The Psychology Of Control: Social Media And The Frontlines Of The Reality War

The Psychology Of Division

I wrote this post a few years back, but it offers some deeper layers of context to some of the points I made in the latest chapter of my new series.

We live in the age of the literati so just to clarify, within this post I’m using generalised terms . There are many that are aware of the mind games that are being perpetrated against us. Equally, if you are using social media to share pictures of your cat this information won’t be as pertinent as it is to someone that is searching for and expressing a political opinion. That said, I think people would be surprised at how malleable the minds of the general public are to the machinations I’m going to discuss. I feel it valid to highlight (and give people pause for thought) some of the methods behind the madness we now see playing out around us, and at least attempt to speak to those that may have been drawn into a faux narrative.

Source

The Thought Ghetto

We live in the age of social media fuelled divide and conquer; an era where a sizeable majority appear so entrenched in their beliefs and ideologies that they have become complicit within their conceptual isolation, and thus impede any semblance of perceptual emancipation. Cocooned within era of algorithmically driven machine learning, our isolation is cushioned by the electronic echo chambers of social media.

These digital playgrounds are in essence warzones that place our minds on the frontlines of the reality war. Powerful forces are utilising military grade propaganda techniques, whilst complex algorithms keep the populace divided, distracted and our minds focused upon relative trivialities. Perceptually beguiled and drawn ever deeper into a web where we can be tracked, monitored and surveilled.

Within the echo chambers of social media they have cultivated the ability to direct our manipulated emotions and frustrations both towards each other, and whichever interchangeable bogeyman (or saviour) is expedient to the great game of divide and conquer. Machine learning technology pulls data from search engine history and our interactions within the platform, and this data is used to draw the individual into the perceptual thought ghetto. Our data used in such a way that these increasingly intelligent algorithms begin to tailor a digital reality around the beliefs and worldviews of the user.

Over time, the algorithmic thought ghetto has the potential to fuel narcissism, self righteous indignation and data driven identitarian isolation. Users can become so entrenched in their worldviews that outside the echo chamber they often lack the ability to civilly debate, reason or empathise with those that hold contradictory viewpoints. Seemingly unaware that their subconscious perceptions have been insidiously nudged towards the extremes of their chosen ideology.

Source

The Manipulation Of Mind

Cushioned within these algorithmic padded walls, propagandic digital predators can begin to manipulate the emotional state of the user, driving anger and apathy in equal measure. Do you ever wonder why you’re angrier or more frustrated about an important/pertinent subject/story than your friends and peers?

Do you sometimes ponder where the disconnect comes, how they’re seemingly unable to comprehend the bigger picture? How your comprehension remains incomprehensible and potentially reprehensible to those with an alternative viewpoint? The truth is, the individuals you waste your energy arguing with have an entirely different digital reality to you, hence they have often been nudged towards contradictory emotionally reactive states of mind. In many ways, this process is a digital manipulation of our tribal heritage and as such could be considered as the weaponisation of base psychology.

The funny thing is, whilst we’re (rightly) taught to fear the machinations and manipulations of the internet groomer; what many fail to realise is (that within the age of the algorithm), the internet has morphed into a self perpetuating grooming tool of epic proportions and profound implications. Even outside the of the echo chamber, the vast majority of media that we consume is propagandic in that it is designed to elicit an emotionally reactive response that prohibits/impedes a rational thought process.

Fear and anger are each elements of a control mechanism that keeps us bound to the chains of perceptual delusion, they are the ties that both bind and divide us.

Source

Smoke And Mirrors

Platforms such as facebook have already been caught manipulating the emotional state of their users, sadly the reality war is far more nefarious and indeed serious than a singular manipulation. Many will remember the Cambridge Analytica debacle, not as many will be aware that their parent company was SCL elections, whom are part of the SCL group (formerly strategic communications laboratories)..

SCL Group provides data, analytics and strategy to governments and military organizations worldwide. For over 25 years, we have conducted behavioral change programs in over 60 countries & have been formally recognized for our work in defense & social change.

