Oddbean new post about | logout
 As someone who has studied, practiced, and taught effective communication and influence for over 20 years now, I agree.

Disrupting someone's pattern with strong, unexpected language can be a valid tactic to break them free from a self-defeating pattern long enough to recondition that pattern.

However, since real change comes from within, it requires their want and willing participation to really stick.

This is not what I am speaking to. I am speaking to the persistent, immature, toxic groupthink that divides us. Similar to the political psyop that is designed to pit the masses against each other so the puppet masters can keep us small and remain in power. It is counterproductive and really not a good look.

The real "us vs. them" is us vs. governments and big tech that seek to erode our liberty, privacy, and freedom.

It would serve us well to remember that.