We often want to view this as on or off, it is likely much more nuanced than this.
Those who saw through one lie had a contradiction that stood out that could not be ignored, or information in their adaptive unconscious had alerted them to see through certain aspects of propaganda. Once you see, you see. I often ask myself what pa…
We often want to view this as on or off, it is likely much more nuanced than this.
Those who saw through one lie had a contradiction that stood out that could not be ignored, or information in their adaptive unconscious had alerted them to see through certain aspects of propaganda. Once you see, you see. I often ask myself what part of my conditioning is hidden from me that is negatively affecting my life?
It is a housekeeping task. Since much of the information is hidden, using observational tests can be useful. If I hesitate to speak up when I should, what is driving that? If I get angry when someone challenges something I say, what causes this? Both are results of our conditioning.
The people who have exposed themselves to censored information will have a broader picture and different conclusions. These rely on the accuracy of this information, our interpretation, and our prior experiences and beliefs.
David, great to see you on Substack. I've shared your ReachingPeople.net videos and information since I first saw the resource you provide several years ago. I find so much of this interview with Tess to be fascinating, much I'm familiar with since I began my first research into Behavioral Science in early 2020. I didn't know what it was called, but very early on when I saw masks called an "honor badge" in a NPR story in April, 2020 I read through the first 3/4 of this piece that was filled with nothing concrete supporting mask use to find the real prize they were communicating, that masks were primarily of symbolic value:
And being familiar with my history of life in 1930's Germany I knew that the yellow Star of David Jews were forced to wear were also referred to as "honor badges":
So I started researching what was the science of symbols in changing minds and behaviors. I'd read articles like this one in NEJM from April, 2020 saying they don't work outside hospitals, essentially the same story I had read in the NPR piece, but adding that masks were "talismans." Not science:
I didn't zero in on Behavioral Science as The Science (TM) of the pandemic until late April, early May, 2020. My earliest social media writings about Behavioral Science I found reviewing my old account export file was May 7, 2020. By then I was already fluent in the terminology, having read about it extensively to make public my understanding of it as the psychological science application of propaganda. Goebbels-ish. That reaffirmed my identifying "honor badges" as a bad omen of where we were heading.
I found and shared this resource at the time and boned up on what was informing the pseudoscientists:
And digested all I could about "Nudge units" both in the UK and US under Obama and Cameron, learning the rules and guidelines, ethics of the application of psychological manipulation.
I even found and shared this piece out of a Harvard Law and Behavioral Science student publication from June, 2020 at the time that attempted to give an even-handed summary of the legality and ethics of mandating behavioral science mind farkery. Attempted:
In early 2021 I came across Laura Dodsworth's book, A State of Fear, at a time when I thought so few other people were keying in on what I had keyed in on as the tip of the spear pressed against the public mind, early 2021. That validation of my research was what I needed to push on.
Which was a lot of gobblygook ego-stroking for utilitarian ethics practitioners who have no use for Kantian or Virtue ethics. Embracing "a lie in service to a greater good" concept of ethics. The whole, "You can't make an omelette without breaking a few (million) eggs" idea of ethics. By "eggs" Stalin meant "skulls":
And that Anthony Fauci's wife, Christine Grady, remains as the NIH's Chief Bioethicist is of little comfort. They're highly ethical. They'll tell you how ethical they are, no conflicts of interest whatsoever! Because they say so:
Yet, as I recently reviewed the progression of my social media attempts to influence my social network in 2020 and after I see why it failed to persuade. With 20/20 hindsight the information and analysis I shared, my understanding gleaned from enough research time to complete an autodidact PhD voraciously consumed from credible publications, my predictions, pretty much all that I shared proved to be both factually accurate and highly predictive of what has ensued, with all of the pats on my back for getting so much right, I wasn't persuasive. Because it wasn't reaching the "basement" as you describe. The facts were dismissed, ignored, rejected. They weren't contained in a narrative, a story, an emotional appeal that connected with readers, my network.
That's the hardest thing looking back as I spent the last weekend doing. It was the first time in four years that I had read my early writings. So much right. Proven so very right. Because my sources were unimpeachable and truth is truth, facts are facts. But so impotent at influencing minds when I was desperately trying to.
