Psychowars: How to manipulate the masses

SkyFloating, why is it that a majority of your posts always remind me of NLP?

Hah. seriously though, 99% of this is NLP, just in much different terms.

Great thread, thanks to the OP. I might add: appeal to a person's greed or fear.

Originally posted by TheLoony
For some reason I have the urge to go watch "They Live". Seems appropriate.

Its weird you mention that film because I was thinking about it as I was reading this thread... Its amazing how much this is all used right under our noses and usually we just go about our days without a second thought... I could use a pair of sunglasses from the movie

[edit on 6-3-2008 by Titen-Sxull]

Originally posted by kosmicjack

Originally posted by MemoryShock
Which leads me to speculate upon the possibility that people knew about this and didn't tell me. Which leads me to also think that may have been attempting to influence my thoughts and behaviour...or manipulate me.

Unless a person is a sociopath or a psychopath, the use of these techniques is more subconscious and impossible to curtail. You just do it, it's second nature. Often, children of divorce learn these techniques first hand by observing the open warfare of their parents and by playing their parents against each other as a means of controlling an out-of-control situation and also gaining attention.

edit: Upon reflection, children use it for reasons not so different from the PTB!

[edit on 6/3/08 by kosmicjack]

people with an interest in human nature/behaviour or who happen to be observant will be very aware of such techniques.i refuse to manipulate people unless its for the good and not at all whatsover if there close to me,its not fair,id rather just be honest and say what i want.

also,you only need to manipulate people if your relationship with them has broken down,if the channels of communication between you are substandard or untrusted.says it all about the current political manipulators,if they were honest about what they want people would run a mile and never vote for them.

Here's a few in NLP terms, that haven't really been mentioned directly yet. I apologize for not going as in depth as SF, ha.

Physical Matching / Mirroring

This is probably closer to the manipulation side than it is to natural ability. As you talk to someone, pay attention to their breathing pattern, and subtle movements. If they constantly play with their hair, then instantly develop a nervous tick where you stroke your chin. If they are swaying side to side, then take small steps towards and away from them. All of this must be done naturally. If possible, match their breathing pattern exactly. This will naturally give you rapport, but it's up to you to do something with it before it fizzles.

This is essentially the same concept as dressing similar to someone, to relate easier - however it's on a different level that appeals more to the subconscious than the superficial.

Phrasing of words

This could really have it's own thread, so it at least deserves a mention. Words can be arranged in very specific patterns that exploit a few of the things SF has already mentioned, especially overload and confusion. On another angle though, if you notice someone phrases things constantly that reflect a certain sense (seeing, hearing, feeling, etc.) you can use that too.

For example, if they always refer to a phrases like:

"That doesn't sound right to me"
"If I'm hearing you correctly, ..."

they are currently thinking in a different state of mind than someone using phrases like:

"I can't see what you are saying"
"If we have the same vision, ..."

So act accordingly - to someone who "sees" everything, use visual phrases, and more gestures. To someone who "hears" everything, make sure they can clearly hear the things you say, and rely more on audible cues. The same principle applies to all of the senses, and some people typically use the same mindsets most o the time. Many people might consider themselves "visual" people.

more to come, body needs sleep.

[edit on 6-3-2008 by scientist]

“Corporate ownership intermingled with secret society members, many of whom are employed in the media, may explain why Bilderberg, Trilateral, and CFR meetings are not reporred by America's ‘watchdog’ media. In fact, the membership lists of these societies read like a who's who of the mass media.” -Jim Marrs, “Rule by Secrecy” (107)

Past and present members of the globalist secret societies Bilderberg, CFR, and Trilateral Commission have headed the following media giants: ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, AP, Reuters, New York Times, New York Post, Washington Post, Washington Times, L.A. Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Business Week, National Review, Time, Life, Look, Fortune, Reader’s Digest, U.S. News & World Report, Atlantic Monthly, McCalls, World Review, Scientific American - even Sesame Street (CTVW).

