#2 Introduction: They Say

Upon finishing "Coercion: Why We Listen To What 'They' Say", I was left extremely impressed with the author's thoughts, opinions, and especially his writing techniques. He not only went into great depth as to what he was expressing, he personalized his evidence, explained every opinion thoroughly, and then expressed the manipulative  manner of his writing, only to further prove his point. In his book introduction, Douglas Rushkoff leads his readers through a brief evolution of media and its effects on the public. Due to the growing advancement of technology, most people have been blind-sided into being compliant to advertisers, to naively listen and base decisions on what “they” say. Even when we think we are outsmarting their lure, it turns out that in most cases we are still exactly where they want us to be – buying out of the palm of their hand.

Though I was well aware of the whatever-it-takes-to-profit motives by advertisers, bosses, and other “theys” of authority, until reading this introduction I had no idea the complexity of how businesses went about taking the most money from consumers possible. Something that I thought before was just a choice of my free will and inability to say no when shopping. I believed I was aware of all the coercive techniques used to manipulate potential buyers like myself. However, in his book Rushkoff states “Media-savvy young people have learned to reject advertising that tries too hard to make its product look "cool." In response, companies now produce decidedly "uncool" advertisements, which appeal to the cynical viewer who thinks he can remain unswayed.” … “Our attempts to stay one step ahead of coercers merely provokes them to develop even more advanced, less visible, and, arguably, more pernicious methods of persuasion.” Reading these words in black and white, I instantly realized that I fell right into this category. I was immediately appalled and, at the same time, embarrassed that I was still able to be fooled so easily.

After reading it over several times, there was nothing in this book introduction that I strongly disliked or disagreed with.  And the way it was presented only made it better. His disassociation technique in order to prove how easy it is to get sucked in and immediately give someone ethos, even if we have no idea if “they” are deserving, for me was the most impactful. I thought this piece overall was very capturing, had an intriguing topic, and seemed to be written by a brilliant writer.