02/08/2004 Whod’ve thought?

I saw David Copperfield’s ‘magic’ show sometime back. While being amazed by the web he weaves, I could not but help thinking why he and the other ‘illusionists’, as they like to be called, would want to waste their time making ships and buildings disappear. There are so many things in this world that we can do without. For instance, why don’t they just make the bad guys of the world like Saddam and bin Laden disappear? Send them into eternal orbit or something. The world will be such a nice place without them and their ilk.

But maybe that’s not such a hot idea. Since all this is just illusion, it might just compound the problem instead. We wouldn’t be able to see ‘em, leave alone catch ‘em! I think it would be a better idea if the rest of the world were made to disappear from the sight of the bad guys. Whoosh! Just like that, make the world disappear and leave them perched like owls on just their own six feet of earth! That’d be wonderful! They can bomb the hell out of each other for all we care. And once they all kill each other, we can all return to normal life.

But maybe this is not such an original idea. Whod’ve thought? Maybe the idea struck bin Laden before me. Maybe that’s why he’s disappeared! Or maybe it struck Saddam first — maybe that’s why the WMDs have disappeared!