This might be my neurodivergence talking (I already find people a bit alien and hard to understand) but boy do people seem like they’re eager to get themselves easily manipulated by their desire to fit in.

If you’re an oligarchy looking to control your population all you have to do is tell them is that everyone is doing the thing.

Oh constant surveillance and giving up your privacy? Well everyone is doing the thing so you better do it too. Oh you want to avoid having a digital footprint? Well everyone is using the thing that has built in telemetry and no way to block advertising so you better do it too. Oops we just sold your information heehee, now we know all your medical history and can use it to deny you healthcare.

Wow, looks like the app everyone uses for communication is not secure and sucks for privacy. Oh you want to use one that isn’t shit? But nobody uses that.

You can bet 100% that people will eventually just accept the age verification stuff once it becomes normalised. If everyone is using the apps that need it, people will do it to fit in at any cost. It will become normalised and people won’t even find it weird. Instead people will find you weird if you try to avoid it.

Everyone’s stuck in a walled panopticon that the ruling class has complete control over and the worst part is the very natural human desire to not be ostracised by your peers was used to do it.

No wonder the owning class doesn’t care if people hate things like AI and Windows 11. They know that if they keep telling everyone that it’s what everyone is doing, that people will slurp it down gleefully after enough time has passed, especially once enough people get used to it being there.

Hell, is it a wonder they don’t even bother making excuses for their wars anymore? They just tell us that the thing is happening and we will just nod and go “I guess that’s normal now. I better not complain. I wouldn’t want to not look normal.” We might grumble for a bit, but after enough time as passed the ones who complain will just be those who can’t accept that everyone is already doing the thing. That you shouldn’t try to make choices and just let the tide decided by money men drag you where they want you to be dragged. Give in. Accept. Don’t resist.

It’s all advertising and marketing psychology and they’re laughing at how easy it is to control us.

  • KnilAdlez [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    6日前

    That’s why we need to be loud. We need to be collected. We need to be messaging. We need to use our collective voice to show people that we are the real in group.

    It’s possible to use their tools against them too. I remember there was a thing on twitter where people would all tweet the same thing at once to push it into trending, which let them cut through marketing and propaganda. Things like that can be an effective strategy to wield algorithms to our ends.


    • Dort_Owl [they/them, any]@hexbear.netOP
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      6日前

      I really need to fight against the pessimist in me that thinks “as soon as we try to use their tools they’ll just take control of them away from us.”

      I gotta keep reminding myself how much more open to leftist ideas people are now as opposed to 10 years ago. Things can change. We can reach people.

      Even if it amounts to nothing it’s better to be authentic and fail then give in.

      • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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        6日前

        ideally we should be pulling people onto better platforms though, so we can proper talk to the ones that come.

    • DragonBallZinn [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      6日前

      We need to find the weakest link of the right, and then relentlessly go after them. Just like how in the early 2010s the right went after teenagers on tumblr and played on the average person’s moral envy.

      Let’s say it’s boomer evangelicals. I’ve joked about it before but the right has abandoned the Rational SkepticTM cinematic universe. Time for a 2.0 of the Reddit atheists (albeit with none of the Islamaphobia.)

  • BeanisBrain [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    6日前

    Same goes for bigotry too. I swear that for every one person who’s shitty to a marginalized group because they believe in their heart and soul that group is inferior, five people are doing the same thing because it’s what they’re “supposed to do.”

  • Arahnya [he/him, fae/faer]@hexbear.net
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    6日前

    same goes for masking and air quality. They say “its a beautiful day!” but the air is spicy and smells like burning plastic.

    allistics are bad at socialising under these conditions imo

  • Fossifoo [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    6日前

    Check out Ian Ford’s “A field guide to Earthlings”. It is a bit dated and not scientific or well-referenced but I find that it’s fairly plausible in explaining this exact facet of neurotypical life that I never understood before. It runs so deep.