Introduction
In the last few years, I've seen a rise of a very dangerous trend: mass radicalization. It is very difficult to state where all of this started, but it is clear that social media and mass media are the main culprits. Years ago, we started to see how people started leaning towards the extremes of the political spectrum. Years ago, the vast majority of the young population was liberal. We saw how people started agreeing with legalizing marijuana, gay marriage, abortion, and other liberal ideas. However, in the last few years, we started to see a shift in the political landscape. Without noticing it instantly, a gigantic group of people started to lean towards a more conservative or radical idea. Like, really conservative.
If you asked a random young person on the street if they believed in God, most of them would say no, since atheism was like the growing norm in most of the developed countries. However, in the last few years, we literally have seen a rise of Christian fundamentalists and people who believe in creationism. How did this happen? Keep reading to find out.
48 Laws of Power is a book that has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over 200 weeks. It is a book that has been praised by many people, and it is a book that has been criticized by many people. However, one thing is for sure, it is a book that is very accurate in how power works in the world. One of the main points that the book makes is that the best way to achieve power is by manipulating people.
My point is that, there is someone, some nations, some groups of people that are manipulating you into making you believe certain things, in order to gain more and more power. What do they use? Mass media. The main goal of this article is to show you how mass media is manipulating you into making you believe certain things, and how you can protect yourself from it. Without further ado, let's begin.
Introduction to mass manipulation
What is mass media? It is a term that refers to the media that is consumed by a large number of people. It can be newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and the internet. The main goal of mass media is to sell you products, ideas, and services. I will show you some examples of groups of people that have used mass media to make you think in a certain way.
One basic example is the tobacco industry. They have used mass media to make you believe that smoking is not harmful, and that it is even good for your health. They have done this by sponsoring many events and shows, and by paying celebrities to smoke on TV.
Another interesting example is the shampoo industry. When shampoo was first introduced, they marketed it as something you SHOULD use. Every single day. They made it seem like shampoo was fundamental and always induced good results. However, you should not use shampoo every day. But they wanted you to use all of it so you buy more shampoo.
Now that we know what is mass manipulation, let's see what is happening in the world today.
The rise of the extreme ideologies
Most developed nations in the world, in the last few years, have been leaning towards a social-democratic model, where they have a strong welfare state, and a strong social security system. However, this has been changing. First, it was a huge rise of liberalism and socialist ideologies. This has been a rise for many years, however, it wasn't that much of a change. The change started in 2020, when the pandemic hit the world. Many countries started to implement lockdowns and many people started to lose their jobs. But that wasn't all, 2020 USA elections were also happening. This is where the extreme ideologies started forming. Far left people started calling everyone who voted for Trump a nazi. And far right people started calling everyone who voted for Biden a communist. This is only the start. In this time of the year, many conspiracy theories started to rise, and racism and xenophobia against Chinese people started to rise, due to rumors that the virus was originated from a lab in Wuhan.
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark is a book that was written by Carl Sagan. In this book, he talks about how media is always spreading false science or pseudoscience as real science. This is a must read for everyone. In this stage of the pandemic, many people started to believe in the most absurd theories. And we got to the point where far right conservatives didn't believe in vaccines at all, even though they never suffered from tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, or any other disease that vaccines prevent.
Anti-vaxxers movement started to rise, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. started to spread false information about the pandemic, and many other people started to spread false information about the pandemic. This is a very serious problem, and it is only getting worse.
This not only radicalized the already leaning to right people, but it also radicalized the already leaning to left people. Ideologies went from slightly central to very very extreme. In this times, we also had mass immigration problems. Xenophobia and racism started to rise at an alarming rate.
Mass immigration
The United States of America, the nation of freedom and democracy, started to build a wall to keep out immigrants. What a joke. If you've ever read a history book, you know that the United States was built BY and ONLY BY immigrants. Why? the British absolutely exterminated the Native Americans. The United States is a nation OF IMMIGRANTS. The only difference between those immigrants and nowadays immigrants is that nowadays immigrants are not welcome. Why? because they are not white. Even if you think "there are African Americans", well, they are also discriminated even though they are 100% American. Crazy, right?
Far right conservatives always say that Hispanic and black people are always criminals, but let's see some statistics.
Find more statistics at Statista
What happened here? White people commit more school shootings than black, Hispanic and Asian people combined? How is that possible? Well, it is really simple. If you think that the ones that commit the crimes are of a certain race, then you likely have been manipulated by media! That's the magic. They manipulated you into thinking that crime is a question of race or nation, rather than growing up in a messed up society, where you get no help when you need it.
