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1 minute read
I am fascinated by how easily humans are manipulated; which is often the result of structural blindspots (bias) that are used against one another. In many ways, the last few years have been a crash course in the ways of manipulation, dishonest debate and dialogue, rhetoric, gaslighting and the like. But we often forget that these manipulations come very slowly, much like the fable of the boiling frog.
I am fond of dueling cartoons... Cartoons are an amazing visual and tactile tool for getting across more complex ideas in simple ways, and as a result, they are often used to manipulate. This one caught my eye...
And, it kind of pissed me off, not because I hate oil nor because I love wind farms. I don't. I think alternative energy is the future but traditional energy is the present. I believe this cartoon is dishonest, so I created a contrasted, and equally dishonest alternative cartoon, to highlight the manipulations in it by replacing it with a system that people are more familiar with...
The following systems map depicts the solution...
(Navigate DSRP Map here: https://www.plectica.com/maps/H1VYEI63A )
In this cartoon, the author uses a slight-of-hand technique to confuse an early part of a ("pejorative") process with a late part of another ("preferable") process. It is effectively a manipulation of part-whole. For example, if I compared a baby to an adult in the high jump, you wouldn't be fooled. But in this case, it works with less tangible ideas...and the damage is done, quietly, "painlessly." Akin to "death by a thousand paper cuts,' such that over time, like water on a rock, you slowly expose people to example after example, they eventually believe it. The paper cuts occur at the individual level where what people don't see (the manipulation of cognitive structure) really can hurt them. But, the 'death' that occurs, is the death of truth, fact, and eventually...democracy.
The solution, I believe, is to teach people to be metacognitive systems thinkers. Would love to hear thoughts....
