Magic Words

Magic words and incantations are a staple of fairy tales, fantasies, and horror stories. They are the words that give mystical powers to those who say them, or call up arcane forces for good or evil. You know some of the classic magic words:

Abracadabra (a version of this, avada kedavra, was the Killing Curse, one of the Unforgiveable Curses, in the Harry Potter stories)

Shazam

Open Sesame (used by Ali Baba to open the cave of the 40 Thieves)

Sim Sala Bim (from the TV series Johnny Quest and the film Oz the Great and Powerful)

Alakazam

Oo ee oo ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang (from the 1951 song “Witch Doctor”)

And the ones our parents (well, mine, anyway) always wanted us to use: Please and Thank You*.

There are also the evil incantations, such as H.P. Lovecraft’s unpronounceable "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

Of course nowadays we’re pretty sophisticated, and we know that there aren’t any real magic words, right?

Wrong.

We use powerful incantations, and experience their use upon us, every day. The most widely used and powerful of the modern incantations is

National Security, which can be used to justify almost any action, no matter how unconstitutional or unconscionable.

Other powerful incantations, capable of clouding the mind and judgement of those who don't think for themselves are:

Fake News, which, like The Shadow, has the power to cloud men's minds.

And

Second Amendment, used to dispel and confuse arguments about ways to reduce gun violence in America.

Magic words and incantations are real, and are being used on us every day. What other examples do you see? Leave a comment.

Have a good day and protect yourself against political enchantments. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* If you watched the old Captain Kangaroo show, you know his magic words were "abracadabra please and thank you."