The SCL group was founded by Nigel Oakes and it’s an evolution of his previous work within the Behavioural Dynamics institute (BDI) which (alongside the psychologists Adrian Furnham and emeritus professor Barrie Gunter) was also founded by Oakes. The BDI was set up in order to study mass behaviour, and SCL capitalises upon that research to manipulate and direct collective psychology. As an aside, the institute still operates as the research arm of SCL.

In essence, the SCL group is a private intelligence agency that uses its date driven behavioural change programmes to aid both government and private interests, and through its military contractor status has links to British military intelligence and royalty. Indeed the Queens third cousin Lord Ivar Mountbatten has sat on SCL’s advisory board and one of it’s former directors was former aide de campe to the Queen and former assistant director of naval warfare, rear admiral John Tolhurst. The SCL group has worked with Nato and holds a list X secret clearance contractor status within the MOD.

Source

Built To Last

Although Cambridge Analytica is dead the continuation of its narrative within the SCL group speaks to the labyrinth structure of an organisation that is also linked to the special ops tech giant, Palantir. The tech giant was co-founded by Peter Thiel (whom also co-founded Paypal) and who sits on the board of directors at Facebook. Palantir is an aspect of the total information awareness project, and was seed funded by In Q Tel which is an investor for military intelligence.

Aside from the few rudimentary connections I’ve made within this post, the convoluted, myriad structure of SCL, display the hallmarks of an organisation that is built to last. With at least eighteen companies and affiliates it is also built to withstand the transient glare of public scrutiny and journalistic investigation. Indeed, throughout the Cambridge Analytica fallout and subsequent bankruptcy, executives were already quietly creating a new company called Emerdata (and its subsidiary Firecrest Technologies) which appear poised to rise from the ashes of Cambridge Analytica.

A World Of Illusion

The government funded integrity initiative (which is itself an aspect of the institute for statecraft), was created to counter Russian disinformation. The problem is, their definitions are so broad that they’re demonising and generalising against anyone that expresses an opinion which is deemed to be countering a faux general consensus. They have been attacking anti-war rhetoric and anti-war journalists, whilst pursuing a propagandic war on Syrian regime change.

Alongside the aforementioned organisations, a Newsguard service (which is a body of research in itself), numerous think tanks, the Atlantic Council) inspired purge of alternative media, and the potential impending real time policing of “fake news”, we have literally hundreds (if not thousands) of intelligence and behavioural change operatives stalking the cyber halls of social media.

Source

Several have alternative media in their sights and are insidiously attaching anyone whom dare offer an opposing perspective on world events, onto the Russian and far right narrative. Are there Russian operatives out there? Is there Russian propaganda? For sure! It would be extremely naive to believe they won’t be utilising similar tactics, equally just because someone offers an opinion that opposes or questions the direction our society is heading in, does not make them the personification of hate, the far right or a Russian agent!

I’m certainly not suggesting that all these agencies have an agenda that goes deeper than the one they’re paid for. Some gravitate to the left and some to the right, some work to benefit specific countries, some are working on specific narratives, whilst others whichever way the wind is blowing or indeed who is paying them. Although they might not be united in intent, I feel that these perceptual predators are being utilised as individual aspects of a narrative that appears intent on sowing the seeds of chaos and confusion.

Source

Brexit

My friend @ricia recently directed me to an interesting interview with Neil Sanders, which can be found here. I respect Sanders and appreciate many of his persepectives; hence this is no way a criticism of his work or thought process. Due to the obvious time constraints the interview was predominantly about the Brexit campaign, whereas I have spent the last few years working on a concept that drew all this left/right chaos into a singular narrative.

During the interview Sanders mentioned several of the connections I’ve made above and relayed this information in relation to its connection to Brexit, Aaron Banks and vote leave. Like Sanders, the information leads me to believe that vote leave was indeed infiltrated by the aforementioned interests. Although if you used either social or mainstream media to aid you in your decision making process, well what can I say? Equally, as acknowledged by Sanders let’s not forget the monumental fear porn that was espoused by vote remain, the government and pretty much every British (and non British) institution I can think of.

Research also leads me to understand that this manipulation transcends leave/remain and again plays to the increasingly (socially engineered) polarised nature of our society. At its most simplistic level, order out of chaos is what they seek and division is how they achieve it. If you seek division, then win or lose you can capitalise upon the momentum and reaction to every outcome. The scale of this perceptual manipulation is far deeper than many will comprehend. To the degree that (with a nod to Lenin) every side of every talking point, movement, organisation and shady charity has been infiltrated and that this infiltration is designed to create confusion and draw us ever deeper into the reality war.

