Abstract
In everyday life, people’s operative behavior in general and worldview in specific are governed by an underlying predisposition to act upon influences which are unconsciously held. There is a deep-seated subliminal social-cultural ideology, which is based upon inter-subjective agreement. This all-pervasive social and cultural influence has been variously identified by sociologists as “group-think”, economists as “target marketing”, website developers as “trending”, politicians as “the bandwagon effect” psychologists as the “power of suggestion” and philosophers as the “herd instinct”. Modern science has shown that there are social, cultural and psychological proclivities that have roots below the threshold of conscious awareness, in the psycho-neuro-physiology of cognition and memory.
At the same time, there are pervasive influences that direct all motivation, intention, expectation, action and behavior that are proactive responses to inter-subjective agreement and social conditioning at the psychological level. As such, all human perception becomes an adaptive process to inter-subjective and sociological-cultural trends of rationalization. In the environment of predisposition to favor inter-subjective agreement amidst an ever-evolving, constantly changing worldview, an ideology in endless transition, the very distinction between “what is reality” and “what is information”, a critical distinction which underlies decision making, becomes unknowable. For this reason, it is proposed that a proper reference to an interactive dynamic of subliminal ideology and inter-subjective perception shall be identified from the standpoint of objective knowledge and physical reality as “The Implicit Dominant Hoax*TM”.
Introduction
The Implicit Dominant Hoax can be distinguished from objective knowledge as being a participatory and adaptive interaction of subliminal information exchange at the sensory, neuro-physiological level and also participatory unconscious awareness of precepts at the social and cultural levels of interpersonal interaction. As such, there is a pervasive and omnipresent psychological inertia, a compelling and driving influence upon cognition and perception which obscures facts and affects the ability to make judgments and decisions that are independent of inter-subjective mandates.
At the micro-level of sensory perception, confirmation and expectation biases are active agents operational below the threshold of conscious awareness. At the macro-level of peer group, community and society, the implicit dominant hoax becomes a self-organizing ideological phenomenon. These macro and micro contexts are personal and societal features of an inter-subjectively derived, deep structure, and subconsciously held belief system from which a commonly shared cultural identity is emergent.
Rationalizations
The implicit dominant hoax takes on many formulations and is interdisciplinary at personal, social, cultural and phenomenological levels. The following considerations demonstrate seven-fold reasoning that deep structure meaning underlies linguistic connotation, which in turn foments subtle and subliminal influences of persuasion upon everyday perception and cognition. Therefore, most decision- making processes of individuals are guided by group thinking and peer pressure. In this context, social conditioning influence derived from the power of suggestion should properly be identified as an inter-subjective Implicit Dominant Hoax.
1. Unwittingly, we mean more than we say in linguistic communication, that is, we often say more than we wish to say, and furthermore, than we even know due to connotations of syntax in language
2.That inherent in linguistic expression there is subliminal messaging relevant to biased and opinionated inter-subjectivity agreement
3. That the receiver of linguistic communication is usually not aware of the persuasive influence of any pervasive inter-subjective agreement that is carried implicitly in language and subliminal perception.
4. That deep structure imposition of subliminal influence at the level of interpersonal communication is exponentially magnified and extrapolated to a belief system that motivates social mores and becomes cultural identities.
5. That unscrupulous, opportunistic and malevolent individuals and vested interest groups with agendas will take advantage of the underlying implicitness of inter-subjectivity by usurping meanings of language by skillfully using tactics of persuasion and power of suggestion for the purposes of subjugation of the masses with intent to usurp the general population and assert their own belief system for the purposes of dominion and status, wealth and power
6. By the same token, honorable virtuosity and altruistic empathy are cognitive adaptations to environmental conditioning and, as such shared, are also inter-subjective experiences to prevailing attitudes and preferences. In a society such as own own contemporary consumer culture, the emphasis may be on accumulation of wealth, status and power. That emphasis is subject to course correction through challenging the dominant narrative of the implicit hoax to favor virtuosity and altruism.
