The Power of Influence

[TigerHorn 1,351]

If you repeat what you hear on media without realizing it, this is why, and why you should always get your news from more than one source, even if you don't like it. I'm just going to leave it here, you folks can do with it as you will, but I won't reply. I will tell you that from my 30 years of watching both sides, the Left is by far the worst for blindly repeating talking points. 

I've spent a good bit of my career working to influence people, and on the other side, sifting through business plans and technical documents to sort out what the author was trying to influence me to think vs what the facts actually are. I've always been appalled at the lack of understanding among the general populace about how influence works, and how effective it is. This applies equally to science, marketing consumer goods, and yes, politics and the media, the latter two greatly magnified by today's echo chambers in social media. This is hard to get people to understand, but I just came across the simplest, most powerful example I have ever seen of how basic influence techniques work, and as a bonus its fun to watch - if you have Netflix!

On Netflix, look up season 3, episode 1 of Magic for Humans, and fast forward to the 15:30 mark. Some millennials who are themselves influencers and think they are above it all get a harsh, yet hilarious, lesson in just how human they are....after you watch this, think of the things you expose you and your families to, and consider how they are being influenced. I hope you take some time to reflect on that.

https://www.netflix.com/title/80190510

 

[toddc 13,194]

Everyone is trying to influence everyone else in one way or another. It’s not just at the corporate level but it goes down to the individual level. Some try to influence for the  good of others, but the majority use influence for self gain at the expense of others. Choose wisely who, or what, you are influenced by!

[Grumps 3,704]

Just now, toddc said:

Everyone is trying to influence everyone else in one way or another. It’s not just at the corporate level but it goes down to the individual level. Some try to influence for the  good of others, but the majority use influence for self gain at the expense of others. Choose wisely who, or what, you are influenced by!

The scary part is that, based on the video, we can choose what we watch, but may not not can choose not to be influenced by what we watch.

[toddc 13,194]

9 minutes ago, Grumps said:

The scary part is that, based on the video, we can choose what we watch, but may not not can choose not to be influenced by what we watch.

Exactly, and young people are being influenced by an internet that is basically a Wild West of sites, forums, video games and “news” that are designed to almost brainwash them. I’m really worried about the upcoming generation being raised by the internet etc... where there’s a lot of good but an endless sea of scary and evil people lurking!

[toddc 13,194]

15 minutes ago, Grumps said:

The scary part is that, based on the video, we can choose what we watch, but may not not can choose not to be influenced by what we watch.

People who create the things we watch know more than ever how the brain works and how to exploit, or even fool it, into believing what they want you to.

[homersapien 11,361]

On 5/30/2020 at 4:34 PM, TigerHorn said:

If you repeat what you hear on media without realizing it, this is why, and why you should always get your news from more than one source, even if you don't like it. I'm just going to leave it here, you folks can do with it as you will, but I won't reply. I will tell you that from my 30 years of watching both sides, The Left is by far the worst for blindly repeating talking points. 

 

A good part of my family gets their news and commentary pretty much exclusively from Fox cable.  Listening to them is like getting a complete re-hash of Hannity and Carlson.

Factor in the prevalence of conservative talk radio throughout the country, and I think your last sentence above is exactly backwards.

[wdefromtx 3,159]

1 hour ago, homersapien said:

A good part of my family gets their news and commentary pretty much exclusively from Fox cable.  Listening to them is like getting a complete re-hash of Hannity and Carlson.

Factor in the prevalence of conservative talk radio throughout the country, and I think your last sentence above is exactly backwards.

Actually, both sides are are pretty equal with regurgitating their talking points.

[TigerHorn 1,351]

6 hours ago, homersapien said:

A good part of my family gets their news and commentary pretty much exclusively from Fox cable.  Listening to them is like getting a complete re-hash of Hannity and Carlson.

Factor in the prevalence of conservative talk radio throughout the country, and I think your last sentence above is exactly backwards.

Talk radio exists because the voices of conservatives were silenced on TV. Fox News came along after talk radio had traction in 1996. CNN had already swung left, or Fox wouldn't even have gotten off the ground. Even on radio, NPR was always omnipresent across America and still is. There is no way you can say NPR is even close to neutral on most subjects. On the internet, for every conservative outlet, there are a dozen left wing outlets and even pervasive bias in sites that used to be neutral, like Snopes.

I generally avoid listening to Limbaugh, haven't in over a decade in fact live, but one of the things he absolutely crushes is collecting snippets from various media personalities showing them saying exactly the same things using exactly the same words. I study this sort of thing, and I don't see that exact word for word repetition of comments on the right, while it is clearcut and undeniable on the left. The people of the right say similar things, those on the left say exactly the same thing. As my Japanese colleagues are fond of saying, "Genchi genbutsu" - go and see for yourself. 

Well crap, I just realized this was the political forum and not the same post on All Things Considered. I'll leave the reply up, but I won't be back. 

[homersapien 11,361]

16 hours ago, TigerHorn said:

Talk radio exists because the voices of conservatives were silenced on TV. Fox News came along after talk radio had traction in 1996. CNN had already swung left, or Fox wouldn't even have gotten off the ground. Even on radio, NPR was always omnipresent across America and still is. There is no way you can say NPR is even close to neutral on most subjects. On the internet, for every conservative outlet, there are a dozen left wing outlets and even pervasive bias in sites that used to be neutral, like Snopes.

I generally avoid listening to Limbaugh, haven't in over a decade in fact live, but one of the things he absolutely crushes is collecting snippets from various media personalities showing them saying exactly the same things using exactly the same words. I study this sort of thing, and I don't see that exact word for word repetition of comments on the right, while it is clearcut and undeniable on the left. The people of the right say similar things, those on the left say exactly the same thing. As my Japanese colleagues are fond of saying, "Genchi genbutsu" - go and see for yourself. 

Well crap, I just realized this was the political forum and not the same post on All Things Considered. I'll leave the reply up, but I won't be back. 

All due respect, but I think your scale of what's "liberal, neutral, and conservative" is way out of wack (skewed).

Your first sentence reveals this.  If you consider talk radio to represent reasonable conservatism banned from the networks then Fox cable is "neutral" (which certainly isn't the case).

On the other hand NPR always tries to present both sides of an issue in their interviews and straight news in their reports.   You certainly don't see that on talk radio, which is intentionally inflammatory.  And you rarely see a serious effort to present both sides of an argument on Fox either  - certainly not with their commentators, like Hannity and company.  It's Limbaugh lite.

[McLoofus 35,182]

16 hours ago, TigerHorn said:

There is no way you can say NPR is even close to neutral on most subjects.

NPR is even close to neutral on most subjects.

Huh. Turns out there's a way I can say it.

Limbaugh? Huh.

[toddc 13,194]

On 6/10/2020 at 8:53 AM, homersapien said:

All due respect, but I think your scale of what's "liberal, neutral, and conservative" is way out of wack (skewed).

Your first sentence reveals this.  If you consider talk radio to represent reasonable conservatism banned from the networks then Fox cable is "neutral" (which certainly isn't the case).

On the other hand NPR always tries to present both sides of an issue in their interviews and straight news in their reports.   You certainly don't see that on talk radio, which is intentionally inflammatory.  And you rarely see a serious effort to present both sides of an argument on Fox either  - certainly not with their commentators, like Hannity and company.  It's Limbaugh lite.

Yeah, NPR isn’t biased in their leanings! 😉 😉 and a 😉!