They want you to believe that the ones that commit the crimes are of a certain race, so you start to hate them. This is beneficial to certain groups of people, for example, did you notice that this hate started to rise more and more after the pandemic? And, surprisingly, before the 2024 USA elections? Weird, right? It also coincided with the rebranding of Twitter as "X" as a place of "free speech". Also, in this social media platform, if you create a new account, you encounter with tweets of Elon Musk responding "interesting" to a highly misleading or false tweet, also made by extreme right conservatives, like "End Wokeness". Also, one of the most liked tweets of all time is the image of Trump raising his hand after being shot.
Also, we are missing something important here. While all of this was happening in 2020-2024, something else was happening. The rise of the short-form content: TikTok. This platform is a place where people can post short videos, and they can go viral. The TikTok algorithm is so strong that it can keep people engaged for hours without them knowing. TikTok is, personally, the platform that showed me the worst part of misinformation on the internet. I remember seeing posts talking about absolutely fake stuff and people believing it. For example, I saw a post calling that "the WWIII has started already". The original poster started saying that Russia was preparing to nuke all of Europe, that China was going to invade Taiwan and that it was already confirmed or something. They also started saying stupid stuff about North Korea, every part of it was FALSE, not a single evidence, not a single article cited, just disinformation. Worst part of it? if you read the comments, most people fucking believe it and never question it. And is not only like old people, you see young people like me, around 15-25 years old, believing this shit. Share count was also very high, so it was a very effective way to spread disinformation.
I always saw a LOT of posts radicalizing people. Not only by the far right, but also the far left. We are going back to a cold war era. A modern cold war. But this time is a lot worse. We have dangerous people like Elon Musk, influencing a lot of people into believing false information. Elon Musk also used to be atheist, but now he is a Christian (read this).
Why Does Mass Immigration Start?
Mass immigration typically begins due to a combination of economic, political, and social factors. In many cases, people are compelled to leave their home countries due to a lack of economic opportunities. Extreme poverty, unemployment, and the lack of basic resources such as food, water, and healthcare can drive individuals to seek a better life elsewhere.
Another significant factor is political instability. Wars, civil conflicts, and political persecution can force people to flee their homes in search of safety. In many instances, authoritarian governments and dictatorships can create an environment of fear and repression, prompting individuals to seek refuge in other countries.
It is also important to notice that many of those wars and political instabilities are created by foreign powers. For example, United States and Israel are great examples, we can also see other conservative countries like Russia starting literal wars with Ukraine. This is a very important factor to consider when talking about mass immigration and refugees.
Additionally, natural disasters and climate change can also play a role in mass immigration. Extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts can devastate entire communities and leave people homeless. In these cases, migration becomes a necessity for survival.
Globalization and the interconnectedness of the modern world also facilitate immigration. People have more access to information and means of transportation, allowing them to learn about and reach other countries more easily. Social networks and immigrant communities abroad can also provide support and resources for those seeking to emigrate.
In summary, mass immigration is a complex phenomenon driven by a variety of factors. The pursuit of a better life, the need for safety and survival, and the opportunities facilitated by globalization are some of the main reasons why people decide to leave their home countries and seek a new home elsewhere.
More people becoming Christian out of nowhere
As I said before, atheism was the growing norm in most of the developed countries. However, we started to see a rise of Christian people. What really happened? Well, since the pandemic, many people started leaning towards conservative ideas. For example, I saw a lot of Christian posts or people spreading Christian propaganda. This is where I read comments like "I used to be atheist, but now I'm Christian". This is how easy you turn a person into a certain idea. You just have to hit a vulnerable point of their life and tell them that they will find salvation if they follow a certain path.
Not only this, mass immigration is another great factor. As you can see, many people immigrating to Europe are Muslim. So, European people started to use religion as a weapon to hate them. They started saying that the Muslim do not belong to Europe because Europe is a Christian continent. Even though they never attend church or don't even know like a single Bible verse, they still believe that they are Christian.
Many people say that they become Christian because the values of Christians are good, not like the Muslims. However, this is not true since many Christians are also racist, homophobic, and many other things, ignoring completely the teachings of Jesus. Also, you see many Christians protesting against the LGBTQ+ community, even though Jesus told them to love everyone.
I am not an atheist, I am agnostic, since I think is the most logical position. I respect everyone's beliefs, and I think that everyone should. But some people are using religion as a weapon to hate others. This is not right, because, supposedly, your religion is made to spread love and peace, not hate and violence. Refusing immigrants is not a Christian value also, since Jesus would never refuse a person in need. What happened with the Christian values these people talk about?
