The Secret Economy: thoughts on the media, politics and societal control

The idea of heightened complexity in societies before they collapse and the idea that people today mask a helplessness when facing societal fragility by a misplaced concern about politics.

So, yeah, Holly and Jasun entered some interesting waters – the idea that there is a mechanism – inside people’s psychology/psyche/minds – that can be and are exploited: if an actor (like anywhere from a movie actor to a politician, to anybody behaving anywhere, anyway, anytime) acts in a certain way it pushes buttons in said psyche of the audience which elicits known responses.  Simply state, people act in a certain way to manipulate their audience.  But the interesting part of this as it relates to politics is the idea that there are subconscious cues/reactions.

Jasun referenced organizations that studied and subsequently tried to control these cues/reactions.  In order to control the direction society was/is going.  Call it an advanced study of human nature.  Or politicians and various other actors do not consciously push those manipulative buttons but are personally adept at subconsciously recognizing certain reactions by altering their act in whatever way.  As Holly said, a literalization of this adaptive technology already exists where people recognize what they want to recognize in actors and the actors provide a blank enough canvas to allow for people to place their hopes and dreams and wishes upon, the actors becoming that estranged or deceased family member we want to appeal to and receive adulation from.