7. That ideological paradigm shift is merely linguistic nomenclature change; a cyclical renaming and re-purposing of diametrically opposed absolutes that are already ingrained inter-subjectively. This implies that a “pendulum effect of popular opinion” is being superimposed on prevailing attitudes. Inter-personally, paradigm shift is a transitory process ensconced in language as subliminal persuasion. Socially and culturally, paradigm shift is overt entrenchment of values instigated by vested interest groups as tactical and manipulative ideological subversion.
Implicit Because
The Implicit Dominant Hoax is implicit because there is never a formally articulated schema or clear-cut codification of the pretenses, motivations or method of deployment involved. In fact, the implicit dominant hoax is a non-reality, a psychological construct of an ephemeral and transitory nature, a phase transition of ideology in constant process. As such there is no way to discern what moral or ethical precepts are being rationalized or disambiguated. Since the Implicit Dominant Hoax is an ideological work in progress, there is no way to nail it down to a logical set of premises, prepositions, operations and conclusions.
The Hoax is Implicit since it is operative below the level of conscious awareness. New research has shown that subliminal messaging can change brain states, affect decision making and motivational values, modify intentions and in in so doing, manipulate actions and behavior. The primary assumption here is that there is a distinction between conscious awareness and subliminal perception. A common metaphor for this distinction is the iceberg model, which is a metaphor describing underlying thought processes in human behavior. The iceberg demonstrates how we are consciously aware of only a fraction of our thoughts, feelings and motivations. The vast majority of our thought processes are subconscious or subliminal, like the larger part of an iceberg hidden below the waterline, which represents the threshold of cognition. This metaphor is particularly expressive in showing the often- unrecognized significance of subliminal linguistic syntax and social-cultural interaction involved with individual decision-making.
Dominant Because
The dominion of the hoax is assured by compounded intensity and reinforced resonance through a shared system of belief that is imposed by a consensus of opinion. Inter-subjective agreement at the social and cultural levels lead to a congruence of intention and expectation that proliferates a dominant narrative upon the individual; affecting motivation and decision making. While the hoax is instigated and perpetrated by social conditioning, it becomes a way of seeing the world and therefore a perceptual theory of reality.
Implicit Dominant Hoax Because
This compelling social influence can be called hoax primarily because there is a perpetrator. However, this perpetrator cannot be nailed down to just one nefarious individual or only one special interest group with an agenda. Any predominant influence that is omnipresent yet implicit has deep roots in collective, prevailing sentiments of a society in general. In the spirit of the aphorism “we have met the enemy and he is us”, the implicit dominant hoax is foisted upon the perception and perspective every individual through social and cultural conditioning. That quote was articulated by “Pogo”, a character in a syndicated comic strip by Walt Kelley. The slogan suggests that most problems facing humanity are self-induced. It is a satirical paraphrase of military braggadocio. The context was relevant to Earth Day, 1970. { it is actually an Abraham Lincoln attribution quote]
Omnipresent Because
The Implicit Dominant Hoax is All Pervasive and Omnipresent for the simple reason that we cannot get outside of it. It is a social and cultural institution; it is embedded in the language we speak; it is perpetrated by human nature forces beyond our control. If there would be a way of going outside of the influence of the presentday social conditioning of the implicit dominant hoax, a revolution of hoaxes would form each competing for dominance. In this way there is a dynamic of hoaxes which becomes infinite regress of social and cultural hoax “paradigms” in the Thomas S. Kuhn sense of the word.
Social Conditioning
In general, the phenomena presented here as the Implicit Dominant Hoax has been referred to as social conditioning, although there are numerous other formulations. Social Conditioning refers to the process by which individuals learn to think, believe, feel, make decisions, and behave in ways that are generally approved by a society or cultural group. This is the process by which a world view derived from an arbitrary but predominant inter-subjective consensus is imposed upon the individual.
