monkey see Monkey do

In a previous article we slightly touched the topic on how the mass media is responsible for wiping our brains clean and filling in tailored thoughts. Let’s peek into the immense power of suggestion.

We as of today live in a very intricately orchestrated world where the few in power control the millions.
Is it possible to even make someone do your bidding? Is it possible to make people obey? Is it possible to make people follow?
The answer to all the questions is a simple “yes”.

Next time they’re showing chimps on natgeo don’t switch the channels, as the proof of that “yes” above lies right there. How? Just observe their behaviour. Man is not much different from the apes. Except we think higher of ourselves. But the similarities and social behaviors are not much different.
Ever heard of the phrase “ monkey see, monkey do”?
it applies more to people than to apes.

Now some of us think of ourselves as indomitable, solid, and of sound minds and actually believe that we do what we wish and not what we are told to do. Ask yourself. While choosing the career you think you chose yourself, who all did you consult? How many of your friends, relatives, or peers had chosen the same careers?
still think you chose it yourself?
Okay. Let’s think of something else. I assume you are a someone who has done shopping online. Now from the vast list of items you compare the most similar ones, probably for an indian buyer your first go is at the price. Secondly you check the reviews. What if your next smartphone hunt has brought you across two good products product ‘A’ has relatively good reviews than the product ‘B’. What will you choose?
You might argue that how will you come to know which product to trust? Hence you chose ‘A’?
Trust. Isn’t that something that makes us follow? Makes us obey?
Throw a small baby in the air and it giggles for it knows you’re going to catch it on its way down. Hence it becomes play. What if you sat on a rollercoaster, they tie your safety gear and tuck you in safely and you’re told it’s bound to fail on its way down? Scary?

From time and again we hear the phrase do as your told. Frequently so while we were kids. To inculcate reflex perception about a particular thing you have to build up a routine. For example say you have a habit of keeping your watch on the dresser every evening. And one day you purposely keep it somewhere else. The next morning you will definitely absent-mindedly reach out for the watch on the dresser. Now that is simply a habit.

Now once you trust someone it’s just like another habit. The only difference is we trust people and we get habituated to things. Or in some cases vise versa.

Lets come back to monkey see monkey do, we tend to choose something that is suggested readily than we choose something out of the box.
Here’s a small game for you to try out.
In India its very simple to convince people. So you know what I say is true to the word.
all you need to do is while walking on a street join hands and bow down at a certain stone. Well only requirements are that the stone must be visible and all peculiarities are an obvious pro. After a month or so you shall see devotees lining up to offer their prayers at the stone for you have initiated a chain reaction.

If you see a grown man dressed sharp in the street and he is asking for free food, you will only give him a cold shoulder but if the same man looks needy and lost you might actually give that guy a sandwich.

Coming back to effective decision-making and being a badass who does what he wants we really aren’t who we think we are. Not all of our decisions are made according to our own choices but only because of external entities and the power of suggestion. Take a look back at where you are now. And the decisions made hitherto are not entirely our own.
So ultimately the power of commanding someone to obey is not that a difficult task. Gone are the days when you have to force someone to do something against their will. The population has become so dependant on suggestions that people don’t feel the need to apply their own brains to ponder over a topic and arrive to a result. Rather they take ready-made decisions on the basis of suggestions. Nowadays instead of implementing something, all you have to do is say a few things in favor of a particular thing and people will blindly follow your lead for that is how our brains are hard-wired.

suggestion is a great tool for businesses. For each and every product or service it plays an extremely important role in bringing revenue. suggestion is not just saying hey go try our this new shampoo its great! suggestion plays a role in systematic brain washing an individual with repetition.

Now that is where the mass media comes into play. when I say repetition, i want you to visualise your favorite ad. for someone of my generation the jingles on radio are a nostalgic reminders of how technologically paralysed was advertising before the scientific advances in the field of mass media. Television came on stage and not long before it changed its own name to an idiot box. people got addicted to it and even today one cannot live without a simple T.V. for more than a week. our minds have become prone to take in useless knowledge. hence we never separate the inputs we get into valuable and invaluable.

This is when the mind stops working and primeval instincts come to play. when the mind is used to not refining useful data it pushes the information to another part of the brain where it deduces the subject on basis of existing facts rather than logic. So next time you see an apple customer turned sales guy talking about the pros of his phone you’ll know what to do.

Politicians are another great example of how effectively this theory works. Each and every citizen knows that every politician is corrupt to a certain level and its a well-known saying to not to trust a senators smile. but on the contrary when that same guy makes motivational speeches and promises to be the provider of all those necessities which were absent before. yet you elect one of the goons who made an impact. now it solely depends on his/her branding skills. the one who was able to market himself will definitely win the elections. and the other will forfeit the deposit. hence you on the other hand did as you were told.

At this juncture if your told that you were a believer of Y2K and 2012. I would bet surely as even you had a doubt in mind in the year 1999 that somehow the world will stop spinning and in 2012 extensive coverage given by the news channels ( who apparently have nothings these days and make news out of soap opera story lines) made you think in 2012 some solar flare might hit your bottom and make a bratwurst out of you!

today all we can do is but laugh at our gullible nature.

The waterman.