Many minor media newspapers/publishers are CFR owned as well, for instance: Arkansas Gazette, Des Moines Register, Des Moines Tibune, Guy Gannett Co., Houston Post, Minneapolis Star, Minneapolis Tribune, Denver Post, and Louisville Courier. CFR owned book publishers include MacMillan, Random House, Simon & Schuster, McCraw-Hill, Harper Brothers, Little Brown & Co., Viking Press, IBM Publishing and Printing, Xerox Corp., Yale University Press, Harper & Row - many of which specialize in children’s textbooks.

“Furthermore, sitting on the boards of directors of the corporations which own the media are secret society members. Some of the well-known reporters, anchors, and columnists who are members of the CFR and/or the Trilateral Commission include Dan Rather, Bill Moyers, C. C. Collinwood, Diane Sawyer, David Brinkley, Ted Koppel, Barbara Walters, John Chancellor, Marvin Kalb, Daniel Schorr, Joseph Kraft, James Reston, Max Frankel, David Halberstram, Harrison Salisbury, A. Ochs Sulzberger, Sol Linowitz, Nicholas Katzenbach, George Will, Tom Brokaw, Robert McNeil, David Gergen, Mortimer Zuckerman, Georgie Ann Geyer, Ben J. Wattenberg, and many others. Small wonder so many researchers see a conspiracy of silence among these media peers.” -Jim Marrs “Rule by Secrecy” (107)

The Rothschilds own Associated Press and Reuters, the two largest news organizations in the world. Reuters is “the world’s largest international multimedia news organization,” and AP boasts being “the backbone of the world's information system serving thousands of daily newspaper, radio, television and online customers with coverage in all media and news in all formats. It is the largest and oldest news organization in the world, serving as a source of news, photos, graphics, audio and video.”

Control over the internet, publishing, recording and top cable companies belongs to GE, Time Warner, Viacom, Disney and Newscorp. These are directly or indirectly owned by the Rockefellers, Rothschilds, Morgans and Oppenheimers which are all Illuminati bloodlines, and their boards of directors look like CFR rosters.

“Look at Ted Turner, the Council on Foreign Relations member who was supposed to be taking on the system with his Cable News Network (CNN). He sold out to Time Warner, one of the greatest Brotherhood operations on the planet, and CNN pounds out the official line hour after hour, day after day … The three television networks in the United States, CBS, ABC, and NBC are controlled by members of the Round Table network and so are the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and a long, long list of others. The same goes for country after country.” -David Icke, “The Biggest Secret” (272)

“Instead of three competing television networks called NBC, CBS, and ABC, what we really have is the Rockefeller Broadcasting Company, the Rockefeller Broadcasting System, and the Rockefeller Broadcasting Consortium.” -Gary Allen, “The Rockefeller File”

Also note that CBS (a.k.a. Conspiracy Brainwashing Syndicate) for instance, has over 255 radio and 200 TV affiliates nationwide, ABC has over 150 TV. Time Inc. (Skull and Bones & CFR) owns newspapers, magazines, movie houses, book publishers, and over thirty TV stations These corporate giants own every major name in media and most of the minor names as well. As time goes on these huge corporations continue merging, monopolizing, and buying up all competition so that now only 5 mega-corporations, all Brotherhood controlled, own 90% of the media.

"We know in the not too distant future, a half-dozen corporations are going to control the media. We took this step (merger) to ensure we were one of them.” -AOL/Time Warner spokesperson.

Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp dominates the American, Britain, Asian, and Middle Eastern media marets. He owns 175 newspapers including The Times of London and the New York Post, 100 cable TV channels including Fox and 19 sports channels, 9 satelite and 40 regular TV networks, 40 publishing houses, and a movie studio. His media empire stretches across 5 continents reaching a TV audience of 280 million in America and 300 million in Asia. His magazines reach 28 million. With all outlets combined together, Murdoch’s media empire reaches 4.7 billion people; that’s ¾ of the world’s population. (Rupert Murdoch: Outfoxed Documentary)

“Rupert Murdoch is the most dangerous man in the world.” -Ted Turner

"The mass media is itself part of the same power structure that plunders the planet and inflicts human rights abuses on a massive scale" -David Cromwell

John Swinton, former editor of The New York Times shocked an audience of journalists during a banquet speech when he said: “There is no such thing in America as an independent press. You know it and I know it ... The business of the Journalist is to destroy truth; To lie outright; To pervert; To vilify; To fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his county and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals for rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes.”

