The Illusory Truth Effect.
A lesson in psychology.
I need to understand why there is so much cognitive dissonance in the world today, and why the majority of people vehemently cling to delusions, rather than see what is real or truthful.
I am going to hit the books and I thought you might like to join me. This is what I’ve come up with so far:
From Wikipedia: The illusory truth effect (also known as the illusion of truth effect, validity effect, truth effect, or the reiteration effect) is the tendency to believe false information to be correct after repeated exposure.[1] This phenomenon was first identified in a 1977 study at Villanova University and Temple University.[2][3] When truth is assessed, people rely on whether the information is in line with their understanding or if it feels familiar. Repetition makes statements easier to process relative to new, unrepeated statements, leading people to believe that the repeated conclusion is more truthful. The illusory truth effect has also been linked to hindsight bias, in which the recollection of confidence is skewed after the truth has been received.
If it feels familiar then it must be true. If it is repeated, then it must be true.
I am sure I’ve fallen for this many times myself. However, critical thinkers are the ones who take an idea that they are presented with and question it. Thankfully I’ve been doing this for many years, but many people don’t do it. They prefer to hand judgement/power to someone else to make decisions for them. Like needing parental protection. Which is why I believe we are treated like children by our governments, to keep us in this perpetual state of child-like disempowerment. Anyway.
Apply the illusory truth effect to advertising and you get the clever twisting of words to make you believe that one product is the best, or better than the others.
The Marketing Rule of 7: The Rule of 7 states that a prospect needs to “hear” the advertiser's message at least 7 times before they'll take action to buy that product or service. The Marketing Rule of 7 is a marketing maxim developed by the movie industry in the 1930s. (source)
When the message is given in a forceful, repetitive and convincing way, it makes it more difficult even for critical thinkers to criticise it.
While I was in Morocco last November I was studying The Kybalion, again. I recommend everyone reads The Kybalion, especially the section on Mental Gender. You have to read the whole book though, in order to understand this section, and it took me about 7 reads before I fully understood all the principals. (Hmm 7 reads, isn’t that interesting!) So, for those of you who are not in a position to read an entire book 7 times, here’s the main substance of the Principle of Mental Gender:
The Masculine Principle of Mind corresponds to the so-called Objective Mind; Conscious Mind; Voluntary Mind; Active Mind, etc. And the Feminine Principle of Mind corresponds to the so-called Subjective Mind; Sub-conscious Mind; Involuntary Mind; Passive Mind, etc.
The principle of Mental Gender gives the truth underlying the whole field of the phenomena of mental influence. The tendency of the Feminine Principle is always in the direction of receiving impressions, while the tendency of the Masculine Principle is always in the direction of giving, or expressing.
The Feminine Principle conducts the work of generating new thoughts, concepts, ideas, including the work of the imagination. The Masculine Principle contents itself with the work of the “Will” in its varied phases. And yet, without the active aid of the Will of the Masculine Principle, the Feminine Principle is apt to rest content with generating mental images which are the result of impressions received from outside, instead of producing original mental creations.
Three Initiates. The Kybalion: A Study of The Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece . Perennial Press. Kindle Edition.
In other words, the images and imagination created by the feminine aspect of the mind are deeply influenced by the impressions given to it by the masculine aspect of the mind.
We know that a stronger masculine aspect always wins over a weaker one. What if the stronger masculine aspect came from outside of ourselves, overpowering the one within?
So what I’ve got so far, is this -
Everyone’s mind can be susceptible to a forceful idea. With repetition, any idea becomes familiar, and familiarity creates the illusion of truth.
Sounds a little like how MK Ultra may work, if there was such a thing.
“Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth” - Joseph Goebbels.
I know which man out of the three I just mentioned above that I would rather have dinner with.
Ahem. Okay then. Let’s continue.
Back to Wikipedia -
In a 2015 study, researchers discovered that familiarity can overpower rationality and that repetitively hearing that a certain statement is wrong can paradoxically cause it to feel right.[4]
The Principle of Mental Gender? Receiving a forceful/wilful idea as true which overpowers the feminine aspect and takes over, pushing even the rational aspect of the mind aside? Makes sense now.
