The sun was going down, illuminating the figures of four horsemen, who were leading a leisurely horse ride through the alpine meadows. Stroking the manes of their horses, old friends shared their experience: the king of television - Ivan Ivanovich, the head of alcohol corporations - Vasily Vasilyevich, the lord of the sex industry Peter Petrovich and computer genius Alex Gotman.
- You know, gentlemen, after all, most people in Russia, unfortunately, have a certain moral paradigm, which is very difficult to destroy. I think these are the consequences of Soviet education and upbringing. And even young people still most often have some basic concepts of good and evil, - Alex shared his thoughts.
“You noticed that correctly, Alex,” Ivan Ivanovich said, turning to his friend, “but is it necessary to destroy something? We are not barbarians, but civilized people. And they must understand that any soft and subtle influence is better than a rough intervention. Have you heard anything about the "Trojan Horse"?
- This is an episode from the Trojan War. The Danai laid siege to the city of Troy, and then pretended to surrender and presented the defenders with a gift in the form of a statue of a huge wooden horse. Opponents threw the statue into the city, and inside it were hiding fighters who opened the fortress gates at night,”Alex replied.
- Exactly! Now imagine that the psyche of a gullible TV viewer is the same fortress, and our task is not to destroy it, but to capture it,”explained Ivan Ivanovich, the owner of the Ostankino TV tower. - All our TV shows and reality shows are Trojan horses, which we present over and over again as gifts to a gullible audience. Our gifts look very attractive: they promise bright emotions, new impressions, supposedly reveal the secrets of the world or have sincere conversations. But each of them is poisoned in its own way and contains a mental poison that triggers the algorithms we need in the psyche of the wards.
- Good gifts! And the main thing is that everything is completely free, - Vasily Vasilyevich entered the conversation.
- Of course it's free! The average person does not even think about where those very millions and billions come from for the production of very expensive video content. More precisely, he believes that all this is paid for by popular brands, and happily switches the channel when the next ad unit starts. He thinks that he is the smartest and deceived everyone: he ate the fish and avoided advertising. No matter how it is! - Ivan Ivanovich said with a laugh. - In fact, there is nothing on television except advertising, and each program is the same advertisement, only not Snickers, but the views, behaviors and values we need!
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- So does it work? Alex asked interestedly.
- Of course, because everything is served under the sauce of entertainment content, - Ivan Ivanovich continued to tell, taking a piece of sugar from his pocket and handing it to his horse. - In describing all our countless TV shows, we do not write that they are aimed at destroying basic human values, but we say that they are designed to make people laugh, give emotions, teach, discuss problems or even ennoble society. And the real effect achieved, associated with the influence on the psyche of the masses, always remains hidden in the silence. Those same saboteurs who have settled in the belly of the "Trojan Horse" must remain unnoticed so that the viewer will gladly accept our next gift. Pyotr Petrovich, tell us about your favorite brainchild - about the program "House 2"!
- With pleasure, Ivan Ivanovich, - the king of the sex industry joined the conversation. - As you understand, gentlemen, my business goes up the hill the better, the lower the morals in society, and in order for my income to grow, it is necessary to influence the population in a certain way. For this purpose, I sponsor many TV projects, but my favorite is, of course, the reality show "House 2"! Everything is presented as an opportunity to find love, start a family, have children and blah blah blah. And under the guise of this wrapper, I lower the concept of "love" to the level of lust and prostitution, promote mercantile views on relationships, promote alcohol consumption, premarital sexual relations and much more.
- Is the work of all these actors, who are ready to be in front of the cameras from morning till night, is expensive? - Vasily Vasilyevich clarified in a business-like manner.
- There are only a couple of actors there, and even they behave mostly sincerely - they selflessly chase after money and fame, - Pyotr Petrovich laughed. - It's just that the format of the show itself is created in such a way that only rather stupid and immoral personalities come to participate in it. We choose from them the more colorful and outwardly attractive, and then we give them the right to stew in their own juice, only making clippings of those episodes that broadcast the models of behavior and thoughts we need.
- But I heard that the ratings of "House 2" have been falling lately, - Alex touched upon the unpleasant topic.
- Of course, my friend, but this is by no means because people recognized our manipulation, - Pyotr Petrovich answered confidently. - It's just that the time has come for a wider choice, and we have created a dozen other TV shows in the same format - Boys, Wife Swap, Bachelor and so on. They draw on themselves some of the attention of my charges, but the effect of this only increases.
- The format is like a matrix that determines all the further content of the project: who participates in it, for what purposes, what kind of poison eventually pours into the heads of the audience, - Ivan Ivanovich decided to explain in more detail. - Remember how many programs there are now in which the players compete with each other in the struggle for a cash prize. But this is a very specific message to the crowd: be materialistic, fight each other for a place in the sun. Nobody wants to be the "weak link" and everyone wants to prove that they are the best, not realizing that alone they are all biomass incapable of resistance.
- And I like humorous programs more, - said Vasily Vasilyevich. - How many jokes they contain on the topic of alcohol, tobacco, drugs! It's so convenient to present one of the most terrible social phenomena, which is the main cause of congenital deformities in children and premature deaths of adults, funny and amusing.
