Real Estate Innovation

The Dumb Leading The Blind: The Persuasive Power Of The Media

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” -Friedrich Nietzsche

If only five or six corporations controlled the dissemination of information, do you think you would find the information to be unbiased and accurate? News and media outlets are part of the corporate culture and owned by the corporations so of course it’s in their own best interest not to jeopardize profitability.

Television is a huge part of our lives. According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day or 28 hours a week, or two months a year. By the time you’re 65, that’s nine full years of television.

When we watch television the same thing happens to our brains as happens when we hear a story. . . our critical minds shut down and we absorb what the story is saying. In other words, we become passive vessels which allows the whatever message the storyteller wants us to receive to sink into our other than conscious and carry us to where they want us carried.

At this point, the news doesn’t really care about informing us, they really are mostly about keeping us entertained and consuming. Could this be on purpose? Could they have taken a piece of wisdom from Lao-Tzu who sad, “People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.”

Recently I was in line at the grocery store and overheard a young woman talking a blue streak to her father. She was rehashing all the current gossip and referring to the celebrities by their first names, as if she knew them personally. This went on for a while until her father said, ‘Do you know who the Secretary of State is?’ A blank stare was all he got back.

It was a little cruel, though the girl seemed not to be bothered by it. But what does this illustrate? Increasingly, the media diverts our attention from what is truly important and funnels it to starlets in rehab, or sharks off the coast of Florida, or Anna Nicole. All kinds of things keep us in dumbed-down, altered states so that we don’t object very loudly.

Here’s another tactic used to keep us from concentrating on what’s really happening: terror. The terror alert level never drops below orange never allowing us to feel “safe”, but in a constant state of fear. This also allows for a political slight of hand. Using ‘terror’ they were able to get the Patriot Act passed chiseling away at our civil liberties.

What are some ways diversionary tactics can be used to help us in business? And, maybe more importantly, how can we use our critical persuasion skills to protect ourselves when others are trying to persuade us?