What If We’ve All Been Primed? (Editorial)

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[Diana in Wisconsin]

We’re all in this together. Stay home. Stay safe. We’ll get through this. It’s our new normal.

These words have been repeated so many times, you’d think they’re used for selling the latest superfood.

They’re not selling a superfood, but is it possible they’re trying to sell us something?

A Sequence of Events

Vanessa and I were playing our morning game of Sequence and drinking our coffee in early April (we’ve been playing card games before work since well before the COVID-19 chaos). Just before the news shifted to commercial, the newsperson stated, “Stay home. Stay safe.”

The commercials came on, with one after another using the phrases I mentioned above. That was the moment I first realized how often those phrases were coming at us. Of course, once you notice something like this, you can’t not see it and hear it anymore. Welcome to the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon. Perhaps my bringing it up to you will make you aware now too.

Whether the coordinated use of these phrases was some sort of nationwide scheme created by a group behind “the curtain,” or it was a simple coincidence, we’ve been primed, and it’s had a visible impact on people’s thoughts, words, and actions. Behavioral Priming

Though its effects are controversial, psychologists, researchers, and marketers have tested behavioral priming since the middle of the 20th century.

If you’re not familiar with priming, it is the ability to influence someone’s thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors without them knowing about it, through exposing them to a previous stimulus. For example, repeating the phrase, “Stay home. Stay safe.” could be a form of priming, as it has the potential to impact the way people think (or don’t think and just do), speak, or act.

As John Bargh explains in his article, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology,

The past 25 years have seen amazing empirical advances in our knowledge of the kinds of psychological concepts and processes that can be primed or put into motion unconsciously. Social norms to guide or channel behavior within the situation; goals to achieve high performance, to cooperate with an opponent, or to be fair minded and egalitarian; emotions that shape our reactions and responses to subsequent, unrelated stimuli; and of course, knowledge structures such as stereotypes and trait constructs for use in the comprehension and encoding of often ambiguous social behavior. And social behavior itself can be produced unconsciously in the same fashion.

Still more recently, though, priming effects of even greater complexity have been discovered, such as in the nonconscious activation of deep cultural ideologies and other interpersonal relations… Bargh JA, 2006

Consider this statement: We’re all in this together.

If you hear this over and over, and unconsciously believe it, then it means those who don’t follow the conventional recommendations aren’t in this with you. They’re outsiders. They are easy to target and hate and slander. It feels okay to treat them as outsiders because people believe they have the support of their pack to do so.

Or take this one: Stay home. Stay safe.

This implies that by staying home, you’re doing something that helps protect people. To not stay home then, would mean putting others at risk. It sets the stage for people to easily buy into the idea that if you don’t stay home, you’re selfish.

There’s nothing to prove this statement is accurate. Recent data says the opposite: 66% of hospitalizations in New York are from people sheltering in place.

Yet, if you asked the average person what they should do to protect themselves and others, they’d say, “I should stay home to stay safe.”

Behavioral priming can lead us to believe something is a fact even without evidence to support it. It would explain why some people feel it’s okay to throw stones at those who believe in something other than staying home. They want to slander doctors who suggest we’re actually safer being at work. Maybe their strong emotion comes from the fact that they’ve been well-primed over the past couple of months.

And finally, what about this? A new normal.

What a perfect phrase to prime you to accept a life that’s different from the life we lived up until 2020. If you believe whatever we’re told to do next is the “new normal” after hearing that phrase a thousand times, you’ll be less likely to question whatever that suggested normal might be. What if?

I’m not suggesting this is some sort of global conspiracy, or that a group of evil-minded people decided to take advantage of the situation we’re in right now to create a different way of living.

It’s possible somebody simply threw a few phrases together, and they took off faster than a contradictory video on YouTube, but with far less pushback. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

I’m only asking the question, “What if?”

What if the phrases we’ve constantly heard have shaped the way we think about our actions, the way we judge others’ actions, and the way we might accept life in the future, if it becomes different from what we’ve experienced in the past?

What if there are motivations behind all of this that aren’t pure? The only way to find out is to ask questions. The weird part in it all is that once people begin asking questions, they’re often met with an onslaught of hate and anger, which makes you wonder even more if there isn’t something behind it all.

What if, by you simply asking, “What if?” you start to feel less concerned about COVID-19, and more about where we’re headed as a country?

Of course, I could be way off base with my questions. If I am, I don’t mind. I’m simply asking questions worth considering. Wisdom comes from asking questions, not from simply following along with whatever we’re told.

