September 2, 2012
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Hypnosis
[SiB] was once talking about self-hypnosis, as one of those processes that one uses towards self-improvement. At the time, I remember thinking that it sounded gimmicky, and that buying into that fad was just what those self-help gurus wanted so that they could get rich better off the waves of desperate people.
I don’t think it’s so gimmicky any more. Well, let me be more clear– I don’t think that you can look yourself in the eyes of your bathroom mirror and just “reprogram” your mind by talking to your reflection, and muttering the same thing over and over. No, I haven’t tried it. It just sounds ridiculous, so I haven’t bothered.
The reality is, however, that there’s craploads of hypnosis going on all the time. That kind of stuff is real. People get riled up and start following things. The only difference is whether people do so under the influence of their own charisma, or someone elses.
Have you ever listened to an American presidential election speech? I was listening to the big Mitt Romney speech the other day (it was being rebroadcast in Sydney). Look at the way the crowd goes absolutely mad– and then, step back, and consider a few things.
If you were to read what is actually being said in the speech, it has almost nothing at all to do with why you should vote for Mitt Romney. What he did, and what all presidential candidates did, do, and will continue to do in the years to come, is pretty simple:
- he flatters you by making you think that You are the American person that he got into office to protect
- he tells you about the hardship of Americans like You in times of economic depression
- he tells you about past American achievements, by Americans like You.
- he tells you about strong American women, like your mom, like his mom, and other American women who are great, and how Women are important in America.
- he tells you about how immigrants come to America for the dream of a better life, and how he’s all about immigrants, immigrants like You.
- he tells you about his history in his community, as a fine, upstanding religious man, just like You.
- he tells you about how heroic, generous, and hardworking the people are, people like You.
A few observations:
Firstly, yes, I realise it is always he and it is never she who is making these speeches. So if you want to talk about an American system that is endorsing women, well, then, show me a female presidential candidate. Do something with American Women, other than have them be the wives of important people in your stories who “stand by their men.”
Secondly, it’s the oldest tactic in the book to just talk about economic depression and complain about the last 4 years as if the last guy dropped the ball. Admittedly, I do like Obama better– I won’t hide that. But to say that he’s responsible for every economic setback is to ignore that years of American history have lead the economy to the position it’s in now. And it’s not just economics– it’s culture. Obama gets in trouble because he’s relatively socialist– things like Obamacare just don’t sit well with people who like to think that competition solves all your problems. I don’t want to get into a capitalism discussion here, but the basic cheap trick is the oldest one: offer people cheaper prices, and cheaper gas, and more convenience. Don’t talk about responsibilities of any kind (because, well, you can always dump that on the future generations, after their term is up). Don’t talk about international responsibilities. Don’t talk about the culture of the American consumer, the one that is being taught to buy more and eat more and seek the higher luxuries as a sign of advancement. Don’t talk about the problem with unlimited capitalism. Just offer them the “better deal,” the one where all the costs are externalised to “someone else”.
Third, immigrants? Are you fucking kidding me? If you care so much about immigrants, show me how much of your American senate is made up of people who aren’t upper-class, late middle aged white men, and then talk to me about how you think these people are looking out for the immigrants. Talk to me about constant moves by republicans to cut public education that distance the immigrant’s ability to grow up and compete. Talk to me about the the policies on health care. The thing that pisses me off about these speeches is that they throw around the word “Immigrants” left and right as if they care. It’s like a quota– every presidential speech needs to use the word at least 10 times, whether or not they say anything useful about the topic.
Finally: YOU. The most obvious problem about the typical presidential speech is that it has very little to do with the president. It’s an ego fluff: he spends most of his time flattering you. He tells you about Americans like you, hardworking, noble, generous, all that. That’s you– that’s not him. Why is he selling You, to You, when he should be selling himself and his policies? Why is he talking about You, and your past, your achievements, when he should be talking about what he can do for you? It’s smoke and mirrors.
People don’t go to presidential candidate speeches because they’re going to learn anything– they go there because they’re drawn to the charisma of the speaker. And part of being charismatic is being able to tell people what they want to hear. It’s not so much that they’re making empty promises– it’s that they’re not even promising anything at all, because they’re so great at spinning an hour of generalisations and fluff that you forget just what it is that you want out of a president, and you just pay attention to when is the right time for the right buzzword to be used in the same side with “American,” so that you can get out of your seat and start screaming FUCK YEAAAAAH with everyone else next to you. And you before you know it, you’re caught up, you forget– sometimes the words that come up are not you. They’re the things you like, and aspire to, because you’ve seen it glorified in movies. Heroism and all that.
But is a presidential candidate telling you that he will be your hero? Or is he just talking, generally, to get the crowd riled up? Is he just throwing out bait at key parts of the water to keep up the energy of a feeding frenzy, so nobody questions that feeding hand?
My point is this: everyone is hypnotised. It’s amazing how we can do this. We do it and we don’t realise it. We seek the things that we relate to, and these are the ways that we subtly start accepting ideas from people who present themselves as similar to us. I was talking about my obsession with Shonen anime; it’s no different. We chose people who we want to believe in.
And that’s absurd, because nobody’s circumstnaces are so similar to your own that you should ever place the responsibility of your life philosophy in someone else’s hands. You shouldn’t “believe” in others to the point where it detracts from what you feel that you yourself have to get done. But we submit to hypnosis– because it’s easier to feel that we can’t do whatever we want. It’s easier to let someone else make the promises, even if they aren’t kept, because it’s a convenient scapegoat for us to be betrayed, rather than for us to seek and achieve on our own. So we allow ourself to be hypnotised– the hypnosis, self-induced, is us giving in, sealing off thoughts and doubts.
I know that I do it to myself.
But I know also that I select the ways in which I want to be hypnotised, and I’m trying to figure out the ways in which I’m doing it to myself.
One thing’s for certain– I can feel the charisma just oozing off of Romney. But I also find the fact that people can do that– I mean, completely enilven a stadium full of people– it’s frightening. It’s a lot like a Justin Bieber concert. It could just as well be people lining up outside of the Apple store, waiting for the next iPhone. In so many ways, it’s just like a sports event, or a religious thing– there is a madness of conviction that courses through a crowd that I can’t help but feel is going to round out some of the uniqueness of the wants and aspirations in that room, beacuse at some point, that person at the front of it is going to leverage that support to do something that a few people in the crowd don’t like– but by then, it’ll be too late. By then, they’ll be too hypnotised to notice. The cults have taken your mind, and like the devil, their most clever trick was to fool you into thinking that he didn’t exist.
I guess this is all just to say– people should develop a habit of figuring out just what people are saying. People should figure out just what they’re subscribing to. Figure out what you believe in doing, not who you believe in– and follow that, to the very end.