Source

Brexit Divisions

Whether you’re for or against Brexit, only a blind man could deny that the division its caused hasn’t been capitalised upon and is being increasingly fractured/splintered. Equally, within the strange pseudo intellectual morality courts of msm and social media, we have previously tainted individuals (such as the parasite Tony Blair) attempting to whitewash their tarnished reputations. Because everyone knows that if you voted to leave you’re old, racist, far-right, un-educated, a Russian operative or just plain stupid, right?? The fact that this narrative is also being used to drive a wedge between generations greatly saddens me. Suddenly age = stupidity and youth = wisdom, this plays into a deeper agenda where children are going to be increasingly heralded as the epitome of that wisdom.

Edit: I pause to note that this post was written a few years before any of us had heard of Greta.

The passion and emotion of youth has been weaponised and will increasingly be utilised to drive forward the globalist agenda. In an age of propaganda and illusion, youthful emotions and frustrations are ripe for manipulation. The system seeks to divide the generations and detach youth from the (not saying all old people are wise!) wisdom of its elders.

You Are Your Label?

They are teaching youth to identify themselves as their sexuality. They teach us to view the world not as a human being, but through the eyes of an externally created label/identity. They have taught us to define ourselves through our sexuality not because they care about our rights, but because on the world stage your sexuality (although important to you) is inconsequential.

Of course, as consenting adults you should have the birthright to be who you are and love who you want, power to you! You should join together to voice your anger against those that persecute that freedom, your human rights. But to the starving child, the war child, do you think your sexuality is of any consequence to them? Do any of these labels and identities change any aspect of the direction the world is heading in? Can you see that they are using an ever increasing array of labels and identities to divide, not unify us? Division masquarading as inclusivity.

Source

Pre-Programmed Perceptions

As already alluded to, there is both an interconnected and unconnected web of deceit, subversion and propaganda that has infiltrated every sphere of our society. From education, social media, mainstream media to politics and the thinly veiled veneer of democracy, the construct of our society is being dissected via a myriad of propagandic and subversive narratives. The handful of operatives I’ve discussed, are simply the visible tip of a far deeper agenda. An agenda that has been set loose upon the internet and that will increasingly direct the societal reorganisation that is intended to arise from this cultivated chaos.

Increasingly we have a generation (through the media and aspects of the education and political system) that are being trained to be offended and thus seek protection from the government/nanny state. By the time these targeted/manipulated individuals hit social media (and often through processes I outlined in this post) they have already been primed to react to set emotional triggers, and an ever increasing array of self perceived micro aggressions.

Once cushioned within the echo chamber these emotional and perceptual manipulations are algorithmically nudged towards an evolutionary process. The evolution creates the users perceptual reality and thus drives the safe space culture that was fermented within the education system, cultivated within the thought ghetto, and then finally birthed into a real world. Indeed, within the real world, cyber meltdowns are beginning to influence day to day life decisions and free speech definitions, the lines between the digital and the physical becoming increasingly blurred.

Safe Space Dystopia

The control system algorithmically feeds upon the left and right political mind control paradigm, gently nudging (those that are susceptible) towards increased division and the extremes of political opinion. Within this narrative there will be times that you feel your chosen ideology/side is winning, that you’re sticking to the man! But again, forgetting the “he said” “she said” theatrics of modern politics, from a simplistic perspective (and however the wind is currently blowing) control is what they seek and division and chaos is how they achieve it.

We now have opposing political ideologies literally cheering on the de-platforming and speech restrictions that are being imposed upon their opponents. Seemingly people are so entrenched in their idealism that they appear unaware of the dangerous game they are playing; unaware that they eye is and was always intended to come full circle, that ultimately this agenda seeks to steal the words from all our mouths.

Are you offended by the perspectives of others, by the inflammatory things they say? Good! Our society moves forward by the civilised challenge and debate of dogmatic principles. If your thoughts have merit and they’re valid, then go out there and debate those whom you oppose, beat them with your superior ideas. In a world of starvation, war and abuse you have zero right to be shielded from offence, to hide from ideas that may shatter your idealism.