Immigrating legally is also not very easy. It is a long long process, and many people can't wait or afford it, because they came from poor countries and they have to leave because of a certain situation. Many illegal immigrants literally work harder than a lot of native people. I always find it funny when, a Costa Rican that never worked hard in their life, blames Nicaraguans for the crimes. It is an example I've seen close to me many many times, even though Nicaraguans are among the most beautiful and hardworking people I have ever met. If I was a Nicaraguan and had a country like Costa Rica close by, I would also immigrate, legally or illegally. Why? because I would want to live a better life. It is a pretty known fact that Nicaragua is currently living in a dictatorship, where the government is not friendly with journalists and opposition. This limits the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press, but also limits imports and exports, so the economy is not really growing.
The rise of praising dictatorships
As a Latin American person, I have seen closely how many people started praising past dictatorships, like Augusto Pinochet, Jorge Videla, and other far right dictators. They said that our countries and Latin America in general "was better back then", even though in those years, you would be arrested for being slightly left-wing.
It is always funny to me, when I used to scroll to TikTok, I found a lot of edits of videos of Pinochet praising the dictatorship. They always used this song: Little Dark Age. I always found it funny because I am a big fan of MGMT and you can see some theories about the lyrics here. Some say that it might be talking about post-Trump era.
But not only that, you also see people praising the dictatorships of Daniel Ortega, Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro, and other leftist dictators. They say that they are "strong leaders" that "stood up to the empire". However, this is only a tactic these dictators use to gain power and remain in power. Since they unweaponized the people and have the military power, they can do whatever they want, since no external power would intervene. Also, those countries have little to no press freedom, so media is always praising the regime.
People not only started praising dictatorships, but also began a new trend: extreme nationalism posting. if you don't know the difference between nationalism and patriotism, you are not alone. Nationalism is when you think that your nation is the best in the world, like, literally thinking it is better than other nations. Patriotism is when you love your nation, but also love other nations. You can conclude why nationalism is dangerous, right? Germany had a rise in nationalism in the 1930s, and it led to the rise of Hitler and the nazi party. This is why we need to be cautious about this trend.
Israel and Palestine phenomenon
This is a great example of how each side of the spectrum is manipulating you into thinking that they are right and the other side is wrong. Israel is a country that has been in war for decades. They have been at war with Palestine for decades. However, many people don't know the history of the conflict. Israel was created in 1948, and it was created by the United Nations.
As a matter of fact, Israel is a country that was born out of blood of a lot of people. First of all, Jews wanted a state for themselves since World War II. They were persecuted by the nazis, and they wanted to have a place where they could live in peace. Current territory of Israel was part of the British empire, which they took from the Ottoman Empire. So this place always has been of conflict, over various religions and cultures.
As I said before, the state of Israel was created by the United Nations in 1948, and since then, they have started endless wars with neighboring countries.
Wars of Israel
The wars of Israel have been a constant and complex issue since the state's creation in 1948. The first Arab-Israeli war began immediately after Israel's declaration of independence, when a coalition of Arab countries invaded the new state. This war resulted in the expansion of Israeli territory beyond the borders originally set by the United Nations.
In 1956, Israel joined France and the United Kingdom in the Suez Crisis, attacking Egypt after President Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Although militarily successful, international pressure forced Israel to withdraw.
The Six-Day War in 1967 was another significant conflict, in which Israel launched preemptive strikes against Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. In just six days, Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. This victory transformed the region's map and left Israel in control of territories with large Palestinian populations.
In 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Although initially overwhelmed, Israeli forces managed to repel the invaders and eventually advanced into enemy territory before a ceasefire was negotiated.
Israel's wars are not limited to conflicts with neighboring states. There have also been numerous confrontations with Palestinian militant groups, such as the PLO, Hamas, and Hezbollah. These conflicts have included military operations in Lebanon and Gaza, as well as a series of intifadas or Palestinian uprisings.
Each of these conflicts has had profound implications for Israel's domestic and foreign policy, as well as for the lives of civilians in the region. The situation remains tense and complex, with ongoing peace efforts and frequent outbreaks of violence.
Now you see why Israel-Palestine conflict is so complex. It is not only a conflict between two nations, but also a conflict between two religions. Jews and Muslims have been in conflict for centuries. This is why it is so hard to solve.
This recent Gaza occupation from Israel raised several protests in the world. Pro Palestinians were protesting against the occupation, and started doing riots. However, Zionism is still as strong as it was in 1948. So, many people still support Israel and believe that they are right. Even though the United States redirect a huge amount of money to Israel instead of solving their own conflicts (like fentanyl crisis, school shootings, growing grocery prices, inflation, etc), they still support Israel and believe that they are doing the right thing.