We all need to ask more questions rather than accept all answers.

[mombonn]

Any time I hear any message like it, I CHANGE the channel. Not mute, CHANGE. I want to send the message I’m NOT listening.

[patriot torch]

STIMULOUS SUMMARY:

VIRUS CREATED AND RELEASED BY CHINESE LABORATORY

China spread virus around the globe

Biden receives 10 percent of profits related to china-biden collusion practices

Democrats destroy American lives by shutting down American econmy

Democrats cry foul and media blame Trump for virus

[Viking2002]

Simple. Revolt. I don't mean torches and pitchforks mob rule. Just ignore the so-called 'experts'. These globalist charlatans know they can only carry this charade so far, because if people by the millions open up their businesses, stop wearing masks, and go about their lives, they'll never be able to contain them, even upon threat of arrest. I, for one, refuse to get vaccinated with some concoction of dubious origins and many side-effects, up to and including death. The Wu Flu doesn't scare me. What these tyrants are trying to do does scare me.

[Steve_Seattle]

‘There is No Pandemic’ ~ Nick Kollerstrom (UK Opinion)

I wonder if that's the same Nick Kollerstrom who was involved with crop circle research a few years ago?

[Steve_Seattle]

I live in Shoreline, just north of Seattle. The decline here is palpable, spreading out from Seattle. Crazy people walk the streets, garbage and shopping carts line the streets, people are living tents, dilapidated vans and RVs, and shoplifting is rampant. (A Walgreen's about a mile from me now has some brands of toothpaste in locked display cases).

Many single family homes are being converted to rooming houses, with the attendant clutter (cars parked on lawns, etc.). There is often the smell of marijuana in the air as you drive down the street. (This is not the smell of marijuana smoke, but of the plant itself.)

And a couple signs of the times: a few days ago I saw a young, homeless-looking black man, shabbily dressed with a huge backpack, staring at his smart phone as he walked down the street; and two weeks ago, a homeless person's truck (a retired U-Haul truck, based on the paint scheme) caught on fire in the parking lot of a local supermarket. The truck was gutted, and someone towed it to the street right around the corner from me, where it still remains.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“The Wu Flu doesn’t scare me. What these tyrants are trying to do does scare me.”

Yep.

[glasseye]

Ask yourself who owns & controls the media.
Just don’t answer out loud.
You get banned & deplatformed for that.

[Steve_Seattle]

"I wonder if that's the same Nick Kollerstrom who was involved with crop circle research a few years ago?"

I did my own research and - yes - it's the same guy. He (according to Wikipedia) apparently has a long history of supporting conspiracy theories, including Holocaust denial and the belief that the current Paul McCartney is a double of the original, who either died or withdrew from public life. (I don't know the details of the theory.)

I don't think this is just a Wikipedia hit job, because I saw independent verification of these claims. In other words, Kollerstrom is probably not the best guy to invoke in support of your beliefs.

[Guenevere]

Bttt

[EasySt]

“ In other words, Kollerstrom is probably not the best guy to invoke in support of your beliefs. ”

Someday people are going to realize that folks like Kollerstrom are tools
aimed at keeping certain truths unbelievable.

There are very specific reasons to involve the Alex Jones and Kollerstrom
types, whenever certain things start to get any traction.

Sulification of truth is the order of business of every intelligence agent.

-Easy

[humblegunner]

Someday people are going to realize that folks like Kollerstrom are tools aimed at keeping certain truths unbelievable.

But Qtards and anons already know, huh?

What is that "knowing" doing for you?

[Steve_Seattle]

"There are very specific reasons to involve the Alex Jones and Kollerstrom types, whenever certain things start to get any traction."

We saw an example on here just yesterday or the day before. Someone posted a story from (I think) The Hill, which made a big deal about the fact that Alex Jones was at the January 6th rally. Even though Jones was using a bullhorn at the rally, telling people to remain peaceful and back away from the area where the trouble was, the whole thrust of the article was an effort in guilt-by-association to put the entire rally in disrepute merely because Jones was there.

[Scrambler Bob]

Yes, why don’t we see SWAT putting Alex in jail?

[Keyhopper]

Turned off the tube, took off the mask, and live my life.
Never been happier!

[Jane Long]

Congratulations !!! 🥳

Thanks for the good news reply!

[Jet Jaguar]

Bump

[vpintheak]

Every time I hear any of those, I either roll my eyes, or get PO’d. Depending on my mood.
Either way, it’s pure horse crap. Soft wimpiness from weak minded followers of tyranny.