As for “Neuro-Linguistic Programming“, thankfully it’s been repeatedly disproben to the point of being a pseudoscience. Concerning the science of advertising, the rise of interconnectivity means information about and against these methods once they become known – and they will become known. Information wants to be free, after all.

When things look bad, check the numbers. Crime reports are going up, but that just means more people are speaking out about what’s already there. Literacy’s up, education’s up, and people who are willing to speak out and act are up. I’m not old yet, but numbers like these help keep it that way.

It really is no different from the prosperity gospel folks who say if you send me money God will reward you with more.

Naw, I’m not blaming the yewts, or anyone for that matter. I’m observing the acceleration of information over the centuries and how that information is used or employed.

Since humans first started to make marks in clay information has been used for propaganda. But it was slow. With the continual growth of information technology we have reached another printing press moment, including the unpredictable results.

I’m also observing the feedback between the providers of information (their motives and techniques) and the recipients (their attention and response.) What is different from previous historical examples is that the recipients are also the creators. That’s new, which complicates the feedback process. It’s become more fractal.

Propagandists, or those wanting to influence opinions, are also a hell of a lot smarter than they have ever been. Persuasion is a science now, not just an art. Decades of serious advertising studies have instructed how to convince people. Things like NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programing) can be quite powerful. Brainwashing, basically. And the new cults of our age know this quite well. So do con men.

Indeed Fearmongers exist, selling fear, and people pay attention to them. That’s the problem. We are susceptible to skillfully deployed information. Sometimes one needs to get burned to get woke.

I’m more optimistic than I come across. But more skeptical the older I get. It’s the burn scars, I suppose.

Reach out to these communities, these people. Give them easier access to the rest of the world, and be patient and forgiving. Humanity wants to be united, and they’ll come around.

4chan may have given us QAnon, but they also gave us Anonymous, and Project Chanology, so I’d say the benefits outweigh the harm – even if they’re a buncha degenerates.

As for “brown shirts”, its common knowledge that any illegal acts (threats, cheese pizza requests, and general declarations of intent), are immediately reported by the boards to the authorities. For all the hate they get, they do go to lengths to comply with legal doctrine, and to keep things clean. The extremists who didn’t care for this, went to new sites, which have since been shuttered.

The remaining groups, while solidified beyond the public eye, are exactly that – beyond public knowledge and interest. Exclusion like that tends to inhibit “recruitment”, especially when noone knows where to find them.

Remember – things look increasingly bad in the age of mass media, but that’s mainly due to previously unknown events receiving a scrutinous spotlight. This is a good thing! Not only are most negative news events less common and intense than what when unnoticed before the rise of electronic media, but now more people are being made aware of what is occurring, and responding to it. Fearmongers will exist, but they’re always selling something, so no attention should be paid to them.

We are aware. We are watchful. But we are not, and never should be, afraid.

Do you think the people crafting the conspiracy theories actually believe them? No, they lovingly craft them to have the influence they want. To push the faithful just a bit further into unthinking zealotry…

And most importantly, the conspiracy theories give people an ‘excuse’ to commit any atrocity they want…

It is something we have seen countless times in history, and led to the greatest atrocities… but now it has the power of mass marketing and mass media…

Suggestion is more powerful than an order. At least once the ideology has been implanted.