Your website and the information it contains helped make me aware of what I was doing wrong. And even possessing the information you present wasn't enough without the constant practice it takes to use it effectively. In this Substack long form format the links I share above may get some views. In the general public, not so much. I do believe knowledge is power, it's why I chose to get me some the moment I realized everything I thought I knew about how the world works was turned upside down in early 2020. But trying to convey that knowledge power to others was overpowering. The struggle is real.
But your work is critical to learn and share. Because it's not a matter of if, but when the next major BS campaign imposes itself on us in unfathomably cruel ways. Knowing we need more allies to keep their wits and resist. The BS campaigns are always around us, gender, climate, war, energy, currency, food, all ongoing BS assaults on minds. The slow, insidious variety. But we fight our fights, not getting drawn into each and every one. Trying build our allies capable of thinking for themselves again. Helping to reignite their critical thinking skills, being skeptical of authority, mass movements, nudges. By planting seeds of doubt. With narratives that appeal to human emotion. Which is something the BS'ers have demonstrated great skill with. Thank you for helping so many of us try to raise our game to meet our shared threat!
You did much more thorough research than I did. Nevertheless, my concerns and conclusions were similar. I'd just retired from a medical lab position because there was such a difference in my beliefs about health and what I was told to believe. That primed me to dig deeply into the situation in early 2020. I've been completely ineffective at communicating my concerns to anyone who believes the authority figures. This is clearly where I need to improve my skills. Thanks for the links.
Good work. Heh one of your ironic unconscious drives was telling Sam to lie down while telling us to stand up (to authority). Is that your given name Charambous? ' Glowing with joy' in Greek. If so there's an unconscious drive. Or did you mindfully and cleverly change your name? Brilliant interview.
Hi John,
We often want to view this as on or off, it is likely much more nuanced than this.
Those who saw through one lie had a contradiction that stood out that could not be ignored, or information in their adaptive unconscious had alerted them to see through certain aspects of propaganda. Once you see, you see. I often ask myself what part of my conditioning is hidden from me that is negatively affecting my life?
It is a housekeeping task. Since much of the information is hidden, using observational tests can be useful. If I hesitate to speak up when I should, what is driving that? If I get angry when someone challenges something I say, what causes this? Both are results of our conditioning.
The people who have exposed themselves to censored information will have a broader picture and different conclusions. These rely on the accuracy of this information, our interpretation, and our prior experiences and beliefs.
David, great to see you on Substack. I've shared your ReachingPeople.net videos and information since I first saw the resource you provide several years ago. I find so much of this interview with Tess to be fascinating, much I'm familiar with since I began my first research into Behavioral Science in early 2020. I didn't know what it was called, but very early on when I saw masks called an "honor badge" in a NPR story in April, 2020 I read through the first 3/4 of this piece that was filled with nothing concrete supporting mask use to find the real prize they were communicating, that masks were primarily of symbolic value:
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/03/826996154/coronavirus-faqs-is-a-homemade-mask-effective-and-whats-the-best-way-to-wear-one
And being familiar with my history of life in 1930's Germany I knew that the yellow Star of David Jews were forced to wear were also referred to as "honor badges":
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/wear-it-with-pride
And that symbols divde people. Not good.
So I started researching what was the science of symbols in changing minds and behaviors. I'd read articles like this one in NEJM from April, 2020 saying they don't work outside hospitals, essentially the same story I had read in the NPR piece, but adding that masks were "talismans." Not science:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2006372
I didn't zero in on Behavioral Science as The Science (TM) of the pandemic until late April, early May, 2020. My earliest social media writings about Behavioral Science I found reviewing my old account export file was May 7, 2020. By then I was already fluent in the terminology, having read about it extensively to make public my understanding of it as the psychological science application of propaganda. Goebbels-ish. That reaffirmed my identifying "honor badges" as a bad omen of where we were heading.
I found and shared this resource at the time and boned up on what was informing the pseudoscientists:
https://behavioralscientist.org/selected-links-the-behavioral-science-of-the-coronavirus-covid-19/
And digested all I could about "Nudge units" both in the UK and US under Obama and Cameron, learning the rules and guidelines, ethics of the application of psychological manipulation.
