Covert Metaphor

Tag:mark twain, metaphor, satan, thought

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admin :: Dec.29.2007 :: metaphor, myth :: 2 Comments » Save This Page

Tag:language, manipulation, metaphor, persuasion, symbols

The following is a stream of consciousness which I wrote sitting at a café one morning. I was thinking about things which disturb me, and this is what came out. Read it carefully because there are a few key components of persuasion and manipulation sprinkled about.

What do I find disgusting and revolting? Now as I attempt to produce an answer I can’t think of much that really gets to me. Where some people might tend to resist the image of blood and guts, I think what makes me cringe the most is the effects of successful persuasion and manipulation which break all ethical boundaries; those insidious techniques used against people to ruin lives.

Even slightly more mild examples make my skin crawl. I can’t stand watching small children parrot every commercial they see, or spew forth religious dogma on cue like trained puppies, their parents smiling so proud. Vomit.

I see it everyday when someone manipulates their partner using emotional techniques of give and take. The willing victims are those who don’t analyze their own actions, question their own beliefs, and accept everything at face value. Is an unexamined life really worth living?

It is a disturbing thought to think humans may be nothing more than organic vessels carrying loads of useless memes around, infecting each other at every opportunity.

If there is such a thing as absolute truth, I have only seen glimpses of it indirectly. That is through pure intuition, devoid of any symbols, stories, language or thought.

It is possible to translate this experience into language and art, but you are still left with only symbols which represent the experience. This is the reason language will always fail to give that which it promises.

It may seem perplexing to some that I study and teach techniques of persuasion and manipulation when I find many of its effects revolting.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your perspective, life does not work without it. We are all manipulators. Every child manipulates its parents, every lover their partner. It is inescapable.

Of course not all outcomes of persuasion and manipulation are negative. Wouldn’t you try to persuade a friend who might be walking down a path of self-destruction? It all depends on the context doesn’t it? Context is everything in this game.

There are some recent ads targeted at teenagers against the use of methamphetamine (speed). I’ll take two of these ads to clarify the point I am trying to make. The first billboard shows a young man with lesions on his skin, dark circles under his eyes, and a caption reads, “Actually, doing meth won’t make it easier to hook up.”

Imagine if we changed the context and put him in a completely different environment. For example, change the background and put him underneath a tropical sun standing before a beautiful pool, surrounded by a group of skimpily clad bikini models. The caption remains the same, but the story changes completely.

The second billboard is a picture of a filthy toilet stall and a caption that reads, “No one thinks they’ll lose their virginity here. Meth will change that.” Now keep this caption but instead of a filthy toilet stall, replace it with an image of a beautiful room, a large ornate bed with silk sheets and a young attractive half-naked man with muscles. The effects will obviously be different. The context tells an entirely different story. Context is being used to control the masses on a daily basis.

Also, recognize the type of appeal being made in these ads. They are targeted at teenagers who tend to be more susceptible to emotional appeals rather than rational appeals. Ads using rational appeals are declining because of an increase of less-educated people.

Speaking of stories…

Humans are hardwired for stories it would seem. Depending on your own stories is what determines your life outcome. The stories you consistently tell yourself determines your own reality. Is yours a story of frustration, sadness, and failure, or one of success, happiness, and health? Do you hate your job? Well, that’s a story too.

Perceive what is behind the language, symbols, and metaphor. Recognize the context and write your own story.

 

 

 

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admin :: Dec.23.2007 :: metaphor, persuasion, psychology, storytelling, symbology, propaganda, deception :: No Comments » Save This Page

Tag:disinfo, howard bloom, lucifer principle

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admin :: Nov.22.2007 :: general :: No Comments » Save This Page

Tag:covert hypnosis, NLP, persuasion, psychology

So many beginners in persuasion become enamored with NLP and conversational hypnosis techniques. They memorize patterns, use anchors, and mirror body language. Eventually many of them end this path by giving up and are left, rightfully so, believing all this persuasion stuff is hype.

I can’t fault anyone for this. Language patterns, hypnosis, and other technical skills are very attractive. This is the stuff that sells because it looks like magic. You are promised ultimate power if you purchase the right underground techniques. I got into it for the same reason, but soon realized specializing in only the technical side of it makes for one really strange person, and not a very persuasive one.

Those truly amazing individuals who persuade with ease possess well-honed social skills before anything else. They have a deep understanding of the psychology of human behavior. Anything else is just icing on the cake.

So, master your interactions with people first. Find out why they do the things they do. Learn to smile and be at ease. Then you can safely apply the technical aspects of persuasion. Otherwise you end up looking like a robot who speaks with such complexity, no one can understand what you’re trying to say.

