Did you see America's Got Talent demonstrate how susceptible we are to being manipulated?

When my mom was a kid, movie theaters used subliminal messaging to get viewers to buy popcorn and sodas. Then it was made illegal to use subliminal messaging. Along with all the other illegal stuff that’s considered OK now, I guess I’m not surprised

I skipped through the middle of the video, just watching the beginning and the end. After seeing what the conclusion was, I wished I participated in the activity, just out of curiosity to see if I would have done the same as the rest of the audience.

I tend to be skeptical of things, which is part of why I would have liked to see if I did what everyone else did.

@jca2 Great point. I wonder if we can find video that shows what the audience saw in the beginning.

Have you not noticed that we are trained to be manipulated from the day we are born??? Baby cries & the mother says “NO, don’t cry sweetie” until the baby stops crying. Once a child starts walking/running, they fall down, mamma jumps up, scoops them up, & sadly asks them IF they are OK. They learn that is their cue to cry so mamma can baby them. I’ve seen mothers who laughed when their child fell down & the kid jumped up laughing & just kept on going…they had NO clue that they were supposed to cry. Crying doesn’t get them anything, so they don’t do it. This continues on through a child’s life!!!

Babies raised in orphanages overseas don’t cry. Once they are placed in the orphanage, they are put in a bed & left there except for food & diaper change. They cry, the caretaker doesn’t have time to spoil each one so they are ignored. After a while they just don’t bother to cry because there is NO reward in crying.

TV takes over controlling our brains from an early age & it doesn’t stop until we take our last breath. My first thought on the AGT bit…did all those people really get tricked…or did the show convince them to ALL go along with the scam???

I think the manipulation is in you thinking this is a genuine example of subliminal messaging. This is a modern version of the hidden image trick. Somehow he is forcing an image for Howie, more likely he was watching Howie in some way. The video was a cute trick, but notice the shamrocks he doesn’t highlight. I expect the first video, excluded from this clip, had lots of images in the background and they executed protocol “Sun” as soon as they saw Howies drawing. I also note the number of duplicates on the screens.

@LadyMarissa “Manipulating” in your example, is called “Raising children.” When we raise kid, we’re simply brain washing them from day one.

@Dutchess_III Exactly my point!!!

Couldn’t tell if you thought it was a good thing or a bad thing. And I honestly don’t think all the exclamation points make your point any clearer.

I don’t know IF it’s a good thing or a bad thing. I just know that it is how parents control their children. I used the word “manipulated” simply because the OP asked “how susceptible we are to being manipulated?” I didn’t dare say that we are brain washing our kids or that would have meant a full on attack, so I chose a better word. And honestly, I’d think that after 2 years that you’d understand that I don’t give a shit what you think about the way I choose to express myself. I have NEVER looked to you for approval & that is NOT about to change, so get over your bossy self!!!

I’ve said raising children requires brain washing. No body attacked me.

No one else has an opinion on the fact that this was a magic trick, not some example of brainwashing?

As far as magicians go, nobody can touch Chris Angel!

@LadyMarissa Babies raised in orphanages overseas don’t cry. Once they are placed in the orphanage, they are put in a bed & left there except for food & diaper change. They cry, the caretaker doesn’t have time to spoil each one so they are ignored. After a while they just don’t bother to cry because there is NO reward in crying.

That’s called “learned helplessness”. Very dangerous and a good predictor for depression. It’s true that parents need to model an appropriate response to emotions, but ignoring children when they display “negative” emotions is bound to cause trust issues.

@Dutchess_III – lol you must be joking. His magic is about as good as I Dream of Jeannie. This guy at least executed a basic trick.