AMERICA REBOOTED: The Role of Deception in Perception
This week’s Learning Offerings via https://americarebooted.org/
We all perceive.
It’s human nature.
However, perception, in the hands of those driven by deception, is a massive risk. If you’ve been following along with me for some time now, you know I focus on discussing how our mental shortcuts (i.e., how we make decisions, solve problems, or pass judgements with minimal mental effort) can be manipulated by those who wish to control you.
It’s not a new concept.
In fact, we’ve seen this play out throughout history. We see it in our movies and tv shows. We see it every time we turn on the news or go on social media. It’s a very common phenomenon of the human experience.
However, those who wish to control you, especially when their efforts are failing will always shift their focus to trying to control what others think of you and what you focus on.
And this deliberate re-engineering of our societal norms should concern everyone. Just in the last 24 months alone, we have seen an accelerated shift in the deliberate design and manipulation of what we are expected to view as socially acceptable and unacceptable. Since the beginning of 2022, we went from believe all women, to anyone can be a woman, to what is a woman, to now a woman (who last month we cound’’t define) has the right to choose for her own body. But this choice is only for killing a baby but not for vaccines. This is why I call this shift in our acceptable societal norms a form of mental whiplash. It’s impossible to keep up without mental exhaustion which again is also by design. They want you to give up, give in, stay silent and comply.
And they will continue to drive deception in your perception of the world until you finally say no more.
And yes, while this can be a scary realization to face, it’s also liberating.
One of the mental shortcuts most controlled through deception is Anchoring.
This is also a cognitive bias in which we tend to focus solely on the initial anchored belief above all. Add in the myriad of other cognitive biases that have been exploited, the psychological manipulation tactics deployed, and the rampant use of logical fallacies; unaware humans will find themselves in a mental prison they didn’t even know existed.
This Anchored belief also relates to the studies conducted in psychology and selective perception. In the Logical Fallacies 101 video (click here) posted this week, I took you on a journey to exploring research relating to perception, specifically the Invisible Gorilla Experiment (watch video here). You may already know of this experiment from 1999, but it’s worth reviewing again. When you, the unsuspecting human, are told to focus all attention on one thing, whether it be Covid, Climate Change or that anyone who thinks differently than you are somehow a “Danger to Our Democracy” (even though we are a Constitutional Republic), this needs to be your trigger, your cue, that someone is deliberately trying to steal your focus. Why?
And if they want you focused on X, you have to get skilled at digging into what you might be missing. You have to ask yourself, what is the black gorilla in the world around you that you are failing to see?
Getting you to see what you are being deliberately manipulated to not see is my objective.
Always.
I don’t ever want to tell you what to think or what to see. No.
That’s what they do.
My objective is to get you to challenge your thinking and your beliefs to ensure they are truly your own. And unfortunately (or fortunately because it means growth), this means you will likely experience quite a bit of Cognitive Dissonance.
It’s inevitable.
And in severe cases, you might even experience Cognitive Dissonance about the whole concept of Cognitive Dissonance because you might have been made to believe that the only reason people think differently than you are because they are the ones experiencing Cognitive Dissonance (this is called projection for those in the back).
So, for example, while people are being gaslit to think that gender is fluid and people can be anything they want to be contrary to our education in science and biology as children, those that truly believe this have also been made to believe that the people that don’t agree with this revised manipulated line of thinking (those with Unacceptable Views) are merely unable to accept this new line of thinking as fact due to Cognitive Dissonance.
It’s one big ole giant projected psychological cluster that takes a lot of mental fortitude to process.
This is also why a large percentage of people would rather turn into human ostriches than face the reality that much of what we are expected to believe literally makes zero sense. This is also why those pushing the “Acceptable Views” resort to attacking people over arguments which is covered in the Ad Hominem Logical Fallacy video (click here). This tactic is used to silence debate and discussion while preventing critical thinking and the challenging of programmed Acceptable View social norms.
So, if you are interested in learning with me and challenging your mind, I suggest starting with this week’s Podcast 21: Experiencing Cognitive Dissonance About Cognitive Dissonance. And once you’ve gotten those concepts under your belt, I suggest shifting to the Logical Fallacies 101 video (click here).
From there, you have options.
You can watch them all or pick and choose. It’s up to you.
You can review the Ad Hominem Logical Fallacy video (click here) where I break down this fallacy in action and provide you tips for what you can do when you encounter it. I will be doing similar videos for the 20+ other logical fallacies that exist over time as well.
You can also view the Combatting Cognitive Dissonance video (click here), where I provide you a 6-step process for how you can take action to overcome Cognitive Dissonance by dissecting your own beliefs. I walk you through my own journey of Cognitive Dissonance relating to the Charlottesville lie. Reminder: I believed as a liberal until I saw this speech.
And, if you are interested in pushing yourself to being able to recognize propaganda, or as I like to call it the manifestation of logical fallacies in the form of psychological manipulation, then I recommend the video: Recognizing Propaganda by Thinking Like a Scientist (click here). In this video, I walk you through my framework for applying the scientific method for picking apart, or rather dissecting, the false “scientific” claims circulated as fact by those who again are trying to control your perceptions and anchored beliefs. Only once you see through the propaganda will you be able to more clearly identify the “black gorilla” or gorillas in your world (again, this will make absolute sense if you watch the Invisible Gorilla Experiment video).
As a reminder, you can also find all my content on the America Rebooted website:
Quick Recap of New Content (Week of June 27th)
INFORM: Podcast 21: Experiencing Cognitive Dissonance About Cognitive Dissonance (click here)
DISSECT: Recognizing Propaganda by Thinking Like a Scientist (click here)
TAKE ACTION: Combatting Cognitive Dissonance video (click here)
And lastly, my parting comment is this. Never in the history of any of our lives has the celebration of our Independence Day been more vital. We truly are fortunate to live in the greatest, most free country in the world. Take the time to reflect on what is at stake here if all is lost.
Be well and be safe.
God Bless you and the United States of America.
Dr. Deprogram