mis-quoted. However, I do sometimes meet magicians who, while they don't believe the accusation, are curious about it. Hence this information.

There is a lot of detail. Sorry, but it's one of those cases where detail matters.

Two Initial Statements

(1) I love magic and mentalism. I have never knowingly harmed our art, and I never will.

(2) I do not get defensive about this issue because I have nothing to get defensive about. This is not a court, I'm not on trial, and this is not a defence. It's an explanation.

A Note About My Accusers

I get lots of supportive emails about this issue, and some of them describe my accusers in rather ripe and colourful language. May I say I think this is unhelpful. My accusers are not bad people, or the fruits of unwedded union, or deserving of any other insults. I have never referred to them in a derogatory way, and I never will.

My accusers are intelligent people with strong feelings. They sincerely believe what they say about me. I respect them as people and as performers (where I know something of their work). I respect their sincerity as well, but I believe the 'exposer' allegation is misguided for the reasons presented here.

My small and not entirely merry band of accusers fall into two camps.

(1) Those with whom it is possible to achieve some sort of peace and reconciliation. I wish to work towards this goal.

(2) Those who will continue to revile me no matter what I say, do or promise. Sometimes people hate without cause, or when the cause has lapsed. I can say to these people that while they may never want to be my friend, I utterly refuse to be their enemy. To them, I offer my apologies for whatever they think I've done wrong, my willingness to see if we can reach peaceful co-existence, and my thanks for promoting many of the thoughts in these pages.

Preliminaries over, let's look at why these accusations are made. Click here for the next page: Explanation and Peace > The Background to the Allegations.