Truth Be Told … Fukushima Lies
The Times, Oct. 6, 2013: Japan admits it needs help to plug radioactive leaks […] Japan’s Prime Minister has asked the international community for help in containing radioactive leaks from the Fukushima nuclear plant, a month after promising the International Olympic Committee that the problem was under control. Shinzo Abe told an international Japanese Government knows exactly what is going on.
TEPCO knows exactly what is going on. Lying has been the information method of choice.
How do you know when you hear or read the truth???
This is a critical question on two levels …
- For your own safety and sanity it is imperative to know when someone is speaking (or writing) truthfully, and when they are being deceptive or deceptively manipulative.
- If you know how you experience “THE TRUTH” then you know something about what it sounds like, looks like and feels like … and you will be able to present yourself and your ideas so others will hear them as truth
N.B. – Before I jump ahead I want to point out something I believe absolutely …
All human beings have built in B.S. meters that tingle or tremble when we encounter deception … AND, we are able to override those signals when our hidden agendas and secondary gains interrupt our natural instincts and intuitions.
Lies, Lies, Lies …
Okay, so we all encounter lying from simple, innocent deception to outright malicious coercion – we must decide BEFORE we encounter the lies we inevitably will how we will address them and handle ourselves as we confront them.
Simple, innocent lies are the white lies that range from the deception we engage in when we want to throw someone a suprise party to when we don’t want to expose our real feelings for fear of the confrontation they would expose us to, e.g.: “No, I’m so sorry, I can’t go to the movie with you tonight I have to take care of my sick grandmother.”
Malicious coercion occurs when others manipulate our experience to gain their outcomes at any cost, e.g.: “I am an expert emergency room physician and would be happy to help you out in the hospital.” (one of many lies told by Frank Abagnale famed deceiver who convinced people he as among other things a pilot, physician, attorney … and along the way cashing over $2.5 million dollars of phony checks in 26 different countries).
Now it might seem outrageous and you might hear yourself asking, “How is it possible someone could get away with this without people realizing what’s going on when they meet someone who lies so outrageously???”
Let me share a comment from the Energy News site on an article about the Fukishima cover-up:
Energy News 99.99999999% of the World Public believe TEPCO statements and their Government’s statements because, lies are easier to mentally process than truth and facts!science conference in Kyoto yesterday that “my country needs your knowledge and expertise” in dealing with the worsening situation at the power station. […]
The information has been out there for months, if not years, and anyone who gave even the slightest care about the truth of Fukushima would have been alerted to the inconsistencies in the Japanese version of “the truth.”
Just as the commentor on Energy News points out, i.e.: ” … lies are easier to mentally process than truth and facts.”
The Art of Deception
This is how we ge caught in deception … the lies of commission and omission that others tell us, and the lies we tell ourselves (to others and ourselves BTW).
The biggest issues include our greed, our laziness, our submission to authority and our desire to avoid unpleasant confrontation.
All “Professional Criminals” know these rules of human nature … and they especially like those who are greedy and lazy, these folks are the perfect marks.
One type of professional criminal is the confidence man (or woman), these folks are also known as “grifters” or as a “con man.” These criminals look for marks who are driven by their greed and laziness to seek out opportunities to make “easy money” … and are therefore perfect stooges for the “con game” that will be run on them, soon separating the fool from his/her money.
Unfortuately, these folks are also playing in more legitimate games like selling where the unscrupulous give the entire profession a bad name and image.
If you don’t want to be a “mark” for either a con man or an unscrupulous sales person you need to learn the rules of deception, and their opposite the rules of honesty.
Influence Rules
One of the most famous studies on influence was done by Dr. Robert Childini and the results were published in his bestselling book, by the same name, “Influence.”
Childini came up with six principals of influence he identified in his study:
- Reciprocity
- Commitment/Consistency
- Social Proof
- Liking
- Authority
- Scarcity
By using these six principals of influence it is possible to both influence with integrity or to manipulate, deceive and coerce people.
The Mind Tools website (www.mindtools.com) calls these principals “The Six Weapons of Influence” and places this warning on their pages listing and explaining these tools:
[Childini’s Six Principals of Influence]
Warning: – Be careful how you use the six principles – it is very easy to use them to mislead or deceive people – for instance, to sell products at unfair prices, or to exert undue influence. When you’re using approaches like this, make sure that you use them honestly – by being completely truthful, and by persuading people to do things that are good for them. If you persuade people to do things that are wrong for them, then this is manipulative, and it’s unethical. And it’s clearly wrong to cheat or lie about these things – in fact, this may be fraudulent. A good reputation takes a long time to build. But, you can lose it in a moment!
