Comment on Rebel By Design? Have we been Psyoped? by saarnok

Parent Post: Rebel By Design? Have we been Psyoped?

saarnok · 9/16/2026, 12:57:07 AM · permalink

In my opinion, the short answer is: Yes.  
  
Growing up, my influences were far more books than movies, and I suppose more comic books than novels.  
  
Thing is, I remember when Spider-Man did a gun control comic, which while overtly "balanced", as in the calm, thoughtful characters expressing doubt in any resolution to the question, the bulk of the comic featured Spidey battling gun smugglers with the implicit message that if only criminals didn't have access to guns they'd be powerless.  
  
Even at that age I recoiled from the obvious manipulation of juxtaposing an unarmed super-powered individual being needed to overcome criminals and simultaneously imagining that weak and simply elderly or just individuals against gangs wouldn't have problems if only the young, strong, criminal didn't have a gun with which to victimize people.  
  
The absurdity of the proposition was so apparent you'd think it was something proposed by sacredcow.  
  
But, that was my reaction after growing up in rural conditions, shooting since I was six or so, and absorbing a steady diet of Louis L'Amore novels.  
  
The first movie I recall seeing was Wizard of Ozz, but at least up till I was six or so, we had a channel on the TV which would have exposed me to whatever was on back then, though I only cared about the cartoons.  
  
From the time I started going to school until I got out, I never saw television as a regular thing, and I probably only saw half a dozen movies during those twelve years.  
  
Which seemed to give me an outsiders perspective, essentially unique even within my age and location.  
  
I recognized, perhaps by the age of ten that the kids around me would be talking about shows in such vague terms it was obvious they were just vibing together with no real idea of what they were watching every evening.  
  
And so, the first "experiment" I ever conducted was to mimic enthusiasm for a show that aired last night, with no idea what had actually aired and found myself able to easily convince my peers we'd seen the same show, in a conversation I initiated without naming any show.  
  
That's pretty young to start respecting my dad's decision to eliminate television from our house.  
  
For me, it was an act of rebellion to just read Tarzan, Hardy Boys, John Carter and the like.  
  
So, my "programming" was different from my peers.  
  
But, yes. We formulate our opinions based on the apparent quantity and quality of the media we consume.  
  
And the media that activates our dopamine is the most effective in setting our beliefs in how we'd like the world to work.

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