As a society, we have always had our differences and in unbalanced world , things have seldom been perfect. Alas, as opposed to bringing us together I fear social media is exasperating our differences and fuelling our identitarian divisions, in turn fermenting a victimhood culture that is being duped into surrendering freedom for protection. As highlighted above, here in the UK (and in face of police cuts and a subsequent knife and acid attack crime epidemic), the police appear only too happy to become the enforcers within our brave new safe space.

Re-Framing Bots

In reality, social media is akin to the greatest data mining operation in the history of humanity. Shadowy organisations are sat underneath an umbrella narrative that is using our data to drive behavioural change and turn the world into a digitally fuelled re-education camp. The method behind this reframing is both insidious and militaristic in its sophistication, and A.I bots are being increasingly utilised to reframe and direct our digital reality.

As with all technology, bots can bring us a multitude of benefits; but from the perspective of societal re-education, many conversations taking place throughout social media (and online commentary boards) are actually occurring between humans and bots. These increasingly intelligent bots have machine learning capabilities, use natural language processing methodology, and can both adapt and converse with their human counterparts. In essence, these bots are data driven behavioural change agents that are able to converse, antagonise and influence opinion. They can start or redirect conversations, make inflammatory comments, spread disinformation, or simply strengthen the walls of the thought ghetto.

As already alluded to, there are hundreds if not thousands of behavioural change organisations operating through social media (many with opposing narratives, that keep us focused upon infighting), when you add algorithms, A.I bots, employed propagandists and state sponsored propaganda into the mix, you can see that social media is indeed on the frontlines of the reality war! A war on perception, and for the control of perception.

The War On Free Speech

The control system capitalises upon our oft manipulated divisions and uses it to cultivate a war on free speech. One aspect promotes what is termed offensive or hate speech, whilst the other capitalises upon the twitter meltdowns to insidiously curtail free speech. Again, the higher education system has already created a safe space culture, and so now we have individuals looking to authority to police words and perspectives considered offensive to an ever decreasing band of accepted opinion. They have created a culture of identitarian politics and then crafted the illusion that each identity/political pursuasion is under attack, in imminent danger. When people feel as though their identity/belief is under attack it creates a more tribalistic political landscape, a landscape that is both fed by and feeds the thought ghetto. Indeed, once you start the momentum it then becomes self-perpuating.

Definitions of hate speech were always intended to become increasingly blurred and broadened, one day they will be used to silence those that voice an opinion that is opposing a premeditated and predetermined societal narrative. They are training people to become offended and then capitalising upon their reaction to create real world laws. In terms of hate, all words are not created equal and some have more power than others.

Both the words hate and terror have the power to illicit quantifiable emotional responses, equally we can observe how the social engineer has worked them into our mind space. The term was first broadly used (in a pejorative sense) during the formative years of the war on “terror”, where it was used to describe fundamentalists as “hate” preachers. This has created a subconscious impression around the term, and so when it is used against an increasingly vast array of individuals/movements, our subconscious still retains the essence of that original impression and as such (with the busy lives we all lead) we often fail to make the conscious distinction between who it is directed at..

Dividing A Country

Firstly in terms of Trump, whether I feel he is or isn’t an aspect of the deep state, isn’t really important. It’s my belief that the only way out of our situation is to rediscover our inner power and escape the propagandic chains that have been placed upon us. We need to become leaders in our own right, we’ve waited too long for salvation and now is the time to become our own saviours, to be the change we want to happen and not keep waiting for “our leaders” to make that change.

That said, whether you’re for or against Trump and whether you feel his tenure is a misstep in our march towards a world government, again from a simplistic perspective if its division you seek every outcome to every situation can be manipulated to your advantage. So I ask you, is America now a more united or divided country? You see whether or not Trump was the intended outcome, the outcome (and his narcissism) has been utilised to manipulate base psychology and fracture ever greater divisions within our society.

Source

Good Cop/Bad Cop

To me this all speaks to the cult of identity politics. Personally I feel, both Obama & Trump personify everything that is both wrong and indeed dangerous about said cult. Whether you love or hate them, you are emotionally attached to them and much of your attention is on them. Because of the way the media portrays them, I refer to Obama & Trump as good cop/bad cop.

