The Defence
“Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”
George Orwell (1984)
In this section we will discuss defence strategies for when you are being attacked in close quarters, targeted specifically. Here we’re talking interrogations which most of us will not experience unless we have a run in with the law, or maybe the in-law. But we all will eventually deal with a highly manipulative person who will aggressively try to gaslight and control our will and our minds. Either way, the strategies are similar. So here are some tips on how to respond to someone who is interrogating or gaslighting you.
The first step to defending against any form of attempted menticide is having a clear understanding of what is being done to you. When you can recognize the tactics being used against you it takes away a lot of their sting. Kind of like how the placebo effect doesn’t really work if you know in advance that it’s a sugar pill. Understanding psyops and the methods of behavioural conditioning can help build up inner resilience and resistance.
From there you can give them a taste of their own medicine and disagree with the entire premise of their argument with incredulity. Remember that they are trying to alter your thoughts and your state of mind, at which point you realize that this is mental war. When someone is interrogating you, you think they are looking for the truth so you would think it would be best to just cooperate with them since you know the truth that you are innocent, but you’re wrong. Often interrogators and manipulators just want a confession and they will continue to abuse you psychologically until you start believing that you indeed were the killer or you indeed are a witch. So instead of answering their questions you can respond with your own like; “Why would you think that?”; or “What brings you to that conclusion?” but in a tone that makes it sound like their allegation is so ridiculous.
You can also just flat out disagree. If someone accuses you of a more subjective offence like being an anti-semite, you simply disagree with their assumption and say nothing more. Or ask them, “what makes you say that? Because no one has ever brought this up to me before.” They might try and use ambiguous social proof, which is loosely stated evidence about what other people supposedly think. Something like, “everyone says you’re a jerk” to which you can reply, “that’s weird because everyone I’ve talked to has said the opposite.”
On the one hand you want to stay factual but on the other hand you need to know that facts are only going to be used by your inquisitor selectively against you. Let’s say you’re being interrogated at the border and you’ve been separated from your travel mates (has happened to me). The border officials might tell you that your buddy has confessed to smuggling in illegal fruits and vegetables and is blaming it on you (this did not happen to me). Even if this is true you’re better off disbelieving them. Of course I should mention that if you are being interrogated by law enforcement you have rights that include shutting up until your lawyer shows up, so don’t try to out manoeuvre your inquisitors when unecesssary.
Joost Meerlo recommended over-confessing to the interrogator in order to confuse them. He noted various times that prisoners of war would outwit their captors by making up and sharing so much “intelligence” that the prison guards themselves wouldn’t be able to sort truth from fiction. You want to be careful not to conjure up anything that would hurt you but if you’re creative enough you could make up all sorts of fake stories that indicate to the manipulator that you will not be manipulated. This is a very defiant strategy so I wouldn’t use it if your interrogator is your superior at work or your significant other. Too risky. But this tactic is especially useful if you think someone is trying to get a confession out of you at all costs. You’ll recognize that their tactics are not virtuous so neither do yours have to be. In this case you want to send out all noise and no signal, or in other words, nothing you say has any relevance or meaning. Maybe you recount to them the plot of your favourite movie, “yes I did it, but there were eleven of us and we also stole from the Bellagio, the Mirage, and the MGM Grand.”
Another strategy to use when someone is trying to use guilt or social pressure to manipulate your behaviour is to simply laugh at their attempt. Think of a teenager using emotional blackmail to try and get their parents to let her go to a College party on the other side of town. She yells and pouts and tries to draw them into an emotionally charged power struggle, one in which she has stronger feelings so she is more likely to win. Instead, the parent could lightly laugh and keep the energy low but show her how silly her request is. Laughing shows confidence in your side of the argument while demonstrating the futility of the other side.
Then again, in many situations you are better off saying very little. In most interactions, the one doing all the talking is the one losing ground. Robert Greene advises, “powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say the more likely you are to say something foolish.”
Remember that if you have just a few key people in your life in whom you can fully trust, you can ignore the allure of trying to redeem yourself in the eyes of those that hate you or have psychologically abused you. If you don’t have anyone like this then please contact me. Over the years I have found a community of misfits and rejects who have benefited not just from getting therapy from me but also by connecting with others who have been the victims of shamings and other psychological abuses. You are not alone.
Principled Insubordination
Don’t take refuge in the false security of consensus.
Christopher Hitchens
Defending against psyops requires a certain level of stubborn grit. We paradoxically need the security of a few key relationships in order to stand up against the pressures of the tyrannical collective. We love stories of brave rebellion against the unjust status quo. Rosa Parks. Martin Luther King. Mahatma Ghandi. If these individuals knew how venerated they would be for their stubborn resistance I would imagine it would have been easier for them to fight their battles, but back then they did not have the certainty of any degree of social acceptance. In fact, at the time of their battle they were of the minority opinion. The tools for your defence must include a hardened acceptance of the fact that you will occasionally be perceived as wrong, radical, or stupid.
