Exposure (magic)#Arguments

|New magicians need to learn somewhere. Exposure enables young magicians to develop their skills across a wide range of magical methods.

|There are many accepted methods of teaching magic that target those who want to perform, rather than those who just want to know the secret.

|Exposure of old tricks forces magicians to develop new ones.

|Developing new tricks is a difficult, time-consuming process.[https://books.google.com/books?id=4SgDAAAAMBAJ&dq=exposing+magic+tricks&pg=PA23 Popular Science (Feb 1926) My Rope Escapes - By Houdini] Vol. 108, No. 2, pp23. Bonnier Corporation ISSN 0161-7370 Accessed 2010, May 20 Rather than encourage innovation, exposure may discourage the process. Moreover, innovation is encouraged through competition and collaboration between magicians.

|Exposure allows spectators to fully appreciate the range of skills involved in performing magic tricks.

|The entertainment provided in magic is heightened by not knowing how the trick is achieved - unlike, e.g., juggling, where appreciation of the skill of the juggler adds to the experience.

|Exposure allows the audience to feel "complete" after watching the performance, instead of being left with an unsatisfactory, nagging cliffhanger.

|The cliffhanger is key to the performance; not knowing how it is achieved keeps the trick magical and mysterious, instead of rendering it a simple step-by-step "how-to do this" exercise.

|Exposure devalues magic tricks by removing their potential to surprise audiences.[https://books.google.com/books?id=517HZsS3ZAEC&dq=exposing+magic+tricks&pg=PA76 Paul Curry (2003) Magician's Magic] pp76. Courier Dover Publications {{ISBN|0-486-43176-2}} Accessed 2010, May 20 Exposures are oversimplified to the degree that they cheapen the art.

|The dangers of exposure are easily exaggerated. Many magic tricks which have been exposed in the past remain popular with audiences. In addition, many members of the public are indifferent to exposures and will neither seek them out nor remember the details for long. Finally, there exist strategies that allow a magician to continue to fool an audience even if they've been exposed to secrets for similar, or even identical, effects.{{cite web | url=http://sleightly.com/blog/2010/03/24/exposure-essays-retrospective/ | title=Exposure Essays Retrospective | publisher=Ye Olde Magick Blogge | year=2010 | first=Andrew | last=Musgrave | url-status=usurped | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100924152701/http://sleightly.com/blog/2010/03/24/exposure-essays-retrospective/ | archive-date=2010-09-24 }}

|Exposure violates the intellectual property rights of the creator of the trick. Whilst magical secrets cannot be protected by the law, the moral code of practising magicians respects the innovator of any particular secret.

|In most cases, intellectual property law does not protect magic methods. Most tricks rely on sleight of hand and knowledge of psychological principles, neither of which are patentable in the capacity that scientific methods and processes are.

|Exposures provide ammunition for hecklers and saboteurs at the point of performance.

|These individuals will damage performances either way. A good performer should be able to cope with this.

|It is the simpler, cheaper tricks that young magicians rely on, which are most likely to be exposed. Exposure also encourages experienced magicians to avoid discussing methods with newcomers for fear that their methods will be revealed.

|Exposure aids new magicians by providing them with an easy, cheap source of new tricks.

|The skills and secrets of a magician can be used to harm the public, by creative cheats and emotional persuasion. Exposure may furnish those with criminal intent the skills needed to attempt such deception.

|Exposure allows members of the public to become more keenly aware of the possibility of deception, and how it works.