Social conditioning involves the internalization of beliefs, values and mores of a society and its culture. The influence of social peer groups plays a significant role in shaping the individual’s thoughts, feelings and actions. There is impact on an individual’s decision-making ability and subsequent behavior due to social conditioning. This influence includes attitudes toward what is considered to be morally good or bad, and what is deemed acceptable or unacceptable behavior in that society. In this way, there is potential for the internalization of biases and discriminatory attitudes, inevitably impacting how individuals interact with others.
Essentially, social conditioning is the way society “trains” individuals to respond in a way that aligns with its expectations. Social conditioning is therefore a process by which societal norms become ingrained in an individual’s thinking and behavior, shaping their worldview and actions. While Social Conditioning refers to the process of training and ingraining a worldview, the Implicit Dominant Hoax refers to the influence on behavior that worldview insinuates upon the individual.
Group-think
Group-think is a psychological phenomenon in which a group prioritizes harmony and conformity over critical thinking and rational decision making, leading to flawed conclusions. As such, group-think is a mode of rationalization by which a member of a small cohesive group will accept a viewpoint or conclusion representing a consensus whether or not that individual believes it to be valid or correct. The desire for a consensus within the group overrides the need for thorough evaluation and consideration of all perspectives. Group-thinking members will suppress dissenting opinions as a threat to the group’s harmony, and refuse to explore alternative options to avoid conflict. Stereotyping of out-group information sources is common, as the in-group focuses on a narrow set of goals, while ignoring risks that are involved in a particular decision. Group-thinking members tend to believe that they are in unanimous agreement and that their decisions are morally justified and infallibly correct.
Conformity
Conformity is a tendency of human behavior to adjust one’s perceptions to align with social norms.
As such, conformity is also a process, the process by which people change their beliefs, attitudes, actions, or perceptions to match those held by groups to which they belong or by groups whose approval they desire. It is essentially giving in to social pressure either consciously or unconsciously in order to be accepted or fulfill other motivations. Conformity has important social implications: it demonstrates the power of social influence to change people’s perceptions.
The deepest level of conformity is known as internalization; an individual genuinely believes in the beliefs and values of a societal group and behaves accordingly. There is a superficial, compliant, level of conformity whereby an individual may publicly go along with social and cultural mores while having personal reservations about them. Between those extremes are motivational reasons for conformity such as to seeking obtain information or gain social acceptance. Some may consciously engage in conformity for the simple reason that they hold the social institution in high esteem and identify with its values.
In general, social conformity cannot be regarded as being to be good or bad, beneficial or detrimental.
The consequences of conformity may be shared understanding and social cohesion for the greater good. On the other hand, conformity is notorious for suppressing individual creativity and critical thinking. Like group-think, conformity may lead to decisions that are not in ones’ own best interest.
The human need for belonging and the desire for acceptance is the most powerful motivation for social conformity. As such, the concept of social and cultural conformity resides on both sides of the psychological iceberg.: deep subconscious and conscious awareness. The tendency to conform may result from subtle unconscious influences or from direct and overt social pressure. People often choose to conform to what society as a whole expects them to do or be rather than pursue personal desires and interests. This is because of motivational inertia: it is easier to follow the established way rather than starting up a new one. Thus, conformity is a consequence of the social communication of a world view.
Ideological Subversion
Since the dawn of recorded history, there has never been greater understanding of hoax theory than that expressed by the Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu over 2500 years ago. His masterpiece “The Art of War” is a slim volume that burns, as it describes strategy to establish dominion over a social system without firing a single shot. As stated by Sun Tzu, “To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill; those skilled in war subdue the enemy’s army without battle”.
The strategies outlined by Sun Tzu were utilized by the former Soviet Union as a propaganda campaign, during the Cold War. These strategies are still being implemented by the Russian Federation as full-on “ideological subversion”. The Russian government has insinuated an ideological subversion program upon the United States that amounts to fomenting confusion. Thirty-eight years ago, a KGB agent who defected to Canada, Yuri Bezmenov, defined ideological subversion this way: “What it basically means is to change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their family and their country”.
