Recognizing manipulation is a key prepping skill that, frankly, I’ve never seen anybody else talk about… and the cynical part of my brain thinks it understands why.
Fear sells product.
If people can manipulate our fears, then they can sell us product.
People who have products to sell you don’t want you thinking, they want you buying.
This may be a bit oversimplified, but I think there’s a lot of truth to the statement.
OK, Salty, let’s assume you are right here, let’s say you are 100 percent accurate… why are you the only one out there talking about manipulation when it comes to this?
That’s something I’ve got an easy answer for… I’m not trying to sell you anything. There are no ads here at 3BY, not one, for any outside products. The closest we come is to provide links to where you can find some books by our authors, but these are links, not ads.
(Note: I’m going to be using 2020 as a generic date for this time period because its a number that ages well when this article drops back into the archives).
I feel it’s important to put this information up front, even though it doesn’t make spellbinding reading, because the world of 2020 is all about using mass and social media to manipulate people through fear and hate, and it is CRITICAL that preppers understand this and account for it.
Fear & Hate has replaced logic and critical thinking in the 2020
Fear & hate sell. They channel us. Pigeonhole us. They get you to react in ways that the people manipulating us want us to think.
What’s more, not only do “they” do this, “they” KNOW they are doing it, it’s not just some unintentional consequence… the powers that be for the various factions vying for our opinion (therefore our support to their power base, our money and our loyalty) are using every single trick in the book to get our subservience secured.
ALL side of any issue are doing this. Our submission to their will is their life’s blood.
Confessions of a former media junkie
My training is in journalism, I graduated from journalism school and was the editor of a newspaper for about a decade. I’ve written articles that have appeared in large national magazines, I’ve also been employed on the local level in the television side of things. I’ve worked at daily and weekly newspapers, and I’ve been a daily author and assistant editor at a nationally recognized blog for years now.
I’m no Washington media insider, but I’ve been inside the media for 35 years now in one way or another. I’ve seen how things work.
I’ve covered events of national importance, seen what was actually going on with my own eyes, then watched what the media reports about it. It won’t probably surprise you that my reports and those of the national media sounded like we were at two different events entirely… because I reported what went down, and they reported the company line.
For years I was a media junkie… I would have the news on any time I was home, I was the most plugged in, tuned it person I knew. I was a product of the mass media’s manipulation, and didn’t even realize it.
I was convinced it we were toast
The more I knew, though the more both upset and obsessed I became. I was absolutely convinced the world was going to blow apart into World War 3 and that we would never, ever live through the year 1992.
1992 came. 1992 went.
Still here.
Y2K bug? Still here.
Stock market crash? Still here.
9/11? Still here.
Afghanistan? WMD’s in Iraq? Still here.
At some point in time, I think a wise person has to stop and think “OK, I’ve been wrapped up in all of this for all these years, what exactly has it gotten me? Am I or my family one bit safer because I know exactly where the troops are attacking in Afghanistan today? Are we more secure because I know that protesters were marching in a city 1500 miles from here?
The truth? No, not one little bit.
Here’s a podcast Salty did solo about manipulation & media bias from an insider’s vantage point:
FUD
By now, I’m sure everybody has heard the phrase “Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt” (FUD).
FUD is a big deal in 2020, and frankly I don’t think it’s stepping too far out on a limb to say our entire media and social media culture is based nearly entirely on FUD. Everything from the Weather forecast through politics to personal safety, pretty much you name it, FUD is the generator.
Here’s just one of the many examples out there of this… included because it’s both REAL (this actually aired on the Weather Channel) and typical.
Quoting Snopes: During Hurricane Florence in September 2018, as Weather Channel correspondent Mike Seidel reported live from Wilmington, North Carolina, in a segment that showed him valiantly trying to brace himself against heavy winds and remain upright long enough to describe to viewers what being wet feels like, informing his audience that “This is about as nasty as it’s been.”
The dramatic effect was somewhat ruined, however, when sharp-eyed watchers noticed young men in short pants strolling by in the background behind Seidel, seemingly unaffected by the winds that supposedly threatened to topple Seidel were he not vigorously bracing against it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_HnhQ3FJSA
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t watch the weather… but…
What I am saying is while you consume your weather news, start paying attention to the ways that your news source is trying to manipulate you into doing what they want, believing what they want and buying what they want.
I’m not saying ‘don’t ever watch the news” although I personally think that most people would be far better off if they did just that, what I am saying is I think it’s important to understand what it is the people you are watching want to sell you, and how they are trying to manipulate you into believing their agenda.
I’ve got no dog in this hunt
I don’t care what you believe, politically and socially, I really don’t. That’s your business, not mine.
I don’t talk about politics or social beliefs (except the 2nd amendment stuff) on the net, so I can’t really be trying to force my beliefs on you because I’m not even saying what they are.
The thing is, ALL sides are being manipulative, and all sides want us to “heel and be good, obedient little puppies and do as we are told”.
Harsh? Sometimes the truth is harsh.
They want us to obey.
I personally won’t, and this article is a part of my continued call-to-arms against information manipulation.
Salty’s Note: Comments, of course, are welcome… but as you know, we do not allow politics on 3BY in any form, nor do we allow political catchphrases or slogans… due to the massive amount of spammers out there we approve all comments before they appear, if comments contain political statements they will not be approved. Thank you.
While I know the media loves to exaggerate since it draws eyeballs and their old saw is if it bleeds, it leads, not every over the top story is fake.
The Y2K issue could easily have been a disaster for the country or even the developed world, but a lot of people spent a lot of time and money recreating computer programs and systems so that when Y2K rolled around the banks could keep money flowing, just in time manufacturers would keep getting deliveries, the stock market could stay open and keep trading, etc.
Sure, a lot of hucksters used the FUD surrounding Y2K as an opportunity to sell crap to gullible folks, but that doesn’t mean that there was no chance of a SHTF event because all the computer systems started freaking out and giving bad info. I’ve worked in IT since the late 80s and saw a lot of the work going on at the time and wanted to share since the MSM didn’t talk about the man-hours put into making sure Y2K was just another New Years celebration and not a disaster.
I first saw the media in action when I lived in Southern California the Rodney Knig beating and other acts of civil disobedience he help encourage got plenty of media attention however when the Vietnamese riots of of 1999 with over 8000 strong and partial burning of a strip mall were completely ignored. Even to this day there is very little info on the web about it. The fact that the national mdeia did not say any thing was proof enough that things were not right. Then a friend came home from the Kosovo war. He said he had called his mother just to check in one a a week and she was worried about him due to the fighting in area he was in his response was mom there hasn’t been a shot fired all week! However NBC had footage of heavy fighting in said valley. Wonder where that footage was really from?