IDK, I've never been keen on manipulation. I can barely persuade my children unless it's a direct order and I use those sparingly. I studied advertising in votech and studied art in college but could never reconcile the two. I'd like to persuade people that government funded healthcare is not the way, especially considering what we've been through.
I just like to understand how it works, because I can't stop seeing it everywhere now.
I think the method is an integral part of communication, writing and storytelling, because there are some ideas that people need to be made aware of, especially healthcare. As far as intentionally manipulating people, specifically to buy products or behave in a certain way, I think that's where it ventures into the immoral territory.
But knowledge is power, and power corrupts, so maybe it's a realm best left lightly touched.
Subliminal messenging loses it's power once you're aware of it. Being a visual person I've always intuitively sensed that things are either more than or not at all as they seem. Narratives are harder for me to navigate let alone construct. I'm a reader not a writer so I either like what I see or I don't. Words and ideas are useful, inspiring, dangerous sometimes, and complicated.
I think that's why I like shopping in thrift stores, or grocery stores that are very basic and flat, because I just like to riffle through things without feeling like someone is standing over my shoulder encouraging me to buy something.
Especially for words, it feels important to understands how it works (to me at least) otherwise there wouldn't be such a push for censorship. There's a subtle power to words that must be controlled, apparently.
"“If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.”
— Benjamin Franklin
I have a similar one I've used in the past, a bit more visual and more memorable (at least for me).
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
I do that for Christmas gifts, because it's easier to find online and saves time. I also generally hate crowds, and feel most advertising is distracting and not informative. We were doing that with groceries for awhile, but getting out once a week is good for the bones.
I just love hunting in the grocery isles, multiple stores in one trip because I also love to drive,lol,but that's just me. I always have a plan and I love finding stuff I can use on clearance. Yesterday I spent $50 and saved $30 and bought two things that weren't on my list but were on sale. I had asparagus on my list because it was on sale but it wasn't fresh enough so I didn't get that.
A memorable quote from the "learned sententiae" of introductory Latin is:
"Possunt quia posse videntur", or "They are competent who are perceived as competent".
When I would occasionally float the expression to colleagues on the hospital floor, I twice received the identical art brut edition:
"Fake it til you make it."
But it's not that easy. I took a few deep dives into the history and philosophy of medicine -- and the deepest dive I think, to be taken, was through the pages of one book: "Ancient Medicine" by Ludwig Edelstein.
Aside from the Edelstein's discovery that there appears to have been no historical Hippocrates, and that the familiar oath is neither Hippocratic, nor properly an oath, I recall three principles, of which two pertain to what the language of consumer reviews refers to as "patient experience".
The first: "Look like you know what you're doing", and the second, like unto it: "Make sure they're glad to see you coming". Anyway, the aforementioned are a couple of nuggets to be found in a review of medical literature from about 400 BC to around the fourteenth century.
But, in the world of Supermarkets where we both now labor . . . your points are well made. The designers of our signage follow the principles follow exactly the principles you put have put forth.
I managed to salvage my "experience" with the materials wasted in abstract expressionism in the early seventies by geeking out on typography and lettering, eventually serving for several years as a calligrapher for the State Legislature. This is no boast.
There is no separating your illustrations from the persuasiveness of your arguments. It's not flattery, but an impolitic candor which provokes the observation that one cannot be separated from the other -- the charm of your presentation represents a harmony of the three elements of classical education. Your publication is beautiful. It has to be, or I wouldn't pay nearly so much attention.
Consider: Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric.
The last mentioned is the finish of what used to be an eighth grade education.
Syntax. One assembles his troops, arms them and then must marshal them to victory through noise, smoke, clatter, war cries, bellowing, doubts of lieutenants and bloody press of flesh.
Or consider the expressions:"Beauty is only skin deep", or "Beauty is as beauty does", or more trenchantly: "Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised". And I recall from somewhere in Plato's dialogues, something like: "One must first enjoy the sight of the beloved".
Bill Gates. He's not beautiful.
In which of the three above mentioned elements does he fail -- or are all three equally impaired? Can you see the extra pair of arms he is waving?
When it comes to the idea that perception is the initial dose of medicine, who the hell decided Bill Gates was a good figure for that? Haha! I shouldn't feel even more sick when the "doctor" arrives, but maybe that's the point.
That's one of the bizarre things I've learned about writing. There's absolutely no separation between persuasion and the sequence of words that seem to fall out of our inner worlds. It's etheric and surreal, and very eerie if you think about it for too long, but it's easy to fall for the misbelief that what you're reading is a perfect truth.
Grammar is like a grimoire, where spells are words. Reading and writing truly is magic, which pulls ideas from some imaginary place into our very real world.
But there are some ideas, very evil, that don't belong here and need to be dispelled.
"Grimoire"; I've learned a new word. When I think of influence, or try to make a point, the process feels like drawing out a pipette from glass tubing to permit the movement of fluid against gravity.
IDK, I've never been keen on manipulation. I can barely persuade my children unless it's a direct order and I use those sparingly. I studied advertising in votech and studied art in college but could never reconcile the two. I'd like to persuade people that government funded healthcare is not the way, especially considering what we've been through.
I just like to understand how it works, because I can't stop seeing it everywhere now.
