Let it pass through

Xandra H has an interesting FSB piece on how uncertainty is used to implant certain narratives while avoiding further enquiry. A familiar but broadly effective 'Nudge Unit' type of technique, as the National Lottery example illustrates.

You have to be in it to win it!

This used to be the rallying cry for getting people to participate in the National Lottery. There is a certain logic to that statement, because, taken at face value, it is undeniably true. However, the odds of you actually winning, along with the extremely disruptive effect it will have on your life, seldom influence anyone’s decision about whether to buy a ticket or not. That one phrase instantly conjures up a narrative that imagines the winner will finally be without a care in the world and no financial worries for the rest of their lives, striding said world like a colossus.

It also feeds into the group identity idea. All over the country, people just like me are also risking their money for the grand prize, and we are all in it together. The lucky winner will be instantly elevated above the common herd and be given a free pass out of the garden of earthly woes. What’s not to like?

Why am I talking about the National Lottery? Because, having talked quite a lot about psyops, I have often been asked about how to mitigate the effects. It isn’t easy, but it is possible. The above example shows that the purpose of such phrases is to get the receiver to create the narrative that the sender wishes them to have; thus, compelling them to act on that narrative without further enquiry. In the above case, yearning to make happen what they have just imagined compels them to buy a ticket. After all, you have to be in it to win it! I rest my case.


Or You have to be with us or a denier. 

Or You have to be with us or far right. 

Or... 

The whole piece is well worth reading, even though anyone paying attention will already understand the issue well enough as it is certainly not new. The examples given are worth revisiting though, even for those who are relatively immune, because the technique is so widely used. 

Ed Miliband uses it all the time, not that he has anything better available, given his firm rejection of science, engineering, economics, integrity, veracity and sanity.

When someone makes a statement or suggestion that triggers a narrative based on evoking strong emotions, try letting it pass through with as little attention as you can manage. Then, when you are ready, think about the topic raised and how it would or wouldn’t fit into your own pattern-matrix. Your instincts, if you are in a legal frame of mind, will protect you from immediate damage if there is no actual threat. This is only one of many ways of protecting yourself from psychological threat and damage in the “new world”.