A Skeptic’s View on “Mind Games”

Homecoming week is upon us, and with it, many exciting activities! (Or so they keep telling us.) For their first amazing activity, the Student Activities Board brought in a hypnotist Monday night, Sept. 18.

Hypnotism is amazing, right? I mean, somebody can take control of another person and make them do… anything! Right?! Isn’t that incredible?! Not so much. As a strong believer that hypnosis is rigged, going to the show was more of a job than for fun.

The hypnotist was Paul Ramsay, and he’s been doing this for almost 14 years. He learned from a former hypnotist, originally as a hobby, but then moved to full time. He started to “embrace the technology” in 2012 and has been popular ever since.

Hypnotism, however, still has a few inconsistencies.  During the performance, a few people were told to do certain acts. For example, one girl was told to act as a Marine Corps drill sergeant, but when she was questioned, she told Ramsay she was an Army drill sergeant, which is a completely different section of the military. So, which is it? Secondly, close to the end of the session, a few of the respondents were told to react in different ways depending on certain words that were said. One girl, who was to say, “Who’s your daddy?!” when Ramsay said Madison, was late to respond most times, or missed a reaction response. Another girl just didn’t react at all.

So, is hypnosis real? I guess, technically, this is based on whether you believe if it’s science or pseudoscience. Or if you’re just a true believer in the whole, “anything is possible” thing.

Homecoming week continues though, so stay tuned for all the fun stuff that’s sure to happen at some point this week!