“It is a fact that most editors and newsmen on the staffs of Life, Look, Time, Newsweek, etc., and most editors, reporters, and commentators at NBC, CBS, and ABC take their news and editorial cues from the New York Times. . Technically, it is a great newspaper; but it reports much of the news in conformity with its editorial policies. The late Arthur Hays Sulzberger, chairman of the board of the New York Times, was a member of the CFR, and today there are at least 11 people in high positions with e Times who are CFR members. Sulzberger's son-in-law Orvil E. Dryfoos (CFR) succeeded him as publisher. The current publisher is Arthur Ochs ‘Punch’ Sulzberger (CFR). Other CFR members at the Times are: Harding Bancroft, Executive Vice President. James Reston, Vice President and columnist; A. M. Rosenthal, managing editor; Seymour Topping, assistant managing editor; Max Frankel, Sunday editor; Harrison Salisbury, associate editor; C. L. Sulzberger, columnist; and David Halberstam, columnist.” –Gary Allen, The Rockefeller File

“Running a close second to the New York Times in the prestige race is the Washington Post. Every Senator and Congressman, regardless of his party or political persuasion, has the Post on his desk each morning. Like the Times, the Post is read by the people who count when it comes to running the country. The Post's owner and publisher Katharine Graham is a member of the CFR, as are other top editors and management personnel. For years the Post has been referred to as ‘the uptown Daily Worker.’ The only time the Post has ever opposed big government- is when it has been used to investigate Communism. When this has happened, the people at the Post frantically start waving the Constitution and babbling about ‘freedom of speech’ - something they regularly suppress when it involves opposition to fascism-socialism or the Rockefellers.” -Gary Allen, The Rockefeller File

The owner/publisher of the Washington Post from 1963 - 2001, Katharine Graham was a member of the CFR, Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg Group! In 1988 in a speech at CIA headquarters, she bluntly stated her contorted view of democracy when she said: “We live in a dirty and dangerous world. There are some things the general public does not need to know and shouldn’t. I believe democracy flourishes when the government can take legitimate steps to keep its secrets, and when the press can decide whether to print what it knows.” Once again displaying the same elite philosophy of classism and moral relativity. They justify their corruption/lying by claiming mental superiority over the masses. Ted Turner has been interviewed calling the majority of humanity “useless eaters.”

“I think we are destroying the minds of America and that has been one of my lifelong ambitions.” -John Kricfalusi, creator of The Ren and Stimpy Show

“The United States has some of the dumbest people in the world. I want you to know that we know that.” -Ted Turner, CEO of AOL/Time Warner

"Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have." -Richard Salant, former President of CBS News

David Rockefeller said it all in his 1991 Trilateral Commission meeting speech: "We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the work is now much more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries."

“I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens who, reading newspapers, live and die in the belief that they have known something of what has been passing in their times.” -Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson knew, as does any historian, that what passes as today’s News/Current Affairs, rarely remains unchanged when written/remembered as tommorow’s History. Newspapers present the official establishment position of each days’ events, but this is often not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

President Dwight Eisenhower’s speech-writer Wilson Bryan Key wrote a book called “The Age of Manipulation” all about his experience writing presidential speeches: "For thirty-six sleepless hours, three writers turned out draft after draft, reviewed by a White House deputy press secretary who offered terse comments like, 'Much too specific!' 'Ease up on factual references!' and 'Take it back and fuzz it up!' 'Fuzz it up,' we discovered eventually, meant avoid all clear, factual statements about anything more specific than the time of day ... The speech was endlessly discussed for likely audience reactions, belief and attitude reinforcements, and implied meanings ... Would anyone take the empty rhetoric seriously? The speech read smoothly, but said absolutely nothing about anything. This was precisely what it was intended to say. During audience interviews after the oration, most expressed satisfaction with the great man's words. 'Ike really gave it to them!' 'He has my vote!' 'I like the way he thinks!' Great speech!'"

