Emotional manipulation

Aristotle was concerned with the spread of his ideas through the use of persuasion. He understood that arousing prejudice, pity and anger could pervert any truth. He thought ordinary people were too gullible and that if laws could be passed to outlaw the use of fear and anger society would be more just. He spent a lot of time thinking about the use of emotional appeals and realized that man would have nothing to say if their use was prohibited.  http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/rhetoric.html

Aristotle wrote that there are three main points that man uses to manipulate or persuade someone  to buy into an idea. (1) working on the emotions(pathos), (2)the speaker’s character, and (3) the truth of the statements made.  He understood that emotional warnings could render a reader into a targeted slave in ways that logic or truth couldn’t. 

Arousing emotions be they happy emotions, anger, or frustration tend to be the primary catastrophic mover of ideas on the internet. If i tell you something happy it is more than likely that it will be passed around before you pass around something sad or truthful that i have also relayed.

Something funny will show up in people’s Facebook feeds or e-mail accounts way more frequently than something that makes you angry. Amusing stories framed in a positive manner…say a puppy or kitten saved by a good samaritan that goes on to do something goofy in a video gets way more play than a person who is injured but has healed and also does something goofy.

Any kind of sensational framing will make a piece popular. Staggering emotion and spine tingling arousal are the keys to getting someone to pass something on and believe it is true.

Go to Upworthy right now http://www.upworthy.com and look at all their links. In almost every one of them someone is smiling or grinning.

Why is this so…because emotional appeals force your subconscious mind to make you respond via “gut reactions.” When you are sucked in and fooled by that “Oh Geeeee"  or “WOW” or “OH MY GOD” subliminal message the person trying to persuade you has succeeded.

According to experts in neuroscience ruthless emotional appeals to brains that are parked in idle rather than thinking mode are more successful. And this my friends is why our nation is so divided today.

How many people out there are manipulated by Aristotle’s 14 emotions?

Have you felt anger, contempt, indignation, pity, shame, shamelessness, benevolence, emulation, love, enmity, fear, confidence, calmness or envy recently while reading something on the internet or in your in-box? These are all force-fed triggers that pull those emotional strings to persuade you to believe something maybe you shouldn’t. 

Jaw-dropping emotional appeals are used to get you to reach conclusions or judgements about everything under the sun.

Example: Global warming deniers rely on emotion...no jobs, things will be more expensive etc.,etc.,. Global warming advocates rely on science and have a tough time convincing those who have been emotionally manipulated. 

Creating jobs and opportunities for people in a clean(renewable) economy hasn’t taken hold because energy companies don’t want you to think about it that way. They want you to be afraid. They want you to see renewables as risky, a mistake that only a lunatic would support. Their profits are on the line here.

Energy companies think tanks have been fearless in their assault upon the citizenry and have played them well. They say the loss of jobs would strangle the economy.  Things would get more expensive…these ideas are much more memorable and emotionally charged than the idea of a clean economy.

But i would bet that all of us want a clean economy, we want a healthy earth we can pass on to our kids.

So when you are fearful, maybe a little depressed wake up. You are being emotionally manipulated in staggering ways. Exercise your curiosity and do some research before you get beaten down with the emotional bullshit.

See ya next week

Lovely St. Croix Ag Fair 2015

The St. Croix Ag Fair is a must do for anyone visiting or living on St. Croix. Usually i go all three days just to eat all the delicious food but this year we did the West side of the fair first. This lady in the orange shirt was selling strips of sugar cane to chew and suck on.

  This stand had the biggest squash i saw at the fair.

You could go all three days or split the fair into the east side and west side and still spend hours meandering around. We did it in two days...slow and easy.

They even have colorful transport for those not able to walk the whole thing.

The big agriculture building on the west side has all the plants, produce,

The Honey man and Yvonne

and school displays.

Some of the craft stuff is inside the big building too.

Outside you can find the cows, pigs,

goats

etc.

When you get tired you can go over to the music tent and listen to some tunes.