But I forgot to talk about one more thing - fear. Add fear into the mix and bingo, you’ve got your system. Even the most intellectual mind has been shown to be susceptible to this deadly cocktail.
I just want to introduce one more concept here. Priming Psychology.
Priming, or, the Priming Effect, occurs when an individual’s exposure to a certain stimulus influences his or her response to a subsequent stimulus, without any awareness of the connection.
These stimuli are often related to words or images that people see during their day-to-day lives…. The priming effect can impact society if enough individuals are primed to behave or think in a specific manner. (source)
Repetition Priming - This variation of priming occurs when a stimulus and response are paired repeatedly. Due to pairing, we become more likely to act or think a specific way each time the stimulus appears.
Like slogans? Advertising slogans?
What is that thing in the picture? A Trans-human? Is this where we are going? Trans humans have human rights? Because as far as I know, all humans have human rights, because, well, it’s our right, isn’t it? Am I right?
Okay. It’s getting intense. This is brainwashing of the highest order.
Watch this clip from Billboard Chris on Twitter, when he talks to an Irish teacher. It’s interesting that the younger men in the conversation can hear what Chris is saying, but the teacher is so attached to what he has been primed for, that he can’t even hear what is being said.
Here’s the link, because now substack and twitter are not speaking to each other: https://twitter.com/BillboardChris/status/1660182651385548801
Did you hear Chris say when you repeat something 1000 times, the child believes it to be true.? About 2.20 into the video: Using the wrong name, the wrong pronoun, is a psycho-social intervention. Essentially every time you use the wrong pronoun with a child, you’re sending them the message that they’re born in the wrong body.
This breaks my heart. Nobody is born into the wrong body. God has a plan for all of us.
I heard someone tell a story somewhere on social media about a de-transitioner. (apologies for not having the source for this as I have been overwhelmed with information as we all have been). This person was speaking at a meeting and they said that they had felt that they were on one side of a riverbank, while wanting to be on the other side. They were told they could cross the river and join the people on the other side, all they needed to do was take some drugs and have some surgical procedures. They stepped off of the riverbank and into the river, full of hope and anticipation, and then became swept away by the current. The more time passed, the further away the other riverbank became, until this person realised that they would never get there. They couldn’t go back, either. They have to stay in the river now, for the rest of their life.
Normally I don’t end on such an upsetting note. But honestly, this is upsetting, and I don’t know how this will all end. I believe it’s up to us to keep going. Billboard Chris says he was seen by over 200,000 people while standing on Grafton Street in Dublin. And he is just one person.
So all I can say is stay consistent. And don’t fall for repeated lies. Reach out if it’s becoming overwhelming. Talk to someone who is on the same page as you. Leave me a comment below if you want to discuss anything I’ve said here, or have further ideas, or think I’ve left out something. Let’s get stronger together.
UPDATE - May 22
I needed to add this video to the mix. Just because. Watch and you will understand why, if you’ve read the above.
This is an important message and needs to be read widely.
When I used to read newspapers I was struck by the attitude of journalists and so-called 'opinion formers' who were contemptuous of the notion that visual media could influence them. Whether it was porn or graphic violence depicted in a film or computer game, they believed themselves to be immune to its effects.
Having spent years in marketing I know this to be BS. Companies would not spend millions on advertising if it had no impact on how their customers behaved. I also learnt that the best advertising or propaganda achieves its effects without the target realising that he/she has been manipulated. Intelligence or education do not seem to help anyone realise what is going on. In fact during the covid BS it seems to me that middle class people were more susceptible to the wall-to-wall propaganda than their working class counterparts.
I say all this because up to 3 years ago I allowed myself to be duped into believing lots of different bits of BS about our culture and our society. I was cagey about some things, but I accepted the necessity for childhood shots for example.
Thank God. like others, I have now started to wake up to the reality of the world, although sometimes I feel like a newborn baby in that there is so much to learn. But at least it's a start.
Excellent and incisive article. Thank you.