Manipulation Playbook: 20 indicators of reality hijacking or how to know you're in a psyop
[media=https://youtu.be/b3AN2wY4qAM]
There was more to this but I only felt like writing some of it, it's a good video though.
1. Focus: psyops always aim to hijack your attention with repetition or repetition of terms, shocking visual like 24/7 media coverage of a crises. Pause and ask why is this message being pushed more aggressively. You have to compare disproportionate focus between news.
2. Authority: trusted figures might shift their tone or positions unnaturally to support their narrative. Watch very closely for expert panelists or authority figures who speak outside their expertise.
3. Tribe: Messages or opinions that create in vs. out groups that exploit our natural tribal extinct such as labeling groups patriots vs. traitors or scientific vs. deniers. Be very careful when you hear that language.
4. Emotions: be careful of any language that triggers strong emotions like fear, hope or outrage without any clear evidence. Emotional responses suppress critical thinking, analyze the evidence that's given to you. Need to be very cautious over appeals to emotions. Example: during a food supply scare it shows empty supermarkets, driving fear behaviors.
5. Question Novelty: brains are wired to focus on sudden or unusual changes for threats, this is a survival mechanism. Psyops exploits this by creating events that breaks normal expectations like crises or dramatic revelations. Consider the message has been artificially manufactured. Look for patterns like sudden shifts in public opinion, trending hashtags that are unusual or viral videos that seem coincidental. Like you see a viral video that claims to expose a govt coverup that conveniently comes out that has damaging evidence that is against some high ranking official. The timing shifts public's focus.
6. Look for multiple sources: centralized narratives creates echo chambers, silences dissent and narrows perspectives. If all media outlets presents the identical talking points. It is a huge red flag. Actively seek out contrarian viewpoints even if they challenge you.
Example: during a breaking health crises, all the major news outlets reported on the exact same study but independent researcher revealed the study was funded by a company funded by the solution so watch for group speak.
7. Look for cognitive dissonance weapons: is when new info clashes with our identity, psyops exploits this by including micro agreements which are seemingly harmless concessions to shape your identity and overtime you'll align your behavior to reduce conflict.
A psyop might present you as part of a moral or intelligent enlightenment as only good citizens do x, y, and z, if you disagree with it, you risk conflict. Ask yourself if you're being nudged to identify with any group.
So be careful of any group that asks you to do small compliance demands like changing your picture that evolves some bigger demand later, signing petitions.
For example if a company tries to persuade you to buy their product and says "real patriots only buy local" if you reject this, it feels like you're betraying your identity, it pushes you to conform. Be very skeptical over identity statements.
8. Look for emotional scripts: Scripts written in our brains by our ancestors from survival days. Things that trigger fear of loss, scarcity, social rejection or danger. Like a media script about scarcity sudden warnings about limited resources sparks scarcity fear behaviors. Break the script by focusing on the facts, what's the likelihood of the situation happening.
So if a politician says "if we don't act now our children will not have a future" which ties into protecting children, creating urgency without knowing facts.
9. Financial: there's a trail of funding like sponsorships that create political narratives. For policies or campaigns, follow what stands to gain the most. Picture a charity that promotes clean air awareness but later your investigation shows that the charity is funded by a solar panel company that's lobbying for subsidies.
10. Analyze the context boundary: Context defines what is permissible. Manipulative people shift context to normalize extreme behavior. They say in emergencies people accept martial law when they would normally be completely against it.
The ability to weaponize cognitive dissonance and shift the context to get anyone to do almost anything. For example a major cyber attack can have the govt make sweeping surveillance laws.
11. Spot the use of archetypes like heroes, saviors of villains. Deconstruct the story, what roles are they playing? Things like a leader that's fighting "pure evil" and it oversimplifies the conflict to prevent scrutiny.
There was more to this but I only felt like writing some of it, it's a good video though.
1. Focus: psyops always aim to hijack your attention with repetition or repetition of terms, shocking visual like 24/7 media coverage of a crises. Pause and ask why is this message being pushed more aggressively. You have to compare disproportionate focus between news.
2. Authority: trusted figures might shift their tone or positions unnaturally to support their narrative. Watch very closely for expert panelists or authority figures who speak outside their expertise.
3. Tribe: Messages or opinions that create in vs. out groups that exploit our natural tribal extinct such as labeling groups patriots vs. traitors or scientific vs. deniers. Be very careful when you hear that language.
4. Emotions: be careful of any language that triggers strong emotions like fear, hope or outrage without any clear evidence. Emotional responses suppress critical thinking, analyze the evidence that's given to you. Need to be very cautious over appeals to emotions. Example: during a food supply scare it shows empty supermarkets, driving fear behaviors.
5. Question Novelty: brains are wired to focus on sudden or unusual changes for threats, this is a survival mechanism. Psyops exploits this by creating events that breaks normal expectations like crises or dramatic revelations. Consider the message has been artificially manufactured. Look for patterns like sudden shifts in public opinion, trending hashtags that are unusual or viral videos that seem coincidental. Like you see a viral video that claims to expose a govt coverup that conveniently comes out that has damaging evidence that is against some high ranking official. The timing shifts public's focus.
6. Look for multiple sources: centralized narratives creates echo chambers, silences dissent and narrows perspectives. If all media outlets presents the identical talking points. It is a huge red flag. Actively seek out contrarian viewpoints even if they challenge you.
Example: during a breaking health crises, all the major news outlets reported on the exact same study but independent researcher revealed the study was funded by a company funded by the solution so watch for group speak.
7. Look for cognitive dissonance weapons: is when new info clashes with our identity, psyops exploits this by including micro agreements which are seemingly harmless concessions to shape your identity and overtime you'll align your behavior to reduce conflict.
A psyop might present you as part of a moral or intelligent enlightenment as only good citizens do x, y, and z, if you disagree with it, you risk conflict. Ask yourself if you're being nudged to identify with any group.
So be careful of any group that asks you to do small compliance demands like changing your picture that evolves some bigger demand later, signing petitions.
For example if a company tries to persuade you to buy their product and says "real patriots only buy local" if you reject this, it feels like you're betraying your identity, it pushes you to conform. Be very skeptical over identity statements.
8. Look for emotional scripts: Scripts written in our brains by our ancestors from survival days. Things that trigger fear of loss, scarcity, social rejection or danger. Like a media script about scarcity sudden warnings about limited resources sparks scarcity fear behaviors. Break the script by focusing on the facts, what's the likelihood of the situation happening.
So if a politician says "if we don't act now our children will not have a future" which ties into protecting children, creating urgency without knowing facts.
9. Financial: there's a trail of funding like sponsorships that create political narratives. For policies or campaigns, follow what stands to gain the most. Picture a charity that promotes clean air awareness but later your investigation shows that the charity is funded by a solar panel company that's lobbying for subsidies.
10. Analyze the context boundary: Context defines what is permissible. Manipulative people shift context to normalize extreme behavior. They say in emergencies people accept martial law when they would normally be completely against it.
The ability to weaponize cognitive dissonance and shift the context to get anyone to do almost anything. For example a major cyber attack can have the govt make sweeping surveillance laws.
11. Spot the use of archetypes like heroes, saviors of villains. Deconstruct the story, what roles are they playing? Things like a leader that's fighting "pure evil" and it oversimplifies the conflict to prevent scrutiny.
36-40, FVIP
