Are you that Mouse on the Wheel?

No matter how well we knit our armor, there is always a thread that can undo our defenses. Everyone has a trigger, a spot where we effortlessly cave in. In a world where we are willing, only to gainfully associate with ventures, this soft spot may be our Achilles Heel. There are forces in this world who are eying, not just you but your kith and kin, in an effort to bend you.

We live in a world where if I talk about bananas in my bedroom; some salesman from around the world will pitch me bananas; some politician will request my vote making up facts on how their political rivals will take away my bananas; and some billionaire will start collecting all the bananas, to monopolize, because my interest in bananas is profitable. I may take pride in the fact that I have an impact on the world, however, my role in this is limited to that of a mouse on the wheel. Every indulgence makes me more and more susceptible to external, for-profit, constant stream of suggestions.

The Internet gave us connectivity but at the cost of our defenses. Most of us assume, we can fend for ourselves; we are independent and in control. However, persistent suggestions are a brutal force. Even for the top of the brass, it is tough to orchestrate favorably oriented physical events, but why do it, when they can govern the faculty that interprets these physical events; by feeding you misinformation and govern our thoughts. How many times we see that narratives being served to us have no ground in reality; that our immediate surroundings, do not support these supposed-facts. However, if persisted, such narratives take root in societies; as we may not be defending ourselves against or fact check every statement. Some of these may intermittently get through and they do.

Now consider a personality that is full of these suggestive narratives, one built on top of the other, each based on partial facts and falsehoods. The struggle to find tangible grounds, for making informed decisions, is real. And this person can be any of us. It is now common to have people saying, with utmost conviction, things such as - "I do not know, this is not true for us, but is true, people are saying it online". You are free to think, only if you are not occupied by what others want you to think.

How are they targeting you? Assume that your inclinations are like a tiny magnet, and 24/7 feeds are meant to use its magnetic effect to draw you towards a single pole, in a multi-polar world. If it is not deliberate then it is the consequence of emotionally affirming SEO algorithms. Nonetheless, there is a mature business model underneath it all that takes advantage of this deliberate or accidental polarization. Owners of your information, do not have a stake in the pole you pick but they do have a stake in keeping you aligned to poles. Once aligned they monetize your fears and biases by selling you as a number to the highest bidder, benefiting from -

1. Any of the poles - Example: a political party may want an audience that is young, gullible and ready to vote.

2. Multiple poles - Example: News networks that have multiple news channels, each with its own political or philosophical inclination. It is far more profitable to divide the world into right and left; and to have control over both the narratives with two competing news outlets, then to have just one or in doing right by their viewers.

You may have experienced this first-hand. You go on to a platform to watch something light or the trending. It goes well for a while. But soon, as seasons change your content seems more polarized. You somehow find yourself in alignment with a certain economical, geographical or political agenda.

Monarchs, owning capital or political equity thus now able to inject fear into your daily life, only to promise to diffuse those fears, if you invest in them. How convenient!

We should Own it to Fix it! Fear Drives Us!

If you think you are not driven by fear then please think again. In behavioral economics a person being normal is defined as someone guided by - Greed, fear and bias. And that's saying something! Greed and bias, I think, are redundant, since chronic fear leads to greed and fear of the unknown, leads to bias. However, "Fear" is our defining trait. And, fear is almost always impossible to eliminate. It can be put aside, but the only way to truly break away, would need a bigger, better fear. You experience fear because it helps you survive. If you are afraid of something tangible, around you, like the way it was meant to be, for survival, you may have a choice to mitigate that fear by making changes to your surroundings. However, if it comes from a perpetual, ever-present source such as the internet, there seems no way out. To cap this, these narratives will incrementally get worse; always dissipating a new fear, more vicious, to counter the one designed before. This cycle is bound to culminate into life and death conundrum, eventually. Democracy, freedom, equality and all such pursuits will be fallen soldiers when put against willfully redundant and persistent, coherently targeted falsehoods.

Good?luck to us all!!