All of this is a great example of how religion is used as a weapon to hate others. It is a shame that many people still don't know the history of the conflict, and they still support one side or the other. This is why we need to be more critical about the information we consume, and we need to be more aware of the propaganda that is being spread to us.
How they keep you engaged
Why This Content Keeps People Engaged
Content that aligns with a person's ideology or beliefs tends to keep them engaged because it resonates with their existing views and emotions. When individuals encounter information that supports their perspective, it reinforces their beliefs and provides a sense of validation. This phenomenon is known as confirmation bias, where people favor information that confirms their preconceptions, leading them to seek out and consume more of the same type of content.
Social media platforms and content creators are well aware of this tendency and often exploit it to keep users engaged. By curating content that aligns with specific ideologies, they can create echo chambers where users are continuously exposed to information that reinforces their beliefs. This not only keeps users engaged but also increases the likelihood of them sharing the content with like-minded individuals, further amplifying its reach.
Companies also leverage ideologies to sell more products and services. By aligning their brand with certain beliefs or values, they can tap into the emotional connection that individuals have with those ideologies. For example, a company that promotes environmental sustainability may attract customers who are passionate about protecting the environment. Similarly, a brand that supports social justice causes may appeal to individuals who are actively involved in those movements.
This strategy is evident in advertising campaigns that emphasize a company's commitment to certain values or causes. By doing so, companies can build a loyal customer base that identifies with their brand on a deeper level. This emotional connection can lead to increased brand loyalty and higher sales, as customers are more likely to support businesses that align with their personal beliefs.
How Companies Use Populism to Sell More
Populism, a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups, has found its way into the marketing strategies of many companies. By leveraging populist themes, businesses can create a sense of solidarity with their target audience, positioning themselves as champions of the common person.
One way companies use populism is by adopting messaging that resonates with the values and struggles of the average consumer. This can include emphasizing themes such as anti-elitism, national pride, and the fight against corruption. By aligning their brand with these populist ideals, companies can foster a strong emotional connection with their audience, making them more likely to support the brand.
Additionally, companies often use populist rhetoric to portray themselves as underdogs fighting against larger, more powerful entities. This narrative can be particularly effective in industries where consumers feel disenfranchised or exploited by big corporations. By positioning themselves as the "little guy" standing up to the "big guy," companies can tap into the public's desire for fairness and justice, thereby gaining their loyalty and trust.
Another strategy involves highlighting the company's commitment to social and economic issues that matter to the general populace. This can include advocating for workers' rights, supporting local businesses, or promoting sustainable practices. By taking a stand on these issues, companies can demonstrate that they are in touch with the needs and concerns of ordinary people, further solidifying their populist appeal.
In conclusion, the use of populism in marketing allows companies to connect with consumers on a deeper, more emotional level. By adopting populist themes and rhetoric, businesses can position themselves as allies of the common person, fostering loyalty and trust among their audience. This approach not only helps companies sell more products and services but also builds a strong, lasting relationship with their customers.
The Impact of Short Form Content
Short form content, such as quick videos and brief articles, has become increasingly popular due to its ability to capture attention quickly and deliver information in a digestible format. However, this type of content can also contribute to a decline in critical thinking and attention span, often referred to as "rotting the brain."
The rapid consumption of short form content can lead to superficial understanding of complex issues, as it often lacks the depth and context necessary for comprehensive analysis. This can result in individuals forming opinions based on incomplete or biased information, further exacerbating the effects of confirmation bias.
Additionally, the addictive nature of short form content can lead to excessive screen time and reduced engagement with more meaningful activities. The constant barrage of quick, entertaining snippets can make it difficult for individuals to focus on longer, more in-depth content, ultimately impacting their ability to concentrate and think critically.
In conclusion, while short form content can be an effective way to engage audiences, it is important for individuals to be mindful of its potential drawbacks. Balancing the consumption of quick content with more substantial, thought-provoking material is essential for maintaining a healthy and informed perspective.
Conclusion
Mass disinformation is a serious problem that affects our society in many ways. From religion being used as a weapon to hate others, to praising dictatorships that committed horrible crimes against humanity. We need to be more critical about the information we consume and share. Social media has made it easier than ever to spread misinformation and propaganda, targeting vulnerable people in difficult moments of their lives. The rise of extremist ideologies, both from the left and right, shows how effective these manipulation tactics can be. We must remember that behind every piece of content there may be an agenda trying to shape our views and beliefs. Critical thinking, fact-checking, and maintaining a balanced perspective are essential tools to combat mass disinformation in our increasingly connected world.