With everything happening around the world as of 2025 — especially in society, politics, and economics — we may ask ourselves every so often how all of this ended up this way. Whether you now doubt the power of democracy or knew all along what it entailed in a society with lowering education quality, increasing cost of living, and worsening partisanship, you must be wary of the mass manipulation that sways our judgment through mass media and the Internet. Whether it’s traditional media or social media, all of them try to tell you what to think and believe — on who to believe in and who to hate. Perhaps the way is not to look for what to believe, but think for oneself and come to that conclusion on your own. However, they don’t want that.
This piece does have a certain politically-charged word all over it. I don’t want to meaninglessly bring up the ‘F-word’, but it does look like fascism is taking hold, especially in the US, considering how they’re treating immigrants — even the legal ones. I touch upon issues that are relevant as of this writing, which dates it and might make it age like milk. However, the objective here is to apply the lessons from the source material to what’s happening now so we may get a better picture of how to sift through propaganda and fight mass manipulation.
It took over three months to finish and ended up being a really long read. Due to the things I’ve been seeing lately, from friends who endlessly doomscroll and hate-watch their least favorite political streamers to family members who think they’re above politics while they’re actually beholden by it, we need to take an honest look at ourselves and assess whether we’re truly being manipulated — we likely are. We now also have artificial intelligence to deal with, handing us information on a silver platter, and some of it is likely hallucinated.
Knowing which propaganda to believe in is like finding a boat to sail in; knowing that everything is propaganda meant to manipulate you is learning how to swim.
NOTE: This blog post is based on a video that’s based on a book. I’ve only speed-read the book once, so I don’t have the best understanding of the material. These are my interpretations of each rule and my counters to them. Reader discretion is advised.
Yes, I know this video is from one of those YouTube slop channels that use actors (like TBON and Dhar Mann Studios) and likely write their scripts with the help of AI, but it’s a cool video nonetheless. Sometimes, you have to draw inspiration from slop and get something more substantial out of it.
7 Rules of Mass Manipulation, According to Gustave Le Bon
The 1895 book is interesting because Gustave Le Bon was a medical doctor and a polymath, much like the Filipino national hero Jose Rizal. Aside from his medical practice, he also delved into anthropology, psychology, sociology, physics, and invention. He chose medicine over writing as a career path, but that urge to write about a myriad of subjects stayed with him.
Le Bon had been a productive member of the medical community, having published articles and books on medicine before joining the French army during the Franco-Prussian War. The resulting Paris Commune of 1871 shaped his worldview. He would then travel the world and observe peoples and cultures, which helped him develop an essentialist view of humanity.
He then turned to psychology and sociology during the 1890s, which led to him writing what is now seen as a seminal work in the study of crowd psychology. He proposed that within crowds, there is a ‘racial unconscious’ that determines how they behave.
Despite his socio-psychological theories and contributions in other fields such as physics — even prophesizing the Atomic Age — he was sidelined by the French academic establishment due to being politically conservative and reactionary.
However, even after over 90 years since his death, his work still resonates, especially in the current social climate. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind is often cited in the assessment of social phenomena.
These seven rules of mass manipulation are a summary of what he talks about in his book.
1. Crowds obey simple emotions, not logic.
In crowds, it is emotion — not reason — that dominates. The collective mind is purely emotional. Crowds are controlled through fear, anger, and excitement. Rational arguments are ignored while strong emotions spread rapidly.
This really got going in 2016. Leaders were getting voted into office seemingly on pure vibes, like Rodrigo Duterte, Jair Bolsonaro, and Donald Trump. As of this writing, Donald Trump is back in office and is shaking things up. His voters are likely loving the chaos right now as their god emperor is making other world leaders squirm.
After all, he did write The Art of the Deal — a mostly fictional semi-autobiography.
It doesn’t matter if the truth about tariffs is that American businesses will shoulder most of those additional costs. The vibe of sticking it to all those other countries taking American jobs feels so good that they’re falling for the narrative of increased costs being like ripping off a bandaid.
