How to Be an Evil Villain part 2: Control the Media
This is part two of my "How to Be an Evil Villain" series although part 1 was suspiciously erased completely from my blog. This is no lie. I must be on to something. My first post was about gaining influence over other people, which I intend to rewrite eventually. But in the meantime, here is the second lesson on becoming an evil villain.
One of the most essential parts of being a villain is that you need to make other people think you are the hero, or at least neutral. Comic books make it painfully clear who is bad and who is good but the real world is not so easily sorted. We have words like "terrorist", "dictator", and "bully" that help us discriminate between the good and bad but the ugly part of this is that no one, including the terrorists and the dictators and the bullies think they are the bad guys. A lot of "evil" behaviour is carried out by people who truly believe that they are doing the right thing and what's worse, they have a significant amount of other people who believe the same. This is due largely to their ability to control the message. By manipulating the media, an evil villain can sculpt his or her narrative, leaving them the freedom to continue their evil ways. In fact, if done correctly, a villain can use media to turn the people against the very hero who is attempting to save them. Making the distinction between good and evil irrelevant.
The History of Controlling Media
Once upon a time it took significant resources to control the media but for those of great wealth and influence it was relatively easy. There may have been only one or two viable media outlets in the form of a newspaper or newsletter. Those in power can censor their foes with ease, and peddle their own agenda.
If you were budding villain, gaining power, wanting to enact violence against an enemy, you just needed to gain control of the newspapers and take the truth and mold it to fit your agenda. This revolutionary is a murderer! That business man is a crook! That woman is... threatening! If you are in control of the message than people are more likely to believe it and condone whatever act of violence or treachery you had been planning.
Evil villainy is really about P.R. If you need one I know a guy.
The Golden Age of the Internet
Nowadays there are far too many news outlets and reporters to control the entire message. Bad news right? On the contrary! In many ways it is even easier to control the narrative today because all you need to do is discredit journalism entirely. There are plenty of examples of journalists with conflicts of interests and media sources with glaring biases that if there is a story about you that isn't becoming of your squeaky clean persona you can just throw out the presented facts as hearsay and most people will buy it. Very few people know how to, or are even interested in checking facts, or they don't trust the sources that are used in fact checking at all! It's a beautiful time when you can say anything and the misguided skeptics will buy it just because it's alternative to the "truth" most suckers believe.
One of my evil colleagues on a dare has even successfully convinced millions of people that the earth is still flat. In 2018! Anything goes!
Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "You are entitled to your own opinions but not to your own facts".
But guess what?! Nowadays, you are! Very few people care about what is fact. Everything is a matter of opinion. So people are going to go with their gut and if you present something to them that tickles their fancy, their guts will say, "sounds good to me."
Humans think they are rational but just look at the research of Jonathan Haidt, Daniel Kahneman, Tania Lombrozo or Dan Ariely and you'll realize that most people just follow their instincts and then rationalize their decision after the fact. If you give them what they want to hear they will believe it because it feels right and then come up with solid reasons why later.
It's especially effective to play on stereotypes. This is because the human brain is lazy and more likely to believe the simplest answers. So if you want to target a specific race or religion because they aren't your biggest fans, you can find an example from among their population of someone that has done something particularly heinous. If you make that their most visible representative by sharing certain articles on social media repeatedly then soon you will have droves of people supporting you in your attempt to bring that entire population down.
Did someone just recently commit a despicable crime in your area? Fantastic, what ethnic, religious, or sexual background do they have? Ooohh, they wear glasses you say? This is perfect for your attempt to cleanse the human race of all those who are visually impaired. Share the article that has the headline, "Far-sided man cannibalizes army veteran." The more sensational the better.
Stay Away from Fact-Checking
Surprisingly there are actually some easy and reliable ways to fact-check anything that is read on the internet. You must never speak of it to others. This needs to be kept as silent as possible. In the past information was simply withheld from the masses but now facts are just saturated in their alternative cousin, opinion, satire, and misdirection.
The following is a list of websites that can verify news articles, research finding, and who said what when. Keep this list away from anyone over whom you want to have power and especially keep this away from schools. Your future depends on young people believing your message over that of your do-gooder enemies.
Internet Archive Wayback Machine - This allows people to go back and see what was said on a website in the past. This can be very dangerous to your cause depending on how many evil things you have said or done on the internet. You need people to forget about all your deeds.
Open Secrets allows people to track how money influences politics. Do not share this site with anyone! In order to maintain your power you will have needed to bribe numerous politicians and political parties, you do not want people drawing the connection between your money and important decisions that might negatively effect their lives.
Snopes is one of the most popular fact-checking sites. Many people will have already heard of it. Try and discredit it at all costs. The journalism is very sharp and non-partisan, making it difficult control your own narrative. They somehow sift out lies with dangerous accuracy.
Politifact deals primarily with verifying things that politicians say. They give evidence both for and against what the politician is saying because a lot of issues and statements are not as easily sorted by just true and false. This type of critical thinking could really effect your potential evil empire.
