On Thu, 08 Jan 2026 04:57:27 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

The smart ones try to control what people want.

The smart ones know that?s impossible. The best they can do is entice
the punters with attractive alternatives, and leave them to make the
choice.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Thu, 8 Jan 2026 07:01:19 -0000 (UTC)
Lawrence D?Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

The smart ones try to control what people want.

The smart ones know that?s impossible. The best they can do is en

tice

the punters with attractive alternatives, and leave them to make the
choice.

Oh, it's possible-ish, for a time, in the right social context; advert-
ising is essentially weaponized mass psychology at this point, and they
got *very* good at it for a while there. The interesting thing is that,
as so much of the corporate space is dominated by absolute morons with
no connection to the line of business these days, a lot of the major
players are being stupid enough that even the ad people can't sell it
to the masses. Like, that Dell laptop - on top of "AI-ready" being not
a thing *anyone* needs (to the extent that it's even a *thing* at all
and not just marketing woo-woo,) the other features mentioned are a
transparent attempt to ape that one Macbook that everyone in the world
hated, the one that was probably the reason Apple finally gave Jony Ive
the boot. Whose bright idea was *that!?*


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 08/01/2026 16:45, John Ames wrote:

On Thu, 8 Jan 2026 07:01:19 -0000 (UTC)
Lawrence D?Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

The smart ones try to control what people want.

The smart ones know that?s impossible. The best they can do is entice
the punters with attractive alternatives, and leave them to make the
choice.

Oh, it's possible-ish, for a time, in the right social context; advert-
ising is essentially weaponized mass psychology at this point, and they
got *very* good at it for a while there.

Especially in terms of politics.
Marketing is the solution to the problem of democracy.

To hell with the product,. Just sell them the 'brand'

Cf. 'The triumph of the Will' in 1935...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_jDvhGJXIM

The original MAGA .... source material.

The interesting thing is that,
as so much of the corporate space is dominated by absolute morons with
no connection to the line of business these days, a lot of the major
players are being stupid enough that even the ad people can't sell it
to the masses.

Indeed.

Like, that Dell laptop - on top of "AI-ready" being not
a thing *anyone* needs (to the extent that it's even a *thing* at all
and not just marketing woo-woo,) the other features mentioned are a transparent attempt to ape that one Macbook that everyone in the world
hated, the one that was probably the reason Apple finally gave Jony Ive
the boot. Whose bright idea was *that!?*

I think people today are so world weary of marketing that the default assumption is that pretty much everything they see of hear through media
owned or funded by rich people is a carefully constructed lie.


--
No Apple devices were knowingly used in the preparation of this post.


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2026-01-08, The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

I think people today are so world weary of marketing that the default assumption is that pretty much everything they see of hear through media owned or funded by rich people is a carefully constructed lie.

Perhaps, but then they shrug and buy it anyway.

--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 1/8/26 02:01, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

On Thu, 08 Jan 2026 04:57:27 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

The smart ones try to control what people want.

The smart ones know that?s impossible. The best they can do is entice
the punters with attractive alternatives, and leave them to make the
choice.

"Dilution"

Put MANY "truths" out there, MANY "options". This
breaks-up what could become large unified movements.


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)