The Accusations Are True ATS - I Do Have An Agenda And I Have Been Manipulating You! My Confession.

I am writing these words to manipulate you. I tell you this up front and with no shame.

Over the past two years, in a series of progressing threads, I have been exploring the concepts of social manipulation and mass mind control. Social engineering is a subject that interests me greatly, so it is one that I spend much of my free time thinking about. Being human, I tend to work with the medium that piques my interest. So I write these threads. Invariably, in every single one of these mind control themed threads, at least one or two members have posted statements accusing me of doing the very thing I was discussing... manipulation. I've been accused of fear mongering, data mining, conditioning, and a slew of other malicious and devious charges.I have been accused, numerous times, of being an operative for any number of government agencies. I have been accused of being a paid agent provocateur. These things, I assure you, are absolutely and patently untrue. But as for the rest...

Part of those accusations are very much true. I have been manipulating you, good citizens of ATS. I have been doing so willfully, deliberately, and with an agenda. I have been using decades of very specific training and research to achieve my goals in this endeavor and have been largely successful in my labors. I am guilty as charged. I am a manipulator.

Heck, even my confession to manipulating is, quite literally, a manipulation in and of itself. I can, at will, use it to create any number of narratives and to illicit any number of predictable and controllable responses. Any expert will tell you that sympathy is one of the most powerful tools of manipulation that exist. It can be used quite effectively and powerfully to alter perception and opinion almost instantly. For example:

I could claim to be an agent of some type – and drive public perception towards a lynch mob mentality.

I could claim to be a professional Internet troll and push things towards another avenue of discussion. Provoking and laughing – watching it all build to a crescendo.

I could claim to be a student working on a sociology thesis and change the discourse still – causing a mixed bag of reactions from anger to interest to a desire in some towards cooperation.

And the list of things that I could claim are only limited by my imagination. So, rather than digging imaginary rabbit holes, I'll simply tell the truth. I am what I have always professed to be. A middle aged guy with PTSD and Bipolar II disorder, waiting for my disability to case to finally come to some sort of end - who happens to be interested in this particular subject, who moderates and participates on a web site called ATS... and who truly cares about my community – including this one.

Some will seek to paint me as a ghetto Rasputin. Others a fool. And some will continue to point at me, like that evil monkey from the TV show Family Guy – while screaming DISINFO AGENT AHOY!!! Much of how I am seen is based upon things that I cannot control. Personal biases, opinions, my posting history, whether or not I've ever had to moderate a given members account or posts, even whatever avatar I might have on my profile on any given day. And, to one degree or another, how effectively I have manipulated you, as an individual. To be honest, some folks I manipulate in a positive manner because they strike me as good people. Others? Well I've been known to poke the beehive just for kicks and to frustrate those who strike me as rude. You will all, as you always have, form your opinions about me ( and one another ) based upon many factors – including the very stark reality that we are all constantly seeking to manipulate each other on one level or another.

The truth is that there are people here, and elsewhere, who have far more expertise on this subject than I do. There are entire sciences and disciplines devoted to it. But I have an edge on most of them. I'm good at it. I have that natural gift... the ability to connect and to create trust and empathy with just a smile or with eye contact.

This is how I learned my skills – and how I have gained my expertise. By being a people person. And, in past years. By using it to be predatory and opportunistic.

Maybe these are just personal, lesser manipulations as I work on my larger manipulations. One could fry a few brain cells keeping track.

Of course almost all of us here are aware of these things. Madison Ave surely is. As is every intelligence agency and government in the world. But what most do not comprehend, because ego does not allow us to, is just how damned easy it is for others to manipulate us. Manipulation is a product of emotion, and we prefer to think ourselves creatures of logic and reason. We don't invest in emotion too greatly – even as emotion, in all reality, dictates far more of our behavior than does logic. Manipulation techniques involve parts of our brain far older than our logic centers and uses our senses against us.

Have you ever become compliant, happy, and overly courteous simply because you smelled your favorite food cooking?

Have you ever found youself overly generous and compassionate because you saw true pain in the eyes of another?

Is there a particular celebrity who either incites you to hysteria or absolute rage simply at the sight of them or the sound of their voice?

Have you ever known a person who knew exactly how to calm or infuriate you with a single glance or word?

Is there a song or film clip that makes you instantly emotional each and every time you are exposed to it?

Guess what? These are cases where logic failed you and manipulation won out.

Look at these pictures, and please pause for just a moment, on each, so that you can have a chance to recognize the emotions that they make invoke. Not everyone will react to each and every image – but you should react to enough of them to understand what I am getting at:













































See?

I could have invested more time and found much more disturbing, heart wrenching, or polarizing pictures to use as examples – but I deliberately opted not to do so. And for a variety of reasons. Predominantly I did not want to enable any outcries of partisanship, agenda, or selective information distribution. My hope was just to show how easily what we see with our eyes can overpower our logic and reason.