Now when many people who have come across Childini’s work before think of both influence and deception they think of these principals.
FWIW the Japanese government and TEPCO have been using these principals to deceive the public and hide the facts for more than two years now. Finally, after lying to the world, and to the International Olympic Committee to get them to award the 2020 games to Japan, they have begun to come clean and share the truth they have known for years.
Think about it … how has the Fukushima story been told in the mainstream press???
As an local tragedy that’s under control? (Yes, absolutely early on and for the most part.)
In terms of a disaster that was affecting the entire region and possibly even remote parts of the world?” (On occassion, and mostly by the alternative press.)
That this was potentially an “extinction level” event, that was out of control and possibly uncontrollable by any means available to us whatsoever?” (Not all all anywhere other than in the fringe blogs that most people perceive as utterly looney or at best promoting unsupported conspiracy theories.)
Now the question you have to ask yourself is, “Who can I/will I believe?” -or- “How can I know when I’m being told the truth?”
Patterns of Persuasion
There is more that occurs beneath the surface of human interaction and communication than occurs above the surface.
Almost all research and training in influence and persuasion, or alternatively training in uncovering deception, is based on some form of a cognitive/peceptual model.
The vast majority of research and training around the topic of human communication focused on influence, persuasion and deception is based in how we make decisions cognitively (i.e.: how we think) based on information available to us perceptually (i.e.: information that we can see and/or hear).
HOWEVER … for years I’ve been working with and developing the pre-conscious, non-verbal skills that we are innately born with to …
- A) communicate with honesty and integrity
and
- B) instinctively and intuitively recognize deception
… and these skills are first and foremost based in our somatic awareness.
As strange as the mixed metaphor maybe some people refer to the somatic awareness they have as a small quiet voice within” or “an internal whispering” – in part because the experience is so subtle as to be virtually undetectable as a feeling in their body.
What I’ve found actually happens is that there is first a somatic response that is in fact body-based and only then, after the fleeting body-based response, they become aware of what they’ve just experienced and processed, often as an internal auditory whisper.
The challenge for many people however is that when this feeling comes up into conscious awareness it’s no longer present in the body.
When there is no check-and-balance system in place, or a way to confirm the inkling about something you just sense, you will rely on conscious, rational/logical processing to make your decisions – and, you don’t have the information that you need to make a high-quality decision in the rational/logical channel of your experience!
In fact, professional liars … including grifters, indecent politicians, malfeasant corporations, unscrupulous sales people, portions of the interconnected media and others … depend on you using your rational, logical mind to make the decisions they want to lead you to making.
Trusting Your Gut
We literally store a “second brain,” i.e.: the label Dr. Michael Gershon, full professor in the department of Pathology and Cell Biology at Columbia University’s Medical Center gave to the enteric nervous system, in our intestines.
The enteric nervous system consists of around one hundred millions neurons. That’s a huge number of neurons for food processing!!! Compare this number, 100,000,000, to the number of neurons in the human spinal cord for example, about thirteen million (13,000,000) or about eight times as many.
While many people are aware of the significance of the spinal cord to the nervous system, human information processing and the motor responses that constitute much of our voluntary and involuntary behavior, they are much less aware or the impact of our “second brain” in how they perceive information and respond to it.
There’s another potent factoid about the enteric nervous system that might make you wake up and realize its potential importance to your decision making …
About 90% of the fibers of the vagus nerve (the primary nerve that connects the brain to the organs of the body, especially the heart … lowering or increasing heart rate/blood pressure and the like) run from the enteric brain to the cranial brain and not the other way around!
Beyond What Can Be Seen Or Heard
One significant aspect of the information processing and the subsequent transfer of that information to the cranial brain is that the enteric brain significantly impacts how we feel about things and our emotional response to events.
We are aware that neurologially the enteric brain and the cerebellum are linked. One way this connection is in place is via the route the the vagus nerve takes through the front portion of the cerebellum joins with the pons, the inferior cellebellar peduncle, where the cerebellum and the medulla oblongata (brain stem) meet.
Ultra simply put the vagus nerve and the cerebellum are capable of stimulating one another and creating an effect that you will experience in the body and that will affect your emotions and emotional responses.
Gaining direct access to the subtle, but profound, signals processed deep in your physiology will create an awareness of what is happening around you that others could only consider as some kind of magical or psychic awareness.