As a matter of national security, the United States military has instituted strategies, also based upon Sun Tzu’s “Art of War”, for protection of the United States and its citizens from cyber-attacks and persistent campaigns of information warfare. Colonel Scott C. White, 193rd Infantry Brigade commander, United States Army, has written an essay everyone should read: “The War for Minds: Mitigating the Effects of Ideological Subversion”. The following discussion has been derived from unclassified debriefing interviews with KGB Agent Bezmenov with comparative analysis from US Army Colonel White’s “War for Minds” essay.
According to Col. White, the biggest crisis facing our nation today is the crisis of contempt; the devicive polarization that is tearing our society apart. Division and animosity have become increasingly regular aspects of life within the United States. Americans are reminded daily, through workplace, social media, and face-to-face interactions, of the degree to which our unity and cohesion has been diminished. The origin of the division and hostility present in today’s American society was not due to chance or coincidence. It may well be the perpetrated outcome of the most persistent threat to the United States, that of ideological subversion, the process of changing one’s perception of reality.
World Wide Web
The digital connectivity of the information age has drastically reduced the perception of vastness of the world. Widespread usage of the internet has created a direct line between those that are trying to influence the population, and the target population. A grain of contrived truth presented out of context, combined with counterfactual details that people are predisposed to believe, can be implanted within society to create a perception or narrative that works to divide and weaken the United States. In the internet age, massive amounts of information, some truthful and some not, are spread through social media. The susceptibility of the general population to subversive narratives is high, so much that it enables hostile perpetrators to manipulate perceptions of “what is reality”.
Internet forums, chat rooms, networking sites, and social media have, to a degree, created an alternate universe of sorts. It is an environment where you can be whatever you want to be, and act in ways that you would not have the courage to do in a face-to-face setting. The internet has enabled the creation of self-proclaimed experts with cult-like followings.
Gullible target populations are frequently devoid of critical thought or analysis, and these followers will believe and repeat anything posted. Artificial Information age technological advances could have been very beneficial for society. Instead, the exploitation of cyber-space has swayed public opinion, created doubt and distrust, and constructed an alternate reality so convincing that it becomes “the new real”.
The decisive point of Soviet active measures was gaining access to key influencers within American society. Institutions such as educational academia and the entertainment industry, might inadvertently help to accomplish the goal of ideological subversion. Once the ideas were entrenched and ingrained within the American psyche, the results would exponentially increase over time. What began as bombastic propaganda expanded into overt ideological subversion that would eventually become a self-perpetuating dissemination of misinformation.
[Four Stages of Subversion]
Yuri Bezmenov has affirmed that Russia has a long-term goal of ideologically subverting the United States. He described the process of ideological subversion as a “great brainwashing” that has four basic stages. The four stages he outlined serve as a framework for understanding the gradual erosion of a society’s values, beliefs, and institutions.
The first stage is called Demoralization. It is a stage of confusion, bewilderment and discouragement. Demoralization involves the systematic undermining of a society’s moral and ethical foundations. This process takes roughly the time needed to educate one generation. The goal is to instill a sense of disillusionment, moral relativism, and a rejection of traditional values.
Destabilization is the second stage. This phase is characterized by the weakening of essential institutions and structures within the society’s defense, economy and international relations are targeted. Key sectors such as law enforcement, military, and intelligence are targeted to compromise the nation’s ability to respond to external and internal threats.
The next stage is that of Crisis. It is recognized as a violent change of power, structure and economy. By this point, the society is in a state of chaos, with heightened tension and a breakdown of trust in institutions. The goal is to push the society to a breaking point where people are desperate for solutions, paving the way for radical change.
The fourth and final stage is normalization. That means that a nation’s previous national sovereignty and independence would be gone. The new reality will be acquiescence to the domination of a new paradigm of coercion and a totalitarian regime may become the new norm. This phase is not about a return to stability but rather the establishment of a new social order based on the foreign ideology.
The once-targeted society is now reshaped according to the infiltrating force’s vision, erasing its original cultural identity and values, and without a shot being fired! The general population may not even resist as the altered reality has become inter-subjectively accepted and internalized. The society is transformed, and the process of ideological subversion is complete.
