Since “Let Me Fiddle, a Little, With Your Mind,” was the headline, in an article I wrote the other day in the Daily Post, ‘Fiddling Further’ could have been about right as the headline for this article… that’s sort of a sequel, in a way. But having a countdown clock, in the headline, seemed more compelling.
Let’s kick this article off with mind control — or mind management — one of several thought-provoking concepts in a story by Marcel Danesi in Politico Magazine.
The Toronto University professor of semiotics and linguistic anthropology sheds light on a disturbingly powerful communication tactic, in his article, featuring this headline…
“What Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Vicktor Orban Understand About Your Brain.”
Imagining even any of those three, working their way inside my brain isn’t what I’d feel comfortable imagining, but that’s just me. Who can say how others might feel about that…
…but I’m digressing.
Why “people believe some politicians’ lies even when they’ve been proven false”… and “why so many of the same people peddle conspiracy theories?” are questions Professor Danesi is addressing in the article, as he’s also noting how language is used in political rhetoric. Which has me thinking about the many ways political rhetoric is coming our way, sometimes in televised speeches, or during political campaign rallies, in commentary, or brief remarks featured in news media, and various politicians’ words posted in social media, and such. There are so many ways, politicians and others, in the public eye, can go about instilling hatred, if they choose to do so.
“Autocrats have one thing in common,” notes Professor Danesi. “They use dehumanizing metaphors to instill and propagate hatred of others.”
“Words like ‘reptiles’ and ‘parasites’ were used by the Nazi regime to compare outsiders and minorities to animals.”
See what I mean about keeping a Trump, Putin or Orban at bay, if they would ever be contemplating slipping inside my brain?
I mean… that’s one heck of a frightening, disturbing thing — dehumanizing fellow human beings. Folks, of course, can’t all love one another, but there’s got to be some middle ground, or at least somewhere closer to the middle, than just now.
And this is why I’m writing what I’m writing, trying to, as we’d say when I was in the PR profession, ‘raise awareness’ about these days we’re in. Raising awareness might be understating current events, in a way, as authoritarianism might be gaining ground, creeping around?
But, listen… you shouldn’t start thinking I’m some kind of Chicken Little, shouting the sky is falling. I dealt with many crises during my career, without getting rattled. But nowadays, sometimes, I’m imagining a countdown clock, maybe like the one shown briefly in previews of the Oppenheimer movie, counting down to three, two, and then one.
And as I’m thinking about that, there’s this headline, in a Raw Story article, in my newsfeed:
‘Violence, malice and menace’: Columnist warns Trump’s threats must be taken seriously as walls close in on him
And an article in Salon, a few days ago, about people who’ve apparently misstated some things – the words “lied to you” – were in the article, noting that various people who have been key figures in the former president’s domain, perhaps influencing his thinking and his rhetoric, regarding election fraud, have admitted they indeed were lying.
Misstatements … lies… however they’re being described… and words and rhetoric instilling hatred, and metaphors dehumanizing various people…
Maybe, if we don’t watch out, we’re going to have to find some way to keep that sky we’re all under, from falling.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.