IMO the cerebellum is the portion of our neural system that I’d personally prefer to label our second brain for reasons pointed out by Dr. Steven Novella on his NeuroLogica Blog who is a clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine.
I tend to disagree with Dr. Novella’s characterization of the cerebellum as narrowly focused only on coordinating motor movement … by some recent accounts that view is an old and outdated characterization. For instance another neuroscientist, Masao Ito, gives much more credence to the functions of the cerebellum in his ground breaking book, “The Cerebellum: Brain for an Implicit Self”).
And, Where Do We Go From Here …
Which Is The Way That’s Clear?
In the work I do with clients we bring to the forefront the subtle somatic, or body-based, signals that are typically present below or before conscious recognition, perception and decision making … striving to create awareness and direct access to those signals.
When you become aware of your somatic signals you begin to assume control of your pre-conscious responses in the same way that professional athletes, A-list performers and special forces soliders do. These are the same signals that elite communicators use to manage themselves and their presentations to others.
Developing this level of skill exceeds by far what is possible when you rely only on developing your ordinary cognitive capabilities, including rational and logical thinking.
One of the most powerful things you can do to begin developing this “Sixth Sense of somatic sensitivity and awareness is to train ourselves to become sensitive when we are intentionally using our bodies.
There are what I call the “long road” options to doing this (some of which I have engaged in myself and loved BTW):
- Yoga
- Martial Arts
- Dance
- Chi Kung
You can add to this any movement activity that trains you to use your body and to simultaneously remain conscious of your experience in your body.
There are some shorter routes to learning about somatic sensitivity and awareness like:
- Alexander Technique
- Feldenkrais
- Hanna Somatics
And again there are many more in this category as well when applied for the purposes of learning in the hands of a truly skilled practitioner, e.g.: Rolfing, Cranial Ostepathy …
There is however a caveat I’d apply to these types of interventions, when the intention is physical training or therapeutic the potentional deep somatic learning and sensitivity I’m pointing to is often lost to the primary outcome of performance and/or rehabilitation.
The Clear Path …
My approach, i.e.: the MythoSelf Process and Soma-Semantics are focused on making explicit the very subtle and sublime aspects of somatic awareness, and developing the ability to notice for and control the somatic responses you have.
To my way of thinking this is the direct route, the clear way forward … i.e.: putting your attention directly on what you want to learn about noticing your somatic responses and how to access the powerful information they reveal to you.
For instance the next time you become aware of a strong emotional response your having, positive or negative, notice what you are doing with your body.
At the gross level of awareness you may notice things like clenching your fists, shoulders or jaw, a specific postural change like leaning forward or back, or a big shift in your breathing from very shallow to hyperventilating. In this same category you may even notice things like body tremors or shivering, teeth chattering, feelings a sense of looseness in your bladder and/or bowels, feeling like you cannot get enough air or faint, especially when you are in an extreme situation.
On a more subtle level you may notice less dramatic changes in breathing, your heart beating more quickly, pounding, ringing or swishing in your ears, extreme heat or coolness (especially in the extremities, i.e.: hands, feet and head/nose/ears), blushing, mouth dryness, light perspiration (especially from the palms or on the face/scalp), etc.
If you are extemely sensitive you may notice the precusors of movement and/or response (pre-fight/flight), a slight contraction of the muscles in your torso, arms, legs, hands or feet (especially slight twitches in your scalp, fingers, toes, lips and/or tongue), change in your eye blink rate, change of visual focus (i.e. sharpness, depth of vision, peripheral vision, color awareness), auditory directionality (acute awareness of the location of sounds in the environment).
Any or all of these can be signals that something is happening in the environment that you want to pay closer attention to so you can respond immediately, accurately and usefully.
Updating the System
One of the most powerful ways to enhance this kind of deep somatic learning, shorten the learning curve dramatically and build exquisite acuity (somatic micro-calibration), is with direct facilitation … i.e.: working with a highly trained and skilled facilitator who is capable of provoking specific somatic responses to be explored and updated.
An example of this kind of learning when you want to revisit vis-a-vis alternative responses would be to recall an event vis-a-vis exploring the possibility of alternative responses in situations similar to it.
For example as you think back to your response to the news coming out of Japan about Fukushima what were your responses?
If we were working together I’d ask you to think about what you heard about Fukushima’s nuclear reactors after the tsumami event in Japan in 2011, and I’d watch how you respond.
Then I might ask you if you remember how you heard the news … reading about it, watching a newscast on television, hearing it on the radio or from someone you know … and I’d continue to watch your pre-conscious, non-verbal responses.