Psychologist Todd Kashdan, in his book “The Art of Insubordination”, provides a guide to being an effective dissenter. It doesn’t pay to just be contrary to every mainstream opinion. This isolates you in a way that makes your influence minimal. The chances of you being labeled a quack or a conspiracy theorist are high. Instead you should try to establish and maintain a position in the in-group. Decide which heterodox ideas you are going to defend on principle but remain flexible on the issues that don’t matter to you so much. If you’re the person fighting consistently over where to order lunch from then you’ll have less social clout to fight for the truly important causes.
Insubordination should spark curiosity instead of fear, argues Kashdan. Fear is a tool for psyops and people can pick up on it. Whether your cause is climate change or regime change you will attract more bees with curiosity than doom (in this metaphor bees are good). Curiosity is a feature that naturally draws people in instead of manipulating them. You can present your revolutionary ideas as humble hypotheses and see if anyone sniffs. You don’t want to come off as too certain at first, but you do want to be consistent with your purpose.
I argue here that the psyops we face in the 21st century are meant to keep us ignorant, weak, divided, and addicted. The rebellion then, would include avoiding these pitfalls as much as possible. Once again I stress that for this to work it must be based on guiding principles, not just a need to be contrarian. If your insubordination is solely out of resentment or the need to signal independence, then it will not catch on. But when you are motivated and guided by principles that are dear to you such as freedom, equality, or flourishing then your rebellion will be rewarding enough to get through the discomfort of going against the crowd.
In the 21st century you rebel by creating just as much as you consume, or at least a healthy and realistic ratio. If you don’t fancy yourself much of a creative type, start small. Bake your own bread. Cook your own meals. Garden. Find anything in your home that might need eventual fixing and proactively learn how to fix it. Maybe that’s stitching up a hole in the jeans or unclogging the drain. The more capable you are the less you rely on other people who might be incentivized to take advantage of your ignorance.
Write. Draw. Design. Code. Podcast. Who cares if anyone reads or listens to it. Consider it a hobby that helps you sort out your thinking. Maybe you gain an audience, maybe you don’t. This is mainly for your benefit as you etch out an existence in which you are the actor not the acted upon.
For instance, I have a suspicion that the most powerful people who control the most pervasive narratives are trying to move in on locally owned farms, businesses, and homes, making it increasingly difficult for regular people to maintain ownership of any of it. They are able to use psyops to convince people that although they are the multinational corporations who are buying up our ability to produce food and live on land that is our own, they are actually the good guys who are saving the world. Apparently the gods have spoken that we will own nothing, and be happy. So the biggest eff you we can deliver to them is to own assets and demonstrate to them that we are not for sale. Try to buy your house instead of renting, then try to pay off your mortgage earlier than necessary. Own a business. Own stocks. Own and produce resources that are needed in difficult times. Store food and water. Be prepared so that when everyone else is panicking and selling their second born child for food, you can have some peace of mind that you do not need to cave to these opportunist, disaster capitalists.
While this book is about psychological self defence, it will do you good to learn actual self defence. Train jiujistu or Krav Maga. The most powerful warrior is the one with the sharpest sword but who chooses to keep it sheathed. You don’t need to join a fight club, but there is a confidence that comes with knowing that if someone threatened you physically you could handle the situation. It helps you stand tall and look people in the eye when you know that you could take them or at least give them a run for their money. If you think you are physically weak and vulnerable then you will also be more psychologically weak and vulnerable.
Avoid situations that will lead you to being in someone’s debt or control. Don’t break the law or your professional or personal ethics. My ability to persuade and influence was cut drastically after an ethical mistake I made at the beginning of my career. The negative effects of my actions will continue to reduce my ability to do good and I have to adjust to life with a social handicap. It’s not over for me but I could have saved myself and others a lot of grief if I had been wiser with my actions. Your choices matter.
Thank you for reading so far. Here is the outline of the manuscript for the book so you can keep track of where you are.
Introduction
Defence against Psyops
What are PsyOps?
What makes us marks?
The power of narratives
Who is behind it?
Kayfabe
Psychological Operations
Propaganda
Diversion of hatred
Character assassination
Re-education
Cults
False flags/agent provocateur
Totalitarian regimes
Menticide
Drug Induced Mind Control
Defence(You Are Here)
Principled insubordination
The Culture Wars
Ideological possession
Cancel Culture
Postmodernism
Profanity
MAGAstan vs. WOKEistan
Religious Zealotry
Heroes and villains
The Defence
The 21st Century Hero
The Responsibility of Freedom of Speech
Ridicule and Humour
Parallel Polis
Art and doubt
The Information Wars
Political Polarization
Corporate Media
Big Tech and the Post-Truth World
Noise vs Signal
“Woke”Journalism
Hate Hoaxes and victimhood
Collective ADHD
Advertisers
Defence
News/Media Diet
Critical Consuming
Rhetoric
The Slow burn
The Psychological Wars
Bullying
Gaslighting
Shame and isolation
Social contagion/Moral Panic
Safetyism
Social Media and human downgrading
The Meaning Crisis
Defence
Know Thyself
Be Wise
Stoicism
Psychological Immunity
Antifragility
Be Kind
Live Well
Conclusion