There’s a phenomenon of sorts these days of Adolf Hitler speeches being translated to English and posted on TikTok. They’re going viral because people who likely don’t remember the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust are resonating with his points as the issues of the Weimar Republic were not that different from the issues of today’s world.
What made those speeches powerful wasn’t only his theatrics, but also his rhetoric. That’s the populist strategy — appeal to their emotions, not their intellect.
Therefore, you can’t just listen to what these demagogues say. You have to look more closely at what they do. Their actions speak louder than words, and it affects everyone.
2. Repetition creates belief.
Affirmation, pure and simple, kept free of all reasoning and all proof, is one of the surest means of making an idea enter the mind of crowds. The key to manipulating crowds is to repeat a statement over and over without explanation or evidence. Repetition hard-wires it into the collective mind.
Donald Trump kept repeating ‘tariffs’, Rodrigo Duterte kept repeating ‘God, I hate drugs’, Vladimir Putin kept repeating ‘Ukraine is Russia’, Jair Bolsonaro kept repeating ‘Brazil above all else’, and so on. They gave their constituencies stuff to latch onto.
But now, Duterte is detained in the Hague, Bolsonaro and his cronies may be about to face justice, and Trump is now mulling over walking back the tariffs upon realizing that his plan may be backfiring. Perhaps the flaw in populism is once the party is over and belief dwindles, they have to deal with the consequences.
Perhaps it’s still too early to tell if that belief is still misguided or just plain wrong. After all, their allegiances to such leaders stem from frustration with problems they have to deal with on a daily basis, namely crime and poverty.
With then-incumbent neoliberal leaders not being able to deal with chronic socio-economic problems since the system is built for gridlock, they went to people who could take a hammer to that gridlock and ‘drain the swamp’.
If you hammer home the ills of society and how you can fix them, people will scoff at you at first, but then slowly realize that you may be speaking truth to power. Soon, with enough repetition, you’ll get through to the crowd and eventually win them.
Again, you should not only listen to their words, but also look at their actions.
3. Visual symbols overpower words.
Crowds, being only capable of thinking in images, are only to be impressed by images. Crowds react to strong visuals and symbols far more than complex ideas or arguments. What they see shapes what they believe.
I’m going to violate Godwin’s Law here and mention Nazi Germany because it’s the best historical example of visual symbols taking over the hearts and minds of a whole nation. Their iconography was drawn from various cultures and reappropriated, their overall visual design was carefully curated, the uniforms of the SS were designed by Hugo Boss, and so on.
Never mind that the angry Austrian was also an artist himself, albeit middling at best.
Before them was Fascist Italy. While Benito Mussolini was its leader, the aesthetics and philosophy of what would become fascism was developed by writer and Royal Italian Army officer Gabriele D’Annunzio. He had the idea of uniting the Italian nation under a common banner, inspired by Ancient Rome — especially the symbol of the fasces.
He also invented Elon Musk’s favorite gang sign.
D’Annunzio initially aligned with the Italian far right, but he would later switch sides to the far left. Perhaps he didn’t like playing second fiddle to Il Duce, who was well known for his belligerence towards pasta. Perhaps he would despise what he had helped create because he would later oppose Italy’s alliance with Hitler. He was ‘rewarded’ with a mansion to be kept quiet.
D’Annunzio also had his own peculiarities — they say he had one of his own ribs removed to be able to fellate himself.
4. Prestige paralyzes judgment.
The special characteristic of prestige is to prevent us seeing things as they are and to entirely paralyze our judgment. When a person, institution, or idea is seen as prestigious, it silences doubt and critical thinking. Prestige blinds the crowd to reality.
Whenever you speak against a person of prestige, their followers may rebuke you with statements like “He makes more money than you!” or “What have you done with your life then?”, labeling you as merely jealous or needlessly skeptical. People desire to have heroes to look up to, and they get angry when their role models get admonished.
