How would you respond if you were the girl in this short video? We live in a world that encourages group-think, fitting in, not standing out, and desiring the approval of others. This video shows how a person will follow irrational orders or patterns in order to conform, even when they are nonsensical.
Social conditioning is a huge subject. While the majority just want to fit in and 'do the right thing', and will do whatever it takes to ensure this, there are 'anomalies' in this world system who find the consensus-reality around them quite strange. They are the minority. Here is an excellent, lengthy article on social conditioning written by The Mind Fool.
We are being socially conditioned from the day we are born. We learn what 'no' and 'yes' mean, what a smile means, what a disapproving look is, and how we must behave to receive the best benefit. Depending on our family's personal beliefs and traditions, we take on those same perspectives as being the only true ones.
Subliminal Messaging on TV
A huge influence on our life-perspectives is the media, the daily TV news, our favourite soap operas, reality-tv series and political shows. As we get immersed in the culture presented to us, our own, unique individual opinions erode to the point where we have to ask the question, "What would I really feel about this if my thoughts were not influenced by external influences?"
Subliminal messages in TV news stories refer to visual or auditory stimuli that are presented below the threshold of conscious perception, and are intended to influence a person's emotions or thoughts. There is some scientific evidence to support their effectiveness in truly controlling people's thoughts and emotions.
TV news broadcasts have a powerful impact on people's emotions and attitudes through their (the news channel's) use of language, imagery, background music and tone. They create a certain mood or atmosphere, while the words and phrases used by journalists can shape how viewers perceive events and people. This can even lead to the creation of emotional associations with certain topics - a triggering effect.
Most people's thoughts are other people's opinions
Oscar Wilde got it right:
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
Oscar Wilde
Can Social Conditioning be akin to Mind Control
Mind control refers to the concept of attempting to manipulate an individual's thoughts, behaviours and decisions through various means - such as psychological manipulation, hypnosis, brainwashing, or other forms of persuasion.
The term is often associated with controversial and unethical practices such as cults, government propaganda, and psychological warfare.
While mind control is a popular concept in fiction, the actual ability to control someone's thoughts and actions is the subject of much debate.
However, it is widely accepted that certain methods and techniques can influence an individual's beliefs, attitudes, perceptions (and ultimately, actions) to an extent.
The Covid Era - Why did people conform so easily?
Mass media and government propaganda were used excessively to influence public behaviour and attitudes towards COVID-19.
We witnessed a consensus reality playing out right before our eyes. Read this article which explains what a consensus reality is and its implications. "Consensus reality occurs when others agree with our dominant conframes (your interpretation of what you see and experience) and we all forget that we're only dealing with our habitual interpretations and not reality itself. Even if others share our conframes and agree with our interpretations, that still doesn't make them real. It merely means that we're all sharing the same illusion."
Uniformly, like never seen before in our lifetime, governments around the world simultaneously used various methods to control the narrative surrounding the pandemic - from censorship and manipulation of information to the use of psychological tactics to encourage compliance with public health measures, such as wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
These heavy-handed tactics had a profound effect on shaping people's perceptions and beliefs about the pandemic. It was astounding to witness the lack of questioning of the orders, and the blind compliance without analysing if there was logical substance to the mandates.
So what about this minority of less-conditioned people in our world?
Who are these people who take the road less-travelled, and what spurs them to take a different view to the masses? One answer seems to lie in the fact that they question everything.
They employ what is known as critical thinking. They questioned everything to rule out errors that could mislead them. They need to see the bigger picture as to why a certain perspective is considered correct, especially considering our understandings of life as a humanity is always changing and morphing into greater understandings. They know not to 'trust the science', because a true scientist is always questioning and discovering new comprehensions of this life.
While there are rewards to being a part of the main consensus reality, what is robbed of us is our unique ability and freedom to think solely for ourselves. Lest anyone be offended, thinking original thoughts is extremely rare. Asking questions you have never thought of before will lead to new answers you never expected - a rewarding and self-expanding journey.
See related articles here.
Manipulation Of The Mind: Is YOUR Cognitive Liberty On The Line?
