Learning rhetoric for the purpose of better recognizing it in political speech and news or other media.

Pop music song lyrics and other memes are included and a martyr of the US military actions in Gaza, Aaron Bushnell.

This is a a good video about strategies of speech and writing which can manipulate our beliefs and our emotions which can lead to a change in our behavior and actions. Fight gullibility with knowledge of the tactics that are being used against us. Discerning lies from truth will help, but the repetition counts anyway. Turning off the worst of it is safest. Recognize that it is happening in something you watch and then consider whether finding something else to watch might be the better plan.

Grammar logic and rhetoric helps us to discern truth. Grammar - what are the words saying? Logic - is it making sense? Rhetoric - is the wordplay dazzling your emotions or judgement values in some way?

While I didn’t know all the Greek terms for rhetoric strategies, as an constant reader, I was familiar with many of the techniques and examples. Good writing is lyrically beautiful, not just logically interesting. Good advertising and political speech writing can be lyrically beautiful while also delivering cognitive dissonance - conflicting statements, or other emotional strategies that can affect our likelihood to buy a product or vote for one candidate instead of another.

. . .Or turn you into a vigilante who is dangerous to their fellow human beings.

. . . Or turn you into a groupie willing to spend more money and time than they have available - but willing to joke about selling a kidney to participate anyway. When you want more, more, more of something, then you may be reacting to an addictive substance. Repetitive messaging and lyrics can get deep into our psyche and feel powerful, but what changes are being made? How much of a dopamine response is adding to addictive urges to consume more and more and in more exciting ways? the old level of excitement quickly becomes not enough to produce the same level of dopamine output. New things stimulate our curiosity and produce more dopamine than routine familiar things. And ethically, morally, what new values were embedded within the messaging?

Why Taylor Swift is Good for Your Health

Yes, Taylor Swift’s lyrics share some wisdom about human foibles - “Hater’s gonna hate” is truism for which the legal battle over plagiarism was lost to Taylor. Her lyric was deemed just different enough to not violate copyright of another artist. But is her work good for mental health?

Modern day song lyric:

https://twitter.com/Tamzilla_52/status/1764107071748796469?t=6hiqajuvfozFVlplfepq6A&s=19

A man compared the repetitive lyrics of a Beatles song as just as inane, and then followed with the suggestion that the Beatles lyrics also belittled women “little girl”. That was 60 years ago. He also suggested the lyrics were fine because Nicki Minaj was “shaming another woman”. Since when was adult "art" about grade school name calling in petty revenge? Who wants to listen to a grade schooler wanna-be who slut shames other females? That guy I guess.

Another example is a song by Beyoncé, called Run the Worlds (Girls). The video is extremely violent and a repeating line that isn’t fully spelled out below is “Who run this motha <fucker>?” “Girls”. The <fucker> part is only partially pronounced or left as silent syllables within the musical beat, … “motha ___ ___” “Girls”. Why would a song supposedly about girl power be using such a disgusting phrase about mother or motherhood? Are we supposed to believe that the entire world is a ‘mother fucker’? All of life is abusive to mothers? Or is Beyoncé promoting division and hate speech about a protected category (the female sex)?

When pop music is calling for violence by youth, is that okay?

https://twitter.com/Maeve0330/status/1764140507872022757?t=NjnkoDNH_0ZXWT07jFOA4A&s=19

Palate cleanser:

• Hallelujah, sung by Lucy Thomas, (Youtube).

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This post by The Forgotten Side of Medicine is important. Watching the full video interview by Tucker Carlson with Xi Van Fleet, a survivor of Mao and Red China is worth it. She saw this all happening once already and has been trying to warn Americans that we are in big <f’ing> trouble. <*my words>

The Immense Cruelty of Population Control Campaigns

Too similar and also very sad - a US soldier set himself on fire in protest of us military actions in Gaza.

https://twitter.com/ufarooq786110/status/1762886673124241709?t=xA2qMzjYp8Zl0YDLH8nqxw&s=19

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And this post by Lies are Unbekoming about how the trans industry is harming child trauma victims by suggesting that all their problems will go away if they only take harmful medications, hormones, and surgeries to try to pretend to be the opposite sex.

“The decision to undergo gender reassignment surgery is monumental. Can you share your mental and emotional state during the two years leading up to the surgery and immediately afterwards?

Answer: I wanted to make the pain of my childhood go away that all I wanted but the hormones and surgery only caused more pain and confusion. I didn’t want to be the person who was abused.”

DeTransition

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https://twitter.com/RealCheckMarker/status/1764734195484459300?t=mZPRb7UDXYM46uTpuKzWpQ&s=19

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Disclaimer: This information is being provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use and is not intended to provide individual health guidance.

May peace fill your day with calm serenity. 🙏