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admin :: Nov.19.2007 :: persuasion :: 3 Comments » Save This Page

Tag:anchor, conversation, embedded commands, gesture, interview

I wrote in an earlier post about finding out how people spatially code ‘yes’ and ‘no’. It is always beneficial to gesture in either direction, depending on your desired outcome. This technique can be used in combination with anchoring certain words to yourself.

Unconscious gesturing seems to be a natural part of conversation. People point to themselves, point into space, move their hands in unison to emphasize words and so on. Most of us probably never make a conscious note of the gestures being used in a conversation, which allows those who are conscious to deliver unconscious messages. Now say that ten times fast.

This works best when you are persuading someone that you are the best choice over someone or something else. This can be anything from convincing a company to hire you over other candidates to showing your date how much more attractive you are.

First, find out roughly where a person’s ‘no’ resides; the left or right side is sufficient. When you speak of anything negative, you will gesture to that side of the person you are talking to. When you speak of something positive, you will point to yourself with your finger around your solar plexus or heart level. It may take some practice until you begin to do this almost without thinking. At that point it will look more natural. When I first started playing with this I would stand in the mirror and use a script corresponding to my objective. It looked very mechanical and unnatural in the beginning, but trust me, keep it up and it will begin to just flow.

To demonstrate the technique I will use a simple interview example.

“How do you know when you find the perfect candidate? You probably have to interview quite a few people, I would imagine, before you finally find the most qualified person for the job…now…When that happens I’m sure you feel totally at ease knowing that you can stop interviewing other people. “

So, you would be obviously pointing to yourself when you say the words in italics and you would point to their ‘no’ direction when you say any words in bold. You may also notice there are embedded commands in there as well.

This can be used for numerous situations. Pick an outcome, write a simple script, and then practice in the mirror for a few days. Once you think you got it down, go and really do it.

By the way, I’ve never had anyone ask why I was gesturing in a certain way. Just make sure you don’t pause too long with each gesture.

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admin :: Sep.17.2007 :: persuasion, covert hypnosis :: 2 Comments » Save This Page

Tag:u.g. krishnamurti

 

God or enlightenment is the ultimate pleasure, uninterrupted happiness. No such thing exists. Your wanting something that does not exist is the root of your problems. Transformation, moksha, liberation, and all that stuff, are just variations of the same theme: permanent happiness. The body can’t take uninterrupted pleasure for long; it would be destroyed. Wanting to impose a fictitious permanent state of happiness on the body is a serious neurological problem. –U.G.

I have never come across anyone quite like U.G. Krishnamurti. His words are not for everyone, and at times had caused me to be depressed because life felt meaningless. After I purged myself of all my major cultural programming I began to just be myself.

To be an individual and to be yourself you do not have to do a thing. Culture demands that you should be something other than what you are. What a tremendous amount of energy we waste trying to become that! But if that energy is released, living becomes very simple. Then what is it that you cannot do? –U.G.

The following link is a website to many of his words which his friends wrote down. I advise caution to those readers who find safety in dogma, faith and belief.

http://www.well.com/~jct/

I put this post in the Gurus category, but U.G. is more like an anti-Guru.

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admin :: Sep.14.2007 :: The Gurus :: 4 Comments » Save This Page

Tag:antidepressants, automatons, deep trance, information, mass media, propaganda, psychotropic drugs, schizophrenia, social construct

The following reads like a stream of consciousness. It really all ties together but I couldn’t be bothered to organize it anymore today.

My friend and I had an interesting conversation today about how more and more people seem to be in a deep trance, consistently on auto-pilot. My memories tell me this phenomenon didn’t really begin on such a wide scale until the late 80’s. He made the point that it was about that time when the so-called “information age” really began to turn its wheels. We are now constantly bombarded with mass media and useless information. It seems to be a natural reaction for humans to tune out to protect themselves. It’s quite sad really. Reality is now an extreme social construct and most people no longer live their lives deliberately.

I have lived in many countries across the globe, and I can tell you Americans take the cake for their number of automatons. Americans represent approximately only 6% of the world’s population, and yet they consume about 57% of the world advertising!? Yes, that’s right. How much of your day is spent being programmed by the mass media or the Internet which spins loads of half-truths. I am amazed we don’t have more schizophrenic cases in this country. Oh, wait, we’re OK because more than 10 million children in the US are being issued antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs.

Everything is fine. Back to sleep…

No, no. Wake Up! I have a thoughtful message to convey…

As I look at one of my bookshelves I see two titles that are worth mentioning in this post: Words That Sell and More Words That Sell. Ads that contain certain words measurably sell more product. To demonstrate I will create a worthless fictitious product called ‘EasiTime‘. What its purpose is makes no difference. Let me whip up a quick ad using some effective words.

Introducing The New Mega EasiTime!

Dear Friend:

Could you use an extra $1000 a month? Success starts with EasiTime.

Join the small handful of people who use EasiTime like a millionaire.

You’ll fall in love with EasiTime when you realize how quick and easy it is to use…

With AMAZING results!