Psycho-neural Physiological Mechanisms
Considerations to determine “what are the psycho-neural-physiological mechanisms of subliminal cognition and perception” would hopefully elucidate the human decision-making process. At the very least, there are bio-chemical and neuro-electrical events taking place in sensory organs, the body and the brain which form a “psycho-physical” parallelism of brain states and mind states. An integrated holism of “somatic” cognitive-perceptual experience is encompassed within this metaphor of psycho-physical parallelism between “brain states” of bio-chemical and neuro-electrical events and “mind states” of intellectual and emotional import.
The corollary question once these physiological mechanisms are determined would be: “how does mind-brain activity influence, mitigate and controls operational actions such as behavior] and decision making?” In terms of the Psycho-Physical Parallelism metaphor, attention in perception is guided by brain states which are in turn guided by sensory perception. But keep in mind that there is more than
the common five senses of visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory and taste senses. There is somatic multi-sensory integration being perceived at all times. Keep also in mind that like the iceberg example in classical depth psychology, the vast majority of consciousness is subliminal.
The subliminal imagery of perception is not merely five-sensory or even multi-sensory: it is perception of a radiant information energy field. Somatic cognition receptors extend into the electromagnetic realm and perceive imagery from social, cultural and even spiritual realms. Furthermore, the sentience of human perception and cognition expands beyond radiant electromagnetism into its source: The Zero Point Energy Field. Far from being the Quantum Vacuum of scientific theory, the ZPE is in all actuality a plenum of pure potential, possibility, probability and actuality.
Within that radiant information energy field there is structure: codes. The ZPE includes the Akashic record of all facts, things and events transpiring in the Universe. Coded information is attenuated by human consciousness at the very most fundamental level: the subliminal or subconscious. As such, this coded information is already a processed conversion of energy. The stages of cognition and perception in psychology begin with a difference threshold of pattern recognition. Repetitive patterns become reinforced and organized by complexity. The most basic representation of coded information in the psycho-physical parallelism process is cognitive metaphor, which is logo-graphic or linguistic imagery. Semantics, or interpretations of meaning in language are carriers of coded deep structure information patterns consisting of ingrained and entrenched schemas and internalized memes.
Mind States, Brain States
At the origin of “brain state”, the physiological level of perception, there is thalamus filtering. The thalamus is a brain structure that acts as a gateway of sensory input. It organizes sensory input by priority, and determines what goes to higher brain regions for further processing. The medial cortex mode is the threshold of conscious awareness. This is where subliminal cognition goes after passing through thalamus filtering. At this level there is a so-called “trigger” that amounts to a threshold detector. If a sensory input is not triggered, it stays subliminal and dissipates with no conscious awareness. At this point deep subliminal pattern recognition apparently plays a part in sub cortical processing by enabling or operating the trigger to conscious awareness.
However, it is important to note that all these activities are not etched in stone for every cognitive event: some subliminal stimuli may bypass the primary processing regions and directly activate sub-cortical brain structures such as the amygdala for emotional processing or the basil ganglia for automatic motor responses. Subliminal stimuli can bypass thalamus filtering and medial cortex mode through Implicit Memory Perception, that is, subliminal perception can lead to implicit memory foundations. Even though individuals may not consciously remember a pattern recognition that is entrenched or ingrained, their brains can store this information in an implicit memory system, which can affect subsequent behavior and decision making.
This is a dynamic intersection of psychology and cognitive neuroscience which supports the contention that subliminal conditioned influences like the Implicit Dominant Hoax do indeed have physiological corroboration. At this intersection the so called “hard problem” of mind-body or even of material-spiritual is relevant. Is the cognitive metaphor an external, physical fact-event of radiant information energy? Does implicit memory of cognitive metaphor constitute pro-active intuition, expectation and intention?
