Controlled Opposition- The Illusion of Choice
Welcome to the Abattoir Scott. You are clever, and a master persuader yourself. But you are not outside the system. You now have 500 channels on TV and still there is nothing on. It takes 10 minutes to pick a toothpaste now as we wade through the crap designed to appeal to impulses, or just wear us down. But there is zero difference between them except packaging and target consumer niches. So, pick your toothpaste Scott. Just don't tell us there is a difference.
by Vince Lanci | We like Scott Adam's stuff normally. His post today discusses among other things, the illusion of choice. It is almost puzzling that instead of running with related concepts like Manufactured Consent and Controlled Opposition, Adams limits his applied knowledge to justifying Trump as his candidate of choice. We think that Scott is stretching things a bit. And not just because of his post.So we want to do just that before letting him discuss pink elephants and false choices.
The real choice is what is riskier: what Trump says, or what Clinton does. Trump is a wind bag, threatening to sue everyone and suing noone. He has an ego that is big and fragile. His lack of impulse control is astounding. He is a racist/sexist clown despite Adams' attempts to say that is propaganda manufactured by the Clinton's. So what? That is why we'd prefer him over her. But really, there is no choice. And either Adams knows it and is just clinging to his ideas or he doesn't which would be astounding considering his grasp of the concepts tied to what is being discussed right here.
False Choices
If you google the term "Controlled Opposition" and search for it on wikipedia, you will find there is no entry. You will instead be directed to "Suppression of Dissent", witt no sub category for controlled opposition at all. Yet controlled opposition is a very real thing. It is a tactic used in suppressing dissent. Why do you think Wikipedia has nothing on this concept? Even when it was essentially coined by Lenin
“The best way to control the opposition is to lead it ourselves.” -Vladimir Lenin
Manufactured Consent exists on wikipedia. Why not controlled opposition? Manufactured Consent is what is done to get people to see it your way. But if that fails, it is controlled opposition that is frequently used to finish the job. And that is what this election is about. False choices. Both candidates are elitists. Trump is center right. And Clinton is center right by her own admission. Where is the difference?
There is none. The two party system is only interested in preserving itself. We are saddened that Adams doesnt voice this considering how close he gets to being "awake". The slaughterhouse awaits.
I Wake You Up for the Presidential Debate
Here’s a little thought experiment for you:
If a friend said he could see a pink elephant in the room, standing right in front of you, but you don’t see it, which one of you is hallucinating?
Answer: The one who sees the pink elephant is hallucinating.
Let’s try another one.
If a friend tells you that you were both abducted by aliens last night but for some reason only he remembers it, which one of you hallucinated?
Answer: The one who saw the aliens is hallucinating.
Now let’s add some participants and try another one.
If a crowd of people are pointing to a stain on the wall, and telling you it is talking to them, with a message from God, and you don’t see anything but a stain, who is hallucinating? Is it the majority who see the stain talking or the one person who does not?
Answer: The people who see the stain talking are experiencing a group hallucination, which is more common than you think.
In nearly every scenario you can imagine, the person experiencing an unlikely addition to their reality is the one hallucinating. If all observers see the same addition to their reality, it might be real. But if even one participant can’t see the phenomenon – no matter how many can – it is almost certainly not real.
Here I pause to remind new readers of this blog that I’m a trained hypnotist and a student of persuasion in all its forms. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to learn the tricks for discerning illusion from reality. And I’m here to tell you that if you are afraid that Donald Trump is a racist/sexist clown with a dangerous temperament, you have been brainwashed by the best group of brainwashers in the business right now: Team Clinton. They have cognitive psychologists such as Godzilla advising them. Allegedly.
I remind you that intelligence is not a defense against persuasion. No matter how smart you are, good persuaders can still make you see a pink elephant in a room where there is none (figuratively speaking). And Clinton’s team of persuaders has caused half of the country to see Trump as a racist/sexist Hitler with a dangerous temperament. That’s a pink elephant.
As a public service (and I mean that literally) I have been trying to unhypnotize the country on this matter for the past year. I don’t do this because I prefer Trump’s policies or because I know who would do the best job as president. I do it because our system doesn’t work if you think there is a pink elephant in the room and there is not. That isn’t real choice. That is an illusion of choice.
Trump represents what is likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring real change to a government that is bloated and self-serving. Reasonable people can disagree on policies and priorities. But Trump is the bigger agent for change, if that’s what you think the country needs. I want voters to see that choice for what it is.
And it isn’t a pink elephant.
If you are wondering why a socially liberal and well-educated cartoonist such as myself is not afraid of Trump, it’s because I don’t see the pink elephant. To me, all anti-Trumpers are experiencing a shared illusion.
Pause here.
Before you scoff at mass, shared illusions as being unlikely, keep in mind that everyone with a different religion than yours is experiencing exactly that. Mass shared illusions are our most common experience.
Back to my point. As a trained persuader, I can see the “Trump is Hitler” illusion for what it is. Where you might see a mountain of credible evidence to support your illusion, I see nothing but confirmation bias on your part. I have detailed that confirmation bias in other posts.
Remember my rule from above. If you see something unlikely – such as a new Hitler rising in the midst of America – and I see nothing remotely like that – I’m almost certainly right and you’re almost certainly having the illusion. I say that because the person who sees the unlikely addition to reality is the one experiencing the illusion nearly every time. Trump as Hitler-in-America is an addition to reality that only some can see. It is a pink elephant. It is a classic hallucination.
I’m not trying to say I’m smarter than anyone else. I just don’t see the pink elephant. Nor do perhaps 40% of the country who prefer Trump as president. And when that many people don’t see a pink elephant in a room, you can be sure it isn’t there, no matter how many do see it.
If you are a Clinton supporter, you might think Trump supporters see the same pink elephant that you do, and you rationalize that by saying Trump supporters prefer the pink elephant because they want it to stomp all over minorities.
Some Trump supporters are racists. That’s a fact. Racists are in every group. Perhaps they see the pink elephant too. If so, they probably do want that elephant to stomp all over minorities. But in this case, the racists are sharing the same illusion as Clinton supporters, seeing the same pink elephant. The majority of Trump supporters – as far as I can tell – simply don’t see any pink elephant at all. They just want change.
I don’t believe in Santa Claus.
I don’t believe in ghosts.
I don’t believe in a traditional god.
I don’t believe in luck.
And I don’t see Donald Trump as dangerous.
In my elephant-free view of the world, Trump is a guy who uses provocative language (as New Yorkers do) while succeeding across several different fields. And he knows risk-management. You can see that in everything he does.
If you are an anti-Trumper, you might reject my point of view as manipulative or naive. I can’t change your mind with a blog post. But you can change your own mind. Just ask others if they see the addition to reality that you see. If others don’t see the pink elephant in the room, and you do, the elephant isn’t there.
Look for that pattern. Once you see it, you’re awake.
Then vote for whoever has the policies you like.
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You might enjoy my book because you are almost awake now
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