TrueLife - The Language of Imagery

Episode Date: February 9, 2023

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. Hears 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 Serafini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the True Life podcast. Hope your day is going well. Hope the birds are singing, the sun is shining, wind is at your back. I wanted to talk to you today. about the relationship between images and behavior.

How do images change the way you move through this world? How does a picture, something you see on your phone, a gif, a meme, a billboard? How do these things change the way you move through your day? Or do they? I think that they do. All of us have heard the phrase, a picture is worth a thousand. words. Even though if you and I see the exact same image, we probably don't have the same thousand words to describe it. In fact, my thousand words may be radically different than your

thousand words, but yet we see the same thing. I want you to think about that for a minute. Think about you and I seeing the exact same thing, but having radically different opinions about it. That's the problem with communication. It is the divisive nature specifically of imagery that allows for confrontations.

Let me try to break that down a little bit more for you. It's almost like another language. The image. Right? Because we have to translate that image. And when you translate something, you interpret something.

Let me give you an example. If you and I are in a foreign country, then we come face to face with a stranger who is speaking in a slightly elevated tone, but we don't speak their language. And we just happen to come across another stranger that speaks both our language and the stranger's language. How he interprets that person's speech is going to play a key role in what that person's speech means to us. However, it is incumbent upon the interpreter to relay not only the words, but the emotion

behind the words. And so we are at the mercy of the person. translation. We are at the mercy of interpretation. And that's the same set of rules that applies to imagery. And it's unfortunate because most of us haven't gone through a rigorous course of image translation. You know what I mean by that? We may not know why some images offend us. We may not know why some images bring us pleasure. And because one image brings me pleasure and offends you, does that make me a bad person? Or does that make you a bad person?

Does it make me someone who's inconsiderate? Or does it make it you someone who's rude? You see, it's these sort of areas in life where no one talks about, no one's been trained in, especially when you factor in people from different cultures. It's kind of what I call the language of imagery. And it's a big topic and it's something that's not really spoke about too much. But to those who understand how to wield the language of imagery, the world will open up to you.

It's an incredible way to motivate people. It's an incredible way to manipulate people. and it's an incredible way to communicate. And I want everyone listening to this to begin to pay attention to the language of imagery. I'm going to try and give you some examples of the way in which this language is wielded upon society. Let me try to describe it this way.

I'm going to read to you the opening from a book called Propaganda by Edward Bernan. I think this cuts right to the heart of it. Organizing chaos. The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government, which is the true ruling power of our country.

We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. Our invisible governors are in many cases unaware of the identity of their fellow members in the inner cabinet. They govern us by their qualities of natural leadership, their ability to supply needed ideas, and by their key position in the social structure. Whatever attitude one chooses toward this condition, it remains a fact that in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business

in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons, a trifling fraction of our 120 million who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires

which control the public mind. who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world. Understand. This is me talking now. I'm no longer reading. The trick is to understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. Mental processes. You get it? It is the image as language.

imagery, interpretation. If you don't understand the language, then I can interpret the image for you. That's what's being done to us every day all day through billboards, radio ads, television,

social media. In fact, that's why Twitter is such an important tool on the world stage because you can control the masses with it. It is a massive. massive tool of propaganda. It is a way to pull the wires. Perhaps a better way to say it is it's a way to pull the wool over the eyes of the populace. Let me give you an example of imagery on the grand

stage in which all of us find ourselves today. Let's talk about the war in the Ukraine. What is going on there? You know, as an American, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. that we have crippling infrastructure, inflation, homelessness, rioting, people starving, living under bridges. And yet, we're sending billions, if not trillions of dollars to a war-torn place in Europe that really has nothing to do with the United States. That is one image. That is the image of most Americans who like to read for a living. That is the image of the alienated American who doesn't understand what's happening. Now, let's contrast that with the image that's put on TV.

The image on television, the image on social media is that there's this evil dictator who has invaded this small poor country, and he's just, pillaging him and he's a horrible person and he's committing these war crimes and he has to go because he's unstable and he's threatening the world with nuclear war i'm talking about the united states idea of latimer putin but that's propaganda right that's an image that is being thrust out there so you don't have to do any thinking that's an image for you so you can just take that in and feel good about giving away all your taxpayer money. But it's not an accurate image.

A more accurate image would be to pull back the curtain and take a look at what's happened in the past. They say that the best predictor of future behavior is past relevant behavior. Well, we know for a fact there's been two world wars. All of us have those images burned in our minds via history textbooks. But how did those wars get started? What was the purpose of those wars? Well, I've often heard it said, and I believe all wars are banker wars.

Think about it for a minute. Banker wars. Who has all the money? Where does the money come from? What happens when you're about to lose money? Well, let me paint you another picture. There's a company called Black Rock. Black Rock has recently come out and spoken about the reconstruction process happening in the Ukraine.

In fact, they were awarded all the contracts, contracts to build roads, build bridges, build schools, build infrastructure. And so isn't it interesting that The more Ukraine falls into despair, the more projects there are to rebuild. When you think about it from that angle, you begin to see the world as it is. The United States is supplying just enough weapons to hold Russia back somewhat, but not stop the onslaught. because the longer the war goes on, the more money can be made in reconstruction. The longer the war goes on, the more contracts pile up.

And it's a marriage made through a term called creative destruction. And it happens when the world finds itself in despair. When the world of economics runs afoul, when all else fails, they take you to war. When the economic system fails, they take you to war. When the governments fail, they take you to war. When the people have nothing left to lose, they lose it.

And so it's a dangerous game. It's a dangerous game being played by the United States, by Russia, by Europe. And in many ways, they're sacrificing the same sacrificial lambs. They're sacrificing Germany. They're sacrificing Poland. They're sacrificing all the people there So that they can have this thing called Creative destruction

But want you to be careful when you let slip the dogs of war Anything can happen And just because it hasn't happened in the past Doesn't mean it won't happen now