It’s ridiculous how many people mindlessly equate wealth with intelligence and skill. How could they not be rich if they’re stupid? Granted, being able to hold onto wealth requires some measure of clear and higher-level thinking, but it doesn’t take that much.
For instance, my mother barely had an education, panics whenever she presses the mute button on the television by accident, and has to ask me to translate English and Tagalog writing to her on a regular basis. However, I can tell you that she manages money really well through prudence and a few sprinkles of suspicion.
Let’s bring up Elon Musk again. Somehow, this NPC was given the task of taking a chainsaw to American bureaucracy, and he’s not being methodical about it. We’ve already seen government employees get laid off, only to get rehired days later because they realized how essential they were. DOGE is also exaggerating how much money is being saved with these cuts.
Elon Musk is an insecure manchild with a constant need to prove himself, even at a petty and mundane level. Never mind that he tries to convince the world that he’s a degenerate gamer. He habitually flexes his non-existent engineering knowledge, only to be proven wrong and his only response is either throwing a tantrum or sweeping them under the rug.
He likely has broad general knowledge, which allows him to make mostly correct decisions in his companies, but he keeps trying to show that he also has depth of knowledge. That’s impossible for a billionaire CEO juggling multiple corporations to also grind in video games — the very activity touted as a top killer of potential in young people.
However, I do believe he has been a gamer in the past. He used to have as a Twitter profile picture the Deus Ex antagonist Bob Page — an industrialist, philanthropist, owner of a multinational conglomerate, and major player in politics. Sound familiar?
Becoming the Bob Page of the real world may have been his dream, and it’s becoming a reality. Deus Ex is niche enough that you’d only know it if you’ve played it before.
However, despite all the evidence of his lack of real expertise, his erratic behavior, and his unethical business practices, he continues to enjoy a following of fanboys who herald him as an industrial messiah straight out of an Ayn Rand novel.
5. Leaders mold the crowd’s will.
The crowd is led by the unconscious, but directed by a leader whose will has become its own. A leader doesn’t argue or debate with a crowd. Instead, they embody the crowd’s emotions, amplifying its desires and focusing its energy, and it doesn’t matter if the leader has no experience or merit.
Did Donald Trump mold the American public’s will? He damn well did.
And now, it seems like the idea of a strategic cryptocurrency reserve is getting closer to reality. The prospect of US Dollars being converted into cryptocurrency is quite a kick in the teeth since crypto is not a tangible resource. Norway has a strategic oil reserve, the worth of which you can track on the Norwegian central bank website.
What may actually happen is this move can become the world’s greatest wealth distribution scheme ever pulled off in the history of man. America is about to have their wealth stolen from under their noses, and they’re allowing the Trump administration and their crypto czar to do this simply because the President told them it was a good idea.
If this goes through, America is about to get thoroughly shafted. Since their will got shaped and molded, they’re going to let it happen.
We also witnessed the same phenomenon in the Philippines with the political cult of ‘DDS’ — Diehard Duterte Supporters — a play on the same initialism for the infamous Davao Death Squad. Rodrigo Roa Duterte, then mayor of Davao City, rose to prominence with his crass populism and reputation as an uncompromising crime fighter, leading to a landslide victory in the 2016 Philippine presidential elections.
During his six-year reign as president of the Philippines, his administration became infamous for at least two things — dubious people being assigned to government positions and extrajudicial killings of suspected drug traffickers and abusers.
6. Crowds worship absolute certainty.
Crowds are only to be influenced by ideas that are absolute, uncompromising and simple. Masses don’t like nuance; they like simple black and white ideas presented with a total conviction. Thought and complexity weakens influence.
There is no room for subtlety and nuance. As they said in Star Wars, only the Sith deal with absolutes. Even with the follies of that dying intellectual property, it’s an accurate sentiment that pervades throughout human history. Nuance and subtleties are too complicated and difficult for most people to immediately understand.