Newspaper articles are also very short, often not long enough to address the complexities involved in each issue. This problem is further exaserbated with television “news,” where most coverage consists of 30 second sound-bytes. Furthermore, these articles and sound-bytes are often coming from speeches and spokespeople in the “Spin Room.” They actually call it the spin room, where reporters “get the spin.” Spider’s webs and skipping records are spun. Why is news being associated as such?

“The news is a farce. As is the case with the financial institutions, which are
concentrated in the hands of the few, long ago the media was bought and paid
for ...What you read and what you see on a daily basis is largely manufactured. You
are being lied to each and every day.” -Christopher Mark, “Grand Deception: The Theft of America and the World” (16-17)

Great read everyone. Thanks!

Some responses

welovefortheson: Odd that they dont teach us any of the basics in school, isnt it? The first thing school does is not ask you "What do you think?" but to tell you what to think. Enough said about school.

scientist: Maybe some of this reminds you of NLP because NLP was originally created to study the techniques of succesful people. Since I was into NLP a decade ago, its certainly rubbed off on my vocabulary. However, the book from the 19th century you linked to, shows that this stuff has been around for much longer than we think.

kosmickjack: You noticed the way I used 7. Impressive.

freight tomsen: Thanks for adding more of a conspiracy-angle.

Continued from opening post


10. Mass-Indoctrination & Polarization

A little exercise (Sorry, dont know the source of this)

1. Whats something thats true for you but not for others?
2. Whats something thats not true for you, but true for others?
3. Whats something thats true for you and true for others?
4. Whats something thats not true for you and not true for others?

It is my opinion that most normal humans, no matter where they are from and no matter what belief they hold, will agree on some basics such as "I am a human being. I want to live. It is wrong to kill others" (Category 3). It is also my opinion that Category 1 & 2 truths are often conditioned into the masses by our "leaders" so that we follow some strange agenda of theirs. In other words: I dont think us normal people would ever seriously consider killing others unless we´ve been conditioned to do by being made to believe that others are "wrong" and "evil".

It is one thing to hold and advertise a strong opinion. Its an entirely different thing to believe that we should go out and convince everyone else of our opinion. This is where "indoctrination/manipulation" begins on a personal level. We´ve all done it before some to a greater, some to a lesser extent.

A world where everyone shares your opinion would be a world of stagnation and colourlessness...eventually leading to the death of thought and the death of learning.

Remedy: I can be right without wronging others.

Remedy on a global-scale: There is no enemy. I respect diversity in beliefs.

11. Stacking concept upon concept

This one is really difficult to explain. Its based on the question: "What would you have to accept as true, before you accept this next thing as true?" or "What would have to be invented before this next thing is invented?".

Certain pieces of information can only be perceived as valid after pre-supposing dozens of other things to be valid. This type of information is what deceives the gullible and what makes clear-thinking people angry.

By stacking up pre-supposition upon pre-supposition we can easily loose track of the truth.

Not knowing what pre-suppositions other people base their messages on can lead to anger and neverending conflict and waste of time.

Remedy: Understanding that ones discussion-opponents may not have the depth of knowledge about a subject that you have and that you therefore may sound completely crazy to him. To understand from which vantage point someone is arguing something.

This one is really difficult for me to explain though. Maybe others have a better grasp of this.

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull

Originally posted by TheLoony
For some reason I have the urge to go watch "They Live". Seems appropriate.

Its weird you mention that film because I was thinking about it as I was reading this thread... Its amazing how much this is all used right under our noses and usually we just go about our days without a second thought... I could use a pair of sunglasses from the movie

[edit on 6-3-2008 by Titen-Sxull]

I think of this movie quite a lot. Every time I'm in the check out line at the supermarket - all those magazines worried about Britney's breakdown and nonsense like that. Eat, consume, sleep, obey, procreate, don't question authority and here's an update on Paris Hilton's birthday parties.

The fight scene in that movie also makes me wonder - is that what it's going to take to get people to see? Literally beat the living snot out of them to make them put on the proverbial glasses?

More violence, yay. Just what we need.

The mainstream media will lie outright, but more often lies by omission, by suppression of dissent, or casting dissenters in a negative light, often with one-sided editorializing. They lie by giving uneven and incomplete coverage. Most news articles accurately report the event, but due to limited space cannot report on the history of each situation. This creates a quasi-informed populous that is constantly strung along with each day’s events; people who feel informed, but remain confused and unable to piece together the conspiratorial control manipulating their minds daily.

