My friend told me, “The other day I was watching a news channel and the words I heard just didn’t make sense. I was watching and I shook my head in disbelief. What do you think about that,” he said.
What did he hear?
I wanted to know. How did I miss it?
Now, you need to know that he believes that he and other viewers are being targeted with massive PR campaigns by the news media for quite a while, in an ongoing psychological operation by the various news channels. Yeah, I know it sounds really crazy but once you understand NLP Language patterns and their effects on our thinking and behavior you would have to agree with me. What do you think it is when you see beautiful ads and a month later you find yourself buying a certain product thinking that it is your own decision that made you purchase it?
Now, don’t get me wrong – I am not a believer in conspiracy theories; but I had to admit that I had similar thoughts before. The television channels are probably putting out information that has more marketing intent than just the news.
The Washington Post says:
“Traditional psychological operations, including the creation and delivery of messages via leaflet, loudspeaker, radio or television; the newer “influence operations” associated with the creation of Web sites and the use of social media to extend … influence, both overtly and covertly; and the separate clandestine and covert activities associated with influence, deception and perception management.”
Phew!
Well, I said, “the news media did learn if they scare the hell out of us, they will make us watch them more”. That is for sure!
It is good marketing
But it can’t work forever. While it works for some time to have an “ALERT” on the screen every hour, it loses its effectiveness if you do it all the time. Even so, when you see the news like that – “BULLETIN, BULLETIN: CAR HAS FLAT TIRE IN SIOUX FALLS” – it does place a stress on your body and nervous system. (That is, if you don’t laugh first).
I wondered out loud about the solution to this, and said the answer is for you to know what the patterns are that they are using to increase our viewing. Then, when we recognize a pattern we can acknowledge it to ourselves and then ignore it.
Here are some patterns you might see. The next two you can find yourself in Wikipedia – use the Search:
1. Double Think: George Orwell said that Double Think was “The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them….
That sends them to accepting one side or the other of the contradictory beliefs
To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies.[2]“
2. Dichotomization – Doublespeak might also have some connections with contemporary theories as well. Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky note in their book that Orwellian Doublespeak is an important component of the manipulation of the English language in American media, through a process called ‘dichotomization’: a component of media propaganda involving ‘deeply embedded double standards in the reporting of news’. For example, the use of state funds by the poor and financially needy is commonly referred to as ‘social welfare‘ or ‘handouts‘, which the ‘coddled’ poor ‘take advantage of’. These terms, however, do not apply to other beneficiaries of government spending such as tax incentives and military spending.[12]
3. False Definition – The redefinition of words. For example, “Public Relations” used to be called “Propaganda” until World War II when the inventor, Edward Bernays made the change after Propaganda had become too controversial. There are thousands of examples, today, of how words have changed meaning over time, and there are many which have been purposely changed. (See The Complex Equivalence language pattern in NLP Coaching Practitioner Training.)
4. False Importance – There’s going to be a polar shift, some of the doomsday sites maintain. Now, never mind that there has not been a polar shift that we are able to find in the history of the Earth. A magnetic pole shift, yes. But a realignment of the earth’s axis, no. Yet, there are many people who are worried about it. Evidently they have been hyped up by the media and the internet. Remember Y2K, and the ensuing hype everywhere. The importance of that event turned out to be substantially over dramatized. (See Values in the NLP Coaching Master Practitioner Training.)
Only One Way Back to Sanity
How do we get out of this never-ending PR campaign, and back to some sanity. Turn off the television? Stop watching CNN? Stop listening to NPR? Close your browser? Well that is a radical solution, because there are some reasons to stay connected. The answer to saving your brain lies in what you know.
Now, knowing the NLP Coaching Practitioner Training hypnotic language patterns will give you a marked advantage in sorting through all the media doomsday hype; because once you recognize a pattern, you are immune to its stimulating effect on you. First learn the pattern and then recognize it. In addition, please see Adriana James’ brilliant series of articles on PR patterns. They are all worth reading.
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