Have you ever wondered how American democracy goes down? I mean really. I suspect that if you are the "average" American you are under the delusion that it will go down because of Middle Eastern terrorists. Or if you are slightly more than average, you might be under the impression that we will do it ourselves. While that is definitely true, it will not be by "ourselves" in the true sense of the word. Still, if you are even a little smarter than that, you look around at the state of the world right now with countries like Iran and South Korea with nuclear weapon capability compared to our current leadership and you're pretty sure a nuclear apocalypse is just around the corner. Of course, that wouldn't just take down American "democracy"; it would take the entire of the planet with it. So imagine if I tell you it simply will go down with a whimper, because we as Americans have allowed it to?
Americans love to talk about our "democracy". We love to think that we are "better" than everyone else in the world. A friend recently posted on Facebook how mortified he was on his vacation to Mexico that Americans he observed acted like assholes. I'm very familiar with this. We do it at home also. We like to assume that all foreigners are stupid. It adds to this overall psyche of superiority that we developed after bailing Europe out of 2 world wars--the wars to end all wars. But they didn't "end" war, and we have become one of the least successful warfare countries in the world. We didn't win the Korean War. It's in armistice. We certainly didn't win Vietnam; ask any 'Nam vet. Ask most Gulf vets, doesn't matter which campaign, we haven't won. When we've had the upper hand, we pull out. Our "arrogance" is founded on wars that ended more than 70 years ago. The majority of the Americans that won that war are dead and been dead for more than 20 years. We are not that America anymore.
Sure, we're not that America anymore, and some Americans would love for us to be that America again. I understand the appeal. My Grams was everything to me growing up, and I remember seeing America through her opinions and her eyes. We were the apex of global power. We were also hypocrites so far from "equal" that just the color of your skin decided what you could or couldn't accomplish in life. We used to have FCC rules that required the news to be delivered with opposing views also, so that we as Americans would have the opportunity to "think" for ourselves. During the last year of President Reagan, these rules were removed and opened the door for the tabloid news crap we get today. I'm a huge Reagan fan and we now know he was probably fairly ineffective that last year due to Alzheimer's. So who did this? No outrage when we finally discussed it more than 15 years later. Not a whimper from the politically left. Not an outrage from the politically right. Gone.
Now imagine if I tell you while you are so worried about Facebook selling your personal information, you're one of the typical Americans that is utterly clueless. That's not even the tip of the iceberg. While barely anyone in the USA is talking about it, the "it" has been being talked about overseas far more. Ironic, right? Socialist forms of society of Europe are more concerned than our far more capitalistic, democratic society. First, let me put your personal information in perspective. You have a phone. You download apps. They have your information for free. You gave it to them. You shop. You give them your credit card number and name. They know your credit score and how often you apply for credit. It's not a hard back step for them. You play those games on Facebook that tell you who your "Hangover friends" will be. All those companies sell your information. You didn't actually think they make money off those ridiculous ads on their pages, did you? Aww, you did? That's so sweet. Every time I see one of those stupid posts warning me about my FB settings and how they are going to sell my information I have to laugh and then I'm a tad irritated. How stupid are some people? We already gave them permission to sell our information by joining their damn site. Ironically, FB takes our freedoms and personal information more seriously than we do.
Some years ago Facebook had been working on an algorithm that would help predict our personalities. The reality is that algorithm is up and running and being improved upon everyday. Facebook claims to only use it for less than nefarious purposes. Helping decide which ads you should see and scientific research. In 2013, the personality aspect of the analysis was a minor blip, because we didn't think it that important. By we, I mean the American population as a whole. Even those of us, like yours truly, that had some amount of concern, saw the scientific value. Personality estimates have now shown to be somewhat accurate, but that rarer personalities may be even rarer--particularly in lower populace regions of the country. For example, I'm an ENTP. We make up 5% of the population, but in rural areas we are close to zero. ENTJs are only 3%; the only way people in rural areas are going to meet most of them is when the CEO flies in with his entourage to tour the only plant in town. Extroverts are more likely to live closer to city amenities than introverts. Some of this becomes common sense. But that N--intuitive--versus S--sensory perception ability tends to be more in higher populated areas. Do we move out of the areas that most are sensory to find more like ourselves? You can see how this data from Facebook could be very interesting and have scientific value in how we could populate more rural areas with the people that could help grow the economy in those areas. But what if....