I think the method is an integral part of communication, writing and storytelling, because there are some ideas that people need to be made aware of, especially healthcare. As far as intentionally manipulating people, specifically to buy products or behave in a certain way, I think that's where it ventures into the immoral territory.
But knowledge is power, and power corrupts, so maybe it's a realm best left lightly touched.
Subliminal messenging loses it's power once you're aware of it. Being a visual person I've always intuitively sensed that things are either more than or not at all as they seem. Narratives are harder for me to navigate let alone construct. I'm a reader not a writer so I either like what I see or I don't. Words and ideas are useful, inspiring, dangerous sometimes, and complicated.
I think that's why I like shopping in thrift stores, or grocery stores that are very basic and flat, because I just like to riffle through things without feeling like someone is standing over my shoulder encouraging me to buy something.
Especially for words, it feels important to understands how it works (to me at least) otherwise there wouldn't be such a push for censorship. There's a subtle power to words that must be controlled, apparently.
Great article! I love that opening quote:
"“If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.”
— Benjamin Franklin
I have a similar one I've used in the past, a bit more visual and more memorable (at least for me).
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
Unfortunately, I'm unable to find the source.
Thanks for the post! Subbing...
Magic tricks! 🪄✨
I see the same artistic manipulation techniques used for entertainment purposes by stage magicians masterfully employed by advertising giants, etc.
🎶 Are you going to Scarborough Fair ? 🎵
🎵 Parse Last Sage rose query in time ? 🎶
Savoury and mary with a rhyme.
I now order online and have it delivered to my home. Spending much less than if I went hunting in the grocery isle.
I do that for Christmas gifts, because it's easier to find online and saves time. I also generally hate crowds, and feel most advertising is distracting and not informative. We were doing that with groceries for awhile, but getting out once a week is good for the bones.
I just love hunting in the grocery isles, multiple stores in one trip because I also love to drive,lol,but that's just me. I always have a plan and I love finding stuff I can use on clearance. Yesterday I spent $50 and saved $30 and bought two things that weren't on my list but were on sale. I had asparagus on my list because it was on sale but it wasn't fresh enough so I didn't get that.
A memorable quote from the "learned sententiae" of introductory Latin is:
"Possunt quia posse videntur", or "They are competent who are perceived as competent".
When I would occasionally float the expression to colleagues on the hospital floor, I twice received the identical art brut edition:
"Fake it til you make it."
But it's not that easy. I took a few deep dives into the history and philosophy of medicine -- and the deepest dive I think, to be taken, was through the pages of one book: "Ancient Medicine" by Ludwig Edelstein.
Aside from the Edelstein's discovery that there appears to have been no historical Hippocrates, and that the familiar oath is neither Hippocratic, nor properly an oath, I recall three principles, of which two pertain to what the language of consumer reviews refers to as "patient experience".
The first: "Look like you know what you're doing", and the second, like unto it: "Make sure they're glad to see you coming". Anyway, the aforementioned are a couple of nuggets to be found in a review of medical literature from about 400 BC to around the fourteenth century.
But, in the world of Supermarkets where we both now labor . . . your points are well made. The designers of our signage follow the principles follow exactly the principles you put have put forth.
I managed to salvage my "experience" with the materials wasted in abstract expressionism in the early seventies by geeking out on typography and lettering, eventually serving for several years as a calligrapher for the State Legislature. This is no boast.
There is no separating your illustrations from the persuasiveness of your arguments. It's not flattery, but an impolitic candor which provokes the observation that one cannot be separated from the other -- the charm of your presentation represents a harmony of the three elements of classical education. Your publication is beautiful. It has to be, or I wouldn't pay nearly so much attention.
Consider: Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric.
The last mentioned is the finish of what used to be an eighth grade education.
Syntax. One assembles his troops, arms them and then must marshal them to victory through noise, smoke, clatter, war cries, bellowing, doubts of lieutenants and bloody press of flesh.
Or consider the expressions:"Beauty is only skin deep", or "Beauty is as beauty does", or more trenchantly: "Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised". And I recall from somewhere in Plato's dialogues, something like: "One must first enjoy the sight of the beloved".
Bill Gates. He's not beautiful.
In which of the three above mentioned elements does he fail -- or are all three equally impaired? Can you see the extra pair of arms he is waving?
When it comes to the idea that perception is the initial dose of medicine, who the hell decided Bill Gates was a good figure for that? Haha! I shouldn't feel even more sick when the "doctor" arrives, but maybe that's the point.
That's one of the bizarre things I've learned about writing. There's absolutely no separation between persuasion and the sequence of words that seem to fall out of our inner worlds. It's etheric and surreal, and very eerie if you think about it for too long, but it's easy to fall for the misbelief that what you're reading is a perfect truth.
Grammar is like a grimoire, where spells are words. Reading and writing truly is magic, which pulls ideas from some imaginary place into our very real world.
But there are some ideas, very evil, that don't belong here and need to be dispelled.
"Grimoire"; I've learned a new word. When I think of influence, or try to make a point, the process feels like drawing out a pipette from glass tubing to permit the movement of fluid against gravity.
I've only recently come to experience writing as literally assay, or discovery.
On substack, the trip has been trying to discover just who has written the thing being read.
It's been suggested that what we should do is study the enemies playbook, book of spells if you will, and learn to use it to our own advantage.