Claqueurs - A Brief History

The clacs spawned their own specialists, the plureurs chosen for their ability to weep on cue. The bisseur who called bis repeat and encore in ecstatic tones was direct kinship with today's laugh track performer. Even the monetary transactions were not hidden from the public. 100 years after the birth of claking, a reader of the london musical times could scan the advertised rates of the italian claqeurs. Then audiences have been successfully manipulated by those who use social evidence, even when that evidence has been openly falsified. They seem almost smug in the recognition of our predicament. Either we must allow them to fool us, or we must abandon the precious automatic pilots