Before Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights started playing a guy came up on stage and played beautiful music on a saw that you would use to cut wood...that was a first for me.

Then Stanley and the dancers came on and rocked the whole place. That was just day one on the West end of the fair.

Day two meant waiting in line to get tickets because now everyone and his brother was coming.

We wanted to eat lunch so we went inside the food building and ordered up some

seafood kallaloo, stew goat, buttered conch, johnny cakes and red grout for dessert.

Later after

entering the promenade

we saw people lining up for Armstrongs delicious ice cream,

people eating lunch under the mango trees and others just limin.

One booth had a cool pic painted on.

There is so much going on it is hard to catch it all but we had a great time doing it slow.

Hiking is always fun and a trip to the baths makes for a great morning.

 When you come down off the trail you hear the melodious sound of water sucking out on top of the pebbles.

 The baths are inside that knarly looking rock

 But once your in they are crystal clear

 So clear you can see right to the bottom.

The vistas are so great i hope i'm not boring you.

 This is looking out of the baths back at the rock beach

 This one is from a view spot high up on the trail...and this last one is looking down from the trail.

See ya next week.

Lovely St. Croix, VI

i've been showing guests around St. Croix this past week and the same thing happens when ever we have visitors. i fall in love all over again. How can anyone not love St. Croix? i love this place and i hope you get something out of this photo journal. Link to the blog and encourage friends and family to come discover one of the Caribbean gems and our lovely home.

First day out we stumbled onto Bill and Sue Cissel giving a local history lesson to students from AtoZ Academy.

They were detailing the native use

of the Salt River estuary and their encounter with Columbus and his men. They had a bow and arrow, a canoe paddle, a cassava squeezer, and a three pronged fish spear which the student below is holding in her hand.

The students were asking great questions and we all learned something.

Up at the Park Service headquarters Charlie gave us more info about the estuary and its wildlife. Learned a lot i didn't know that day.

Beaches are always a fun place to go

and deserted ones even better.

Drink and snack stops are always important as is more

walking on deserted beaches.

Even with all the beauty we can't forget that we still have the scar left us from the oil refinery.

But moving on no tour of St. Croix is complete without a trip to the Baobab tree in Grove Place.

Mahagony Rd. had fresh newly painted curbs along side the hanging vines 

and Leap just calls out for a stop.  Almost anyone can find some carving to bring back home.

While the guests were shopping i was looking closely at the rafters maybe you too will see the bats waiting for darkness to settle in.

Further along Mahogany Rd more majestic trees can be found. i remember reading somewhere that the native Indians would tie themselves into the folds of the roots of this tree during hurricanes.

...and the Monks Baths are always a great stop. The day we were there the winter North Swell was pounding and we couldn't get in but the surfers were having a grand old time.

Wandering around at Estate Mt. Washington means you really need to do the labyrinth.

Along with all the old ruins and lovely plantings

there are Copper Pots everywhere.

But don't touch the Monkey No Climb those barbs are sharp.

Grab a beer at Rainbow after your exploring and enjoy the lovely vistas from their deck. Don't get too much of a buzz because you still need to drive through F'sted

and take in all the old churches they really are charming.

Whim offers up the best example of an old

working Estate and if its open it really is worth a stop.

Driving down Queen Mary Highway you couldn't miss the blooming flowers. i thought i was in New Zealand again.

If you are here when Jump Up is on don't stay home. Christiansted closes the roads and entertains the crowds with music, food and lots of great things to buy. If you come in February plan your weekend for Presidents Day because that weekend is Ag Fair weekend. A three day celebration of agriculture and food complete with domestic animals, birds, plants etc. Some of the best local food can be found this weekend because everyone is competing for prizes.
i'm going to do another Lovely St. Croix tomorrow and put up pics from the Ag. Fair and a great hike to the baths at Wills Bay. If you want a better look at the pics just click on them and they will enlarge. i don't want to bore you so come back.
See ya tomorrow.