It’s not because they’re stupid but because they have to persist in that reality. Therefore, they gravitate to those who give them certain answers, even if those answers end up screwing them over. Once the dust has settled, even for a little while, then they get to see what has been destroyed. Some admit their regret, while others are caught in dissonance.
Their promises of absolute certainty in solving problems and providing relief and a brighter future for everyone are bolstered by their propaganda. If it’s a promise made at the expense of their opponents, that could be a red flag. Look beyond the comparison and examine it on its own. Is it truly for the good of the people, all things considered?
That absolute certainty tends to be focused on bringing light to a certain group of people — the loyal, the faithful, the deserving. The rest can suffer, for they must have deserved it.
If you are against it, you’re disloyal. If you have doubts, you’re unfaithful. If you were harmed, you did not deserve the gift from the gods among men. We live in an age of strife, and there’s no time for deep critical thinking. Everything is now off vibes, and certainty has the best vibe.
7. Illusions seduce crowds more than truths.
Crowds have never searched after truths. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error if error seduced them. Facts don’t matter if they contradict the crowd’s feelings. A convincing illusion will always win over uncomfortable truths.
They’re putting up illusion of an administration with a multilayered plan that will pay off in the long run. The first year is going to hurt, but the following years will see the plan bear fruit. What we’re experiencing now is a shock to the economy, but the hope is it will result in the revival of US industry. It remains to be seen if that future along the horizon is merely a mirage.
Trump loyalists are holding onto the hope that the administration is just playing 5D chess, but it’s looking more and more like they’re just making it up as they go.
For now, what actually has been taking place is them making it up as they go along, announcing tariffs left and right, then suspending them while they make deals with those countries. We already had a preview of this when Trump announced a ban on TikTok, only for that ban to be suspended. From how things are looking now from the perspective of someone who holds US Dollars and delves in the US stock market, it’s not a convincing illusion.
The US stock market took a dive due to the resulting uncertainty. It then went back up dramatically when it was leaked, then confirmed that there would be a 90-day pause on those tariffs. That would’ve been fine if US treasury bonds stayed strong, like how it usually does whenever there’s a bear market. However, when China started offloading their US bonds, that’s when things got really volatile.
Treasury bonds are what you lean on during uncertain times. However, if that backup plan becomes uncertain as well, that’s when anxiety can turn into hysteria.
Trump would then chide the American people to not be ‘Panicans’ on social media, but his actions spoke otherwise. The illusion of competence dissipated as soon as he and his administration started making moves. Time will tell how things turn out, but they’ve already done more damage to America’s hegemony than any terrorist ever could.
Having your group chat be infiltrated and exposed is not only a bad look, but also quite the diplomatic fuck-up when you call the Europeans a bunch of freeloaders mooching off America.
The power of the US Dollar is dwindling and trust in the US hegemony is shakier than ever before. This is especially true when even immigrants who legally got into the country and became full-time residents are suddenly being rounded up and either thrown in detention centers or deported to their supposed countries of origin.
“More for me, none for thee.”
7 Rules to Fight Mass Manipulation and Keep One’s Mind Intact
Ranting about 21st century neo-fascist regimes aside, I have to bring it back down to earth and offer a response for each rule in general terms. Submitted for your examination, here are my own rules to fight manipulation and maintain one’s ability to think critically amid all the social and political chaos taking place around us.
1. Obey logic before emotion.
This was ‘obey logic over emotion’ until a friend reminded me that there’s no way to eliminate emotion. Upon being reminded of the plot of Equilibrium, I replaced ‘over’ with ‘before’. At the very least, with practice throughout life, we can choose to be logical before we give into the urge of being emotional. We are human, after all.
It’s not to say that you should rid yourself of emotion in order to become a perfectly logical being. We all have to find our own balance between logic and emotion — we learn how to be logical and how to regulate our emotions as we grow up. Too far in either extreme can make us less capable of making decisions that yield the most good and the least harm.
