The Powers of Positive Persuasion
By Henry Schulte
Using my “Common Sense” tools will provide you with the ability to reach good and logical conclusions about almost anything. On the other hand, if you allow others to tell you what to think and don’t use your common sense, you are destined to believe anything.
One of the benefits I enjoy about writing a column is regardless of what I write, it opens doors into the minds of the readers who respond. Good and bad.
In today’s digital world, it’s much easier to be bad and retort things via emails and texts. You don’t have to face the target of your wrath. You can say what you want, even if it’s baseless nonsense. You can make stuff up without consequences. Sort of like CNN and ABC.
LOL.
I don’t make stuff up. What I write are my honest feelings and if I use stats or make claims, they’re all based on facts. This frustrates the bejesus out of some readers. They create an image in their own minds based upon what they want me to be like. It’s interesting to see how these intellects can twist and turn things to suit an image they think to be true.
Could it be those detractors just feel so hamstrung they’re looking for any release to shed their anger?
Or worse, they really believe what they’re saying?
I’m abbreviating: One person wrote, “People like me (referencing me) pretend what is happening…uneducated convicted felon is being a dictator…our democracy is in jeopardy.” Now where have you heard that before? CNN? Democrat lawmakers? Trump, a wealthy man who runs myriad businesses is uneducated? And then there’s the convicted felon yarn. The irony, Letitia James, New York Attorney General, who went rogue against Trump, turns out has been doing exactly what she falsely accused Trump of doing. She should apologize instead of screaming like a banshee about God knows what.
Too bad so sad how it worked against them.
The same person added, “He is unfit to be president of this country.” Again, America is finally getting the truth and confirming what all of us smart people already knew: Biden was beyond unfit to run America, and therefore he didn’t. Someday we may find out who were the real ones responsible for running the country into near extinction. Now that would be a legitimate felony conviction.
Then there’s always the go-to “dictator” nonsense. Trump said he would be a dictator for a day referencing his push to become energy dependent again as soon as possible. The dictator stuff was then recycled like the Russian collusion ruse, or the left’s go-to: “everyone is a racist” drivel. We all knew what Trump meant, well, most of us knew, but some didn’t, those real smart ones missed it. The media and left ran with it and of course – like “Teslas are bad” – have the word “dictator” stuck to their foreheads with a Post-it note.
Some 80 million smart(er) voters out there love our Dictator in Chief.
Another detractor said, “He’s (Trump) using the presidency to regain his wealth.” I wasn’t aware he had lost it. They also added, “He’s selling access to the White House to his donors and corporations.” It’s a challenge to not laugh at this point. Biden and Hunter were masters at whoring themselves to China and other countries and making millions. If the DOJ, CIA, and media hadn’t been sleeping together, that massive corruption scheme would have been busted wide open. Biden’s minions pardoned them all for a reason. The Biden clan ran a dark operation from the White House, you can still smell it today. On the other hand, Trump has the media over to the House nearly every single day. He conducts government business with full transparency.
Questioning American “Values”
I have been told that my values are summed up in “BBQ grills, picket fences, and Americana nostalgia.” I kind of like those values, thank you. The same values about 300 million other Americans share. Nothing like a good grilled hotdog or burger, behind my picket fence and sharing stories with family and friends about what a great country America is. Sounds horrible. He finished up saying, “I feel sorry for you.” I’m delighted that’s what he feels sorry for me about. I care about family, God, country, and my freedoms, and my heart is devoid of hate.
I can live with that.
A final quip: “Why are all you people on this site (SBCurrent) so in favor of the bull about Trump saving money?” As opposed to what? Wasteful corrupt spending? That’s an easy choice to make. They further add, “…your penchant for saving money is really greediness, hoping you will have lower taxes.” There really are no words for this one. I’m not even sure how that line of thinking is even possible. I guess I should be overjoyed that my tax money is being wasted and because of that I will get to pay even more taxes.
I need a drink.
There are lots of scary examples of where some brains wander off to in liberal fantasy land.
What solutions have been offered over the last four months from the anti-American crowd? We know they’ve offered a lot of hate. Tons of baseless accusations. Protection of killers, drug dealers, and rapists. Nonsensical rallies. Screaming. Cursing. Name calling.
At some point you haters need to stop making stuff up and quit whining.
It’s unbecoming.
Take a look at COLAB’s latest video, “The Great Fee Heist”
The art of persuasion or propaganda is a powerful tool used to sway minds to buy a particular brand of deodorant or vote for a particular candidate. A pioneer in the field of public persuasion, Bernays understood that the psychology of groups and of group identity could be used to influence thought. Famously, Bernays conceived of a campaign to promote cigarette smoking to women who were far less likely to smoke than men. The campaign sought to associate smoking with breaking from mores which were perceived as restrictive of women's freedoms and their ability to express womanly desire. Cigarettes were associated with "torches of freedom for women whose feminine desires were increasingly suppressed by their role in the modern world". We are on the cusp of a revolution in the methods of manipulating public opinion and it is AI. While very effective, traditional methods of persuasion relied on group psychology, the new AI powered propaganda will be tailored to each individual. AI has the ability to know much about me personally such as what web sites I visit, what I buy, who I communicate with, what I write on The Current , my emails, what car I drive, where I have been and where I am at any time I have a phone with me. I believe that an individually tailored propaganda will be the most powerful tool yet in the quest to mold public opinion. Based on analytical tools and brute force statistical correlation, AI has the computational might to craft individually persuasive arguments for each of us. I believe this will be an immensely powerful force and as far as I can tell it is in the hands of evil.
Once upon a time, it's kind of like when some grew up with parents that drove a Chevy, offspring won't drive anything else other than a Chevy. Fords are crap. Politics seems to be like cars. Grow up to be a Dem, most likely a Dem for life and Republicans are idiots. Absolutely no logic or common sense applied. If a neighbor is driving a Ford without any problems and your Chevy falls apart each weekend, the Chevy remains as the perfect car. Biases overpower common sense. We are learning this like never before with Trump Derangement Syndrome, or TDS. Trump can do the greatest things for the country and the Dems simply won't admit it. It's frustrating, but that's the way it is.