Innoculation Theory

[K-Dog]

Here is a piece of the puzzle.  I have not heard of it but I have seen it and now it has a name.

What is it about:  Here is an inoculation message.

"The climate is always changing" 

If a person hears this they are inoculated AGAINST the idea of climate change.

Combine enough inoculation messages together and make them part of the talk that defines group membership in a group that people want to be part of, the defining language of the group, and you control their minds.

Psychological Inoculation against Misinformation: Current Evidence and Future Directions

Inoculation theory explains how immunity to counter-attitudinal messages is conferred by preemptively exposing people to weakened doses of challenging information.

It seems to me that this tool can go both ways.  The research link promotes the idea that inoculation can prevent against misinformation and fake news.  Apparently the research was done to test this idea.  But it seems to me that the same technique is used to maintain inequality, class difference and minority control by the affluent already.  I allege the technique is commonly used to maintain status-quo and minority rule.  It has only been given a new name.

In Marxist philosophy, cultural hegemony is the dominance of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class who shape the culture of that society—the beliefs and explanations, perceptions, values, and mores —so that the worldview of the ruling class becomes the accepted cultural norm.

Inoculations every day.

And this says so:
 

In 2018, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Risks Report named online misinformation as one of the top global risks to the environmental, economic, technological, and institutional systems on which our future depends

Our future.  Or is the DAVOS crowd talking about life as they know it.  Their future.  Not yours

This inoculation technique is nothing new.  The best thing is to develop a nose for it and know it for what it is.

Using the technique to protect people from fake news scares me.  I don't see the value.  People subject to fake news do not think to begin with, so what kind of ideas will they have after an  inoculation?  The 'right' ones?  That is wishful thinking and that thinking denies an infinity of possible replacement ideas.  An infinity of possibilities is a more correct point of view.  Now they don't believe in giant bugs, but they believe in space lizards.  Ooops we did not plan for that.

I'll stay away from half truths and stay with the real thing.  The world is built on half truths already.  We need the real thing.  Please accept no substitutes.

No way around critical thinking.  Learn to protect yourself and everyone you know against inoculation.  It has been used against you for years.

The world is in overshoot.  Spread the word.  This is what we have to deal with.  Spread the truth.  The facts.

Climate denial comes about for several reasons.  Inoculation has an influence, but I think Terror-Management Theory is a more powerful explanation.

I understand the temptation to use inoculation theory to fight misinformation.  But personally I don't want to sink to 'their' level.  I have standards.  Sinking to 'their' level also means failure.  They have more power to repeat counter inoculation messages so playing by the rules of power means power wins.

Stupidity never seems to stop, but one day the the truth becomes popular and sweeping change results.  Quantity becomes quality.  It happens when everyone you realize has been thinking the same way you do, and you, are not under an illusion that you are the only one any more.

The method I describe made the Soviet Union collapse.  Internal contradictions could not be maintained and the system collapsed without warning.  Opposition to the collapse was weak and most people were ok with change.  But a week earlier the atmosphere was an atmosphere of compliance.  Then public attitudes changed overnight.  Once things got moving everyone realized they were not alone.

Raising awareness may not have visible results for a long time.  But then all of a sudden change can happen. 

[K-Dog]

You Tube already embraces Inoculation Theory.  Right under Sandy's video there is a special notice about climate change put there by You-Tube.  Put there for good reasons.  In our best interest.  Open it and you find a whole section. titled:

We face a huge challenge but already know many solutions

What kind of inoculation does this talking point provide?

A person becomes comfortable with denial reading this medicine.  Somebody is fixing things.  You do not have to worry.  Shut the fuck up and dream of Gucci.

And somebody thought it was a good idea.  This makes this kind of propaganda the devils tool.  It can backfire easy.

Will you think this way?  Terror management theory says you will.

I can hear it already:  "But you don't want to scare people."  I wonder why people say this.  We already live in the United States of Fear.  Pretending we don't is scary.  People out to prevent change and protect us from fear are even more scary.

Inoculation theory is an arms race waiting to happen.  Never challenge the United States to an arms race.  It is not a good idea, and it is in the national interest according to those who have a say in such things (we do not), that having a nation of compliant sheep is in the national best interest.  Compliant sheep make the homeland secure.

In 1984 the two minute hate was inoculation theory.

[monsta666]

I feel YouTube and more broadly the internet is something that accentuates intelligence. For example, if you are smart you will discern the wheat from the chaff and be able to use the internet as a tool to gain information thus you will appear more intelligent than you are. On the other hand, if you are not smart then you are more likely to fall foul of the misinformation and draw absurd conclusions that make you seem more stupid than you are. YouTube and internet as a whole is a tool; it can be used or abused depending on the way you operate it.

Other things to consider is that YouTube, its algorithms (and this applies for many things in the internet) will show you content that you appear interested in. This leads not only to more extreme views but cultivates an echo-chamber environment. As you are exposed to less contradictory information you become less tolerant of alternative opinions, and this only gets worse if your opinions are reinforced by people in your community leading to the them and us mentality. Overall, the internet can and does lead to more extreme opinions and reduces the scope for actual debate. The politics of the US seem to reflect what is happening on the internet.

I would add a final point and that is of curiosity. When using most mediums, be it TV the internet or whatever most people simply lack the curiosity or the energy to seek out new information, novel ideas. In most instances people use devices not to be educated and informed but to be entertained. There is lots of educational content on TV and the internet but the demand is way higher for products that entertain us. Why is Hollywood, Facebook, Instagram worth billions but educational channels lagging way behind? Demand. At the end of the day people just want to have fun, not think too deeply about anything. They lack the curiosity and societies in general tend to discourage this instinct.

[RE]

We face a huge challenge but already know many solutions

We do?  I must have missed them.  If somebody tried to inoculate me with a statement like this, I'd ask them to fill me in on the solutions we already know.  Besides, if we know them, why aren't they being implemented?  It's not a solution if you don't actually do it.

I think this is like hypnosis.  You can only be hypnotized if you want to be hypnotized.  I have never been able to be hypnotized.  When the hypnotist tells me "You are getting sleepy", in my head I don't agree with him.  I'm not sleepy at all.  Why would I believe somebody telling me that I am sleepy?

The problem here is most people want to be hypnotized.

RE

[K-Dog]

At the end of the day people just want to have fun, not think too deeply about anything. They lack the curiosity and societies in general tend to discourage this instinct.

[K-Dog]

It's not a solution if you don't actually do it.

               

I have to pay 8 cents every time I have to use a new grocery store bag.  This keeps plastic bags out of the ocean.  This must be one of the 'solutions'.  And since I am only a dozen miles from the ocean it is super important I do this!

If you missed one of the solutions you just have to think harder.

* And if you think hard enough maybe you can come up with a new solution.  If you do it will be just like being KING PENNY.  That is the guy who gets all the fractional cents that capitalism throws away.  Or like MR BREAD TIE.  The guy who invented the slotted plastic tabs that seal plastic bread bags.  Then you can bask in your glory.  You won't get rich but your new self-esteem will let you sleep like a babe.  You can be a legend in your own mind!  Way better than the useless eaters who had no solution at all.  You will have more self-deception than any useless eater will ever have.  You will be number 1.

Neener neener!

[K-Dog]

We face a huge challenge but already know many solutions

We do?  I must have missed them.  If somebody tried to inoculate me with a statement like this, I'd ask them to fill me in on the solutions we already know.  Besides, if we know them, why aren't they being implemented?  It's not a solution if you don't actually do it.

I think this is like hypnosis.  You can only be hypnotized if you want to be hypnotized.  I have never been able to be hypnotized.  When the hypnotist tells me "You are getting sleepy", in my head I don't agree with him.  I'm not sleepy at all.  Why would I believe somebody telling me that I am sleepy?

The problem here is most people want to be hypnotized.

RE

Many people of balanced mind and congenial activity scarcely know what others think of them, and will
deny, perhaps with indignation, that such care is an important factor in what they are and do.

But this is illusion. If failure or disgrace arrives, if one suddenly finds that the faces of men show coldness or
contempt instead of the kindliness and deference that he is used to, he will perceive from the shock,
the fear, the sense of being outcast and helpless, that he was living in the minds of others without
knowing it, just as we daily walk the solid ground without thinking how it bears us up.

The problem here is most people want to be hypnotized.

Colored lights can hypnotize.  Sparkle in someone else's eyes.

[RE]

Colored lights can hypnotize.  Sparkle in someone else's eyes.

You are getting sleeeeepy.....



RE