RIKI OTT: Exxon never said it in a press conference. Just when the media started to ask questions, where did that 10.8 million gallons come from, has it been independently verified, Frank Iarossi, the owner of Exxon Shipping, at a press conference said, alcohol may be involved. And I kid you not, I witnessed the entire international media just switch tracks, and that was how we got 10.8 million gallons, rounded up to 11.
A couple years later, when I saw the movie Wag the Dog, I saw that scene where the president was just about to get nailed, and a plant in the audience says, well, what about the bombs in Albania? And the whole media switched to bombs in Albania. And I rose up out of my seat, and I said, that is how we got 11 million gallons. And my two friends each grabbed a wrist and pulled me back down into my chair. And I just swore that I would never forget 38 million gallons.
I think Derren Brown uses this as a mind hack a lot.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vz_YTNLn6w (notice specific diversion into spatial memory, it's probably been tried and tested as the best distraction from the color of money in hand)
I feel that mental focus if VERY weak and very exploitable.
As a side note, I think there is another, less obious, mental hack going on, on the audience. Derren claims (in the intro to this TV series) that there is no acting here, but a lot of misdirection. I believe it. I think when he shows this trick work 2 out of 3 time...
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