Even if they lost their intended candidate,they'd obviously have a backup plan and from a psychological perspective, the opposing narratives of good cop/bad cop would seem like a logical conclusion. Indeed, it’s perhaps prudent to note that the manipulation tactics of good cop/bad cop is a tool that is used (to great effect) in police interview rooms the world over! Equally, this increasingly subconsciously trains people to be reactionary puppets on a string, waiting for the correct emotional triggers to animate them and bring them to life.

Good cop Bad cop have dealt a left/right blow to unity and any semblance of a cohesive society. Whether he is aware or not; with the inflammatory and divisive nature of Trump, they can carefully cultivate the antithesis to the predetermined destination they want to take society in. With a nod to my previous comments about Blair, they are using Trumps divisive character to whitewash previously tainted individuals, organisations and failing narratives. We have large swathes of the populace gravitating towards the polarity of whatever Trump says or does, and (when thinking about reverse psychology) that is a powerful control mechanism. The enemy of your enemy is not always your friend, and whilst we look to the trees the forest is on fire.

Source

The Tech Giants

Tech giants, we’ve already ascertained that shady operatives are utilising them; but that’s not their fault and surely they have our best interests at heart, don’t they? Over the last few years the aforementioned tech and social media giants have been quietly accumulating vast arrays of power and influence. They now appear to be using their power and influence to control and quell any voices that question the mainstream narrative.

They are appointing themselves as the arbiters of truth within a premeditated pseudo morality court. The tech giants are the truth ministry and their perceptual prisoners the thought police that are intent on policing us towards a hive of collective thought, and ever decreasing array of socially accepted opinions. They offer a three stage knockout blow against free speech, and our ability to voice an opinion that is counter to the agenda.

Search Engine/Video Sharing = Google
Social Media = Facebook/Twitter
Financial punishment for dissenting voices/platforms = Paypal

Source

Google/Youtube

”Don’t be evil” The Orwellian nature of that statement would be hilarious if it wasn’t so pertinent and dangerous. In the video below, we can observe Google’s Eric Schmidt outlining the destination that the Google search engine was always intended/designed to arrive at. A destination that Google home and indeed Amazon Alexa, are gently nudging us towards.

But if Google are seeking singular, dare I say simplistic black and white answers to a world of a million shades of grey, then who is going to define that truth? Do you trust Google to become the ministry of that truth? Do you trust an organisation that’s chief scientist has recently resigned over “a forfeiture of our values”?. Do you trust an organisation that is enabling China to build a censored search engine that could list phone numbers against internet searches on one side of the world, whilst declaring themselves as the arbiters of truth and morality on the other? Do you trust them to store your biometric data? Do you trust a company that can now (in real time) track your bank and credit card purchases and connect them to the online profile they hold about you?

Do you trust an organisation that has openly declared its intent to use data to drive behavioural change? (video here). Do you trust an organisation that has been using its power to quietly taking over the education system? Do you trust a company that is using its power to silence/hide alternative viewpoints? Do you trust a company that in order to create unbalanced perceptions, false preconceptions and direct political opinion, manipulates its search engine results? Do you trust an organisation that installed a microphone in it's home alarm system, and then forgot to tell the customers? Do you know that Google has created an artificial intelligence system named Perspective that has been trained to "automatically detect toxicity in comments in real time”? Who defines toxicity?

Do you trust an organisation that is building A.I for the pentagon drone programme? We are told this A.I will be used for non-offensive purposes but equally, it hints at a close working relationship. Indeed, did you know that throughout Obama's tenure as president, the Whitehouse was visited (by google executives) on no less that 427 separate occasions? Are you aware that Google are opening an A.I research lab in Beijing and that artificial intelligence will eventually run the Chinese social credit system? Do you know that the next generation of Google home and Amazon Alexa will be able to gauge the emotional state of the household and interject during arguments and disagreements? What could go wrong!!??