Parallels in Hypnosis
It must be acknowledged that there is a strong relationship between the power of suggestion and the induction of a hypnotic state. And that there is such a thing as waking hypnotic state. In fact, in ordinary everyday life, subtle hypnotic states are entered into frequently and routinely. The focal presence of being in a hypnotic state invites further susceptibility to the power of suggestion, and weakened resistance to arbiters of influence that invoke indoctrination and conditioning.
Regarding hypnosis, it would be difficult to find an area of scientific interest more beset by divided professional opinion and contradictory experimental evidence. No one can determine with certainty whether hypnosis is a qualitatively distinct and altered state of consciousness, or merely results from heightened susceptibility to suggestion, a psychological placebo effect or a conditioned response such as role playing. Hypnosis was traditionally preceded by an induction technique of putting the subject into a “trance”, however, modern “non-altered state” theorists view induction as the focusing of attention and heightening of expectations, thereby enabling access of suggestibility to the mind. Opposing views regarding the nature of the mind have led to different conceptions of suggestion.
Victorian pioneers of hypnotism viewed suggestion as a form of communication directed primarily to the subject’s conscious mind. More recent practitioners view hypnosis as a means of communicating with the subconscious mind. Modern psychologists have proposed a non-altered state “cognitive-behavioral” theory of hypnosis, With this model, hypnosis is explained as an extension of ordinary psychological processes like imagination, relaxation, expectation, and conformity to social compliance.
It is in this regard that hypnosis is relevant to hoax theory. Hypnotists who believe that responses are mediated primarily by the “unconscious mind” will make use of indirect suggestions such as metaphors with intended meaning that may be concealed from the subject’s conscious mind. A hypnotist who believes that suggestion is communication with the conscious mind will utilize more direct verbal instructions and thus, focuses conscious attention upon a dominant idea. In either case, an influencer is conveying messages consistent with the concept of an implicit dominant hoax that has behavioral affectations.
Mass Formation
With cognitive behavior and the power of suggestion, what can happen individually can happen to a group of people or even a whole community, nation or culture. In general, a hypnotic condition requires the following three characteristics: focused attention, impaired peripheral awareness, vastly increased suggestibility. Theoretically, these three generally accepted characteristics of a hypnotic condition can just as easily be created in a crowd as in a one-on-one situation. Some people have drawn persuasive analogies between certain aspects of hypnotism and areas such as crowd psychology, political fanaticism, religious hysteria, and ritual trances in tribal cultures. Hypnotic techniques are used in news reporting, song lyrics, movie scripts, sitcoms, commercials, sales pitches and especially in the oratory of charismatic leaders. The general public is under constant bombardment by the progenitors of persuasive tactics using the power of suggestion.
Indoctrination
Voluntary compliance and citizens’ commitment to the principles and values of a geopolitical regime is assumed to be critical for the endurance and stability of that regime. There is a reasonable argument that some form of indoctrination is essential to achieve this congruence. Through indoctrination, any regime, democratic, autocratic or authoritarian, ultimately aims to create an unshakable commitment to its core principles which is resistant to counter-influences. The regime will utilize complementary channels of education and mass media indoctrination to maximize and maintain its intended impact. Citizens are repeatedly exposed to political and patriotic messages and thereby learn acceptable beliefs and behaviors to display in public.
In the late nineteenth century, indoctrination was a synonym for education, but there is now a resurgence of that term in a different context. In today’s society, indoctrination is described as the process of propagating the dominant narrative of a regime mission by imposing certain ideological principles at the expense of other worldviews and principles. Indoctrination through education is a long-term process of regime-imposed socialization and habituation beginning early in life. Indoctrination through mass media mainly targets adult citizens and serves to reinforce pro-regime messages disseminated through the technology of the internet.
The goal of indoctrination is ultimately to mold compliant “good citizens” whose civic skills vary by regime type. “Good citizens” in democracies have internalized the spirit of democracy. They actively participate in politics through voting and by protesting. Not only do these citizens obey laws, they participate in making them. They are equipped with civic skills, self- confidence, and the competence needed to question authority. To mold these good citizens, education in democracies emphasizes democratic values of equal justice, tolerance, and co-existence. To clarify, these conditional principles obtain only under the best of circumstances.