The ‘before’ in this phrase means when something comes up that requires you to make a judgment or decision, you must stay calm and process the situation first. If it’s something you’ve encountered before, then you get to tap into prior knowledge and experience and hopefully they help inform you of what may happen next.
And if it’s a whole new situation you’ve never encountered before, may you learn from it.
Throughout that process, emotion may take a backseat, but not taken out with a shotgun to the head. It still plays a role, especially if the situation involves people. Being able to empathize with others is still crucial, so your logic must not be cold like liquid nitrogen — it must still retain the warmth for your fellow human beings.
2. Spot and take note of repetition.
Humans have a natural affinity for pattern recognition. However, repetition still works regardless of being spotted and labeled. We know this from marketing and advertising — repeat the message enough times and you’ll be able to sell it. If the message is crafted well enough to strike a chord in people’s hearts, it can be more effective than facts and logic.
From marketing, this simple technique has since been adapted in politics, media, pro wrestling, and so on. We know this well in pro wrestling — repeat something for long enough and as long as the performer does well in selling it, it will soon get picked up by the crowd. The execution is not complicated, but it must be done with earnest thought and effort.
What you must do when you spot repetition is to recognize it, then detach from it.
There’s a thin line between recognizing patterns that are indeed there and conspiratorial thinking. The latter can muddy the former — all it takes is doing too much to fill in the gaps in between the patterns. Conspiracy theorists have an affinity for magical thinking because they tend to come into an issue already believing a certain conclusion. They will then invent and conjure supposed evidence out of thin air to support their beliefs.
Therefore, spotting repetition isn’t just to know if you’re being forcefully persuaded, but also to see the false patterns being put forth by self-declared rebels who only add to the noise instead of helping clear it up. In the end, these messages are being sold and these stories are being told by those who wish to pull you to their side for their own ends.
3. Read the fine print.
I know it’s tedious and tiring, but you wouldn’t want to skip it if you have your money involved. You’re a citizen who pays their taxes, so you have to treat these matters as if your money is at stake — in the long run, it actually is. Whether you like it or not, you were born into this world in your country of origin as a citizen or resident (in my case).
That means you had automatically signed a contract without your consent.
Whether you like it or not, you have to read and understand that contract. Most of that reading happens during schooling, wherein your rights were taught to you with varying degrees of effectiveness. You then grow up into adulthood, thrust into the real world having to learn how it works on the fly. Meanwhile, your environment and circumstances change with time, according to the ebb and flow of culture and the whims of whoever is in power.
You do your best to adapt, but the stress and fatigue constantly drains you as you try to keep up with responsibilities and obligations to your family, your job, whoever else you answer to, and to yourself — the last of which takes a backseat as the former pile up higher and higher. Your physical and mental health take a toll and you find yourself spending your hard-earned money on medicine and procedures to keep you alive and functioning.
The whole time, you’re being pulled left and right, forwards and backwards as propaganda on who has your best interests in mind is shoved down your throat, only to find out later that they may just be as corrupt as the previous ones. You may then become disillusioned and cynical after that, feeling that you’ve been bamboozled the whole time. It’s important to remember that it’s all part of the learning process and not a final resolution.
That’s if it doesn’t result in either death or permanent disability. It’s important to move forward and remember to take precautions and read the fine print if you ever find yourself again in a similar scenario. Experience is still the best teacher.
I’m not saying reading the fine print will certainly prevent you from experiencing all that, but it can help you prepare for and avoid as much bullshit as possible.
4. Question prestige and authority.
It’s easy to be blinded by bright lights and be in awe of great people who seem to do great things, being seen as role models. Perhaps you may have experienced being so starstruck upon meeting someone you admire that you freeze like a deer in headlights. It’s a natural reaction to coming face to face with individuals you’ve held up on a pedestal for a good while.
