Are We Brainwashing Ourselves?
If it feels like everyone is going crazy, it may be because we are accidentally brainwashing ourselves into radical behavior from the media.
The human brain has a few software bugs that make us susceptible to many forms of persuasion.
We put more weight on negative information. We believe the things we hear most often. We imitate the things we see others doing. We are influenced by social pressure. We believe things that confirm our existing beliefs. We reject things that challenge our beliefs.
The anatomy of our media feedback loop is composed of a five-step cycle.
Triggering Event — George Floyd’s death is caught on camera.
Local/Niche Media Coverage — The video is quickly viewed by Minneapolis residents and Black Lives Matter supporters who share the video.
Mainstream Media Coverage — The story already breaks by the time national papers and broadcasters cover the video, so they begin covering the public outrage over the video.
Responding Events — Politicians, commentators, advocacy groups, and pundits pile in with hot takes and statements to get attention and raise money. Many make inflammatory comments.
Triggering Event II — The comments become triggering events and start the cycle over, but by this time, there are videos of angry protestors and eventually riots.
Each time through the loop adds to the intensity and hysteria felt by the public. Each time through the loop, more people are radicalized by what they see as a threat to their life and property.
Of course, the media cycle is not new, but the rate at which messages can be delivered is new. In 1968, the outbreak of riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. were bad, but outside of the major cities, the public read about the riots once a day in the paper and saw 30 minutes of news each evening.
The interplay between social media and traditional media is the new element. Social media tends to quickly surface and then, just as quickly, move past stories, and traditional media tends to grab and hold onto stories. The reason for this difference is because it’s expensive for traditional news organizations to find and create content, so holding onto a story is a smart business move. Social media companies don’t pay for content and therefore have little interest in keeping any given story going.
Once traditional media has a story, however, the reach is amplified across social media because of their broader and more general audiences. In effect, the cable news becomes news on social media as cable news clips are shared.
Another key difference is that modern Americans consume over 12 hours of media each day (that number has risen by about an hour during quarantine), meaning thousands of messages can be seen each day. When a video like that of George Floyd’s death under the knee of a police officer surfaces, the video can be seen dozens of times each day.
The result is a mega boost of violence, conflict, and threats beamed directly into our brains all day long.
It’s almost akin to strapping people to a chair, pinning their eyelids open, and forcing them to view snuff films for hours a day. Add in the videos of riots, beatings, and looting, and you get results the designers of MK Ultra would have envied.
