Dear Friends,
It seems to me, everything the progressive’s say makes perfect sense, until you think about it, then you realize, it’s absurdity cloaked in jargon. Progressives in every nation rely on spurious logic to manipulate us into self harm. Some examples are, “a just nation has a low disparity between the rich and poor,” “Misinformation must be controlled,” and the ever famous, “democracy is at stake!” Each statement sounds true enough as long as you don’t think about it. But then again, who does? We’re busy people and so a quip, true or not, has more power to convince than a well thought out argument. Which is one reason the left is so panicked about their inability to create memes. A joke that exposes their absurdity is their greatest peril. Because it alerts the victims.
Slogans, tropes and spin are ways to manipulate us. They define absurdity cloaked in jargon. There’s nothing like a simple to remember slogan. A few words that create an emotional reaction are the ideal tool of manipulation. Because an angry person is not a thinking person. People who aren’t thinking are easy to control. Slogans set up tropes. Mind viruses that hold our thoughts fast. So we don’t engage in wrongthink. Then there’s spin. If we see something we shouldn’t, and shock causes us to have too much to think, the elite can manipulate our reaction with spin. That laptop with all the damning information on it? Well, that’s only Russian disinformation. Don’t take Ivermectin for heavens sake! It’s horse medicine! The fact the IPCC lied, and made up data, is only proof of the urgency of climate change!
The best tools of manipulation are self proving, obvious and arcane. Self proving is another way of saying circular logic. Why should there be a small discrepancy between the rich and poor for a nation to be just? Because justice requires the discrepancy to be small. To be obvious is to be simple to understand. Misinformation must be bad, it’s in the damned name! One way to make a slogan appear clever is to use words with undefined meanings. Keep it arcane. So no one actually understands what you’re saying. Then they put the definitions they want to your words and voila… minds are changed, logic is abused, and the economy is wrecked. Absurdity cloaked in jargon then is circular, simple to understand and filled with mercurial definitions.
The modern absurdities we’re expected to believe uncritically have these things in common. They’re arcane. Because the terms are never defined. They’re spurious, because they sound logical but are intended to deceive. Plus they oversimplify. Since without definition and intended to fool they must oversimplify. Else they lose their effectiveness. Five words stick in the mind while fifty never make it past the ear. Especially five words that are left to us to define as our emotions command. What really is democracy, misinformation, rich or poor? Depends who you ask. Making those terms arcane and spurious. Quips sound smart so we often believe them uncritically. Making absurdity cloaked in jargon a nearly impervious political tool of control. Except it has a weakness.
Memes, or visual jokes, are kryptonite to the progressive’s absurdity cloaked in jargon. They illustrate the absurdity, in a few words, and are humorous so stick in the mind. Vaccinating the recipient from the mind virus of slogans, jargon and spin. Moreover, progressives don’t have a sophisticated sense of humor, being low on the orderly aspect of the big five. Wit is the result of connecting two disparate ideas in an unexpected fashion. Those with overly open minds have all ideas connected and so they don’t understand the shock of unexpected connection that makes jokes work. Which makes memes a single edged sword for populists. Like slogans used to be for elitists. Absurdity cloaked in jargon has been very a effective tool of manipulation… memes may be the kryptonite we need to defeat them.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