Nowadays, that bar has been lowered due to social media. A popular influencer can now yield the same kind of awe as a Hollywood star, maybe more since they can potentially get more reach and watch time in this day and age. However, it’s not to say we should not admire anyone — that’s practically impossible for fans of stuff like K-pop and Taylor Swift.
They say you should never meet your heroes as a caution against disappointment and regret for those who seem to forget that they’re human too. Celebrities, politicians, corporate leaders, and other figures who wield considerable influence of any kind are just as fallible as you are for they’re also who live in the same world and beholden to the same laws of nature.
You need not hate on them, but you need not worship the ground they walk on either. They are human like you, coming from various walks of life. Some grew up rich and fortunate, some grew up poor and struggling. What makes them extraordinary is the willingness to go the extra mile, the people around them, and the faculties needed to take advantage of opportunities.
However, being extraordinary is not directly proportional to their ethics and morals. Many successful people are selfish, egotistical, and unpleasant. Take note of them for their work and accomplishments, but there’s no need to elevate them in your mind. Merely learn from their successes and failures, then go back to focusing on yourself and your own circle.
You owe loyalty to no stranger. If an influential person is doing good, respect that. If they are committing evil, you should be able to question and criticize them within reason.
5. Be critical of leaders.
Leaders are defined by their decisions, which are then delegated to roleplayers who are expected to be capable and competent. As they say, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” However, not all dreams ever become reality, and some dreams may even turn out to be nightmares. A strong leader not only gets things done, but also commands authority and respect that should be given accordingly.
When they clearly don’t deserve that respect due to not being competent enough to fulfill what they’ve promised, you have to be able to criticize them for it. If you’re unable to do so due to consequences, either by those leaders or their followers, then the people there are more susceptible to being put under their thumb through mass manipulation.
Robert Greene wrote in his book The 48 Laws of Power as the very first law, “Never outshine the master.” This serves both as advice for those working under a reputed leader and warning against those looking to impress or criticize one. If they happen to hold influence over your fate in any way, you may want to not invite their ire through overt means like looking better than them or to pull them down without a backup plan or escape route.
The common phenomenon of common people defending politicians, oligarchs, and other public figures despite being obviously exploited by them seems to be due to either one of three reasons — they have a parasocial relationship with the people they constantly see on TV and social media to the point that they feel more empathy from them, they see themselves as millionaires-in-waiting, or they may be benefiting from being under their leadership.
Some communities would even ostracize you if they find out you’re critical of their masters or benefactors, despite living in a democratic country.
In a lot of those cases, even if those powers-that-be are actually stealing from or poisoning the people, they end up protecting them because they’re getting perks — either employment or community development in some form. That’s also why you tend to hear about criminal leaders being treated as folk heroes in their local communities.
Just like billionaires who moonlight as philanthropists who donate to charity, they ‘give back’ to reign with less immediate resistance. It then takes something directly affecting the people negatively from their masters’ actions in order to finally change their minds and wish them to be dealt with. However, that takes a while because those leaders have been given many inches, which they then take to countless miles.
Before they’re able to go the distance past the point of no return, it’s important to call them out prior to anything that may harm the people and their communities. The more you’re able to be critical of them, the more feedback they get to let them know that what they’re doing is not ok.
6. Doubt absolute certainty.
Once again, only the Sith deal with absolutes. That includes whatever may happen next. Perhaps you believe in psychic powers, but let’s make use of the scientific conclusion here that there are no psychic humans who can see the future, make objects float, and talk to others telepathically. Unless you’re Professor X who can reach out to others with his mind, I don’t want to hear any of that psychic stuff.
If you can see the future, why aren’t you trading in the stock market and playing poker?
Manipulators present ideas as simple and uncompromising, with unequivocal answers that seemingly cut through the fluff and clear the fog. People gravitate more towards absolute certainty and less towards nuance and complexity, the latter of which are not as simple and clear-cut as people would like. Life itself is far from simple and clear-cut, which is why people gravitate towards promises that have absolute certainty, but that’s also why you shouldn’t.