And I am not even addressing the equally powerful tricks that one can use with verbal communication. My professional life, as it was, made me an expert in what is widely called “Sales psychology” and, trust me, the number of tricks involved in just that one aspect of verbal manipulation can, and do, fill many, many books.

We reach the end, and some will wonder what my point is. I will gladly tell you...

A person who began a dialougue with the words “I am writing these words to manipulate you. I tell you this up front and with no shame...” Just showed you in a very simple, and uncomplicated manner, how easy it is to do. I did this as a concerned and caring member of your community.

Now, if a slightly “off” guy on the Interent can be this frank about it, and still accomplish it, imagine how insidious, dangerous, and prevalent these practices are when governments and corporations invest untold sums of money in figuring out how to trick your emotions into overpowering your reason.

Are you afraid yet? Are you beginning to question it all yet? Good.

Now as to whether or not you should fear me. I leave that up to you. The truth is that unless you're an attractive, single woman who happens to find yourself in the same bar as me on a Friday night, when I'm feeling particularly mischevious, you're probably pretty safe from my trying to ply my manipulation skills upon you.

With world events unfolding faster than we can keep track of good denizens of ATS, I implore you... question everything. Question it all. And look to see if anybody is yanking at your heart strings, your values, your ego your sense of security, or your emotions. If so? Refuse to be manipulated! Fight the good fight.

And maybe offer a word of thanks to the cranky old ATS moderator who clued you in on a few of the tricks of the trade.

Thanks for reading.

~Heff

Excellent thread Heffalump and so relevant this week as well. I wanna get naked!
S&F

Cool post!
Thank you Heff. S+F

I'm quite fond of the manipulation and mind control topic.
It's fun how on one hand the majority demographic will rail against mind control, social programming, and other such, then on the other, it's back to chatting on their expensive new GPS enabled personal lojack spy device, taking pictures of all their friends and tagging them for facial recognition, buying what everyone else is buying, listening to, watching, and talking about whatever else everyone else is; it's all quite fun.

Bravo. This is a great example of how easily manipulated we are. No one can truly escape it. Everything is a product of manipulation.

Every word spoken and every image produced manipulates the mind in some way. I have been stressing these same things for quite awhile, and have tried to demonstrate how easily we are manipulated into believing something one way or another. It's alarming how easily it can be done by your average man. A funded agency, or media outlet with hundreds of people educated specifically to manipulate is a very powerful organization. Many people do not realize that their lives play out exactly as they were manipulated to. Things as mundane as buying a new electronic device, to the food you eat, the people you support and befriend and the ideals that you carry.. are all a product of manipulation in some degree. Your personality has been manipulated to be exactly the way it is by several forces.

Life is a manipulation and reality is product of what you've been manipulated to experience. Even the absence of manipulation is, in the truest sense, manipulating you.

Hell, even my signature has reminiscent of the same idea.

NOTHIG NEW UNDER THE SUN............iNTERNET is the virtual reality place where nothing seems what it look like,this is a conspiracy theory site,.so..........what doe expect to find here??...mmmmmthe stock market??...home depot hows to??.......of course!!...CONSPIRACY THEORY!!!......Have you stop to think that in some websites,the owner is the moderator,administrator,secretary,using diffrent names,nicks,etc??..personally im not impress,theres a weaklink here,and that is, to talk about Adolph Hitler,and the stories about him ,comming from Europe,thats probably the one thing that absolutely makes this site and the mods diffrent.....because is not allowed??.......

reply to post by rocha123


I apologize, but possibly there is a language barrier? I don't quite understand what it is you're trying to say.

~Heff

First off great thread.

Second and most importantly, feel no shame. I do the same regularly. I don't do it for political gain since I am apolitical. I do not gain monetarily, or in any way shape or form. I am not affiliated with ANYONE. Not any group, or society, or anything. I literally have not even been a boy scout or a good catholic.

I simply am a free thinker that likes to see people move out of their comfortable boxes of prepackaged thought and opinion. I will come off as aggressive, pessimistic, antisocial, even mean at times and reactionary. I don't care.

I do so in an effort to get you uncomfortable and make you think about what I see as relevant and deserving of more thought. I feel no shame. Social engineering is a real consequence we are faced with after being disempowered in spirit so long ago. I see its only viable counter force as more social dis-engineering.

I think that making obvious our intentions and showing people what manipulation looks like is essential to their defense. They need to grow and make their scrutiny and mental defense more complex and redundant. They need to not settle for any message, even if Christ himself is preaching it. I say make them think and then think some more. Nothing short of an order from a superior in a pre-contracted situation should provoke a command to action response from people.

It is net centric warfare and I am a combatant. I am a martyr for my cause and no one else's. Hate me, feed me. Rid yourself of it and pass it along to me. I am your beast of burden. I am your secret devil. I will be filthy for you to be clean. That is how I see it.

