Is the media in certain instances used as a literal form of mass hypnosis?

[Bucklecroft Rudy]

This felt like it might belong in sci and tech but the science aspect is overshadowed by the philosophical implications. Scientifically all forms of entertainment can produce a hypnotic state, however multimedia such as music film radio etc is especially adept at inducing that trance state of high suggestability. Now we have to ask whether the media's influence is benign or harmful. Clearly its the latter but the point of this post is to ask why.

1. Its possible that the media simply appeals to people's desires and it so happens that were all naturally shallow,self seeking,prejudiced etc etc
2.Or the government at least in certain instances makes a concerted effort to ensure that specific messages are conveyed to the population. We know that the government does in fact control some news sources and the same thing happened with regards to television shows - this has been going on since the 60's with scripts being vetted by the CIA.

My guess is that the government is aware of the power of popular entertainment to be the opium of the masses, inducing a hypontic state where the mind is highly susceptible to the kinds of suggestion we see encoded into the media. Atittudes to race beauty drugs gender etc etc are dictated or reinforced by our media. Question I have is if we all turned our tv's on and absorbed everything we saw without question what would the effect be. I personally reckon that the overall effect of a lifetime of tv is that we are conditioned into a more closely aligned "collective mindset", that is many many westerners are sheep - no surprise there. For any government there can be no greater goal than to have a population who act collectively.

 

[ninjadanslarbretabar]

the people doing the brainwashing are as brainwashed as the sheep they try to brainwash
everyone is brainwash by culture which has its own individual purpose
people dont create culture more than it creates them
culture is like a virus in need of a host to self replicate itself and evolve
and we evolve trough it
the media is one facet on how we propagate culture (and how it propagate itself)
alpha males are the one passing down there genes the same way that in humans alpha males are the one passing down their memes, if you are on top you influence more people
the media is use to brainwash people as much as its use to enlighten them
it all depends on what people buy and you cant stay on top if no one buy into what you offer
having everybody acting like a zombie isnt good for you on the outside because you are trying to compete agaisnt other nation, you need thinker and inventor that can think outside the box, you need enlighten people on your side as much as you need brainless consumer and malleable solder
some people will be attracted to the bullshit and some will see through it

Now we have to ask whether the media's influence is benign or harmful. Clearly its the latter but the point of this post is to ask why.

why "or"
why cant it be both benign and harmful ?
everyone is different and everyone reacts differently to it

 

[Bucklecroft Rudy]

Im not sure if we can really see through it all. I say this because it begins from birth the 1990+ generation especially. It'd take a genius to break through the conditioning that takes place from early childhood since its possible to become aware of being conditioned whilst still being conditioned. The fact is that its not the concious mind that the media works on, therefore its our base instincts which are programmed into us. Ive met people who have an instinctive distrust of black people - in some of us its buried deeper/repressed especially those who have lived with them but in others its overt. It informs our gut reactions in infinitesimal ways - were all racist to some extent just most of us have no idea.

Classic example is the old I respect _____ people but I wouldnt want to marry one. You may not think it but its there in the back of many people's mind. Or the more common western society is the height of human accomplishment which translates to white people are superior since western = white. This is encoded into pretty much everything on tv to a remarkable extent which goes beyond mere pride. The result is an us vs them mentality in which white is the norm and everything else is exotic - the concept of beauty is a case in point.

I would say that the people who make the media probably avoid immersing themselves in it particularly being its creators. Ofc the media isnt a monolithic entity, its composed of cells but the mainstream definitely is a centralised organisation and its there that culture is created. Not to burst anyone's bubble but the 60's were manufactured by the CIA documented fact. I cant remember the name of the operation but its official fact that many of the bands and acts were instructed to push certain types of behaviour - perhaps to add credence to the prohibition that came directly after (1971 misuse of drugs act) Thats how machiavellian the media can be - something that organic could be engineered in a lab.

I agree that in one sense the media reflects our own image right back at us but its been proven historically that its also used to recode our instinctive subconcious behaviour. I should list the ways that the eyes with which we view the world have been manipulated - were all under the spell in ways were not even aware of.

I dont agree that the government wants inventors etc - in the UK we have Eton Oxford Cambridge etc which produces the cream of society as it always did. There they produce kids who are very different to the average people - many public school/oxford grads carry themselves with total self confidence in both themselves and the society they belong to. The rest of us are the drones we are only required to man the controls not to create the controls - why do private schools create their own curriculum for example? Its because the government made curriculum is not designed to encourage independent thought as has been noted by anyone who has gone through that system.

 

[L2R]

according to a recent episode of the fabulous and informative panel show, "QI" (short for quite interesting), they did one show on the theme of hypnosis and advised that subliminal brainwashing with tv has been found to simply not work.

not an academic source, by no means, but they fellers are generally pretty on the ball. they'd have to be to be so damned funny.

 

[webbykevin]

Television is a drug and people are addicted to it.

Stop watching it for 6 months and then try watching even 5 minutes of it, you will be horrified at how infantile and petty and insignificant it is.

 

[aveoturbo]

BL is a mass hypnosis. Just sayin.'

Serious post.

Not meant to be offensive.

