'Strength through discipline, strength through community, strength through action, strength through pride.' ('The Wave' by Morton Rhue) How to avoid manipulation?
Agnieszka Serafin - 11.10.2018 @ 16:28
Here you can read our opinion about the topic.
How can we avoid becoming the objects of manipulation?
by Gréta Juhászund Tamás Koósa, DNG Budapest/Hungary
We may be manipulated in many ways. If you don’t pay attention, you can turn into the object of manipulation fast and easily. Some of you are definitely manipulated without even realizing it, because it can be done in a clever way. People, who are very manipulative, can be easily recognized. They do not usually doubt, and they will try to change your opinion. If you feel you are being manipulated, you should do something against it. There are some questions that may help you to expose the manipulator. For example: „Would you really ask me to …?” Or „Do you really think it’s rational?”. After hearing these questions, he’ll be unsure. If he continues to persist, you should keep sticking to your guns, then the manipulator might get confused. It’s difficult to withstand manipulation. In “The Wave” we can see how destructive manipulation can be. When the problem was revealed, the wave could not be stopped anymore. You should never let anyone to control you without questioning them. You ‘d better ask for help.
English class The Wave-Foto bei Krisztián Varga
Gréta Juhász - 19.11.2018 @ 13:51
Hi Gréta and Tamás!
Nowadays manipulation is a serious problem, especially on the internet. Talking to people or selling something online are great ways for manipulators to find their victims. It’s a situation when you can’t spot some of the signs that you are an object to manipulation, that you’ve mentioned because you can’t actually see the person you’re talking to. I also think that ”The Wave” portrays that problem in a very interesting way. It doesn’t only show how and why those students were manipulated, but also how difficult for the main character it was to realise that and resist it. It is a YA novel so it is written for teenagers who often lack knowledge about that kind of danger so this book can be very educational for them. I had an opportunity to carry out a lesson about ”The Wave” at school and to observe students’ reactions. They were quite confused by the experiment and it took us some time to make them answer the questions the way we wanted them to. I really enjoyed your article, but I wish it was a bit longer.
Martyna Kołek - 15.12.2018 @ 16:50
Hello!
Unfortunately what Gréta, Tamás and Martina said is right. Manipulation is currently really common. It is present in most advertisements and even speeches of many important people. They all try to affect us and make us do something for them. In my opinion the best way to avoid manipulation is to learn about their techniques. Some of them are described by Robert Green in his book The Art of Seduction. You may not know it but seduction is just manipulation and takes place not only in male-female relationships. Pope John Paul II seduced thousands of people but he did that to change the world and do great things. It isn't really important how somebody does it but if they do it. If you know manipulation techniques, you are more aware when somebody uses them and you can avoid it. Stay with clear mind.
Sara Kotlarz - 02.01.2019 @ 20:19
Hi guys!
I really liked your article, even though it was a little bit short. However, you managed to provide the general information about the topic and give others an oppurtunity to carry on the discussion. What I think about manipulation is that trying to avoid it would be like getting blood from a stone (honestly, you would have to become a hermit :) ). Let’s make it clear, manipulation has affected almost every aspect of our lives, but we mostly don’t realise it because it’s concealed. We are being manipulated even in such trivial situations as, for example, while picking out a toothbrush in the supermarket, which is really terrifying. As it was perfectly shown in ‘The Wave’ and mentioned both it your article and Martyna’s response- the worst thing about the manipulation is the difficulty of standing up to the person who manipulates you. Albeit, it seems to me as the only reasonable solution. Hence my advice- instead of trying to avoid manipulation, stay aware of the fact that it exists and probably always will. In your article you were encouraging people to ask questions in order to make the manipulator be out of their depth. I could sketch in one more method, namely- gaining knowledge by reading newspapers and articles (of course remembering to trace the sources). The more educated you are, the harder it is to indoctrinate you. Sara, as for your comment- I had no idea that seduction can be considered as a form of manipulation. And thank you for alleging this book, you really made me want to read it and explore the topic.
Amelia Marchewczyk - 04.01.2019 @ 17:58
Hi Gréta,
I find the topic of your article really interesting. I agree that we can be manipulated by some people and don’t realize this. For example, we are being manipulated by social media all the time even if we think we are not. I also think that this is the most common way of manipulation – when someone who is manipulated does not know about this. We especially do not realize this when a person that we know well is manipulaiting us. Sometimes we manipulate other people without knowing about this. I think that we use the art of manipulation every day even in a simple conversation. It is okay, because manipulation is not always bad and there are many types of it. It’s like when we introduce ourselves to someone new. We try to be nice and often we compliment for example an elements of their clothing a this person has on themselves. It is a kind of manipulation because we want this stranger to like us so we do some activities to trigger a specific reaction. We mostly manipulate other people unconsciously. Just like most of the time we do not realize that we are the subject of manipulation. Of course, if you have knowlege about the art of manipulation you can affect someone consciously to achieve your goals. So knowlege about that is useful in everyday life. But I agree with you that we should never let someone control us.
Monika Pociecha - 08.01.2019 @ 16:12
Hi Gre´ta!
I enjoyed reading your article, because it is true and you spoke out a lot of my thoughts. I really agree that we all can be manipulated and don't notice it, even when we are trying to withstand manipulation, because there will be someone who is trying to manipulate us, always and everywhere. Very often we get manipulated by the internet, especially when there is an event like a sale, giveaway, etc.. The internet is very dangerous, because of many companies which save our data and sell it to other companies in order to offer us deals we are interested in. Another source of manipulation are people, expecially people we know well, because they know a lot about us, so it's easy for them to find our weaknesses. Weak or sad people are in the biggest danger to get manipulated, because they often want to get attention or to feel better and would do a lot in order to get what they want, so they're not even interested if theres somebody manipulating them or not. Another point I agree with is that we should defend ourselves against manipulative people. If you notice there is somebody, who only does things which are good for him, try to avoid this person and warn other people.
I think that the best way to avoid manipulation is to ask yourself why you are doing something. When you always know the backgroundstory behind your doings, you will stay safe!
Julian Stöckl - 20.01.2019 @ 17:22
I think to avoid manipulation one has to be very, very confident. Mostly shy people are the ones who do what others tell them to do, but confident people know what they want and aren't that easy to influence. But in general nearly everyone can be manipulated pretty easy, which is very dangerous, as you can see in the Second World War.
Hannah Daxer - 24.02.2019 @ 15:11