Take a look at the woman who died yesterday. She looks normal. Just a patriot. That’s code language for extremist.

There’s little on her bio that demonstrated her extremism. https://twitter.com/leahmcelrath/status/1347205837798965251
The people who have been brainwashed to follow the commands of demagogic leadership are just like you and me. They have families and loved ones who surely ponder what’s happened to them.

Stochastic Terrorism. That’s what has happened.
Look deeper into the thread. A lawyer who has been permanently banned from Twitter. Calling for the arrest of Pence for treason, and Rosenstein for murder.

A lawyer. You need a modicum of intelligence to become a lawyer. These are not stupid people leading the charge.
They’re henchmen willing to do the Don’s business. Replacements for Michael Cohen. Trump took risks the last week he typically doesn’t take. He gave the orders. But usually it’s a proxy who delivers the directive to commit crimes.
He is desperate. Trump is capable of heinous behaviour right now. He’s sell his favourite daughter, gladly drive several busses over his sons. Start wars, murder people, even send off a nuclear bomb. Anything to hold on to power. Because he knows what comes next. Prosecution.
The lawyer and the woman who died mean nothing to him. It’s just his own hide he’s protecting. Collateral damage is irrelevant. And these are people who support him.

So you can imagine what he thinks of those who don’t or never supported him.
But back to the Trump rioters. What would possess a young woman to abandon all critical thought and risk her life to support a president that cares absolutely nothing for her welfare and life?

Brainwashing.
Laugh. Write it off as conspiracy theory. Jokes on you though. Thought reform, as it’s also known, is real. There is a lot of research detailing the process of persuasion, coercion and clandestine influence.
Much of it informs modern advertising. There’s a reason corporations spend billions on ads. It works.

It just doesn’t work on everybody. Myself included. Many are immune to advertising. I love funny ads, but they don’t influence me to buy anything I don’t want to buy.
But the vast majority of the population is influenced by ads. It’s easy. Tap into someone’s inner dialogue and you can bombard them with images, narratives and sounds that modify their behaviour.

And it isn’t just dumb people. Or uneducated people who respond.
Everyone has secret desires, weaknesses in character, emotional vulnerabilities that influence how they perceive themselves and others. Because we a fallible human beings. Not one of us is perfect. Perfect doesn’t exist.
So a middle management business executive aspiring to climb the social status ladder and increase his/her wealth is vulnerable to car ads for vehicles that portray the representative image of what they want to project publicly.
Show them a dreamy landscape and a luxury vehicle, with a beautiful/attractive partner seated next to them, driving off to a beachfront cottage and they’re hooked. Can wait to buy that Mercedes, Audi, Mazaratti. It works. It works well.
So the technology and knowledge to influence thoughts and behaviour is well known. If corporations spend billions, guaranteed they profit trillions with those pricey ad slots on television, radio, print and digital media.
Knowing how to influence others is a powerful tool. Especially in politics. But is it ethical?

Politicians and political parties no longer need to guess what the public wants. They buy that data from those that collect, store and analyze it. It’s called human futures.
Big tech uses this capacity as their most profitable business model. Ads are what make Facebook, Twitter and YouTube their profits. Hit a certain level of followers and users of this technology are able to make significant profits that big tech shares to advertise on your site.
So what stops politicians from using the same technology to influence voters?

Nothing. This is an unregulated or under regulated commercial behaviour. A very lucrative behaviour. YouTube stars and very popular Twitter and Facebook users make millions, & that’s the leftovers.
So unscrupulous politicians, or corrupt corporations with deep pockets can pay to have certain members of the population targeted with propaganda (another name for information that influences thoughts and behaviours).
But it has to be the right people. Because some are not vulnerable to influence and persuasion so easily. Some are relatively immune. Others are only partially influenced. Not quite at the stage that it shapes behaviour, but it alters thoughts & maybe creates doubt.
Those targeted heavily are vulnerable to influence. Vulnerability is emotional turmoil. For whatever reason. Emotional stability predicts malleability in advertising. Just like the self conscious middle business executive, whose vanity influences them to buy an expensive car.
Everyone has vulnerabilities. Every person has emotions. (Well almost everyone, psychopaths and sociopaths excluded). So influence works to some degree in every person.

That’s how conservatives are creating and influencing the behaviour of the most vulnerable.
Centrism is noted for its compromise and cooperation. Flexibility. Conservatism and Socialism are both known for more rigid adherence to ideology. So guess who they target? Those on either end of the political spectrum who also have significant vulnerabilities.
Centrists are vulnerable to during emotional turmoil, just slightly less so than their ideological peers at either end of the spectrum.

I feel sad that a woman lost her life because she was targeted by henchmen and propagandists loyal to Trump.
She had parents, maybe siblings, it looks like a boyfriend (remember he’s probably vulnerable too). But she lost her life because an obese and mentally unfit malignant narcissistic man baby & many of his cronies paid to turn her and many like her into a human weapon.
Easy to manipulate with magical thinking, vulnerable enough to be attracted to the pay off of community, friendship, or mutual bigotry. Encouraged frequently to obey & refrain from critical thinking.

Did she even realize she could resist influence.
We will never know. She probably didn’t even realize she was radicalized.

This technology must be regulated and the selling of human futures and personal data needs to stop.

It’s existential that this happen soon.
You can follow @sunnshiiny.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled:
Those who think consciousness raising & movement building are disconnected, or even a distraction from electoral politics have not paid attention to the history of social change.In this thread, we
Read more
The 2020s will be known as the Remote Work decadeA few predictions of what is likely to emerge[ a thread ] Third Space: Office and Working from Home will
Read more
1/29: Have you ever had a concept explained to you that helps frame complex issues you’ve been wrestling with and opens your eyes to new possibilities? A concept that I
Read more
By continuing to use the site, you are consenting to the use of cookies as explained in our Cookie Policy to improve your experience.