The media scripts the mind.

On the generous end, media informs. On the nefarious end, it programs.

It’s why influential figures throughout history sought to own newspapers and media empires. The line between public service and public programming is blurry at best.

In this world of information abundance (or overload), moderating consumption and exercising independent critical thinking is even more important if one hopes to avoid being scripted.

One of the best defenses against being media scripted is to be aware of the programming tactics. Knowing what a manipulation tactic looks like minimizes its power. Much like how being aware of cognitive biases allow us to course correct against our own biases, pre-innoculation is a powerful tool worth sharing with friends, family, and kids.

The short series Prebunking Manipulation Techniques is amongst the best I’ve found in describing how these things work. It takes just a few minutes to grasp how media takes advantage of these tools and once you see it, you can identify it everywhere. Here are a few of to start with: