Get ready for the biggest manipulation campaign in history

 

New normal gaslighting manipulation campaign

It has already begun.And we are the target.

The gaslighting is a form of manipulation that makes us doubt our mental health - questioning what we saw and experienced - to accept the reality, the opinion and the prospect that the manipulator wants to impose on us.

It is not a new phenomenon. In " 1984 " George Orwell had already referred to a Ministry of Truth which was tasked with rewriting history and falsifying facts for the convenience of the system. To achieve this, he used all means at his disposal, in particular propaganda and the media.

But since reality always surpasses fiction, we are probably on the verge of falling victim to the largest gaslighting manipulation campaign in history.

As we advance in reducing the lockdown and begin to open the doors, different forces will try to convince us that we need to get back to normal. They will tell us that there is no reason to fear - or at least not that much. The virus will again be reduced to mere flu and there will also be those who deny it completely.

Millions of euros will be invested in advertising so that we can feel at ease again. We will see ads in all formats and on all sites with one promise: return to normal.

The world of consumerism feels the need to come and "save us" to help us erase anxiety, to make us feel immortal again, to return to the life we ​​had before the coronavirus crisis, allow us to recover the old routine and make us forget the tragedy . In exchange for that promise we must offer only one thing as a sacrifice: our life.

It is easier to produce consumers than to subdue slaves

“The advertising industry is the one that is dedicated to creating consumers. This is a phenomenon that has developed in the freest countries, in Great Britain and the United States. And the reason is very clear. It became clear about a century ago when this industry realized that it would not be easy to control a population with the use of force. They had won too much freedom: trade unions, parliaments with workers' parties in many countries, the right to vote for women… So they had to find other means to control people ”, writes Noam Chomsky. "They realized it was easier to create consumers than to subdue slaves."

In recent decades, the advertising industry has been analyzing the consumer "problem" to provide a solution. When the problem is practical, we buy a bookcase to put books or a vacuum cleaner to clean the house, but when the problem is emotional the "solution" is more complex - although that hasn't stopped Coca-Cola from promising us happiness and Apple to make us feel special.

The world of consumption knows us. He knows our emotional needs and knows that a conscious consumer who thinks and is in control of his life is not a good consumer. That is why it must do everything possible to make us forget the feeling of vulnerability and mortality that generated this crisis and that prompted us to reflect on more important things than the brand of our shoes or the model of smartphone we use.

In recent weeks we have seen many things that need to be changed. We need to strengthen the health system. We need to support small businesses. We also need to defend the most vulnerable groups, such as the elderly. And we need responsible politicians and officials who can do their jobs well.

We have seen this, and it is disturbing.

But we also saw what the world would be like if we stopped for a while and stopped running like prisoners of a thousand obligations. We experienced a long pause for reflection which offered us a new perspective. A life where we don't need to buy to feel good. Where we don't need to overspend to keep powering a system that is itself faulty and doesn't work for everyone. We understood that relationships are more important than material goods.

We've seen all of this too, and it's creepy for the system.

A lie repeated a thousand times can become true - unless we are careful

We all want normality. But we can decide which normality to return to. We now have the opportunity to shape our "new normal". Or we can allow the official narrative to conform and limit that normality.

Of course, the consumer system will do everything to bring us back to the old normal. He wants us to buy again. Let us stop thinking. That we go back to work frantically to buy things we don't need. That we go back to closing ourselves in our bubble quickly, so as not to worry about others. That we close our eyes again to the problem because we hardly have time to close our eyes to sleep.

The media bombardment to make us believe that we have never experienced what we have experienced will be overwhelming. The narrative for shaping our post-coronavirus life has already begun to make us feel normal again. It will come from the big names, it will come from the government and it is likely to come from both directions. It will come from left and right. From above and below. Businesses and governments will unite to numb us again and get us back into the role of mere consumers.

They will try to sensitize us with the usual mantra: if you don't go back to buy the economy will not recover, and this subliminal message always works thanks to the good old ballast of "original sin" that for centuries has made us feel wrong and inadequate.

And to make us feel safe, they will tell us that hospitals weren't a war zone, which was just an understatement. That the death toll hasn't been that high - and they're likely to steal some. That there was no failure of the leadership and the system. We will fall exactly into post-truth, that "tool through which 'truths' are created that do not correspond to facts, but which end up being validated by the majority on the basis of their incessant repetition or similar mechanisms", according to Chomsky.

Some will be willing to believe anything to return to the much-needed normality. They will be able to numb themselves with the dozens of football games to come, enjoy the summer and then go back to the office or factory - if they're lucky they are still open - to forget everything that happened as soon as possible, with the excuse that it's too much. work hard to think about changing something. And even these people will prompt you to forget what you have experienced, by joining the massive gaslighting campaign.

Therefore, take a deep breath and ask yourself what you really want to do with your life and which "New Normal" you want to return to. Because we are faced with a unique opportunity to redefine everything. Now you can decide how to spend your time, what to spend your money on and most importantly, who to believe.

Source:

Gambuto, JV (2020) Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting. In:  Medium .