Book Club: "The Age of Manipulation: The Con in Confidence, The Sin in Sincere"

[The Johnny]

First of all, i dont have a link to the book, its just copies i have in RL and in spanish and i happened to be starting to read it when this discussion got started:

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=27488.msg971085 .

Im not sure how the dynamic for Book Club works, but, i guess ill just comment as i read along.

This book was written in 1989 by Bryan Wilson Key, whom has been a proffesor in studies of communication and a publicity executive, since 1973 he has been directing Mediaprobe as a non-profit investigation organization which aids consumers.

[The Johnny]

I. Subliminal technology of the communications media
     1.For those that believe they think for themselves


He starts out by explaining that the book is divided in two parts: subliminal messages in photography and the language/culture of fantasy (althought this partition isnt completely accurate, for it covers more things). He mentions that images in publicity are designed to capture the momentaneous conscious perception, but really capitalizes on repression and the unconscious storage of memory.

He mocks some slogans that the AAAA (American Association of Advertisement Agencies) such as "Publicity works in the interest of the consumer" and "The consumer distinguishes easily between reality and fantasy", althought he doesnt go into depth, but just as a passing reference to future commentary.

He says that publicity studies demographies and psychographies to understand its target audience; he draws a paralell between greek sophists and publicists, in which their only interest is cost-efficiency, sales, votes and favourable opinions, although he considers that their role is more efficient by them not being so arrogant and upfront about it as the sophists. He postulates that subliminal consciousness is opposed to consciousness and logic.

Audiovisual perceptions are divided into Figure (content, first plane, and subject) and Form (background, ambient) each respectively adressing the consciousness or unconscious.

The techniques of subliminal messages are as follows:

- Reversion of figure and background (synchretic illusions)
- Integration
- Double entendre
- Tachistoscope expositions
- Subtle lighting and sounds
- Lighting/ ambient noise

It then goes on to reference and dissect examples such as August Bollock's flowers, certain Wrigley's commercial, Tanqueray whisky contest, "super-wet" Betty Crocker cakes, Chivas Regal, etc... it specifically points out what images are hidden from first-sight. (the book has images).

It goes on a tangent about Mozart being able to do synesthesia (perception from one sense stimulating another) and also how the common person doesnt perceive the different layers in music, but only the mixed up totality (not the notes of the chord, just the chord itself)... he mentions that traditional education focuses on teaching how to mantain conscious perception just on one perceptual level and that this is associated with the interests of the government and generally in first world countries oriented to high technology, such as USA, Japan, Russia and Europe, which also have a vested interest in keeping the population as over-protected children oriented at not letting them grow which to me this seems a very weird tangent and keywords, im hypothetizing he was an over-protected child, this Bryan Wilson  

He mentions that the ATF in 1984 created a definition for subliminal integration: the insertion of words or corporal forms by the use of shadows or darkening or the substitution of forms and borders associated generally to the body.... So its supposed to be illegal to do subliminal advertisements, but its never enforced.

Now, i dont know if this still goes on, but Hal Becker created a subliminal audio-processor, the Mark III-B, which is used in hospitals and supermarkets, which quantitavely has been measured to reduce shoplifting, employees leaving, and increasing efficiency; while at hospitals it reduces patients anxiety, passing out by inyections and reduces smoking. These subliminal messages are used under strict agreements, supposedly.

[Cain]

he draws a paralell between greek sophists and publicists, in which their only interest is cost-efficiency, sales, votes and favourable opinions, although he considers that their role is more efficient by them not being so arrogant and upfront about it as the sophists.

Well, I'd say that was questionable...the arrogant part at least.  I also wonder about the music thing...I've certainly always found myself able to dissect music quite easily.  I wasn't raised in a musical household, but I did play the violin and guitar, so that may have something to do with it, to be fair.