It’s why people get disappointed over and over again when those promises aren’t fulfilled.
The reason why they have to make promises first is due to not yet being put in charge of solving those problems yet. They need to express the intention to solve those problems their way first, and the best way to verify if they’re good enough is to look at whether they have proof of their competence first. If they have no track record — and most powers-that-be tend to not have any — then why give them that responsibility in the first place?
To doubt is not just hating, but also a sign that you’re still thinking for yourself. When things turn out well, there’s no real detriment to you since you also want those results anyway. Being proven wrong for doubting is not necessarily a negative for you since you want the positive result in the first place. What’s wrong with verifying who or what you should trust first?
Therefore, why not leave even a bit of room for doubt? As long as you’re still willing to give a chance while also withholding judgment for the sake of rationality. Whoever gives you a hard time for doubting absolute certainty is doing so because your doubt hinders them.
7. Look beneath the veil for truth.
This is the hardest rule to learn and follow because you have to deliberately change a lot of deep-seated habits. From how you consume the news to how you judge and interact with people, you’ll need to gain the instinct to dig deeper and verify every bit of information you encounter. It can get rough and tedious when you have to do it every single time.
After all, simple is not necessarily easy. That’s why most people don’t do it.
For instance, with news articles, you’d want to look into the author’s history and verify if they’re indeed a reliable source of information. Some news writers are too indiscreet, writing articles that are more about pushing their own agenda instead of providing facts. Perhaps that’s my opinion, but I’ve seen too many pieces that were obviously written in bad faith.
They just put down specific groups of people for saying and doing things they don’t personally agree with or having beliefs that go against their own. However, what’s closer to the truth is that everyone is actually playing for the same team of being neighbors in the same community. The self-imposed divisiveness that makes us yell at each other senselessly.
The powers-that-be like that. As long as they’re safe from persecution for their corruption.
Ideology is seen as paths to truth, only to obscure it. Beliefs are seen as worthy of faith and loyalty, but beliefs are not people. What use are ideology and beliefs if they lead people to treat their fellow human beings as inhuman? The only truth that matters is we are living on this earth together, and we’re just trying to make it more comfortable for ourselves.
We should not be fighting each other. Whoever turns us against ourselves is the real enemy.
The Eighth and Most Important Rule
I thought it was important to create an eighth rule. Mass manipulation and its effects can make one cynical and nihilistic, turning one from a more proactive member of society to a passive one. It’s understandable that when life gets more complicated and burdened with responsibility and obligations, one can only handle so much.
However, that is no excuse to close off one’s mind and become more rigid in opinion and belief.
Perhaps it’s tiring and stressful having to stay on top of things, but it need not be that strenuous. All it really takes is to double-check whatever comes through the cables and airwaves into one’s screens and speakers. You can trust whoever you deem trustworthy, but you must always verify.
If you’re not willing to trust others easily with your money and security, you must be just as critical with your heart and soul.
8. Get neither too cynical nor paranoid.
Don’t take this too seriously. Don’t become like Alex Jones or those QAnon goblins. Conspiracy has taken over their lives and colors their every judgment, thus accomplishing the complete opposite of what opening your eyes to uncomfortable truths is supposed to do.
Being a tinfoil-wearing conspiracy nut becomes their comfort zone. It’s the comfort of being a rebel that takes over their whole lives. They alienate themselves and everyone else around them, making them not be able to take care of anyone, including themselves.
What’s the use of watching every video and reading every news article about impending doom when you’re not doing anything to prepare for it? When you haven’t even cleaned your house and threw out all the junk piling up everywhere? How are you even safe from danger when your house isn’t even safe from disease or fire?
The best revenge is still success and a life well lived, and the best defense against propaganda and fascism is a strong community.
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