- Laughter is one of our most powerful weapons, which is good to use for breaking social taboos and promoting "Overton Windows" in all matters that are important to us, - Ivan Ivanovich replied, remembering his ward Ivan Urgant. - The second most influential format is the so-called “ordinary stories about ordinary people”, which is realized in countless programs like “Let them talk”, “Male / female”, “Speak and show” and so on. Covering ourselves with the truth of life and the reflection of reality, we pull out the very dirt that can only be found. The more shocking and immoral the incident happened in the country, the more likely we will invite its members to the studio and provide them with the most expensive airtime. After all, no one has canceled the principle: "with whom you will lead - from that you will type."And therefore, every evening we provide millions of TV viewers with a unique opportunity to communicate with the most degraded scum of society: maniacs, prostitutes, murderers or "stars" of show business, who have long since sold their souls to those who pay a high price.
- As my experience of running the television project "House 2" shows, some have nothing to sell, - commented Pyotr Petrovich with a laugh and decided to remind about his next favorite. - But you forgot to tell about the show "Let's get married". Feel the beauty of manipulation: for the role of the hosts of the program with such a good name, we appointed women who did not take place in family life from the word at all, and gave them the right to teach others to start a family in a mentoring tone. And these cynical and shabby ladies, who were married many times, today tell young people that sex before marriage is mandatory, that the money issue in the family is a priority, that jealousy is normal, and so on. The daily heading "harmful advice" on the country's main TV channel!
- And what are all these programs with Malysheva worth, - Vasily Vasilyevich said with admiration, - bravo, Ivan Ivanovich, I just take off my hat. Under the guise of caring for the health of the audience, you teach them shamelessness, debauchery, talk about the benefits of pills, masturbation, and so on. And this proves once again that if any game is carried by a person who has put on a white coat, then the authority of his statements increases tenfold.
- You have listed particular moments, but the main thing is to understand the essence. Almost all issues of Malysheva are paid for by pharmaceutical corporations promoting certain drugs, drugs, vaccinations and, in general, chemical medicine as the main tool for maintaining health. Although in reality, human health is mainly associated with completely different factors: how much a person moves, does exercises, what he eats, how he is tempered, and so on. But as you can imagine, no one will pay for the promotion of these views. In short, the more a person listens to Malysheva, the more often he will visit pharmacies.
- Friends, what about the program “Battle of Psychics” - what real goals does it work for? Alex asked.
- You see, Alex, in our world there are people who, in spite of the existing brainwashing mechanisms, have managed to develop various unique abilities. And to hell with them, but the problem is that they also try to use their skills for the benefit of humanity, and even teach others,”Ivan Ivanovich began to explain,“which, as you understand, is completely unacceptable for us. We need a gray and homogeneous biomass, not a society of exceptional and talented individuals.
- Strange, but I thought that some charlatans come to your show, - said Alex.
“You didn’t listen to me and make hasty conclusions,” Ivan Ivanovich continued. - We are just visited by some charlatans who need advertising to further promote their business, built on lies and deceit. Since the program is broadcasted on the TNT channel, where people with high morality generally do not get to, local workers admitted to the production of the show naturally use every opportunity to earn extra money and sell insider information to psychic charlatans about upcoming tasks so that they can demonstrate their "Unique" abilities.
“I think it's called a bribe,” Alex said skeptically.
- Fu, Alex, what are the words? We just have very helpful people. They love to do good for good. Anyone who has sponsored the project may accidentally hear a random conversation of the TV channel workers about what is in this black box behind the curtain, or some details about the missing person who needs to be found. But this is just an accident. Otherwise, everything is honest and open. Everyone competes on equal terms,”Ivan Ivanovich recalled. - Generally, Alex, you have to be more tolerant. Weren't you taught this in your Europe? In this yours, how is it …
- In Cambridge!
- Yes, what have you been doing there for so many years, Alex? It's time to understand that we are only interested in money, power and influence on the crowd. And any action that leads to an increase in one of these indicators is acceptable, rational, reasonable and, I would even say, moral for us.
- Well, yes, Ivan Ivanovich, you are right, - Alex agreed.
- And what is the output in terms of influencing the audience of the show "Battle of Psychics"? - Vasily Vasilyevich drew attention to the main point of the discussion.
- The viewer who is, as they say, “smarter” understands perfectly the scheme of deception and, seeing this whole performance, begins to believe that a person, in principle, cannot have any unique abilities. And our dumber clientele, mesmerized by a beautiful picture and intense music, shows interest in all this topic and falls on the hook of charlatans, or at least begins to follow all these disguised clowns who are promoting through our show. In general, this is how we send the vast majority of viewers on the wrong track. Only a few who are statistically uncritical for us can reveal the entire technology of manipulation.
- You are working well, Ivan Ivanovich. My bow to you. After such a brainwashing, any person with unique abilities will be perceived by the majority of those around him as a liar and a deceiver,”Alex replied.
- Yes! And our Trojan horses are galloping, galloping, one after another capturing the Brest fortresses, - Ivan Ivanovich laughed, and spurred his horse.
- Listen, do you at least see what your players are filming? - Alex shouted, trying to keep up with the television king.
- No, why? - Ivan Ivanovich was sincerely surprised, - we are filming for cattle.
- More precisely, we form one in our viewer, - added Pyotr Petrovich, and the Kings laughed together.