[The Johnny]

Well, as far as the portrayal or the accounts of sophists ive read or heard of, usually they are talking shit or "oh look, see how i can twist words and win an argument even though it seems unethical to a lot of people!", while the publicists deep down in their little black hearts think/know that, they have in numerous ocassions argued that they just help the consumer giving him "choices". So in praxis, yes, they are shameless, but in their PR discourse they hold a masquerade.

Well, its one thing to make a simple distinction of say "bass, guitar, drums, voice" but im like 95% sure you, nor anyone that isnt a trained and gifted composer can distinguish the notes of different chords of different instruments at the same time... its a matter of degree per se... this kid Mozart transcribed (supposedly) a symphony after hearing it once... so, Mozart is one extreme side of dissecting musical totality, while a "commoner" might not be capable to even distinguish bass from guitar... you, id consider, might fall in the middle of both extremes.

[The Johnny]

I. 2. How to infiltrate the mind of wide criterion, without being discovered

There seems to be some incoherences within this chapter, one of them being the subcategories of behaviour, being: dreams, memory, conscious perception, emotional response, instinct, perception threshhold, verbal behaviour, adaptation, buying behaviour and psychopathology... like really, these seem very arbitrary and could easily turn up different categories in different circumstances...

Its also strange that he says that logic, reason, feelings and motivation are derived from "sensorial impulses and memory"... he also writes a paragraph saying that minorities of "dissidents, deviants, heretics, subversives and critics" fight the "popular conditioning" which to me just seems like him asslicking his target audience, just as ive noticed certain sociologists in their books...

He says that repression (exclusion from the consciousness) increases parallely to threatening emotional content, and since the USA contains a large demographic of religious people and tendencies, sex and death are the most efficient subliminal messages... also goes on to mention that rock music is very effective at inducing repression due to the high impact, so to speak, and saturation, f.e., loud volume, screaming, histeric performances, the visual effects and the obfuscated letters.

And heres were i even almost got offended, for he called for the separation of memory in conscious, unconscious and preconcsious, which was Freuds first division of the psyche not of memory, which even by freudian standards is antiquated, for later on he transformed the divisions to id, ego and superego - which in summarized terms, means the author knows jackshit of psychoanalysis but goes on to speak of it as if he knows, and casts a shadow of a doubt on the things he says...

In 1986 the average amurrican saw 1000 ads daily, and the investment on advertisement was about 101,900 million, which increased to 155,000 million in 1989 - later on he draws some figure, that the costs of products, about 40-60% is because of the marketing, and that 10% of that goes into research to make it more efficient.

Then he goes on to speak about how marketing thrives on fantasy, because its usually so much better than reality... draws some interesting points about how prohibition always boosts consumption and sales which speaks volumes, in my opinion, of a generalized oppositional tendency in American culture? or is it just the thrill of doing the prohibited?

Also, allegedly Osman-Keld paper company has found a way to draw subliminal pages into its blank pages, and theres some dot-screen (translation?) paper that can produce an unconscious effect of depth that can only be seen at microscopic levels, and sometimes not even that.

Cites Eisenhower's presidential election discourse and its creation on how it was designed (thru many many many remakings) to be as ambiguous as possible, but while appealing to everyone (more recently, see Obama, even do he had a keyword )

What just is ridiculous, is his claim that most of the psychosomatic pathologies (paranoias, phobias, stress) are caused by subliminal stimuli, which shows that he knows little no nothing about psychopathology.

[The Johnny]

I.3. The dark side of conscience

He speaks on how the USA praised Skinner and his behaviouralist experiments and approach while Lysenko was praised by the URSS, in the sense that cultures praise science that benefits its leadership usually, im sure we can all think of examples under this premise, and i can go along with the example of Skinner, but idk about Lysenko... im not sure how to simplify this, but, Skinner does have a very "USA approach" to science, at least in terms of psychology and how it views how things work (the biggest places for "softer" psychologies is Argentina, France and Germany, for many different reasons) - what i dont agree with is that behaviouralism is pseudo-science: its very much rigorous and useful, althought id consider it is used for nefarious purposes or doing superficial help, it can aid a very limited but significant subset of people's problems.

