Appeal to emotion first, reason after.
If you lead with a bunch of numbers and facts, you sound like a boring West Wing episode.
Get the hook into your feelings to lead to you why you should care, it's like Dom Draper's "Carousel" pitch to Kodak.
If you lead with a bunch of numbers and facts, you sound like a boring West Wing episode.
Get the hook into your feelings to lead to you why you should care, it's like Dom Draper's "Carousel" pitch to Kodak.
And yes, "West Wing" is hot garbage, come at me.
But think about the position these conspiracy folks push and how they package it.
They play with mystery and anger and distrust. They’re appealing to the reptilian instincts, and it’s hard to counter that with “reason” and high abstract thought. Or, “mammal brain.”
They play with mystery and anger and distrust. They’re appealing to the reptilian instincts, and it’s hard to counter that with “reason” and high abstract thought. Or, “mammal brain.”
Want to understand what makes me successful?
- I crack wise, post a ton of .gifs, and bad puns so you relax.
- Then, I repeat a bunch of jokes about “birds are dinosaurs” or “Raptors are bad” to counter depictions in popular culture. Facts cloaked as punchlines.
- I crack wise, post a ton of .gifs, and bad puns so you relax.
- Then, I repeat a bunch of jokes about “birds are dinosaurs” or “Raptors are bad” to counter depictions in popular culture. Facts cloaked as punchlines.
(Raptors aren’t “bad” per se, they’re important because they start to color in the bridge between dinosaurs and modern birds. But they weren’t the featherless, superintelligent killing machines depicted in movies and comics.) 
ANYWAY, you don’t have to be funny (it helps), but relying on awe and wonder and magic and mystery and not taking yourself so seriously and admitting you don’t have all the answers all the time (like what sex I was) can go a little ways to help.
Also: I think people keep being let down by large institutions of authority all the time. And when similar (but different) institutions say something, people get less and less inclined to believe them.
Is the earth flat? Did humans land on the moon? Are vaccines a racket? Did David Stern “stealth suspend” Jordan two seasons for gambling? Is the government covering up megalodon and mermaids?
“I don’t know, but I’m not going to let someone I don’t know tell me how to FEEL.”
“I don’t know, but I’m not going to let someone I don’t know tell me how to FEEL.”
So when you encounter this, don’t talk about degrees, or all this research you did, or articles published: You’re just a person. Like them. Out in the world just working a job and trying to get by, like them.
Reference common things, like culture or experiences.
Reference common things, like culture or experiences.
Also, I sort of believe that Jordan one even though I know intellectually it’s dumb.
(also, I dedicate this thread to @WhySharksMatter)
