“War with insight and a raised fist…”
There’s been a great deal of discussion of this:
► http://3rdmilleniummen.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/huffpost-live-interview-done/
Specifically, here:
► http://rationalmale.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/its-their-game/
Amoung many other places, as well.
I’ll rehash just a fraction of the commentary with which I am in agreement.
“George” did as well a job as any man could be expected to do.
It was, clearly, a set–up [of sorts] from the start.
No one went into that to have their world–view altered.
Now, I fully realize “hindsight is 20/20”.
But here is where I differ from every comment [I’ve seen], thus far:
“George’s” mistake was not loss of frame.
It was not his “anonymity”.
It was not his lack of “storytelling”, per se.
His failure [insofar as there was one; I feel the word is a bit too harsh] was:
He did not cold–read every person present.
Each and every individual was a trope we’ve seen/discussed countless times.
He could not change them.
But he could haven proven he knew them better than they’d ever suspect.
Would that have won them over?
Nope.
Would it have him appear to possess an almost supernatural ability?
Yes.
And the masses are never moved by reason.
Want followers?
Leaders from Christ to Hitler have known:
Give them the appearance of power they don’t, and may never, have.
Unless they come to you.
Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called ‘The Pledge’. The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course…it probably isn’t. The second act is called ‘The Turn’. The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you’re looking for the secret… but you won’t find it, because of course you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn’t clap yet. Because making something disappear isn’t enough; you have to bring it back. That’s why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call ‘The Prestige‘.
Ω
80-Proof Oinomancy 
April 4, 2013 at 7:46 am
The prestige, good film, great book.
I thought George did a good job, in that those that are looking for the answers will be ready to hear the truths he was sharing. The rest have their ears closed to almost all arguments, like I commented before, the blue pill is a comfortable mind set, on top of which people are emotionally invested and to attack the mindset is to attack their ego and sense of self. Paraphrasing Richard Rohr, so many people act out of the false self (ego) which, not being built on anything solid, is easily offendable. When people(myself included) have the thoughts they identify with attacked, they see it as a personal attack, which of course it isn’t. That is why all great mind shifts have to start gently an build momentum. And why the red pill is so often rejected.
Also, I love the magic/preternatural power analogy. Like Sherlock Holmes, no matter how great the deduction, once the manner in which it was made is given away, any common man thinks it obvious where before they were astounded.
April 5, 2013 at 2:59 am
You’re getting very close to my point.
Again, everyone is debating the actions of those present.
I say:
Who cares?
I speak to the organ–grinder.
Not the monkey.
Those people [not “George”, of course] are puppets.
The hands that control them are real but unknown to them.
So merely show how you know they are controlled.
That you see the malific, wriggling fingers.
Then demonstrate that you are free from such.
“That is why all great mind shifts have to start gently an build momentum.”
Which is what I describe above.
The goal is not to lead people.
Rather, get them to desire following you.
Thank you for the compliment and comment.
April 4, 2013 at 10:29 am
“He did not cold–read every person present.
Each and every individual was a trope we’ve seen/discussed countless times.”
Good point. Since most of them are public, you could study up on those & then do a cold reading on the two unknown guys, to save time.
April 5, 2013 at 2:51 am
Thank you.
And, agreed, that would have been an excellent course of action.