It's no secret that very few Americans question the news media that they watch. God forbid you try to talk to someone who watches only Fox News or NBC News. Now imagine these news organizations, political entities or advertising firms representing political entities having the power to appeal to you based on your personality. It's no secret this ability would be the "Holy Grail" of political campaigns. So imagine my shock and dismay while listening to BBC World News on SiriusXM the commentator announces that the UK advertising firm, Cambridge Analytica, have admitted to using personality driven ads, up to 350+ different ads on FB every day, geared to get Trump elected. I was shocked. They didn't do polls. They didn't give a shit. They used your personality and had different ads geared to put ads in front of you that would make you more likely to vote and vote for Trump. One thing that they pointed out was that some personalities were easier to manipulate than others. But guess what? Heard of the 80-20 rule? It's a rule that states that 80% of your problems come from 20% of the root causes. It also has been proven over the years to apply to just about everything--including people. So, 80% of the people fall into personalities that are more easily manipulated. Now, add (pun intended) in the idea of using information, true or not, to guide their decisions in elections....
Oh but that's silly. A computer can't predict me. Well, even Facebook has acknowledged that the algorithm has reached a point where it can predict your behavior better than your spouse or family or closest friends. There are a couple of personalities that it is not that great at predicting. I happen to be one of them. The "debater" ENTPs can rest comfortably. While it knew I hated Clinton, it couldn't feed me the right ad for Trump. It wasn't that hard to know I hated Clinton; I lost several ultra liberal FB friends during the Obama years. Now, FB wouldn't sell the algorithm to anyone, *rolling my eyes*, during the election. Well, one of course they wouldn't because theirs is the premier product right now and two Zuckerberg is one of those NTP/NTJ types. He's not selling this to use for manipulation of that level. It would interfere with his idealism. It's okay to make money by giving you what you want in ads, but not okay to the level of using your personality to manipulate a political campaign. So, the reality is that Cambridge Analytica's claims are not only possible--it is very probable.
Using analysts to turn the tide of public opinion and "manipulate" the masses via news stories and other staged events is nothing new to the political scene. This has been a huge, expensive market and the few people willing to sell their souls and that have the ability to do this make billions of dollars, yen, euros, etc. helping politicians around the world manage their public image and manipulate public opinion. But this is a gift that only a few people have. It's ironic though. Zuckerberg is an INTJ and this is the most manipulative of all personality types. In fact, most political strategists are INTJ, and as previously stated the NTP/NTJ personalities make up the 20% (well, 18% but anyway). That's right. Those that are most likely to manipulate and least likely to be manipulated are the 20%. So what are the 80% then counting on? Either the innate kindness of these personalities to "do the right thing" or it's time for them to wake up.
Wake up? Yes, wake up. Regardless of personality type, we all have things that are very important to us. Some of us are more easily fed than others, but regardless, we need to realize that given the right information about us personally--what we like, what we don't like, who we hang around, what they like, what they don't. Every time we like something on FB, we tell them who we are. It's no longer a guessing game to figure out how to manipulate the masses that only 3% of the population is really good enough at it to make money. No, now anyone that can afford to buy access to this software can do it via Cambridge Analytica or any other organizations that have been developing this software. In this day and age, whether we like it or not, it's come to fruition that all of us have to start paying attention and broadening our minds and opinions to more than just what we agree with.
What do I care? I'm one of the NTP/NTJs right? Only about 3 to 5% of us are actually wanting this "new world order" where the very few rule all of us. INTJs are most likely to be successful manipulators; yet, even Zuckerberg is loathe to allow the most powerful tool of this sort for these means. The other 15-18% are not interested in this sort of "utopia". Mindless morons easily doing what they are told based on the ability to use their personalities to control them is not our utopia. In our utopia, everyone thinks for themselves. Who would I debate with if there was no one to debate various ideas and concepts and all the grey area in between? I have grown over the years because of the other personalities and their different views. If everyone was manipulated into just thinking this or that and nothing in between, the world would be nothing but manipulated mice not even realizing they are in the maze. Perhaps the severe polarization we saw in the last election is indicative that we are already there.
The fact is the cat is out of the bag. The ability to use our personalities to manipulate the majority of the masses is real. There's no putting it back into the bag. What used to be so many different factors on who might do this or who might be able to be brought to think this over that...it was as much a guessing game as an art form. Now, it's as easy as spending several million dollars. We are for sale and most of us don't even realize it. A true "utopia" of slaves that don't even know they are slaves being bought and sold in political advertising board rooms. This is how American democracy dies.
Well said and written.
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