(By Hella Ahmed) In my two books Lights and shadows profiles and How do manipulators strike? I discuss the modern articulation of the association « abuse of power » and « virtue-signalling » carried by digital strategies in the field of information and that of misinformation, since the two are inextricably linked. I analyze concrete examples to reflect on what history has taught us and the recent or current implications of the use of manipulative methods to control the shares and spread of information. I address transgressions and dishonesty which are part of information flow systems.

Power and influence

The world of information is not one of well-separated good and bad, of black and white, it is a colourful web of codified and coded good intentions, of circulation of data, but also of claims of all kinds. some of which have honourable covers while they benefit the ignoble, exhibiting a paradoxical discourse which closes in on itself to paralyze the practical reason of many people.

We see intelligent wills uniting sincerity to work on improving the living conditions of humanity by carrying out large-scale actions. Thus, it is by returning to the principles of positive and conscious leadership that takes a concrete interest in the fate of the planet that these visionaries, equipped with knowledge and financial means, make ecology, examined by science, with logic, the partner of a cleaner and fairer economy geared towards a less tragic present and a better future.

Through the analysis of known scandalous cases, events that notably gave rise to criminal proceedings, I challenge in my book Lights and shadows profiles the use of invasive methods by reporters of so-called renown, portrayed as seekers of truth. Also, media strategies via social networks that manipulate people’s opinions are put at the service of ambitious and vicious people with goals that turn out to be fundamentally monetary they conceal with the use of hypocrisy by associating with intellectual and pseudo intellectual circles who dramatize sincerity by speaking of ethics in order to legitimize their looting of intellectual properties and the control that they haughtily demand, being so close to the people they use as misguided tools.

Vulnerability and misinformation

Those vulnerable to misinformation are the ones getting hooked on conspiracy theories, suffering much, as they become click puppets and remote-controlled pawns, swept away by the strategically planned whirlwinds of the grotesque. Many people have unfounded convictions and superficial opinions, finding there fun, a feeling of belonging, the means of getting rid of tensions due to frustrations of different kinds, and sometimes a hobby helping them fill the existential void that comes with learned helplessness.

Feeling stuck in life is prevalent these days because of a weak economy and unfair wealth sharing, so being on the sidelines, then getting empowered by overcoming what seems to be the illusion of truth, knowing the unknown, is what happens to a lot of misinformed believers. It is becoming a player instead of being a follower, but life loves irony, every movement will make you a follower, and following an illusion of the beyond is not freedom but another kind of slavery. Environment plays a major role into bringing common sense to you or offering you convincing rubbish instead.

It is indeed the resentment due to the feeling of being only alive, and not at all in a situation enabling you to experience what it is to fully exist, because of bad economic conditions and sociopolitical stress in times of crisis, which can also make the most impressionable bitter to the point of impulsively striving to defend interests that are not theirs, thus reinforcing the decoys at the service of manipulators. Being led to favor rigorous critical thinking is not universal. Intellectual laziness can be involuntary or voluntary : to question without being able to dig deeper or choose to skip the demanding effort.

Hella Ahmed 2023 © All rights reserved – Find my books on Amazon

This essay on the scourge of manipulation in the digital age is a scientific work of deconstruction of a pernicious and creeping system that pollutes all institutions and in particular professional and other relationships. It lays bare the innumerable practices of manipulation, its perverse effects and the damage with heavy consequences that it entails, particularly in the field of intellectual plunder. A book that will allow you to identify the fundamental notions of what has become a real danger.

 

 

The author, in the light of a solid philosophical thought and higher education in psychology, examines, with a rare surgical pen, the body of a world in full mutation, under the effect of a multidimensional crisis, and offers an original mode of interpretation, action and survival.

 

Copyright © Hella Ahmed