Source

Facebook & Twitter

We’ve already discussed the manipulatory and perceptually predatory operatives that have been unleashed upon social media. We’ve discussed the psychological games they’ve perpetrated against their users. Are Facebook psychotherapists or psycho the rapists? Psychologically raping your mind, is the clue in the name? We know about the vast amount of data they hold about us. and we should all know that they are in essence a data mining operation. We know that they track our internet usage (even when you’re not signed into the platform) and then monetise that information. We know that they shared your personal information and private messages with up to 150 of their tech buddies, including Google and Microsoft and even the Russian search engine Yandax, whom have previously been caught passing confidential information to the Russian security services.

We know that their telephone app can listen for certain “trigger words” and then record conversations or sell you ads. We know of court cases taking place against their military grade facial recognition technology. How about facebooks research and development wing? With a nod to minority report, do you know that facebook has filed several patents that seek to calculate you future location?Do you know that they’re developing machine/brain interfaces that can read your brainwaves and enable you to type with your thoughts? Or how about the virtual reality safe space they’re creating, you know the one where we can hang out with our friends and have our every word monitored, video here. In short do you trust facebook to become your ministry of truth?

Source

Apple

How about that nice Tim Cook? While accepting the Anti-Defamation League's first-ever "Courage Against Hate" award at an event in New York City, Cook took a broadswipe and equated alternative media with white supremacy, violent conspiracy theorists and (yes there is that word again) hate speech? As a wise man once said "Correct thought is happy thought." George Orwell – 1984. Funnily enough Cook is imitating the narrative that’s being pushed by the aforementioned behavioural change organisations, groups he seemingly has no problem with using his platform to manipulate behaviour? How moralistic of him, it’s just a shame he doesn’t exhibit that same moral fibre when choosing electronic manufacturers.

The manufacturer in question is Foxconn, whom following a string of workplace suicides have installed suicide nets beneath their high rise workplace. They also asked employees to sign non suicide contracts, guaranteeing that in the event of “unexpected” death their families would be unable to sue them. From a censorship perspective, you can use this website to display how Apple allows the Chinese government to censor VPN's and western news apps that discuss human rights. So how about Apple, how do you feel about these guys becoming the arbiters of truth and morality?

The Hackers Are Coming!

Isn’t it funny that they’ve created a climate of fear around Chinese and Russian hackers and propaganda agents, when for years US tech companies have been selling source code and backdoor operating systems that enable them to, yes you’ve guessed it .. hack! Yes Microsoft, Intel, IBM etc I’m looking at you! Isn’t it funny that as the world recoils in horror at the implications of the Chinese credit system, that these same tech companies have been keeping customer “trust scores”..

Source

Final Thoughts

What we have is a system based upon the foundations of control and greed. A system of war and ecological destruction that propagandises the people into believing that we are the problem, that we're a scourge upon the planet. A system that divides and dehumanises us, to keep our noses to the grindstone and our frustrations directed towards one another. A system that in order to capitalise upon the crisis, was designed to bring us to this moment of crisis. Our minds are the prize, and as such our perceptions have been placed on the frontlines of the reality war.

Those with an understanding of human psychology will also understand the duplicitous nature of these tactics. They will see these Machiavellian masters of manipulation for who they are. They will understand that the left/right mind control paradigm has become akin to a perceptual wrecking ball. The wrecking ball swings from left to right, each swing destroying the decaying vestiges of free speech and self determinism. Within the age of social media, the left right paradigm has become the antithesis of democracy and free expression. And so below (in my final paragraph) I leave with the same words I relayed in a post l wrote during the spring of last year, indeed (from my perspective) subsequent events have only strengthened their validity.

Source

Although it weaves truth amongst the fear, the alt left/alt-right paradigm is also a prison for the mind and whilst you operate within these confines it’s a trap from which there is no escape. Indeed has anyone noticed how “truth” has been insidiously branded as alt-right and how blurred the lines are becoming between alt and far? This is an entirely deliberate attempt to draw us back into the paradigm; in fact as complex algorithms increasing nudge us towards the extremes of chosen ideologies, I believe they intend to subvert the truth movement and use it to create societal unrest. Tainting the very concept of “truth” and destroying this previous bastion of free speech, clever eh? Mark my words, truth will come to be defined as hate.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post, until next time I will leave you to decide who has the perceptualflaws.

Written by perceptualflaws
Gifs from giphy.com