ACT NOW!

Well, there are some other copywriting techniques involved here, but as you can see some words are more powerful than others. They’re like triggers.

Did you ever wonder why most supermarkets are laid out in a certain way? Why do you think the produce section is on one side of the market and the bread is on the opposite side? They force you to basically walk the entire market and put goodies in your path. Most goodies have been tested to be impulse buys, and they are usually situated at the end of every aisle. Every product has its special place in a market because psychologists study the data obtained from consumer discount and member cards. Their main purpose is not to give you a discount. It is to study consumer’s buying habits, as well as increase loyalty.

Next time you’re in a market, notice the products they put at eye level and compare them to other products which are below eye level. Statistically it is said by researchers that products at eye level sell much more product.

You’ll also find that in most of these product’s ads, animals, babies or sexually appealing images are used predominantly. Hopefully, they don’t cross any lines and begin using all three in the same ad, but I wouldn’t put it past some the major marketing firms to come up with a way to do it. More than half of commercials on TV seem to include these images.

A more recent tactic is bundle pricing. It almost looks like a “Buy 2 for 1″ kind of thing at first blush, but it isn’t really. It is used to increase the consumer’s perception of the value of the product. For example, they offer 2 gallons of milk for $5.99. If you choose to read the tiny lettering you will realize that you can buy 1 gallon of milk for half that price, but many consumers automatically think, “Oh! I can get 2 for that low price?” Sneaky fuckers, aren’t they?

The bundle pricing ploy reminds me of a time in High School. I was about 16 years old. My friend and I were completely broke, but we wanted to go to the movies. We were so bored and desperate we thought about asking for spare change. At that moment a girl I knew from school walked by. I’d already been studying psychology, mostly in the library after school, and it occured to me that if she were to ask older men for a specific amount of money for bus fair, she’d most likely get it. We watched her for about an hour in amazement. She’d amassed about $40 within an hour and took half.

Panhandlers seem to have recently discovered this technique. They no longer ask for spare change, but usually an exact amount like 23 cents so they can eat or 95 cents so they can put gas in their car and get their family to their destination. People respond more favorably when given a thoughtful justification.

Take the time to notice propaganda and mass media in everday life. Reverse engineer your social construct of reality. Just becoming conscious of it is enough to begin protecting yourself.

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by intent that my
thoughts aquire speed,

The dream aquires form,
The form pervades certainty.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

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admin :: Sep.13.2007 :: propaganda :: 2 Comments » Save This Page

Tag:anger, arbitrary symbols, blue pill, color, hate, love, natural symbols, red, red pill, sexual arousal, symbology

The study of our minds’ symbolic language is extremely relevant to the study of metaphor, persuasion, propaganda, and covert hypnosis.

Your so-called reality is made up of an excess of symbols. There are natural symbols and arbitrary symbols. Natural symbols exist regardless of human thought and language. It is probably more appropriate to call a natural symbol a sign. For example, certain cloud formations are signs of specific actions in nature building up to different types of weather; it wasn’t sailors who decided that the presence of cirrus and altocumulus clouds high in the atmosphere would indicate a forecast of rough weather. This relationship already existed naturally.

When you have to go to a public restroom, how do you know which door to enter? As a young child you may have chosen randomnly without a parent or guardian to guide you. Well, how did they know where to go? Because they learned that two stick figures glued to the doors represented a man and a woman. You can argue most people would understand these symbols logically, but that is not the point. These symbols never existed naturally, they were learned. Someone thought it up, everyone else accepted it consciously or unconsciously, and it finally became a convention. Now there are thousands of conventional symbols you experience everyday, created by the minds of others, which are now creating your reality. Symbols are running our lives.

It is interesting to note that certain symbols have different meaning in different cultures. Does that mean they are experiencing a different reality?

Since symbols are mostly a visual language, I’ll begin this category’s discussion with the color red.

The color red can invoke a strong myriad of emotions. Many cultures use red to convey the meaning of danger. Why not blue or pink or some other arbitrary color?

Red is the color of blood of course, and a reminder of our own mortality. The blood is associated with such emotions as love, anger, hate and sexual arousal. These associations are both positive and negative, but blood and its color clearly remind us of the pain of death.

But let’s be fair, red is not all doom and gloom. Red also signifies energy and power, possibly from its association to fire.

In modern daily life red is used to signify danger, instruction to stop, and so on. Many official documents use red to signify importance.

Do you usually take in colors simply on an unconscious level?

Next time try to notice the color red, how it is used, and why.

You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. Remember — all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.

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admin :: Sep.12.2007 :: symbology :: 1 Comment » Save This Page

Tag:corporate world, deceive, deception, game, lie, lying, poor souls, sugar coat, tell the truth, unethical

Do you know the difference between a lie and deception? At first, they almost seem like the same thing, don’t they?

