fascinating how far we’ve gotten in the science of abusing every aspect of human psychology

there’s so, so many ways to influence others

recently i’ve been binging some true crime, two videos by two different youtubers, same topic. A mother murdered by her adopted teen son

• video 1: the mother is presented as a flawed saint, not perfect but with a big heart. the teen is presented as a sociopathic monster, troubled, ungrateful, heartless. the second to last fight he broke her arm. the last fight he killed her. when he spoke of how his mother abused him the youtube comments sang “what a monster, to try to slander his mother after he killed her”

• video 2: a few more details appear, the focus shifts towards the mother. she once had two adopted sons, the second she adopted so “[her son] can experience having a sibling”, some time later CPS had to intervene as the second kid had bars in his windows and a bucket for a toilet. he was deemed troubled and ultimately ran away from home. she had a tendency to fight with her remaining son, degrade him on the basis of his race “if i hadn’t adopted you, you’d be standing on the border with the rest of those people” (she might’ve said “idiots” but i can’t be bothered to check). she felt like her teenage son owed her money for phone bills. the narrator here goes into detail how antisocial personality disorders can be caused by both genetic and environmental factors, they can be learnt behaviours. the remaining son often left home and lived with others after he fought with his mother, mostly about money. here the fact he broke her arm in a fight is ommited, just mentions how he lived with another person and thought long if he should come back. he’s presented as a troubled teen abused by his mother who taught him heartlessness and who ultimately snapped and killed her. the youtube comments sang “what a terrible woman, how could she treat him like that”

same situation, two videos giving you the “correct” interpretation of the events. if i hadn’t accidentally found the other one i wouldn’t even have known there was more to the story, it seemed very matter of fact, very objective, just reporting on what happened & the context that caused it.

it’s really that simple, all it takes is to pick the facts that suit your narrative and present them, you’re not really lying that way, but who would consider it truth either

and that’s one tactic amongst many