Thread by @TTBikeFit

Maybe, just maybe, the constant berating to get jabbed, wear masks, mask your kids, distance, hide under your bed, has a more sinister purpose.

You see, once someone complies with these increasingly ridiculous measures, they unwittingly become an ally of the tyrants.

Why? ->

Commitment/Consistency Bias. A very strong innate human tendency.

From Farnam Street fs.blog/2016/08/commit…

"Even when it acts against our best interest our tendency is to be consistent with our prior commitments, ideas, thoughts, words, and actions." ->

"Part of the reason this happens is our desire to appear and feel like we’re right. We also want to show people our conviction. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Society values consistency and conviction even when it is wrong." ->

"And the more we invest in our beliefs of ourselves or others—think money, effort, or pain, the more sunk costs we have and the harder it becomes to change our mind. It doesn’t matter if we’re right." ->

So every time someone masks their kid, or gets jabbed, a massive amount of commitment bias comes with it.

Voila, they are now a foot soldier, willingly or unwillingly doing the authoritarians' bidding - they are now invested through their seemingly (to some) innocuous actions->

"Commitment can be so dangerous because it is like a slippery slope – you only need a single slip to slide down completely. Therefore compliance to even tiny requests, which initially appear insignificant, have a good probability of leading to full commitment later." ->

"People whose job it is to persuade us know this.

A great case study for compliance is the tactics that Chinese soldiers employed on American war captives during the Korean War. The Chinese were particularly effective in getting Americans to inform on one another."

"In their exploits the Chinese relied heavily on commitment and consistency tactics to receive the compliance they desired.

They started with seemingly small but frequent requests to repeat statements like “The United States is not perfect..." ->

and, "In a Communist country, unemployment is not a problem.” Once these requests had been complied with, the heaviness of the requests grew.

Someone who had just agreed that US wasn't perfect would be encouraged to expand on his thoughts about specific imperfections. ->

Later he might be asked to write up and read out a list of these imperfections in a discussion group with other prisoners. “After all, it’s what you really believe, isn’t it?”

Suddenly the soldier would find himself a “collaborator” of the enemy. ->

See some parallels here?
"Just wear a mask, what's the big deal?"
"It's just a prick, what's the big deal?"

Boom, you're a collaborator.

That is if you aren't paying attention and aren't aware of these tendencies.

Please pay attention, be aware, don't become an unwitting drone. It's ok to realize you've been duped and that not continuing to concede personal agency is the right path.

The enemy is not a virus. Its much more sinister than that.

Lest anyone misinterpret the meaning here: actions lead to commitment whether you know it or not. Are jabs useful for some? Likely. Should they be mandated for low risk or immune folks? Or course not. But you may believe otherwise if you are unknowingly committed.