Traits of “good citizens” vary across nondemocratic regimes, but are unified by commonly shared belief in the norms and principles of a geopolitical regime. Electoral autocracies have traditionally encouraged a ritualistic kind of participation in elections. Military dictatorships, have disenfranchised citizens from engaging in the political process altogether. Civic skills pertaining to “good citizens” of nondemocratic regimes mainly express habits of loyalty and unity. To mold this mentality, nondemocratic education emphasizes uncritical acceptance and acquiescence. Indoctrination in autocracies can be expected to close alternatives through the promotion of a single narrative and the censoring of any evidence for alternative viewpoints. In summary, indoctrination is a deliberate regime-induced process of socializing “good citizens” to support the values, principles, and norms of a dominant narrative, and who will voluntarily comply with regime-imposed precepts and remain steadfastly loyal.
Willful[Ignorance
Of all the bizarre psychological phenomena that derive from implicit behavioral influences, willful ignorance is the most egregious. Willful ignorance is the practice of rejecting and ignoring any sensory input that appears to contradict one’s indoctrinated and conditioned inner model of reality. As such, willful ignorance is the result of being in an indoctrinated and conditioned mental and emotional state. Since willful ignorance is a deliberate form of self-deception, it functions on the conscious side of the psychological iceberg. Willful ignorance is most certainly driven by confirmation bias. Those who are willfully ignorant maintain self-delusion despite being aware of the fact that they are have chosen to do so. Willful Ignorance is propagated by forces of dominion and used against those who are susceptible to indoctrination and being conditioned to be subservient. Despite their better judgment, the willfully ignorant intentionally strive to maintain a distorted worldview which confirms their internalization of a dominant narrative which is not in their best interest.
Verisimilitude
In the present day “post-modern” world there is no such thing as absolute truth or objective knowledge, only verisimilitude or truth approximation. In an ideal world there should be a convergence upon truth though progressive accumulation of knowledge but that is not the case either. Facts are distorted by subliminal influences on individual perception, by exploitation from vested interests, by the nature of embedded biases in language, by social and cultural prerogatives and by environmental context. Therefore alternative facts are in proliferation to the point that individual interpretation is must discern between a multiplicity of ambiguous narratives that only lead to confusion.
Conscilience
In the nineteenth century, the polymath William Whewell, who introduced the world to terms like “scientist”, “electron” and “ion” coined the expression “conscilience of induction” to denote the notion of truth approximation. A conscilience refers to an interdisciplinary accord, coherence, or harmony that affirms a meaningful proposition. A relevant example for demonstrating conscilience of the proposition “there are subliminal influences on perception” would include inductions from fields as disparate as Psychology, Marketing, Sociology, Cultural, Anthropology, Philosophy, Physiology, Neurology, Physics that affirm the high probability of truth or “verisimilitude” of that proposition.
Beleivability
In today’s society, the notion of “believability” takes precedence over truth. In fact, if there is only truth approximation by statistical induction, rather than absolute certainty, the opposite is also true: There are degrees of, percentages of, misinterpretation, misunderstanding, deception, falsehoods and manipulative disinformation. Even the most outrageous lie is based on some aspect of truth, and ideological subversion is proactive distortion clouding the perception of values that are know-ably true, and authentically actual. Neither is the truth entirely true, nor is the deception entirely false.
Spectrum of Truth
At this point, a metaphorical “spectrum” of truth-to-deception is relevant. This conceptual metaphor is a spectrum of perspective and interpretation more so the proposal of a factual, actual spectrum in reality like the rainbow. The spectrum of truth-to-deception is demonstrative of qualitative value continuity and gradation of intensity between extremes of absolutely knowable affirmation to irrefutably confirmed disinformation. A metaphorical spectrum of this sort would place uncertainty, ambiguity and confusion in the middle where it should be.
