The Art of Manipulation

Art can be presented in the form of a product, or it can be used as a tool to sell other products. I see art as a tool for manipulation of the mind, the same way a scalpel is a tool for manipulation of the flesh. It's good or evil depending on the context. Doctors MUST know how to manipulate a person's physiology to successfully treat them. In a similar way, artists should know how to manipulate the human mind, if they want to avoid unethical actions. Doctors have tools of manipulation, like scalpels, retractors, needles, drugs, etc. The same tools can be effectively used for torture and evil deeds. Even the most powerful, most manipulative persuader, cannot make you do things against your will. What they do is convince you that what they want you to do is what you want to do. It's always your final decision that matters. There is no way to persuade somebody without their consent.

One can be exposed to propaganda without their awareness of it, and that's called indoctrination. A child doesn't have a choice to NOT give consent, because they're entirely dependent on their parents. The external threat of the parents abandoning the child forces the child to give consent. I call this type of manipulation irresponsible, when you take advantage of one's weaknesses to brainwash them. It's not manipulation itself that's the issue, but rather that it's forced upon one. In the case where you depend on somebody else, you choose to comply because it's best for your well-being. So practically, you still give consent because it's the best option for you, compared to the alternatives. If your dependency is forced, the persuader is obviously aggressing against you, and his actions are immoral. But it's not persuasion itself that is evil, but rather it was the manipulator's coercion.

Intimidation is a form of manipulation that might force someone into making a choice, whether a good one, or a bad one. But that's an impractical form of persuasion because the intimidated person won't own the decision, and it wouldn't take them long to change their minds later. Intimidation is most commonly used by con-artists, because they benefit from their victim's short-term confusion. Bad tradesmen also use intimidation to pitch their products, and they often end up not being as successful as the honest merchants.

We see art being used in advertising as a way of promoting different products, people, and ideas. Art has always been a very useful tool for religious nuts to promote their delusional beliefs - the hypnotic church liturgies, the repetitive use of symbolism (with certain symbols serving as anchors), sponsorship of events in the name of god, etc. Art is used in advertising to strengthen commercial brands, catch people's attention, and persuade them to buy products. Not to mention ideological political beliefs and new-age philosophies that are constantly being propagandized by confused artists.

Art as a product in and of itself is not that important, to say the least. Pop music performers take advantage of art as a tool to promote their artistic products and get paid. They want to convince you that their compilation of sounds and words are special, which in 99.99% of the time is not true. So still, at the end of the day, it's the application of art as a tool that makes the difference. Are you an artist, or are you an artister?

Illusion of Bias

I finished my new short film, Illusion of Bias.


Link on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/5145980
Link on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDZBzXa6BUM&fmt=18
You can see some of the work in progress in my deviantart account:
http://sparxdragon.deviantart.com/gallery/#Illustrations