Excellent advice, Caitlin. Look at what's going on materially and ignore the words. Talk is cheap.
Another thing I look at with political candidates instead of their words is their history and their funders. Those two things tell us a lot about how they'll behave if they're elected.
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country." - Edward Bernays
What's very disturbing is the creeping tipping point in Western countries at this end stage of rampant materialism and out of control divisive capitalism and militarization. That is, the end stage Aion of Partriarchy, increasingly devoid of the Sacred, of care for the kingdoms of nature that sustain our Mother Earth and the feminine relational, loving, communicative values you describe. Where abnormal begins to be treated and taught as normal. We have so much to learn from our indigenous brothers and sisters in the South. They have so much they are trying to teach us. I pray there is time.
Honest communicators just don't expect dishonest and acquisitive uses of language. Kindly giving the other the benefit of the doubt, we end up frustrated and confused. It is empowering to learn to recognize this behaviour so we can cut through the crap at the start.
I stubled on several odd notes: first is well known, that Iranian negotiators should ignore Trump's posts because they are for domestic consumption. But then a certain Chris Martensen noted something more. The often odd language Trump uses has a different audience. BTW, Treasury secretary Bessant is a hedge fund guy. Now hedge funds make lots of trades ofetn in milliseconds. They use specialized AIs. The AIs search the news for keywords-in-context. So Trump's domestic audience is hedge fund AIs, not people per se. Trump's langauge is intended to manipulate the hedge fund AIs. That is why is seems strange to people. And it is part of the strategy to manipulate oil markets.
I agree very much from some limited observation - I, we, need to understand this better as we are so much dominated by spin and advertising (also spin). I recognise the intent to psychologically achieve behaviour modification, but especially for our kids how do we teach the skill of understanding the hidden meaning?
Voloshinov, tempers your thoughts Caitlin, in a useful way. His Marxist view clarifies that all language, every signal has a social purpose. Otherwise we would say or otherwise signal nothing asking a friend for a hug or your husband suggesting you go out for tacos has a purpose, designed to make others do something. In this sense it is manipulation. The choice of words is critical here. ‘Manipulation’ is a negative appraisal where ‘suggestion’ more affirmative. Regardless, both have a social purpose, both are designed and utter to change others.
The choice of words tells us about the speaker as much as the content. Describing some as Zionists manipulators discloses the fact that they are not my favourite people. Voloshinov gives us a richer understanding of how we interact with others.
"They don’t begin with the goal of communication, they begin with the goal of obtaining."
This is a very good definition of a manipulator. And the best way to get back at one is by simply stop listening to them. Then their words have no hold over you and you're free to see the world as it is, not as the manipulator would want you to see it.
Excellent advice, Caitlin. Look at what's going on materially and ignore the words. Talk is cheap.
Another thing I look at with political candidates instead of their words is their history and their funders. Those two things tell us a lot about how they'll behave if they're elected.
The evil bastards are masters of sophistry. A good rule is: If a Zionist's lips are moving, s/he is lying.
"The manipulator has a thing in mind that they want from the other, and then they make whatever noises they need to make in order to obtain it."
Mainstream Western media in a nutshell.
The King of Manipulators.
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country." - Edward Bernays
What an excellent and clear description of what so often goes under a normal person's radar. We all need to know this. Thank you Caitlin
What's very disturbing is the creeping tipping point in Western countries at this end stage of rampant materialism and out of control divisive capitalism and militarization. That is, the end stage Aion of Partriarchy, increasingly devoid of the Sacred, of care for the kingdoms of nature that sustain our Mother Earth and the feminine relational, loving, communicative values you describe. Where abnormal begins to be treated and taught as normal. We have so much to learn from our indigenous brothers and sisters in the South. They have so much they are trying to teach us. I pray there is time.
Propaganda is the foundation of Capitalism.
Honest communicators just don't expect dishonest and acquisitive uses of language. Kindly giving the other the benefit of the doubt, we end up frustrated and confused. It is empowering to learn to recognize this behaviour so we can cut through the crap at the start.
.
Incisive, funny, sad and bad. Thank you, Caitlyn.
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I stubled on several odd notes: first is well known, that Iranian negotiators should ignore Trump's posts because they are for domestic consumption. But then a certain Chris Martensen noted something more. The often odd language Trump uses has a different audience. BTW, Treasury secretary Bessant is a hedge fund guy. Now hedge funds make lots of trades ofetn in milliseconds. They use specialized AIs. The AIs search the news for keywords-in-context. So Trump's domestic audience is hedge fund AIs, not people per se. Trump's langauge is intended to manipulate the hedge fund AIs. That is why is seems strange to people. And it is part of the strategy to manipulate oil markets.
When you have a friend/loved one stuck in one of these situations, how do you help them see they are being manipulated/scammed?
I agree very much from some limited observation - I, we, need to understand this better as we are so much dominated by spin and advertising (also spin). I recognise the intent to psychologically achieve behaviour modification, but especially for our kids how do we teach the skill of understanding the hidden meaning?
Voloshinov, tempers your thoughts Caitlin, in a useful way. His Marxist view clarifies that all language, every signal has a social purpose. Otherwise we would say or otherwise signal nothing asking a friend for a hug or your husband suggesting you go out for tacos has a purpose, designed to make others do something. In this sense it is manipulation. The choice of words is critical here. ‘Manipulation’ is a negative appraisal where ‘suggestion’ more affirmative. Regardless, both have a social purpose, both are designed and utter to change others.
The choice of words tells us about the speaker as much as the content. Describing some as Zionists manipulators discloses the fact that they are not my favourite people. Voloshinov gives us a richer understanding of how we interact with others.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/voloshinov/1929/marxism-language.htm
Umberto Eco is also a good read on the emotional and social loads we bring to our interactions.
https://www.englishclassideas.com/blog/umberto-eco-the-role-of-the-reader
"They don’t begin with the goal of communication, they begin with the goal of obtaining."
This is a very good definition of a manipulator. And the best way to get back at one is by simply stop listening to them. Then their words have no hold over you and you're free to see the world as it is, not as the manipulator would want you to see it.
No one likes to be manipulated yet we live in a system that does nothing but that. So important to see through it.
Thank you! I sub'd at your utube channel