TrueLife - Art in Manipulation & Deception: How Influence Shapes Reality and the Human Mind

Episode Date: November 25, 2020

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🚨🚨Curious about the future of psychedelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/From politics to social media, from advertising to personal relationships, manipulation is a subtle art — often invisible, yet profoundly powerful. In this episode, George Monty unpacks the psychological, cultural, and symbolic mechanisms of deception, exploring how art, narrative, and perception can be wielded to shape behavior and belief.In this episode:The psychology of influence and persuasionHow culture and media engineer consentThe thin line between storytelling and manipulationRecognizing patterns of deception in daily lifeStrategies for awareness and reclaiming autonomyTranscript:https://app.podscribe.ai/episode/57036897Speaker 0 (0s): Hello, everybody. This is going on out there. You're ready for the Thanksgiving. You guys to join your day. I'm enjoying mine. Life can be pretty interesting. Speaking of that, I got, I got an idea. I wanted to share it with you guys. Let me know if this has ever happened to you and if it hasn't, then you should do, or you might want to try this mental exercise. Have you ever been deceived by your ambition? Does that kind of make sense? Let me give you an example of something that happened to me and then how it made me feel. So obviously I'm stoked on doing the podcast. A lot of cool people I've met and I've talked to, and I really enjoy the way it helps me organize. My thoughts for me. The goal of my podcast is to share some ideas that I think are interesting to help me develop my thoughts and to maybe leave something behind for my daughter or my grandkids too, listen to their dad, or they were crazy. Grandpa ramble about things were just to get an idea of what it might have been like to talk to me if they listened to this and I'm gone, of course, that would be lying. If I said it, wouldn't be awesome to make some money, to write as well as reinventing myself. So that being said, I recently got an email about some advertising revenue and immediately I was excited. I was so excited that we're showing people how to look at this. You know, it looks like we have made it more excited. I'm thinking to myself, like Yeah all this hard work is paying off. You know, when you show up, my ego starts kicking in. I'm like, you know, really have been going over some pretty interesting things lately. I can't believe this didn't come earlier. And so I get all excited and I'm thinking about stuff. And then for a long, like I was stoked for, for hours. And I was like, yes. Awesome. And then I begin to think about it. I like the shininess to begin to wear off. Then I started thinking of things like wood, you want to sell this product? Why would you want to place this product in your pockets? How would it change your podcasts? How would it change your idea? How much money is it? And as I begin thinking about that, I began to find like chinks in the armor. I began to find out that I didn't really read the email that Well. In fact, all I saw was what I wanted to see. I saw this dollar amount and I saw the possibilities of my life changing from getting up in delivering packages everyday to make me go into like a studio and doing a podcast with interesting people, looking into new ideas and investigating things that I find fascinating and making money to do it. And so I, I revisited the email and then I realize this is a fucking scam. This wasn't even real. Oh my gosh, what a dummy I am. And like my whole outlook changed. I went from thinking about Yeah, did I have been crushing it to, Oh my gosh. Or your So egomaniac? Like, who's gonna pay you to do this. And then like bummed me out for a while now for too long But for a little while. And I got over that and I was like, okay, what an interesting experience. This is what a incredible way to understand confirmation bias. What an interesting way to understand how I particularly work. And I think there might be some other people that find themselves in a similar situation where when you get news that you want to hear, you want to believe it. And it just goes to show how, at least for me, how easily one can be manipulated. And it's important to watch out for those kinds of things in it while, I mean, look, I didn't spend any money or, and give up my ID or, you know, there was really no negative consequences as far as me losing anything. However, it is a little bit disheartening to realize how easy it is to fall for something, if you want it to happen. That's the negative side of it. The positive side of it is that you should be vigilant about the information that you get. It, you should be cautious about. Good news that comes suddenly. Additionally, a good thing about it is to realize that this might be a blind spot for you. And to be honest with yourself, and then once you've understood that once you go, Oh yeah, you know what? Here's a, here's a topic that I really like. I should be extra careful about what people are saying to me about this. This is a blind spot for me also. I think you can help lead, help, lead you to have a little bit more empathy for people that ended up, ended up getting shafted or ended up in a deal that was a poor for them to know what I mean by that. Like as crazy as it sounds like a lot of people get ripped off by the Nigerian Prince and people are like, Oh, what a bunch of dummies they are. But maybe instead of thinking about what a bunch of dummies they are for getting ripped off by those people, maybe it's a more important to think about like what else is going on in these people's lives, where they believe that that person. And of course, that's, that is a, you know, a braggadocious, a giant example. There's plenty of small ways in which people get manipulated every day. And I think if you can start seeing in your life where you are easily manipulatable, then you could begin to make progress in your life of how to, how to close those gaps or how to maybe sound a warning so that you will not find yourself in a position to be exploited. And once you can see it in yourself, then you can see it in other people and you can see it in other situations. And maybe you can go on to help other people understand that Hey what you see here might not be exactly what's advertised. It's interesting to think about. It's also a little embarrassing to tell everybody that, that that's the truth. I know sometimes the truth can hurt a little bit, but we're all human. We all make mistakes. Well, that's what I got for you today. My friends, you know what I love you, you know, I'm happy to be talking to you and do the thought experiment, try to play with the way you see the world, try to trick yourself so that other people are unable to do so. And also so that you can have a little bit more empathy with people who have been deceived. If you can deceive yourself and then understand the methodologies in which you were deceived, other people will find a muc...

Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark, fumbling, fear. Fearist through ruins maze lights my war cry born from the blaze.

The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Seraphini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Hello everybody. What's going on out there? Are you ready for Thanksgiving? You guys enjoying your day? I'm enjoying mine.

Life can be pretty interesting. interesting. Speaking of that, I got a, I got an idea I wanted to share with you guys. Let me know if this ever happened to you. And if it hasn't, then you should do, or you might want to try this mental exercise. Have you ever been deceived by your ambition? Does that kind of make sense? Let me give you an example of something that happened to me and then how it made me feel. So obviously, I'm stoked on doing the podcast, a lot of cool people I've met and I've talked to, and I really enjoy the way it helps me organize my thoughts. For me, the goal of my podcast is to share some ideas that I think are interesting, to help me develop my thoughts,

and to maybe leave something behind for my daughter or my grandkids to listen to their dad or their crazy grandpa ramble about things. Or just to get an idea of what it might have been like to talk to me if they listen to this and I'm gone. Of course, I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't be awesome to make some money too, right? as well as reinventing myself. So that being said, I recently got an email about some advertising revenue. And immediately, I was excited.

I was so excited, I was showing people, like, look at this. You know, it looks like we made it. I'm all excited, like thinking to myself, like, yeah, all this hard work is paying off. You know, then you start, my ego starts, kicking in. I'm like, you know, really have been going over some pretty interesting things lately. Can't believe this didn't come earlier. And so I get all excited and I'm thinking about stuff. And then for a long while, like I was stoked for for hours. I was like, yeah, this is awesome. And then I began to think about it.

Like the shininess begin to wear off. And I started thinking things like, would you, want to sell this product? Where would you want to place this product in your podcast? How would it change your podcast? How would it change your idea? How much money is it? And as I began thinking about that, I began to find

like chinks in the armor. I began to find out that I didn't really read the email that well. In fact, all I saw was what I wanted. to see. I saw this dollar amount and I saw the possibilities of my life changing from getting up and delivering packages every day to maybe go into like a studio and doing a podcast with interesting people looking into new ideas and investigating things that I find fascinating and making

money to do it. And so I revisited the email and then I realized this is a fucking scam. This isn't even real. Oh my gosh, what a dummy I am. And like my whole outlook changed. I went from thinking about, yeah, dude, I have been crushing it too. Oh my gosh, George, you're so egomaniac. Like, who's going to pay you to do this? And then it like bummed me out for a while.

Not for too long, but for a little while. And then I got over that and I'm like, okay. What an interesting experience this is. What a incredible way to understand confirmation bias. What an interesting way to understand how I particularly work. And I think there might be some other people that find themselves in a similar situation where when you get news that you want to hear, you want to believe it. And it just goes to show how, at least for me, how, how. easily one can be manipulated.

And it's important to watch out for those kind of things. And it, well, I mean, like I didn't spend any money or didn't give up my ID or, you know, there was really no negative consequences as far as me losing anything. However, it is a little bit disheartening to realize how easy it is to fall for something if you want it to happen. That's the negative side of it. The positive side of it is that you should. You should be vigilant about the information that you get.

You should be cautious about good news that comes suddenly. Additionally, a good thing about it is to realize that this might be a blind spot for you. And to be honest with yourself. And then once you've understood that, once you go, oh, yeah, you know what? Here's a topic that I really like. I should be extra careful about what people are saying to me about this. This is a blind spot for me. Also, I think it can help lead you to have a little bit more empathy for people

that ended up getting shafted or ended up in a deal that went poor for them. You know what I mean by that? Like, as crazy as it sounds, like a lot of people get ripped off by the Nigerian prince. People are like, oh, what a bunch of dummies they are. But maybe instead of thinking about what a bunch of dummies they are for getting ripped off by those people, maybe it's more important to think about, like, what else is going on in those people's lives where they believe that person. And of course, that is a, you know, a braggadocious giant example.

There's plenty of small ways in which people get manipulated every day. And I think if you can start seeing in your life where you are easily manipulatable, then you can begin to make progress in your life of how to close those gaps or how to maybe sound a warning so that you will not find yourself in a position to be exploited. And once you can see it in yourself, then you can see it in other people. Then you can see it in other situations. And maybe you can go on to help other people understand that, hey, what you see here might not be exactly what's advertised. It's interesting to think about.

It's also a little embarrassing to tell everybody that. But that's the truth. And sometimes the truth can hurt a little bit. But we're all human. We all make mistakes. Well, that's what I got for you today, my friends. You know I love you. You know, I'm happy to be talking to you. And do the thought experiment.

Try to play with the way you see the world. Try to trick yourself so that other people are unable to do so. And also so that you can have a little bit more empathy with people who have been deceived. If you can deceive your. yourself and then understand the methodologies in which you were deceived, other people will find it much more difficult to deceive you. You got it? Enjoy your day. Tell people you love them. Tell your friends. Thank you for listening to you. I love you guys. Aloha.