Another method of manipulation is the old Hegelian Dialectic – control/create both the proper thesis and antithesis to get the desired synthesis result. In the corporate sphere there is Coke/Pepsi, McDonalds/Burger King etc. creating the false dichotomies, the illusions of choice. In the political sphere the bloodlines/societies put members on both sides to control the spectrum. In the media it is no different. Both parties have long used the media to build the perception of opposing positions on key issues, meanwhile building consensus on other undebated issues critical to social change. This is verified in the Congressional Record for 1917, when Congressman Callawayx reported that:

"In March, 1915, the J.P. Morgan interests, the steel, shipbuilding, and powder interest, and their subsidiary organizations, got together 12 men high up in the newspaper world and employed them to select the most influential newspapers in the United States and sufficient number of them to control generally the policy of the daily press ...They found it was only necessary to purchase the control of 25 of the greatest papers. An agreement was reached; the policy of the papers was bought, to be paid for by the month; an editor was furnished for each paper to properly supervise and edit information regarding the questions of preparedness, militarism, financial policies, and other things of national and international nature considered vital to the interests of the purchasers.” -U.S. Congressman Oscar Callawayx, 1917

"J. P. Morgan and his associates financed the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, conservative groups, liberal organizations, communist groups and anti-communist organizations." -Dr. Stanley Monteith, “Brotherhood of Darkness”

“The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can ‘throw the rascals out’ at any election without leading to any profound or extreme shifts in policy.” -Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope

By creating false dichotomies and maintaining the illusion of opposites, it is easy to herd human thought, to dampen intuition and lateral thinking. David Icke calls them “opposames.” For instance, they say the far left is communism, and the far right is fascism, both meaning dictatorial government control. Then through this false thesis/antithesis they promote the synthesis: socialist democracy, a perceived middle ground, which in reality is just another system of dictatorial government control. Where is anarchy on such a scale? Where is a constitutional republic, as America is supposed to be, on that scale? There is no place for non-establishment ideas when the establishment creates false dichotomies that the public perceive as polar opposites. They suppress dissent through omission and promote both sides of the coin they own.

“Every day on television stations all over the world, journalists and correspondents give their viewers the official version of the event they are reporting. ‘White House sources say this..., the Prime Minister says that..., the FBI say the other...’ In all my time in journalism I cannot recall a single conversation in a newsroom that didn’t reflect the official version of life and the world. Most journalists are not manipulating, they are simply stunningly uninformed and often incredibly arrogant. They believe that if anything of magnitude was going on they would know about it because they are ‘journalists’. In truth they are the last to know.” -David Icke, “The Biggest Secret” (271)

“While the media obviously cannot dictate how we are to think, they certainly set the agenda on what we are to think about. Who has time for tedious stories of government conspiracies and financial manipulations when the newspapers and airwaves are filled with crime, accidents, and celebrities? Who bothers to notice when a prime-time TV network ‘news break’ contains nothing but sports scores?” -Jim Marrs, “Alien Agenda” (xii)

Nephew of Sigmund Freud, known as the Western Goebells, the master-mind of modern American Propaganda, Edward Bernays was 104 when he died in 1995. In his century behind the scenes, Edward Bernays worked with many corporations and the government to advertise and propagandize the American public into different group-think patterns. Among others we was top advisor to William Paley, the founder of CBS. He wrote in his 1928 book “Propaganda”:

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in a democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power in our country … We are governed, our mind’s are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested largely by men we have never heard of … we are dominated by a relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind and who harness social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world … It remains a fact in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by this relatively small number of persons… As civilization has become more complex, and as the need for invisible government has been increasingly demonstrated, the technical means have been invented and developed by which opinion may be regimented.”