I respect what you do and appreciate the effort. Thank you. May the good war be fought well.

reply to post by Hefficide


If you are an agent it must be some sort of agent of education...
And if you are manipulating folks it's a manipulation into critical thinking...

I have actually been enjoying your recent threads.

And yes, wit and reason will lead one far, as long as it is tempered with compassion and empathy.
I just wish more people had this agenda.
The world would be a much better place for us all.

Well you have not manipulated me.


Why on earth would I take what somebody writes on a conspiracy forum as gospel

Just saying

unless your a single woman who happens to find yourself in the same bar as me on a Friday night, when I'm feeling particularly mischevious, you're probably pretty safe.

Slightly disturbing aha.

reply to post by judus


Ah, but you did reply, and I did incite some level of indignation - apparently based upon the thread title alone.

Just sayin'

~Heff

Shrug- I am not shocked or surprised, myself.

To manipulate means to move. To move objects, thoughts, emotions...... to influence.
It is no big surprise that we all influence each other! No man is an island.
The word manipulate has taken more or less negative connatations lately, and interpretted to mean purposeful covert psychological manipulation. But then we have the problem of the subconscious, which is not only being moved by exterior influence, but also influencing and moving others! We are manipulating others even when we don't consciously intend to!

We have instincts which are subconscious, which cause us to develop habits and behaviors which engage in power plays, and most of the time we are not even aware that is why we are doing it.
Especially if we judge it bad to engage in power struggles- then we go into denial even more deeply and create very complex and long explanations about why we did what we did. It isn't so much to defend ourself to others,
as much as to convince our self, and protect ourself against our own judge.

Yeah, you are trying to manipulate me,
and I am trying to manipulate you, and she's trying to manipulate him
and he's trying to manipulate her.
C'est la vie!

reply to post by Sinny


Disturbing? Are you kidding? There are half a dozen divorce attorneys in my area who'll pay my bar tabs as an investment in future income.

~Heff

Im not shocked.

But you failed. I am unable to be manipulated..because i see the truth everywhere.

As for your thread.. one word - Ego

Too many people have it and cherish it, as it will be the end of mankind

Originally posted by judus
Well you have not manipulated me.


Why on earth would I take what somebody writes on a conspiracy forum as gospel

Just saying

edit on 20-9-2012 by judus because: spelling

He obviously manipulated you into responding to his thread...

So really, it's all in 'how you look at it'.
Relativity.

reply to post by Hefficide


This site has a lot of kids on it who take what you say based on the amount of S&F you have.

Phage could post utter trash but he will be S&F like some hero. Now I am not saying he would do this of course but people will trust anything if you can convince them enough

reply to post by judus


I agree with the premise of that - which is why many of my threads ( the ones not directly linked to Associated Press stories ) tend to fall into the promotion of critical thinking and discussion of social engineering.

I want a world where Phage ( and for the record, I really like the guy ) is questioned and not taken at face value. I suspect he'd say exactly the same thing too.

~Heff

Originally posted by muzzleflash

Originally posted by judus
Well you have not manipulated me.


Why on earth would I take what somebody writes on a conspiracy forum as gospel

Just saying

edit on 20-9-2012 by judus because: spelling

He obviously manipulated you into responding to his thread...

So really, it's all in 'how you look at it'.
Relativity.

I do not know you people or have any knowledge about your credentials on the subjects that are posted. I see a subject that interests me , maybe have a little comment then research myself.

Isn't that what everybody does on here ?

reply to post by Hefficide


SnF heff, great thread!

I would like to believe i am above most forms of manipulation, and for years I would have told you without a doubt I am above all but the most cunning of mannipulators.

However an exgirlfriend opened my eyes to somthing I had never noticed which changed this view for me, and made me more aware of the extent that we are all manipulated daily.

Just for a small example, coming from the most innocent of sources. My ex( we will call her blondie) blondie, one day ridiculed me for allowing myself to be utterly and completely manipulated by my then 1 1/2 year old daughter. I got angry and we fought, then broke up, because I wouldnt listen.

But one day soon after i noticed what she has been saying to me, if my daughter wants somthing from me, and say no, she automatically changes her body language and posture, making herself even cuter and more innocent looking than she is normally. Again asking me the exact same question, with the same wording, but this time I will simply agree without a second thought, even arguing with myself, and eventually convincing myself that it is alright, even though just mere seconds before I was convinced it was wrong.

This trick doesnt work for my boys, so I thought it was just a soft spot for my baby girl, but I have now over the years come to realise the truth. It is actually a trick she has picked up from her mother ( my exwife), she also just has a way of getting what she wants from people, not just men, but people in general. I cannot yet see the actual method involved, but i do recognize the reaction it has on me, and it is totally none choice based on my part, she just knows which strings to pull on which people at which times.

She will most likely be one of those women that get what they want from men all her life, as she is very good at it, even at the tender age of 8. Much more so than her mother even. Who is in my oppinion quite good at the art herself.