Lecture
There are many different principles of manipulating the masses, most of them based on such categories of the psyche as suggestion, contagion, and imitation. The means of the modern mass media bring their own methods of influence (manipulation) over the masses. Moreover, their effectiveness in today’s society is quite high. To understand the nature of manipulation, it is worth becoming familiar with the classifications proposed by well-known psychologists – Noam Chomsky and Sergei Alekseevich Zelinsky.
Noam Chomsky– an American linguist, philosopher, public figure, author of books and political analyst. One of the outstanding figures of science of the 20th century. Chomsky compiled a list of “10 strategies of manipulation through the mass media”:
1 THE STRATEGY OF DISTRACTION.
The primary element of controlling society is diverting people’s attention from important problems and decisions made by the political and economic ruling circles. This happens through constantly saturating the information space with insignificant messages. Constantly distracting citizens’ attention from real social problems, switching it to topics that have no real significance.
The technique of distracting attention is essential in order to prevent citizens from gaining important knowledge in the fields of science, economics, psychology, neurobiology and cybernetics. In 2012 the program “Housing and Utilities” was launched. In October 2012 the program was closed. In place of “Housing and Utilities”, “Time Will Tell” began to be broadcast.
2 CREATE PROBLEMS AND THEN OFFER WAYS TO SOLVE THEM.
This method is also called “problem-reaction-solution”. A problem, a certain “situation”, is created that is calculated to provoke a certain reaction among the population so that the population itself demands the measures which the ruling circles need. For example, allowing a spiral of violence to unwind in cities, or organizing bloody terrorist attacks, so that citizens demand the passage of laws to strengthen security measures and pursue policies that curtail civil liberties.
The terrorist attack on the St. Petersburg metro -> a call to strengthen the fight against terrorism -> agreement with the Yarovaya package + the blocking of Telegram
3 THE STRATEGY OF GRADUALNESS.
To achieve acceptance of some unpopular measure, it is enough to introduce it gradually, day by day, year after year. It was in this way that fundamentally new socio-economic conditions (neoliberalism) were imposed in the 1980s and 1990s of the last century, namely: minimizing the functions of the state, privatization, uncertainty, instability, mass unemployment, wages that no longer ensure a decent life. If all this had happened at once, it would surely have led to revolution.
The law on insulting religious feelings has been adopted since 2013. Reactions from politicians and the media ranged from sharply negative to positive.
4 THE STRATEGY OF DEFERRAL.
Another way of pushing through an unpopular decision is to present it as “painful and necessary” and to obtain citizens’ agreement now for its implementation in the future. It is much easier to agree to sacrifices in the future than in the present.
Firstly, because it will not happen immediately. Secondly, because people in the mass are always inclined to cherish naive hopes that “tomorrow everything will change for the better” and that the sacrifices demanded of them can be avoided. This gives citizens more time to get used to the idea of change and to accept it meekly when the time comes.
The same Yarovaya package. Some parts of the law are planned to be implemented by 2020.
5 GO TO THE PEOPLE AS IF THEY WERE SMALL CHILDREN.
Most propagandist speeches aimed at a wide audience use such arguments, characters, words and intonation as if the discussion were about children of school age with developmental delays or mentally deficient individuals.
The harder someone tries to mislead the listener, the more strongly they try to use infantile speech patterns. Why? “If someone addresses a person as if they were 12 years old or younger, then, owing to suggestibility, that person’s response or reaction will, with a certain degree of probability, also lack critical assessment, which is characteristic of children aged 12 or younger.
6 APPEAL TO EMOTION MUCH MORE THAN TO REFLECTION.
Acting on emotions is a classic technique aimed at blocking people’s capacity for rational analysis, and ultimately their capacity for critical thinking about what is happening. On the other hand, using the emotional factor makes it possible to open the door to the subconscious in order to plant thoughts, desires, fears, apprehensions, compulsions or fixed patterns of behavior…
The TV segment “A refugee from Slavyansk recalls how, before her eyes, they executed the little son and wife of a militia member”, in which they told the story of the “crucified boy” as a victim of the military actions in the DPR.
According to the philologist Oksana Issers, the propaganda story became, in social networks, a synonym for journalistic “fake news” — knowingly unreliable, absurd information. The editor of “Fortune” magazine, Anne VanderMey, in her article for “The Wilson Quarterly”, examined the “crucified boy” as part of a broader information-propaganda campaign by the Russian leadership, the main directions of which are sometimes called “4D”. From the English: dismiss, distract, distort, dismay (denial, distraction, distortion of facts, intimidation). In a detailed article in “The Economist” magazine, the “fake atrocities” from the “Channel One” segment were cited as one piece of evidence that in Russia, as in many other countries, a post-truth politics is becoming the dominant direction of political culture.
7 KEEP PEOPLE IN IGNORANCE, CULTIVATING MEDIOCRITY.
Ensure that people become incapable of understanding the techniques and methods used to control and subjugate them. “The quality of education provided to the lower social classes must be as poor and mediocre as possible, so that the ignorance separating the lower social classes from the upper ones remains at a level the lower classes cannot overcome.
Against the background of this reasoning, all the problems with the Unified State Exam and the clumsy application of the Bologna education system seem logical.
8 ENCOURAGE CITIZENS TO BE ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT MEDIOCRITY.
Instill in the population the idea that it is fashionable to be dumb, vulgar and ill-mannered…
Evgenia Vasilyeva and her work. Also contemporary Russian pop music.
9 REINFORCE A SENSE OF ONE’S OWN GUILT.
Make a person believe that they alone are to blame for their own misfortunes, which occur owing to a lack of their mental abilities, capacities or effort expended. As a result, instead of rising up against the economic system, the person begins to engage in self-deprecation, blaming themselves for everything, which causes a depressed state that, among other things, leads to inaction. And without action there can be no talk of revolution!
Alisa Voks in the song “Baby”: “It’s never too late to learn from your mistakes! Since the heart wants change, start with yourself”.
10 KNOW MORE ABOUT PEOPLE THAN THEY KNOW ABOUT THEMSELVES.
Over the last 50 years, advances in the development of science have led to an ever-widening gap between the knowledge of ordinary people and the information possessed and used by the dominant classes.
Thanks to biology, neurobiology and applied psychology, “the system” has gained access to advanced knowledge about the human being, both in the field of physiology and of the psyche. The system has managed to learn more about the ordinary person than they know about themselves. This means that in most cases the system has greater power over and controls people more than they do themselves.
The “Yarovaya” package provides for the recording of telephone conversations and text messages. Access by law-enforcement agencies to this data
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