Shopkeeper Robbed With Hypnosis, Another Example of Lazy Journalism
Some readers may have seen the headlines or news broadcasts claiming a shopkeeper had been robbed with the power of hypnosis. A very entertaining story for some, and admittedly the cctv footage certainly shows the shopkeeper looking distinctly odd. However, it appears to me that the robbers are using simple misdirection, a common trick of magicians and confidence tricksters but it is NOT hypnosis.
Having read the ill informed opinions of various commentators including a magician who said “you can’t hypnotise someone on the first go”, I sit with my head in my hands. Not one comment from anyone actually qualified to work with hypnosis. Had anyone with knowledge about the subject been asked, they would have said that it is impossible  for anyone to be hypnotised against their will. More to the point, that a person in a hypnotic state, would not do anything that they did not want to do nor what they are morally opposed to it seems completely fanciful to believe that this robber used hypnosis on this unwitting shopkeep.
If hypnosis could be used for this or any other immoral purpose, it would be one of the most legislated technology on earth. If we are to believe this, all people are at risk of being hypnotised against their will. Which of course is a total nonsense.
Journalists should research the subject before coming up with these sorts of cheap, tabloidesque articles, rather than sensationalising  an unfortunate situation.
