Secret Blog 5
The purpose of my secret blog is to just write. The topics can be random. In a way it is just a place for me to try to be consistently creative. There is no overall structure here other than to continue writing about whatever is happening in my head. And most of the time it seems to be on repeat.
I think this will be good for me. My best material comes in brief, punchy blurts. I think that might be my schtick. Longer things confuse me and every long thing I have attempted has either fizzled or been forgotten about. I can focus for a page or two at a time but I think that might be my limit. I have so many random thoughts that could be at least mildy interesting to explore.
So the goal here is to be consistent and free.
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I took a drive with my Dad today. I was going to work with him but the job got put on hold at the last minute. We ended up cutting through a neighborhood he lived at when he was in high school. He showed me the house. It was a few blocks from the school. He said he walked.
I actually lived about three streets over back in 2002. I rented a room from a friend. I used to take my friend’s dog on walks and we would often end up going around the high school. It’s funny to know now that it was my Dad’s high school. I don’t know why I never connected that before.
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I saw an interesting program on CNBC about the Coca-Cola company. It talked about their history. Part of it was about how that have been extremely successful in branding their image. The reporter mentioned that a key factor to their success was their “brilliant marketing”. They showed a top secret laboratory at one of the Coca-Cola headquarters that exists to study the psychology of the consumer. It’s basically a bunch of rooms designed to be like different places where you might buy a Coke. One room was like a convenience store. One was like a grocery store. One was like a fast food restaurant. They were studying where the best places were to put their products so that the customer would immediately find them.
They also talked about how their marketing is designed to give the customer a consistent, positive emotional feeling like warm fuzzies. They try to appeal to a sentimental part of the consumer’s brain so that the drinkers will be taught over time to connect Coca-Cola with safe, happy, good, patriotic memories.
All of this made me think about how propaganda affects our daily lives. Not necessarily bad propaganda. It’s just that there are so many subtle and not-so-subtle messages that come at you from all sides to try to manipulate your decisions. Commercials encourage you to buy their products. Churches point you in established spiritual directions and may occasionally appeal to your obedience (or guilt) to get money from you.
It seems as if the possibilities of subconscious manipulation are near infinite.
Discussion questions:
1) How has the world you live in subtly manipulated you into being who you are today?
2) In what ways have you subtly manipulated it back?
3) Name a few ways you can positively affect your friends and family using good propaganda.
4) What are some ways you too can influence America to be skinnier and more alert?
Jeff Grant's Safe and Normal World 
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