Goes on to equate cultural taboos as a perceptual limitant, and i agree, i mean, if something is of too much emotional shock value, people tend to repress it or use a number of defense mechanisms - i wont go into detail as to not bore you about his mistakes and errors in definining them and the terminology, unless someone wants me to- which he says there are 8: repression, withdrawal, regression, fantasy, sublimation, negation, proyection and introversion (sic).

Although he did get right what we call "reaction formation" which is doing what is expected of oneself instead of acting on ones true desires, which avoids social stigma or avoids conflict while creating a lot of inner frustration, which is a common pathology in all modern societies... He says the most repressed subjects or themes are death and sex, which to me seems a bit too obvious and perhaps innacurate, for theres also incest.

He cites some poll about the causes of drug addiction and alcoholism, that people think its causes are divorce, peer pressure, genes, parent's mistakes and just being bored, while he attributes it to cultural adoctrination that drugs and medication are the solution for problems of emotional adjustment - im not sure about this, without getting into depth, id say a little bit of it all...

Speaks on how Reagan acted so many roles that the public just associated the movie roles with his real self and how it helped cover up all the crap he did while in office...

Makes some retarded point about how in relationships, people that are incompatible are attracted to each other like magnets he talks a lot about marriage problems, im wondering if he had a lot of trouble in that area personally... this is a pet peeve personally in how english writers do stupid homophone games (just like the fucking french with their stupid meaningless and circumstancial word plays) calling "Narcissus narcosis" the mechanism of proyection...

He does make some good points about how people turn to fantasy with media frequently because their lives suck, but while it is a reconforting illusion, its in fact unnacomplished escapism.

[The Johnny]

II. Language and culture
   4. Brainwashing

Konrad Lorenz (the guy that made some experiments about geese thinking he was their mother) apparently wrote a book that got him a Nobel (?) which was "The 8 capital sins of civilized man" which are, resumed: nuclear weapons, overpopulation, ecology rape, emotional atrophy, abuse of innovative energy, genetic decay, destruction of tradition and human adoctrination/manipulation, and the author makes a finer point on how most of the problems are derived from the last problem, which is manipulation... im not sure if i agree on such absolut terms....

Then he gets into all the deal about the questioning of objective reality and epistemology, which is always such a mess with so many pitfalls, which i can emphatize with, for ive been on both sides of the argument and read several authors dealing with this... anyhow, he cites on how Kant within his "Critique of Pure Reason" says something along the lines of "the human mind doesnt develop rules based on objective reality, but imposes them unto it"... he mentions how the visual sense is overrated in modern society, which i do agree with, i mean, Youtube et al compared to reading (dont tell me both are visual experiences, by god  ) to which i would add that visual entertainment works well, because the public can be passive about it which is their usual role...

Speaks of the 3 levels of perception: micro, macro and submicro and mentions that most of deceptions are worked in the macro level, the "things are as they are" common sense type thinking - the verbal categorizations that become in many cases to a generalization of cases... cites Heisenberg "A perceptual judgement cannot be made with complete certainty"... and how language, objects and persons are tied by subjective links...

[The Johnny]

II.5. How do we know that we know what we know

Speaks on how critical thinking isnt taught properly in schools, and that most of education revolves around vocational fantasies on good paid jobs... the first id agree with, but the latter id only agree with related to certain careers, like management i think.

This chapter deals with Aristotle's 3 laws of logic (correct me if its wrong):

"What is, is"
"All must be, or not be"
"Nothing can be and not be at the same time"

First one is related to "map is not the territory", in which abstractions dont always represent reality... also about how "A=B" is very dependent upon a time lapse... generalizations associated to language and etc.

Second one relating to black and white categorizations of things and binary thinking which leads to wars or simplifications of reality...

Third relating to how symbolical and emotional realities cannot be summed up in that manner... using an overly easy example... can one not feel hatred and love for the same person at the same time?...

