Perhaps by those around you, by your company, by your community, by society, by a government, by your Lemmy instance,… It doesn’t matter.
Please describe your experiences below. (no judgment) 😎
By op, into posting
By you, into upvoting
We are all manipulates by our governments and companies trying to sell us things. On a smaller scale we are manipulated by the people in our lives. Even non-maliciously. Persuasion is a normal part of life.
Sure, but usually the term manipulation has a negative connotation.
In a sense, when my kid asks for fruit, they are manipulating me. But that’s not what anyone means. They mean a kind of devious persuasion.
Yes, I understand and agree. But for sake of argument… Fundamentally, what’s the difference? I try to make you believe what I want you to. Maybe I’m selling you a used car. Maybe I’m trying to have sex with you. Maybe I want you to give me a fruit.
The government wants to justify a war, think tanks want you to support certain policies, advertisers want you to buy their product.
I think the only real difference is scale and “maliciousness”. Your kid doesn’t have the capacity for large scale manipulation and his goals aren’t particularly harmful. However someone like Goebbels has both the capacity and very harmful goals.
Fundamentally, what’s the difference?
Ethics and morality, be it learned, instinctual (empathy), or incidental.
So if I manipulate you into doing something because I thought it was in your best interest, it isn’t manipulation anymore?
Let’s say I know you’re drunk and don’t want you to drive. I trick you into giving me your keys by pretending to want to put away your coat. Is that manipulation?
Some would say it’s ethical because you’re preventing potential harm. Some would say it’s unethical because you are lying and deceiving someone and essentially forcing them to do something against their will.
I honestly just think manipulation goes hand and hand with communication. Almost anything we say is an attempt to sway people to our viewpoints, consciously or not. Manipulation isn’t bad or good, it just is.
Why do you put maliciousness in quotes?
Kids absolutely can be malicious. Sure, it’s a small scale but kids can absolutely manipulate. Asking for an apple , if they really just want an apple, is not manipulation because it’s not malicious. Little Susie telling her sister Jess to give her her soda or shell tell their parents about how the window broke is 100% manipulative though.
Advertising + Marketing + Influencers
I just try to avoid them all as much as possible because they foul my mood
I dont watch or listen to commercials, and Ive had ad blockers in some form since the early 00s even if it was just a custom hosts file.
I wont watch regular tv with commercials and more than half the time will turn off youtube if watching thru a smart tv if they dont allow the ad skip. If Netflix had no ad tier, I’d have no Netflix.
Now that I’m in my 40s,I cannot stand any form of marketing. It all comes across as blatant lies
By my ex wife.
24/7 news tv channels. Banning them really felt like taking a wheight off my shoulders
Manipulation is cooked into the culture where I live. Sometimes it makes me mad, sometimes it disgusts me, but I’ve had to deal with it more often than I’d like.
We all manipulate each other constantly. The problem is when it’s predatory.
I think that intent is a key point here. Maybe respect too.
I mean you could say that I influence my friend merely by being in his presence. But that’s quite different from trying to sell him something.
Sure. All the time. By advertising. Commercial is bad. Political seems to be the crassest. The bigger politicians seem to speak only to manipulate, which I find quite offensive.
It’s a kind of mental violence. Terribly socially unhealthy. Future generations will be appalled.
