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Tag: deception

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    the master manipulator archetype

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    1–2 minutes

    Directors, like Christopher Nolan, use the master manipulator as the protagonist. This "hero" sells illusions within illusions for their own ends, be they benign or catastrophic.

    Blockbuster directors not only reflect society but shape it. They function as "cultural engineers" equivalent to industrial engineers building highways or spreading electricity.

    The heavy work undertaken is to sell the vision of values (propaganda) that supposes a deeper reality than the shallow, vapid, consumerism we encounter daily.

    Anyone who can provide depth, even if illusory, offers vitality to an otherwise flattened reality: sans-God we still crave a deeper order, even if it is conspiracy-laden, tech-fueled nonsense.

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    Concepts lie by omission

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    1–2 minutes

    "Concepts" are universalized and helpful in pointing out generalities. The danger of concepts is that they omit particularity’s complicated, messy truth.

    The simplicity of an abstract idea (concept) is a handy guide. Still, we must temper our lazy compulsion to assign these attractive concepts to, or privilege them over, a concrete experience rich with intuition.

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    The moral bully

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    1–2 minutes

    First: you will never understand. I am either more enlightened, more oppressed, or more sympathetic than you.

    Second: if you agree, the drama gets worse. If you disagree, you are a monster.

    Third: do nothing. Observe. There will be plenty to do later.

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    Access robs the sacred

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    1–2 minutes

    In art, ideas, or porn the access and commonality do not make it less amazing: access makes normatively banal, which shifts the sacred into the passe. This is obviously a deception: it merely shows that we value rarity, novelty and exclusivity to an extent that these traits conflate value with sacredness.

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    Guided by Fantasy

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    1–2 minutes

    To change the character of the world you must envision it and let it guide you.
    To manifest the change you must forego the comfort of the idealistic fantasy and undertake to meet the demands of the growth your previous self desired.
    from Bataille

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    brute force solution

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    1–2 minutes

    Whether opening a pickle jar, debugging software, or growing your business, brute force is often the go-to move.
    You can apply more force, more hours, more power, more dollars, or more bullshit.
    This phase of problem-solving is when you are familiarizing yourself through practical experience — literally "feeling it out" — which grows into instinct and eventually begets elegant solutions.

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    The emotional power of images

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    1–2 minutes

    Images sway us more than concepts.It is easier to find emotional resonance with a visual symbol cut free of context because the image does not correct you the way reality would.

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    Belief for Relief

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    1–2 minutes

    To believe is to be sure, righteous, and secure in your thoughts: you know exactly how (who) to be in the world.
    Without belief, you are lost and insecure. Having forsaken illusions, you are ultimately free and thus horribly alone. For relief, we jump back into belief.

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    Rewriting history

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    1–2 minutes

    To maintain submission, you must rewrite history.

    Even this will not quail dissent when contradictions and hypocrisy multiply, yet a story with no alternative constricts the imagination, choking out possibilities in favor of momentum.

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    Evil: Incompatible illusions

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    1–2 minutes

    Evil is when my illusion is incompatible with your illusion.

    (All cultural constructs and ideologies are illusions we invest ourselves in because we are afraid of death.)

    *from Ernest Becker