So the opposition to the aristotelic system that relies on predictability is opposed by the reality that everything changes constantly, and is dependent on the "eye of the beholder" subjectively...

Theres a mention of Prescott Leck and how he thinks that its important for people to achieve "auto-reflexivity" a "perceptual perspective" (goddamn homopohnes) basicly a meta-awareness...

This chapter seemed very fragmented.

[The Johnny]

II. 6. The real things: symbolical realities

He makes an opposition between symbols/feelings vs. logic/conscience.... and how its important to not define symbols, but to interpret them within their context, which its good, for theres a huge range in the meaning of symbols for each person (well at least in the case of dreams)

For example, femenine makeup is supposedly the simulation of the apparent physiology during intercourse... rosy cheeks from the agitation, pink or purple makeup in the lips and around the eyes simulating vaginas... would that be the reason that pink and purple are considered femenine colours?... supposedly males dont get that much coloration in the cheeks during intercourse, but i havent had the chance to empirically know.

Theres a music video with orgasmic subliminal integrations, its "Valerie" by Steve Winwood... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anCg5EiB2AM do you feel aroused when listening to it?, theres some comments in youtube speaking about how the chorus makes them want to "start thrusting for no reason"... you be the judge

[The Johnny]

II. 8. Expectations of stereotypes

I skipped ch. 7 because there wasnt much of substance, just more general crapping on objectivity and behaviouralism.

This chapter opens with an interesting quote:

The remedy for the USA is not less liberty, but a more real liberty, and an end to the brutal intolerance to the ecclesiastical vandals and corporations that wave flags, and to the rest of little but ruthless despots that have made the word Americanism be the same as coercion and legal crime.

He speaks on how art as opposed to the works of publicity differ in their value to humanity, in which one is a subjective expression of meaning, while the other just works under the mantra of "buy, buy, buy"... for example, Da Vinci expressed his homosexuality thru his art, while Picasso expressed things that he perceived in humanity such as greed, conformity and the social reglamentation... which i would agree in the sense that, art is not supposed to be (to me at least) the expression of something aesthetically beautiful, but of sincere expression - something aesthetically disgusting can be very good art as long as it expresses something instead of operating under an agenda of profit.

Another good point was how media breaks association with your peers, and makes one arrive to unreasonable expectations of happiness, expenditures and beauty and leads to a sense of inferiority and to rely on a type of proyective identification with celebrities, which is just frustrating because in the end, they are not you.

[The Johnny]

II. 9. Self fullfilling prophecies

This chapter deals with how American foreign policy of brute force usually tends to work against itself - if instead of actively trying to undermine the insurgent government of Nicaragua to "prevent the foothold of communism in our continent" it would had cooperated with it and such, both sides would have prospered instead of wasting resources in conflict.

Again some innacuracies on human psychology, something about personality being a fiction which shows a complete ignorace of human development. The mention of Foucault's point in "Madness and Civilization" (idk its english name) which is that the definition of madness has changed throgouth history to the conclusion that "madness is undefinable" is just bullshit, which goes along with him saying that "schizophrenia is common because people cant distinguish between fantasy and reality in advertisements". Tell me that madness doesnt exist, and ill show you religious people in psychotic episodes that cut off their genitalia. More common that you would think.

[The Johnny]

II. 11. Permanently narrow criterions

This chapter deals with basic TFYS that isnt worth getting into - a good mention do, was that uncertainty fosters anxiety, and the defenses to this are to create order, meaning and structure.

[The Johnny]

Conclusion

The book is supposed to be focused around subliminal messages and advertisements, but the author doesnt seem to be much disciplined in his thought process, for the rambles on about many different subjects that have a vague connection, by which i mean that he attempts to grasp too many issues and subjects and goes into depth rarely into any of them. If he would had been more disciplined, im sure 350 pages could have been worked down to 120.

The good part of this book are the discussions early on the book about the technical methods used to integrade audio-visual subliminal messages, but other than that, its a disgrace to see how he butchers psychological theory and terminology.