“I know the secret of making the average American believe anything I want him to. Just let me control television. Americans are wired into their television sets. Over the last 30 years, they have come to look at their television sets and the images on the screen as reality. You put something on television and it becomes reality. If the world outside the television set contradicts the images, people start changing the world to make it more like the images and sounds of their television. Because its influence is so great, so pervasive, it has become part of our lives. You lose your sense of what is being done to you, but your mind is being shaped and molded.” -Hal Becker, Futures Group think-tank veteran

“These individuals, they do go back a long way and they have understood completely your psyche, they’ve had generations, centuries to study it. Their type of sorcery involves different kinds of techniques but it’s still the same effect: Tele-Hypnosis, Metacontrast, Hemisync, Synaesthesia, Embedding, new names, new terms for a very old, well-known practice to get you into group-think, into subservience, to get you to embody dialectical divisions of which there is no end in our society, to fashion your allegiances for you, to implant associations that your mind might not normally associate, to purvey escapism, rampant escapism and projection of fantasy into reality, to inflate false personas so you don’t have to be you, you can live it out through the person on the screen, and the excessive eroticization especially of the female.” -Michael Tsarion, “The Subversive Use of Sacred Symbolism in the Media” Lecture at Conspiracy Con 2003

The word “media” comes from Media, an ancient place in the middle-east near Libya. The Medes were an ancient cult involved in the same activities practiced today by the modern media:

“In Media were the sorcerers and astrologers, not necessarily negative people but a tribe, a very adept cult from the ancient world who specialized in the use of talismans, amulets, mantras and sorcery. And the kings of the world knew that if battle hadn’t worked, or if legal means hadn’t worked to get rid of an enemy, or you didn’t want it known that you were getting rid of your enemy, you simply called on the Medes. And you bring the representative of the Media into your court and he will take care of the problem because he is going to put the spell on your enemy, the hex, because they know how to do it. And that’s where we get the word Mediterranean, Mediation Meditation, and Medication, the Medics. Study this alone and a whole interesting subject will open itself up, because we still have the sorcerers and the voodoo and the witch doctory, we still have it today only now it’s the Techno Shamanism, it’s the Silicon Sorcerers, it’s the Ivory Tower Witchdoctors and they’re still very busy at what they’re doing up at Madison Avenue and behind the other great corporate giants who are only too happy to tell you what to think.” -Michael Tsarion, “The Subversive Use of Sacred Symbolism in the Media” Lecture at Conspiracy Con 2003

These Median sorcerers and other wizards of old often carried magical wands as well, wooden staffs from which to cast their spells. These were always made of just one certain kind of wood: holly. Hollywood.

“Merlin and the old magicians of Celtic England always used their magic wands, and these magic wands were always made out of holly wood. And that's why today we still have Holly-wood, working its ‘magic’ on us — showing us in movies how to view things, what we should think, or just offering us a big box office diversion.” –Jordan Maxwell, “Matrix of Power”

“So we still find that those magi in the movie business are putting their ‘spells’ on us. The makers of cinema know all about the libido, sexuality, desires and drives of the human beings that they are trying to pacify and control. The fact that ‘programs’ are called ‘programs’ is fascinating in itself. Programs are what one puts in a computer. They see the human mind as a computer and have been putting in their programs every day for decades.” -Michael Tsarion, “Astrotheology and Sidereal Mythology”

Perhaps the greatest remedy of all…Awareness!

Which is what this tread is doing, raising everyone’s awareness about this subject.

I’ve never read about these techniques and methods although I’ve read business books about persuasion. This stuff sounds like it was taken directly from the MM and politician handbook.

Like George Carlin said in his latest HBO special “Question everything and teach your kids to question everything they hear and read”

Awareness, common sense, questioning authority. Definitely traits the American people are lacking.

reply to post by freight tomsen


Superb series of posts freight tomsen ... well worth a round of applause and I hope some moderator lavishes you with some

Don't really have a lot to add to this thread, other than... I spent 30 years in the music/entertainment business, and if there's one thing you soon learn is how easily people are manipulated. You also quickly learn (up to a basic point) how to manipulate people as, when entertaining, it helps to know what buttons to push to get your audience going.

The music industry is also full of highly manipulative sharks, and (usually through experience... lol) you do eventually learn how to spot and recognize them.