In summary, you want to
be a mushroom farmer in that you need to keep everyone in the dark and feed them crap. Remember, truth is relative! Stay in control of the message and who knows, you could even be president one day.
One of the most essential parts of being a villain is that you need to make other people think you are the hero, or at least neutral. Comic books make it painfully clear who is bad and who is good but the real world is not so easily sorted. We have words like "terrorist", "dictator", and "bully" that help us discriminate between the good and bad but the ugly part of this is that no one, including the terrorists and the dictators and the bullies think they are the bad guys. A lot of "evil" behaviour is carried out by people who truly believe that they are doing the right thing and what's worse, they have a significant amount of other people who believe the same. This is due largely to their ability to control the message. By manipulating the media, an evil villain can sculpt his or her narrative, leaving them the freedom to continue their evil ways. In fact, if done correctly, a villain can use media to turn the people against the very hero who is attempting to save them. Making the distinction between good and evil irrelevant.
The History of Controlling Media
Once upon a time it took significant resources to control the media but for those of great wealth and influence it was relatively easy. There may have been only one or two viable media outlets in the form of a newspaper or newsletter. Those in power can censor their foes with ease, and peddle their own agenda.
If you were budding villain, gaining power, wanting to enact violence against an enemy, you just needed to gain control of the newspapers and take the truth and mold it to fit your agenda. This revolutionary is a murderer! That business man is a crook! That woman is... threatening! If you are in control of the message than people are more likely to believe it and condone whatever act of violence or treachery you had been planning.
Evil villainy is really about P.R. If you need one I know a guy.
The Golden Age of the Internet
Nowadays there are far too many news outlets and reporters to control the entire message. Bad news right? On the contrary! In many ways it is even easier to control the narrative today because all you need to do is discredit journalism entirely. There are plenty of examples of journalists with conflicts of interests and media sources with glaring biases that if there is a story about you that isn't becoming of your squeaky clean persona you can just throw out the presented facts as hearsay and most people will buy it. Very few people know how to, or are even interested in checking facts, or they don't trust the sources that are used in fact checking at all! It's a beautiful time when you can say anything and the misguided skeptics will buy it just because it's alternative to the "truth" most suckers believe.
One of my evil colleagues on a dare has even successfully convinced millions of people that the earth is still flat. In 2018! Anything goes!
Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "You are entitled to your own opinions but not to your own facts".
But guess what?! Nowadays, you are! Very few people care about what is fact. Everything is a matter of opinion. So people are going to go with their gut and if you present something to them that tickles their fancy, their guts will say, "sounds good to me."
Humans think they are rational but just look at the research of Jonathan Haidt, Daniel Kahneman, Tania Lombrozo or Dan Ariely and you'll realize that most people just follow their instincts and then rationalize their decision after the fact. If you give them what they want to hear they will believe it because it feels right and then come up with solid reasons why later.
It's especially effective to play on stereotypes. This is because the human brain is lazy and more likely to believe the simplest answers. So if you want to target a specific race or religion because they aren't your biggest fans, you can find an example from among their population of someone that has done something particularly heinous. If you make that their most visible representative by sharing certain articles on social media repeatedly then soon you will have droves of people supporting you in your attempt to bring that entire population down.
Did someone just recently commit a despicable crime in your area? Fantastic, what ethnic, religious, or sexual background do they have? Ooohh, they wear glasses you say? This is perfect for your attempt to cleanse the human race of all those who are visually impaired. Share the article that has the headline, "Far-sided man cannibalizes army veteran." The more sensational the better.
Stay Away from Fact-Checking
Surprisingly there are actually some easy and reliable ways to fact-check anything that is read on the internet. You must never speak of it to others. This needs to be kept as silent as possible. In the past information was simply withheld from the masses but now facts are just saturated in their alternative cousin, opinion, satire, and misdirection.
The following is a list of websites that can verify news articles, research finding, and who said what when. Keep this list away from anyone over whom you want to have power and especially keep this away from schools. Your future depends on young people believing your message over that of your do-gooder enemies.
Internet Archive Wayback Machine - This allows people to go back and see what was said on a website in the past. This can be very dangerous to your cause depending on how many evil things you have said or done on the internet. You need people to forget about all your deeds.
Open Secrets allows people to track how money influences politics. Do not share this site with anyone! In order to maintain your power you will have needed to bribe numerous politicians and political parties, you do not want people drawing the connection between your money and important decisions that might negatively effect their lives.
Snopes is one of the most popular fact-checking sites. Many people will have already heard of it. Try and discredit it at all costs. The journalism is very sharp and non-partisan, making it difficult control your own narrative. They somehow sift out lies with dangerous accuracy.
Politifact deals primarily with verifying things that politicians say. They give evidence both for and against what the politician is saying because a lot of issues and statements are not as easily sorted by just true and false. This type of critical thinking could really effect your potential evil empire.
In summary, you want to
be a mushroom farmer in that you need to keep everyone in the dark and feed them crap. Remember, truth is relative! Stay in control of the message and who knows, you could even be president one day.
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