A lie is simply telling an untruth, but deception encompasses a whole slew of techniques which use both language and silence, action and non-action.

As children we are told not to lie and always tell the truth. As we grow up we learn to sugar-coat our words in order to spare people’s feelings. Some lies are seen as necessary, and sometimes the truth is best left unsaid.

Other types of lies may be sleightly more unethical, but still don’t necessarily hurt anyone. You may lie about your job experience on a resume or tell someone something about yourself which is not true in order to be accepted.

Whether this is good or bad is not my call, but all lies have one thing in common: They are not based on truth.

You must first create the lie, and hope they will take the bait. Lying seems like an awful lot of unecessary stress to me. Deception, on the other hand, is more powerful, has many more options, and can require very little effort. Although lying is not seperate. It is merely a subset of the game of deception.

For any of those poor souls out there who are just getting there feet wet in the corporate world, let me give you some advice…

Deception is alive and well, and if you don’t know how the game works, you will most likely suffer dearly.

For example, let’s say you have discovered a big problem within your company that is not being addressed, and probably hasn’t been for years. You have a solution that would benefit your company, but some of your work colleagues or those in management may feel otherwise because it may hurt their career or status in some way. They will most likely deceive you and wait until you shut up or leave. Don’t underestimate those who deceive. Some of them have extraordinary stamina.

Here are a few things they might do to lie and deceive you.

They will omit certain truths.

You’re not lying here, you just aren’t giving the whole story, and so that story doesn’t exist. This is disinformation.

They will avoid your topic or issue.

You will either be constantly interrupted, passed on by politely, ignored, or belittled. Again, if it isn’t heard, it doesn’t exist. This is a disinformation tactic as well.

If you unknowingly make a false statement, they will not correct you.

Let’s suppose you get a hold of some bad information, but you think it is legit. If no one tells you differently, you will continue to look ignorant. This makes you look bad and them look good.

They will outright lie.

Lying is a part of deception, and it is very effective if it’s done correctly.

Well, those are the basics. I’ll go more in-depth next time I post within this category.

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admin :: Sep.11.2007 :: deception :: No Comments » Save This Page

Tag:fun, future, grammar, perfect tense, present participle, present perfect, sentences, spank, spanked, spoken language, subjective experience, tweaking, verb tenses

Thanks to all readers who have written me recently with compliments. It is very much appreciated…

And now to the post!

I would like to encourage you to develop a new habit of playing with your own spoken language if you don’t already.

Tweaking verb tenses is a good place to start. By changing tense we change time and therefore our own or somebody else’s subjective experience.

The past, present, and future each have their own distinctive energy, and will shift your experience accordingly. Speak the following sentences out loudly, in private if you must (ha, ha, ha). Notice how it shifts your subjective experience. My colorful choice of examples are written on purpose, so that it sticks! Yes, very sticky examples…

1. I spanked my lover’s ass. (past)
2. I spank my lover’s ass. (present)
3. I will spank my lover’s ass. (future)

Now the same thing can be done with the present participle “spanking” (who said grammar can’t be fun?):

4. I was spanking my lover’s ass. (past)
5. I am spanking my lover’s ass. (present)
6. I will be spanking my lover’s ass. (future)

And again with the perfect form:

7. I had spanked my lover’s ass. (past perfect)
8. I have spanked my lover’s ass. (present perfect)
9. I will have spanked my lover’s ass. (future perfect)

The past perfect tense gives a definite feeling of completion, perhaps having being completed further back in the past. It might also give the indication of being related to something else. For example, “I had spanked my lover’s ass back when I was sassy.”

The present perfect tense indicates an action which has been completed or perfected in the present or possibly starting starting in the past and ending in the present. To clarify, “I have just spanked my lover’s ass and now I’m ready for cake.”

The future perfect tense will of course indicate an action that will complete in the future. This may also indicate another additional action may occur after the first one is completed. For example, “I will have already spanked my lover’s ass before I begin my painting lesson.”

Now it’s time to really play with these. Do you remember how tag questions work? We can mix and match verb tenses by using them.

Let’s imagine you have a friend who is somewhat shy. You might say,

“You have felt shy, haven’t you?”

This puts the problem of being shy into the past. Without the tag question there it gives the impression your friend may still be shy. With the tag question it puts the feeling of “shy” into the past as a possibly one-off experience.

Using a present tense verb with a tag question which uses a past tense verb, can sound somewhat odd, but you’ll be amazed how few people pick up on it consciously.

“When you do that you feel shy, weren’t you?”
“You want to feel comfortable talking to people, didn’t you?”

You may have had trouble with verb tenses until you read the previous examples, but now you know how easy they are and how well you will be using them in the coming days, don’t you agree?

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admin :: Sep.10.2007 :: advanced language patterns :: No Comments » Save This Page