 

[panic in paradise]

of course this happens...in order to keep peace(as is).

id fancy it
a lot more simple then sneaking in flashes of suggestions. but working through a 'target audience', there is a development/evolution of complacence and a nesting comforting, trust is built. a bonding through basically advertisements, time-slots.

ways to help you organize every aspect and detail of you and your loved ones life, so that you and they will then have more freedom, to do what You want..(?) it is astronomically convenient, and profitable, Peaceful and tangible. its easy to slowly edit history with the media (24/7 coverage for decades)...and having such a hold on the past, one can give examples of how others actions and consequences then yielded in those past examples, future.


idk
why wouldnt "they", i cant imagine this being orchestrated by a group of evil-diabolical people, but more of a 'cause and effort' that is done in good-blind-faith.


something ive asked here before, and still think about is, that if people have stuff explained to them all the time, that doesnt leave room much for ones IQ to reach its potential Quota..it seems. and man we have an explanation for anything, in less then minutes now a days.

and its easy to think and argue, that yes, as i personally do feel, it is beneficial to have information freely available...
_________________________________
sometimes i dont agree with what i think..but,
then i can just disagree in numerous ways.

 

[CoffeeDrinker]

BL is a mass hypnosis. Just sayin.'

Serious post.

Not meant to be offensive.

Certain parts of it can be, it depends on the OPs' and the posters' intentions. I feel like trip reports, while being a valuable resource for people to get as true a report as possible for the subjective effects of drugs can also be a pissing contest or a way to show off, which is of course foolish. Dark Side or SLR can be a place to simply whine while avoiding any real responsibility, that's not to say that solid help doesn't come from there because it absolutely does, but there's a limit to the amount of help that this place can provide, and many people go way beyond that limit and I can't really see how they'd be helped any more. A lot of it is simply diversion, which is the choice we make to basically be "hypnotized" so it's nody's fault but my own and your own.

Media is a complex thing that isn't black or white, but it sustains itself to make money for all sorts of ventures that wouldn't seem to be connected on the surface. Art and music I have a hard time believing it's anything other than simply an individual expressing oneself, of course, if people like it then there's all sorts of extra money pumped into it, but at the core it isn't meant to do anything other than just make art.

 

[Bucklecroft Rudy]

I think that Bluelight is an invaluable resource. But like anything its boon and bane. For example I was introduced to opiates via bluelight and avoided overdoses and unsafe administration through the advice here. However being on Bluelight also got me deeply involved in drugs in a way I wouldnt have had I not had access to everything I could ever want to know about them.
I discovered how to keep my tolerance stable, how to sail through withdrawals and how to synergise/potentiate my doses. As a consequence I ended up riding the train for 5 years and counting. If I didnt have bluelight I would simply have realised that my tolerance was revving up uncontrollably kicked cold turkey and been free. However after 5 years my body is so used to having opiates that my wd's go on for weeks. Last wd I had to be hospitalised after 2 weeks - 3 years ago 4 days in wd would see me right as rain afterwards - now... I knew that the longer I was hooked the harder kicking would be - but nothing made me ready for that. Bl is not a comprehensive encyclopaedia of drugs which many seem to believe - people get things wrong or omit details - posts contradict other posts. It takes an incisive mind to cut throw the bullcrap and get to the truth.

So bluelight does enable drug use and definitely acts as a gateway to other drugs but at the same time its saved thousands of lives by providing intelligent and mostly accurate advice. Im surprised that there hasnt been more media coverage of BL - good thing though.

The media seems to be divided into two halves. The first is populated by artists and truth seeking journalists. These people view the media as a medium for artistic/scientific expression and they enrich the lives of millions. These people are however marginalised extensively by the second half populated by puppets and their puppeteers - the centralised media is controlled by a handful of individuals who dictate much of what we see on our screens - these are the goebells of our age the propoganda men who sustain the illusion of society. Without the media westerns society would just be mortar holding rules and bricks in place however the media has created a world within a world - in our minds western society exists distinct from oriental/african/aboriginal culture. Western society even has the right to usurp other governments and propogate its version of democracy. The media really drills and locks these subconscious attitudes in. For example I dont know many americans who see something fundamentally wrong about the displacement of the Native Indians from their homes - cowboy films portrayed indians as savages. Pocahontas did much to change the image of the native american, but failed to condemn the presence of the europeans in the americas in the first place. It degenerated into a social commentary on how we all should get along - in the end it subtly gave the thumbs up to the European conquest and occupation of America.

 

[panic in paradise]

^ Rupert Murdock has both his bawls dipped into most people televisions, printed media, and radio...


there of course are people, actually dying to get us our news. honest news. but simply, who do you think will get the funding and publicity?

the media is a maybe just 40% of the pie here in the USA, insurance companies, they probably do the fine sorting and directing, generalizing.
pornography?! yoikes...
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sure BL has this effect, but so does any social type environment where cliques can form.

 

[CrackAndScrabble]

with any popular culture product (film,radio, print) you want to look at the context behind its creation. There are many different pop culture theories that express that it is negative, positive, or both. The philosopher Theodor Adorno pretty much stated that all pop culture production where made for the sole purpose of money. He didn't believe that pop culture was a true artistic media. Pop culture is a way to widen the economic gap between the producers and the consumers.

Then there is this other pop culture theoriest that kinda stated the opposite. I forgot his name right now but he believed pop culture was a positive because it allows for self expression. He believed that since so much pop culture has been created the amount of sub cultures has greatly increased too. He thinks that with greater choices in cultural products to consume the individual has more ways to differentiate themselves from others and also grow closer with others. Cultural products allow us to form a personal identity that can be seperate from our ethnic identities, which 100 years ago it would be impossible to cleave ourselves from our ethnic identity.