Subliminal Influence
The subliminal influence of the Implicit Dominant Hoax lurks in this middle ground. The concept of a truth to deception spectrum with a hoax in the middle may appear to over-simplify the complexities of interpersonal and socio-cultural dynamics. However, recognizing this that is a spectrum of qualitative value establishes a more nuanced appreciation of human experience, objective knowledge and inter-subjective belief systems. Acknowledging that an omnipresent yet implicit hoax is influential in the interpretation of propositions as having degrees of truth and deception encourages critical thinking.
Critical Thinking
By this analysis, considerations of perspective and interpretation under the purview of acknowledging an Implicit Dominant Hoax prove to be unexpectedly enlightening. The “all to common” infinite regress of “that’s just your opinion” and qualified fact is averted. Open-mindedness to new ideas and multiple viewpoints with shades of gray can be readily achieved. The influences of subliminal imagery messaging for the purposes of ideological subversion can be called into question. The inclination to maintain rigid adherence to a dominant narrative of “black and white” mass indoctrination can be conquered.
Infinite Regression
The concept of fraudulent intent to impose delusion results from stratification of the Implicit Dominant Hoax into levels of analysis. The holistic overreaching generalization of omnipresent yet implicitly subtle hoax influences exist with priority at the phenomenological meta-level of shared human experience. However, similar hoaxical characteristics are all pervasive at the level of subliminal psychology, as factors of influence on perception and cognition. Furthermore, even with conscious awareness, subtle hoax driven influences result in biased decision making, consequently having affectations on overt behavior. Lastly, subliminal influences such as the dominant narratives of culturally originated hoaxes have been shown to be embedded in the semantics of language.
As a feature of the primary level of human operational functionality, the Implicit Dominant Hoax persists at the level of interpersonal interaction as an outcome of social and cultural conditioning. This level in a stratified hierarchy also includes economic and geopolitical domains. Regrettably, the modern version of religiosity has diverted spirituality into a consumer commodity susceptible to fraudulent intent. Geopolitical regimes expound deceptive hoaxes for a variety of reasons, including to maintain power, conceal mistakes or gain public support for ill-advised policies. Misinformation propaganda has become commonplace, the new normal. As such, Social-Cultural-Economic-Religiosity-Political Regime Hoaxing has surpassed mere subliminal status, and has become the center of attention in today’s society.
Litanies of misinformation hoaxes are routinely disseminated from geopolitical regimes for a variety of reasons, including to maintain power, conceal mistakes, or gain public support for ill-advised policies. A typical example would be that of climate change, described as a hoax by a geopolitical regime despite confirming consensus from scientists worldwide. Another amusing example involves the secrecy policy of the U. S. government regarding UFOs. This secrecy only resulted in widespread conspiracy theories and increased public skepticism toward government claims. Presently, an article entitled “100 Days of Hoaxes: Cutting Through the Fake News” has been posted on The White House website. It is demonstrative of a shameless effort toward political brainwashing of public opinion.
There is something ironic and paradoxical about the strategy of implementing a list of arbitrary and trivial claims of deception while attempting to establish a facade of righteousness. It would seem that
a double standard in moral-ethical principles of right and wrong regarding deception has been presumed. Deception toward the prevailing geopolitical regime is an enforceable criminal offense whereas deception from that regime is protected by law. Has deception come to be seen as a legitimate political tool?
The idea that “it’s the cover-up, not the crime” is the lesson that politicians repeatedly mis-learn ever since Watergate. Governmental deception has become a serious issue with far-reaching consequences. While some will argue that it may be justified in certain circumstances, the potential for harm to democracy and individual liberties has turned into a very real possibility. Deception from authority figures has undermined the electoral democratic process and nearly eliminated any accountability of elected officials. Repeated instances of deception have resulted in irrevocable damage to public trust in government institutions. Whether it be exaggerated accounts of warships in the Gulf of Tonkin, or known unknowns about weapons of mass destruction, the first casualty of war is always the truth.
Fred Jay Ross, Independent Researcher
fredjayross@fredjayross.com
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