Mind massage


In order for a group of people to act in concert a common set of emotions needs to prevail. It could be as simple as fear, running away from a threat, like a fire or marauding enemy.
Or it could aggression, based on hate of a common enemy.
Or, it could be liking someone, something or ideas agreeable to individuals.
In the past, considerable resources were required to create messaging that would reach a whole lot of people and massage their minds in favor of the message, so the state tended to have the upper hand, creating servants for its causes.
The state was followed by large corporations that have grown into formidable entities under the umbrella of capitalism.
Then along came the joker in the deck: The Internet. And people with financial resources realised that here was a platform that could potentially reach billions of people who would be susceptible to their messaging.
They also realised that money could be made by creating platforms for small operators to use to get their messaging out.
So now we have Google, Facebook, Twitter and a host of others making billions providing those services.
What was not initially realized by the big players, was that their platforms could also be used for messaging that would be destructive to the traditional fabric of society, creating divisions and hatred within nations, as well as across national boundaries.
And the infiltration of hostile messaging into national elections, reinforcing existing tensions and hatreds.
So now the genie is out of the bottle, not unlike what happened in the forties with nuclear energy, and we have to deal with the consequences, good and bad.
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