The net effect is... You tend to take less things at face value, look for the hidden agenda, and can spot the BS spouting from the mainstream media and establishment (to a certain degree, not always though :@@

Anyway, thanks for your very enlightening posts

And to Skyfloating... SUPERB thread... Should be required reading at ATS! ... Starred and flagged

NLP-ish techniques continued:

Vocal Stressing

Another type of manipulation involves being very ambiguous, so that you can say one thing, and claim to mean another at any point. It's a technique that employs many practices, such as Vocal Stressing. For example, take this phrase into consideration:

I am giving some money to a friend.

In text, that can mean anything - but spoken, it can be phrased many different ways, to mean different things.

Emphasis on "I" = I am giving the money, nobody else
Emphasis on "am" = to confirm it is taking place, to eliminate doubt
Emphasis on "giving" = it's a gift, opposed to a loan
Emphasis on "some" = they are only getting part of the full amount
Emphasis on "money" = they are getting money, nothing else
Emphasis on "friend" = doing it for a friend, nobody else

while these may all seem very trivial, paying mind to how you phrase things, and how certain ambiguous phrases can be vocally stressed to cover more than one meaning, you are well on your way to being a politician / snake oil salesman / etc.

Eye Accessing Cues

first of all, here is a quick explanation o Eye Accessing Cues:

www.nlp-practitioners.com...

basically, each person is different, but they will typically ALWAYS look to a certain direction when thinking of an image from pure imagination, and look in the opposite direction when recalling an image from memory. Once you have identified someone's cues, you have "calibrated" yourself to them. Once you have done this, not only can you tell if they are lying (using their imagination) or telling the truth (recalling from memory) - but you can also appeal to either their imaginative or logical side, by simply positioning yourself (or a presentation, example, any sort of visual object) in that field of their vision.

Example: If you know they look up and to the right whenever they are being imaginative / lying, and look up and to the left when being logical / truthful, then if you want them to have an open mind, sit them in front of a marker board (or what have you) and write all your suggestions in the top right corner. This leads into spacial anchoring (which I'll post next).

This concept also relates to what I posted before about knowing someone's frame of mind. If they look to the side, and not up - they are thinking in terms of audio, instead of visual, so appeal to that side of them as well.

Eye accessing cues are like ready body gestures, but cooler (in my humble opinion). Also a bit more consistent.

A good documentary to watch is the BBC The century of self. Its about how Sigmund Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays used his uncles work's to manipulate the masses by creating Public relations.Real mind blowing stuff.

reply to post by Skyfloating


You gave a perfect example in #7 as I am in the diamond industry and know for a fact that DeBeers hoards diamond gemstones in unbelievable quantities thereby inflating the value.

Truth be told, a 1 carat diamond is in reality worth less than $20. However, DeBeers does it perfectly by letting out a few stones and then cutting off the supply. After awhile they do it again and again, etc...

They use #7 all the way to the bank!

And dont forget the one I use as my signature, another great way to manipulate someone is to tell them what they want to hear, or already believe or suspect. Someone feels victimized? Tell them that they are abused more than anyone you have ever known and the person doing it is horrible, just awful. Someone is racist? sexist? Tell them all the worlds problems are because of "___________ people."

While I do agree that often the news media decides what we need to hear, they also play to our prejudices. In a sense, they DO give us what we want, they custom fit what they want us to know so that it plays on what we already feel or believe.

I think Obama's latest scandal, the one where he tells that Canadian official not to be concerned about what he is going to be saying on the campaign trail about NAFTA is a great example. Politicians in general like to do this, that is what all the polls are about. They poll to see what we want, what we believe and feel, and then they gear their message right to that. It has little or nothing to do with their real feelings, goals, and intents.

Remedy? Dont be so certain that the person telling you what you want to hear is really on your side. Not everyone who agrees with you is your friend. (or REALLY agrees with you) Conversely, dont be so certain that the "bearer of bad news" is your enemy. Sometimes, the truth is not pleasant, and you are not always "right." Stand back from the situation emotionally, and look at as much of the entire situation as you can. Does this persons behaviour, historically and currently, reflect what is coming out of their mouth? Is what comes out of their mouth noticeably inconsistent?

Everyone lies sometimes, thats just a fact. But notice if a person is a chameleon. If they are a completely different person depending upon who they are with they cannot be trusted at all.