I even found and shared this piece out of a Harvard Law and Behavioral Science student publication from June, 2020 at the time that attempted to give an even-handed summary of the legality and ethics of mandating behavioral science mind farkery. Attempted:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230201085823/https://orgs.law.harvard.edu/labs/2020/06/02/face-masks-inequities-and-constraints-on-liberty-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/
In early 2021 I came across Laura Dodsworth's book, A State of Fear, at a time when I thought so few other people were keying in on what I had keyed in on as the tip of the spear pressed against the public mind, early 2021. That validation of my research was what I needed to push on.
Allowing my next leap into the field of Ethics:
https://open.library.okstate.edu/introphilosophy/chapter/an-introduction-to-western-ethical-thought-aristotle-kant-utilitarianism
Specifically Bioethics. Discovering resources like the Nuffield Council on Bioethics guidebook:
https://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Public-health-ethical-issues.pdf
Which was a lot of gobblygook ego-stroking for utilitarian ethics practitioners who have no use for Kantian or Virtue ethics. Embracing "a lie in service to a greater good" concept of ethics. The whole, "You can't make an omelette without breaking a few (million) eggs" idea of ethics. By "eggs" Stalin meant "skulls":
https://www.nytco.com/company/prizes-awards/new-york-times-statement-about-1932-pulitzer-prize-awarded-to-walter-duranty/
And knowing that "Stalin's Nanny" is now the Chief Behavioural Scientist at the WHO is of little comfort for future BS declared health emergencies:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11017119/Communist-British-scientist-dubbed-Stalins-nanny-given-job-World-Health-Organization.html
And that Anthony Fauci's wife, Christine Grady, remains as the NIH's Chief Bioethicist is of little comfort. They're highly ethical. They'll tell you how ethical they are, no conflicts of interest whatsoever! Because they say so:
https://youtu.be/pf2cVoP5mRs?si=Dh1xNxq5yZn1qAEh
Yet, as I recently reviewed the progression of my social media attempts to influence my social network in 2020 and after I see why it failed to persuade. With 20/20 hindsight the information and analysis I shared, my understanding gleaned from enough research time to complete an autodidact PhD voraciously consumed from credible publications, my predictions, pretty much all that I shared proved to be both factually accurate and highly predictive of what has ensued, with all of the pats on my back for getting so much right, I wasn't persuasive. Because it wasn't reaching the "basement" as you describe. The facts were dismissed, ignored, rejected. They weren't contained in a narrative, a story, an emotional appeal that connected with readers, my network.
That's the hardest thing looking back as I spent the last weekend doing. It was the first time in four years that I had read my early writings. So much right. Proven so very right. Because my sources were unimpeachable and truth is truth, facts are facts. But so impotent at influencing minds when I was desperately trying to.
Your website and the information it contains helped make me aware of what I was doing wrong. And even possessing the information you present wasn't enough without the constant practice it takes to use it effectively. In this Substack long form format the links I share above may get some views. In the general public, not so much. I do believe knowledge is power, it's why I chose to get me some the moment I realized everything I thought I knew about how the world works was turned upside down in early 2020. But trying to convey that knowledge power to others was overpowering. The struggle is real.
But your work is critical to learn and share. Because it's not a matter of if, but when the next major BS campaign imposes itself on us in unfathomably cruel ways. Knowing we need more allies to keep their wits and resist. The BS campaigns are always around us, gender, climate, war, energy, currency, food, all ongoing BS assaults on minds. The slow, insidious variety. But we fight our fights, not getting drawn into each and every one. Trying build our allies capable of thinking for themselves again. Helping to reignite their critical thinking skills, being skeptical of authority, mass movements, nudges. By planting seeds of doubt. With narratives that appeal to human emotion. Which is something the BS'ers have demonstrated great skill with. Thank you for helping so many of us try to raise our game to meet our shared threat!
You did much more thorough research than I did. Nevertheless, my concerns and conclusions were similar. I'd just retired from a medical lab position because there was such a difference in my beliefs about health and what I was told to believe. That primed me to dig deeply into the situation in early 2020. I've been completely ineffective at communicating my concerns to anyone who believes the authority figures. This is clearly where I need to improve my skills. Thanks for the links.
Good work. Heh one of your ironic unconscious drives was telling Sam to lie down while telling us to stand up (to authority). Is that your given name Charambous? ' Glowing with joy' in Greek. If so there's an unconscious drive. Or did you mindfully and cleverly change your name? Brilliant interview.