False Consensus. This technique is one of the most powerful forces for motivating human behavior (Jeremy Boreing). The rhetoric is often short and dismissive.
“Everyone paying attention knows this.”
“Obviously.”
“It’s clear.”
“You should feel outrage (betrayed, skeptical, etc.).”
“The whole world knows this to be true.”
“There is universal consent.”
“Everyone’s saying this.”
These phrases are used, not to persuade, or convince, but to reinforce the idea that everyone already agrees with the speaker.
These manipulative phrases are used because they work.
Studies show that people are generally ready to conform to social norms than to hold on to their own deeply held beliefs.
There is a phenomenon known as “Group Think.” Another name might simply be, “Peer Pressure.”
“Groupthink occurs when individuals in cohesive groups fail to consider alternative perspectives because they are motivated to reach a consensus which typically results in making less-than-desirable decisions.” (“Groupthink: Definition, Signs, Examples, and How to Avoid It”, Saul Leod, PhD).
Knowledgeable public speakers like to address an audience with people behind them agreeing with their presentation. It works. Public opinion can be rapidly moved, especially on major issues such as gay rights, transgenderism, WOKE, DEI, abortion, voting rights, etc.
Before long, individuals find themselves in a “bubble world.” All the podcasts they listen to, all the news articles they read, all the source material they reference, already agrees with them, and vice versa.
Presupposition. Another technique of misusing rhetoric is presupposition. Something is believed to be true, and then an attempt is made to find “facts” to fit the narrative.
For example.
Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Revisionist Historians emerged to reinvestigate the events surrounding December 7, 1941.
The inquiry began with a question.
“What if President Roosevelt knew about the attack on Pearl Harbor and allowed it to proceed because he wanted America to enter the War in Europe as an ally of England?” His fondness for Winston Churchill is well documented.
Before long, a question was transposed into a presupposition. A statement of fact was made. “President Roosevelt knew, without a doubt, the attack on Pearl Harbor was going to happen.”
It is an intriguing idea, but it cannot be sustained, unless a treasure trove of historical documents are dismissed.
“It’s ridiculous,” says Rob Citino, a senior researcher at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. “But it’s evergreen. It never stops. My students, over 30 years — there’d always be someone in class [who would say], ‘Roosevelt knew all about it.’”
Victor Davis Hanson, an American military historian, agrees with this observation.
There is no evidence of the White House having prior knowledge of the Japanese moving toward Pearl Harbor for an attack.
True, the diplomatic code had been broken prior to December 7th, but not the military code.
It is equally true that Japan managed to break U.S. and British diplomatic codes, which contributed to their strategic advantage to keep the time, place, and date of their attack on America a secret.
True, there were intelligence failures, but that still happens today, despite advanced technology.
There should be concern about being manipulated when someone asserts on a podcast the following:
“It’s just absolutely clear. It’s like not in dispute…Roosevelt allowed Pearl Harbor to happen, which he did, that’s been proved, I think, and he did it in order to get us into a war that the people didn’t want. It was anti-democratic.” (A well-known Influencer)
Notice the arrogance of presuming to know the mind of President Roosevelt, having never met him, and the self-contradictory statement, ‘that’s been proved, I think.”
True, many Americans wanted to stay out of the European conflict of that era, until December 7, 1941. Then Americans across the nation, from small towns to big cities, lined up to fight the Empire of Japan, as well as the Germans.
What is important to remember is that it has never been universally “clear”that President Roosevelt had prior knowledge about Pearl Harbor and allowed it to happen.
Let no man, or woman, deceive you with presuppositional ideas that remain contrary to known facts.
The theory of evolution falls into this pattern, along with the hoax of climate warming, and transgenderism.
An Assumptive Close. The art of taking a presuppositional thought to a conclusion, and transposing it into a fact, leads to an assumptive close. Salesmen employ this rhetorical device when they speak as if you have made your decision. You are going to buy that car, appliance, home, or insurance policy. So, just sign here. The pen is in your hand before the fog of the moment can clear.
Plausible Deniability is also part of the manipulation process. When someone makes an assertion, and then hedges, it is so the speaker can retreat later. In the Church, the modern prophetic pundits are notorious for asserting the “signs of the time” means the return of Christ is “imminent.” Dates are set, books are written, the prophesy fails, and the religious charlatans hide behind their qualifying language.
In the political arena, an assertion is often made, with a hasty caveat thrown in,
“Roosevelt knew of the impending attack on Pearl Harbor. It’s been proven, I think.”
“The president’s wife is man, as far as I can tell. Why does she not disprove it?”
“Candidate Donald J. Trump arranged to be shot to improve his chance of becoming president, so it seem.”
“Lee Harvey Oswald was a patsy, the evidence appears.”
All of this is to inflame emotions. The manipulators know what they are doing with their rhetoric. They know to include “weasel words” in their statement. They just do not care. There joy is in the money, the following, the debate, the innuendos, the conspiracy theories, the manipulation of the masses.
Authoritative. Those who would persuade, and thus manipulate others, often give the appearance of being an authority on the subject being addressed. I once heard a minister declare that Calvinism is a false doctrine. He had studied the issue for a week, and knows how evil Reformation teaching is.
Offering an Alternative Possibility. Those who would influence others, implant ideas that stir up the dark emotions of hatred, distrust, and suspicion. This is done in part by offering alternative possibilities—after the event. “What if?” or, “Why didn’t they do this?” or, “They could have done something else!” is the language of manipulation.
In 1965, British biblical scholar Hugh J. Schonfield published, The Passover Plot. What Schonfield wanted to do was to give the Jews a good reason not to accept Jesus as the Messiah. So, he argued, “What if Jesus, a devout man with knowledge of prophesy, plotted the events in his life so that he would be crucified?’ An alternative scenario was offered to replace the facts recorded in the gospels.
Epistemic Closure. This rhetorical devise is identifiable by buzz words such as, “obviously,” “universally recognized,” “clearly,” “of course.” No qualification. No debate, No legitimate disagreement. No argument. Done. Everyone knows. The question has been settled. Asking for more information is meaningless. By using this technique, there is no need to have a dialogue about the issue. The verdict is already in. Do not embarrass yourself with further comments.
The Illusionary Truth Effect. The idea here is simple. The more often something is asserted, the more likely it is to be believed. The theory of evolution has been declared to be a fact, not a theory, so often, that it has become culturally embraced as biological truth. The Rapture Theory has been stated so often by so many in so many venues that multitudes believe this hoax to be a historic Christian doctrine. Here is the reality.
“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”
~Vladimir Lenin
The antidote to the Illusionary Truth is to read widely, listen carefully, and examine what effect the message is having on one’s soul. If dark emotions are being stirred up in the soul, the Christian has a responsibility to reconsider what is believed.
“Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Assertion Stacking. In this technique assertion after assertion is made in a rapid series to the point the mind becomes numb with data overload. Whether or not the data is true becomes irrelevant. So much is said in such a short time that one forgets to ask if any evidence was provided. More often than not, it isn’t.
In all of this, the pattern of manipulation is crystalized. The framing, the presupposition, the clever hedge, the authoritativeness, the repetitions, the stacking of assertions, all works together to move the listener somewhere the speaker wants to go. And it works. A particular way of seeing the world is brought into focus. A template is created to filter all that is absorbed. However, the template may not be true or healthy. Christian, beware!
What is important to keep in mind is that the Lord does not want His people to be pressed into the mold of the world, nor does He want His people to be deceived by anyone in any area of life. “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”
The Collected Works of Stanford E. Murrell 