Manipulation and questioning everything. Part II
Does questioning everything make you smarter and less potent for manipulation?
In the last article, I have begun to analyse an interesting problem. Does questioning make you smarter? Can you question everything? Should you? In the end, I stand in the position that the best way is to find a golden center and while we are questioning we should always remember about asking as well. This point of view comes from modern tendencies of not to verify information that we can — mostly because there is simply way too much to verify.
I figured that I simply can’t end the last article the way I did, it needs part two because about a few things I was completely silent. So I will try to finish it this time because I know you are busy, and reading huge blocks of text isn’t the way to spend afternoons.
Thinking in headlines
Sounds weird but that is the way of thinking which many recipients are used to. Why? Mostly because it is simpler. In that case, the main argument about reading something in the first place is not its value but the way the headline is constructed. So a skilful copywriter or content manager can write a title in such a way that you simply want to click on an article…and while reading it you can easily see that the main text is more or less worthless, but the title stays in your mind. In many cases you don’t even need to read the article — the headline is enough. That is why there are two ways to write headlines. First will put most of the information in it, while you are reading it, you can get all the information you need. The second will be classic clickbait — to make you click into the link, see ads in it, and so on.
Thinking in headlines means that we are on track with actual news in the most narrowed way possible. That way we can have some actual background while trying to figure out some subjects, but it is not verified and “full” knowledge. You can see it clearly on social media when discussing something with random people that their point of view is narrow and if you keep digging into the subject they will be against the wall in seconds. It happens and will happen. I am not talking about “dangerous” subjects that make people nervous and defensive like religion and politics. The way of thinking I am talking about keeps happening more and more while circling new subjects each day.
For example, while watching some news on the TV which are showing a shortcut about what to expect in coming transmission, you are constantly evaluating is it worth your time and will it strengthen your point of view or not.
Questioning, asking, manipulating
If you think about it you will see that we can’t run from that. Questioning everything is not possible, as we have said before. But the way of thinking as was shown above is getting more and more popular and through it the possibility of trying to check if the “news” are really real is getting smaller. And here comes a danger of manipulation. If you keep thinking narrowly, in time you simply will not be able to grasp a bigger picture. That possibility is high, of course, most people will think, no, not me, I am immune to that kind of thinking, I value the truth, and so on, and so on. But the truth (at least I think it) is that no one is beyond that. Manipulation comes in many forms, and ways to provide data and information in modern times makes it much simpler than before. So we can check everything — our phones are repositories of whole knowledge, giving access to any kind of data (just few clicks away), if we don’t do it, then this possible ability is worthless.
We should seek reasons for not doing that into sources and authorities we treat as trustworthy. Each of us has a site, person, author, vlogger and so on which according to us is giving valuable, trustworthy, and real information. That information is completing our way of thinking. In most cases, if something is threatening our way of looking at the world then it must be wrong, bad, and dangerous. Not many people can admit to themselves that things which were a fundamental truth and were supporting them through life could be wrong. Why? I think because we keep on questioning (why things aren’t the way we like it) and stopped asking.
Truth during pandemic
Pandemic has showed one simple truth — to convince someone about something you don’t have to be an “old school” authority. There is a huge shift in thinking about providers of real and “enlightened’ truth throughout the world. People, media, organisations who were on a margin in the past, keep getting followers and their version of the truth is becoming more plausible than others. Why? Because we are simply tired. Pandemic has shown that daily life can turn upside down in a matter of weeks if not days. In times of uncertainty, the winners are those who can bring back what is lost, and the truth is a scarce resource right now. If it gets to you in an easy package, sounds good, and doesn’t demand to do anything from you (like deeper thinking), then why not go with the flow, and treat yourself to a bit easier life?
Maybe I am thinking about it too harshly, I am not judging only showing you my perspective. But I bet you can all see that information could be troublesome. The way we think about things isn’t the way things are, and I think that most of us keep forgetting about that. We don’t have to keep searching for truth constantly, but we should remember that (how one of the coolest quotes says) “the truth is out there”. If you ever think that you know something for sure, and nothing, absolutely nothing can change that, because you have found THE truth, try to slow down a bit and rethink everything. Maybe you have found some piece of the truth that will help you, the piece which is valuable and worth cultivating, but the WHOLE truth?
No offense but not a chance…
by Leszek Jasiński
