Manipulation

Manipulation

Manipulation is a form of influencing. What makes it different from others is that it uses dishonest means. The most common of those means are biased reporting, dishonest appeals to emotion, stacking the deck, suppressing dissent, and repetition.
Biased reporting is when a book, magazine, newspaper, etc. try to make you feel a certain way about something or influence your reaction on the topic. For example I was reading a newspaper last Sunday; the very first line read “A plan of action that will sure create disagreement.” This article was trying to attempt to change my reaction to the news instead of just reporting it. A way I can resist this is to understand that there are a lot of misinformation and lies that can be spread and not to “believe everything I read” so that I can just get the news instead of reacting.
A dishonest appeal to emotion is when people use emotional issues to touch the audience so that they will side with them. Emotional language is great it’s used to reinforce important issues, but a lot of people use it to manipulate. For example I was in class where people were giving speeches to try and persuade the audience to side with them. One student used emotional language in his speech but was very dishonest using it. The way I figured that out and made sure I wasn’t manipulated was that I asked questions to deter them of emotions and realize they are being dishonest.
Stacking the deck is when a person tries to cheat people when there is an opposing view. For example also during a class debate, I was debating one of my classmates on the death penalty. My teacher who should have been neutral on the issue ended up siding with my classmate and would throw in information for that side making it a two-on-one debate. But luckily for me I came prepared and that’s always what you need to do to overcome this kind of manipulation. I knew way more on my side of the issue then they thought and I beat them even if it was an “unfair battle.” Knowing...

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