Doing Anti-Social Engineering: Part Two

Doing Anti-Social Engineering: Part Two - Typification of Hyper-Manipulation

Recommended Reading: http://www.anti-socialengineering.com/2012/07/the-logic-of-philosophy-generator.html
 

It goes without saying that we, short of becoming an expert on everything, must take the word of others in many, many cases. This brand of social engineering, a sort of universal or general movement that courses through a society, is as old as society. This is found in things like jurisprudence or morality. Accepted, instilled ideas such as that “murder had best be judged upon,” or that “faith must be directed to a particular set of options” are rules of old. It is certainly not the case that these considerations are less powerful or dangerous than what we fear from modern methods of social engineering. It is just that these methods are blatant. They insist upon themselves, “You will do this. You will act thus.” etc. Some types of social engineering, regardless of source, simply tell you what it wants you to do or not to, think or not think. “Law A exists to control result B.” These kinds of obvious controls are widespread throughout society, down to your family organization. They are, for the most part, a necessary component of any healthy social organization. We shall call this type Transparent Social Engineering because we are told what the “rules” are and they are what they are. (They are not a secret, nor a lie, nor a trick.)

This does not mean that there aren't hidden motivations for what appears to be transparent social engineering, regardless of its age, type or dispersal methods. The example of human caused climate change, although somewhat controversial, is only controversial because of the distance between the empirical science of it and the layman. Consider the Catholic prohibition of birth control and the “suggestion” that people go forward, be fruitful and multiply. The prohibition is subject to punishment, the suggestion is not, although it is suggested that being “fruitful” would be rewarded. The suggestion, taken in context, could easily be determined to present the idea that there is both a need and ability presented by our existence, to multiply. The prohibition, disguised as the will of God and implicating both “his” desires and eliminating the option by creating a rule, carries with it an intention. Some may argue that this intention is simply in keeping with nature, but intention is only half of social engineering, the other half is made up of results. For if there are no results, the engineering will just change to what produces results. (These engineers don't give up easily.) The result of contraception being banned for Catholics is, of course, a whole lot more Catholics. I am not commenting on the “rightness” or “wrongness” of this intention, nor am I even saying that this product is the intention of the rule. This is just the result of the engineering and no one can deny that. I also feel it safe to assume that the results, if placed in obvious intentional statements, put the proof in the pudding, so to speak. However, nowhere in the Bible does it say, “We need to have a bunch of Christian babies so that we can outnumber those “other” babies. This is Semi-Transparent Social Engineering. We are clear on the engineering, not on the “why.” We must make a decision, based on a decision. We are somewhere in between assignee's prerogative and hyper-manipulation. 

 

Think back to when you were a little child, leaning the lessons we all do. Perhaps you had a parent or teacher who didn't bother to always explain the “why” to you. They might just say, “Because I said so.” (An appeal to authority.) This is a short term solution. It's short not because the statement is brief, but because you are present. The child can easily ask, “What do you mean? Why can't I have another cookie?” (Or, if he or she is really clever, “Why do you say so?”) What does “I say so” mean? It must mean, “my saying so is enough to answer your 'why,' because there really is no answer, or I don't want you to know it.” However, what if your parent lied and said, “The cookies are all gone.” Here we would have a case where the parent said something, rather than nothing, yet it is just as valueless to you as “because I said so.” You still have no cookie. The only difference is now we're not bugging Mom for another cookie, we believe her when she says there are no more and we understand what “no more” means. Remember, any excuse and a good excuse only differ in results by two percent. This is a small example of Opaque Social Engineering. (Opaque is the opposite of transparent.) Here we enter the domain of the strict social norm, the place where we don't know what we're basing our paradigm building on. It could be a lie, it could be nothing, unknown or arbitrary. Let's not forget, social engineering is goal oriented.

 

The “transparency” of social engineering is how I describe the difference between persuasion and manipulation. When one is persuaded, one has been given an intention and can make a choice. However, if one is misinformed, makes a choice based on that information, thereby making an inauthentic decision, or is unaware of the choice being made, then one has been manipulated. If what is being manipulated, (paradigm or association of,) is an idea that was inherent in the first place, hyper-manipulation has taken place. The engineer, in the case of hyper-manipulation, is working a programme of a programme.