From Almanac readers’ feedback, it’s lists that hit the spot ( similar to once US News and World Report ranking or Forbes list).
Here are my list of psychological manipulation:
- It’s zero interest rate, hence, use it or “lose it”. This is puppy-dog sales/scale long-tail strategy. How much are the balance-transfer fees? No one reads those long disclaimers and fine prints
- You owe it to yourself to have a prosperous life ( Crystal Cathedral – Health and Wealth Gospel – ends up in Vietnamese Catholics’ hands)
- Jesus died for you, in return you owe Him an unpayable debt, your life i.e. time, money, energy and vote don’t belong to you, they are ours. We got direct line similar to the Red Phone at the Kremlin and Washington (“we need babies”, “we need arranged marriages” e.g. the church of the Moonies’ mass wedding, keeping “sheep” in the fold, Louisiana Jet-hopping pastor, Miami laying-of-hands on the Anointed…) Instead of testament, they touted testosterone, instead of humility victory (winning), Jesus John Wayne, Good Friday Palm Sunday, Theology Civil Religion (seniors gullibility…weekly contribution, automatic withdrawal way past their deaths - classic multi-step close i.e. talk tough (big) but collect toll (small) from many (look at the groupies, they gave millions)
- The majority of the people think this or that, hence you should follow those with most “Like” given the pressure of time …; quantity over quality, conformity push e.g. NYC instigator/experiment – planted actor looks up to the top of skyline to instigate crowd-forming (free samples to early-adopters to create momentum and critical mass), after all, we’re social animals (a pillow for a vote, for example)
- Cognitive dissonance: your hero, your teacher, your idol endorsed this, hence, you MUST follow in their footsteps (parent, teacher themselves had bad influencers – hand-me-down sub-standard wisdom). More on Factfulness by our late Hans Rosling on TED)
- The machine (GPS) told you to drive straight … over and down to the cliff. You must obey what the computer says (then why do we need to update the software version? what’s its release year?) More computer power, hence, more accurate, but it’s not absolute (singularity is here?). Again, cognitive dissonance if we’re to “question” the machine and those signage (traffic school and electric shock behavior modification at the ready.)
- People of color are lazy, underdeveloped countries are easy to manipulate – hence, let’s exploit and optimize based on the exchange rates BPO, FOB cheap labor and OPM. This is a colonial wannabe version, dressed up in new clothes, with new “non-white” supervisors (Crossing Over)
- Take those online classes (short-term vocational degrees) with promises of low investment/ high return: ITT, Art Institute etc… just disregard the complexity of human behavior, labor market and career flux that baffles even the FED who are in possession of more accurate data than those skewed and selective data (social proof – our alumni were hired at … similar profile Recommending software) made available to us
- The US always wins. Well, look at yours truly, who barely got here ; see When it’s Worst (or My Sliding Door on WordPress). It’s the “house” – the system- that always wins per long capitalization and AI latest and greatest
- Garage start-ups want to change the world (do no evil, organize the world’s information, think different, connecting the whole wide world), Silicon Unicorn …only to end up caving and catering to Wall Street every instinct e.g. “Greed is good”; meanwhile, those pronounced world-changing passion for the greater good and noble cause dissipated in face of reality (only the stupid loses) Let’s kick the Vietnam Syndrome
- Half-truths, proof positive and State-sponsored funneling techniques (Yes, Yes, yes until they are on cruise, the state of least resistance) yes….The last and ill-thought-out yes, has been planned out all along by trollers (principle of consistency).
- Con men and cultic figures rely on crowd-chanting, anticipate weak personality’s and exhaustion (which leads to de-individuation) to drive herd instinct. It’s easier to cash in on mass hysteria (the Law of the Average). They manipulate and massage their audience (FUD) i.e. fear, uncertainty and doubt: ” they are coming for you”. A page ripped out of Goebbels, Hitler’s chief propagandist. BTW, a high percentage of poor people seeking sanctuary have been children of destitute, our modern-day Ann Franks (Biden’s latest border policies). BTW at this edit, Haitian speak French. Do you?
- The list goes on and on. Check out “Influence” (or view TED on pre-suasion), often redressed with new spoke person, variables of psychological manipulation techniques (authority figure in uniform…as in Stanford Experiment. which BTW in our current Engineering Age, has displaced “authority” e.g. High Priest = the Computer. A classic Bait and Switch: Sales sign indicates price reduction, but at the cash register ” the machine says here, it’s not on sale”
- Like a network rerun for a new demographic segment: “Insanity in individuals is somewhat rare. But in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule” Nietzsche. How should we then live? “Only the paranoid will survive” per Andy Grove (Intel finally gets its plants back on Mainland USA
- This Memorial Day, we remember those who died for the ideal of a free people and free thoughts. May they rest, unencumbered and unhindered by those dust-off page book of deceit, of smoke and mirror, of dazzling props and wardrobe snake-oil con men always use to seek converts in herd (who in a studied word "voluntary servitude" (stimuli-responses)
- Remember to Pause (between stimulus and share) before Post