I would likely then have some information about how you processed that event and I might begin feeding it back to you indirectly, in my own posture, gestures and movements, or via using hypnotic protocols in communication to direct your attention to your somatic responses.
We might then move onto how you thought about the news coming out (or not coming out) about Fukushima over the past couple of years. All the time I’d be weaving the information you were displaying back into the context conversationally so it became a part of what was happening between us interactionally.
When we’d conversed for a bit, and I’d gathered enough information to form a baseline and a pattern of response from you about this event and your experience of it, I’d move to asking you what you now think that in essence the Japanese government and TEPCO have revealed that the situation is out of control and that they likely lied about it all along.
NOW I’D BE FIXATED ON YOUR RESPONSES!!!
You’d be inadvertently revealing how you respond to being lied to … and we’d have a new pattern to work with that you could be using to notice for in the future in any situation where knowing the truth would be important to you … the pattern that remains “elusively obvious” (to quote the great Moshe Feldenkrais).
- PERSONAL PATTERNS OF PERSUASION PART I: Reading and Calibrating Communication Somatically
When you learned to tap into this response you’d have the first part of the learning you need to become a highly effective communicator … i.e.: reading and calibrating the responses of others somatically.
- PATTERNS OF PERSUASION PART II: Sending Somatic Messages of Trustworthiness and Veracity
The second part of the learning is to know how to shape your own communication so that others receive and perceive what you want them to about your trustworthiness and the veracity of your message.
Best,
Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.
Princeton, NJ
[mark – an un-streetwise person, and easy target or victim, e.g.: “This mark came walking out of the bank yesterday, counting his income tax check he just cashed. I just had to rob him.”]
PS – If you want to work with me on your own Personal Patterns of Persuasion check out the brochure for the Autumn Master Class I’m running with Acuity World in Denmark at the beginning of next month …
Behavioral Communication for Selling
PPS – If you think you want to attend but can’t make the live program work we’ll be running a Live Internet Simulcast of the full Autumn Master Class I’ll be delivering at Acuity World, and there is a special pre-program discount if you only want to order the program recordings so you can view them at your leisure in your own time.
NOTE: We’ll have the registration page for the simulcast and the order forms for the recordings up in the next day or two.
Freada says
Great post, I smiled and remembered what my dear old dad used to say when reading the paper “I’m reading between the lies!”
As you say when Somatics, Feldenkrais, Yoga and other modalities are taught with the main intention being physical training or therapeutic, the beauty of what these modalities can teach is diluted. When taught through the lens of ‘awareness’ however, the results are far more potent, in my opinion at least.
However the MythoSelf model is extremely powerful in it’s ability to quickly, easily and practically become aware of the somatic responses to external and internal stimulus and the ensuing semantic responses and once remembered – it’s never forgotten and definitely fosters the ability to ‘read between the lies:-)
I totally enjoyed and was somewhat taken by what you said about the Enteric Nervous System and am off on a track with that one!
Thanks again Joseph.
Joseph says
Freada,
I love your dad’s comment!
The book on the enteric nervous system by Gershon, “The Second Brain” is worth reading IMO. It’s a bit outdated, but 90+% of it is still on the money (as we say here in the U.S. of A.).
What I love about doing the MythoSelf Process work, both in groups and one on one, is the way it integrates the system.
Literally I get to access and work with the entire interface with the world as Moshe Feldenkrais referred to it, i.e.: the human nervous system. Moshe also made it clear that from his point of view the senses were data feeds into the human nervous system, much like the lens of a camera simply feeds the visual data into the working mechanism that captures the image … by no means unimportant, but also not what makes the image.
I also get to access the semantic forms that arise from the interaction with the world, the ontological transforms of the individual as they are organized, manifested and represented. These transforms are presented in the somatic forms and the symbolic forms that we hold, and they in turn hold our worldview intact and all the meanings we extract from it.
Then of course there’s all the interpersonal “stuff” that shows up as well, and the structure of our communication, verbal and non-verbal, that becomes our autobiographical narrative. Incredible “stuff” (FWIW I’m reading a great biography of James Hillman, the American psychologist who developed Archetypal Psychology, which always feels to me more spiritual than psychological, like Jung on PX90 – the book makes incredibly clear how Hillman’s autobiographical story shaped his life and his life’s work, again … worth reading).
Ultimately, what the MythoSelf Process offers that to my way of thinking transcends some other approaches to transformation is the wholeform structure that I’ve incorporated from two decades of working with Roye (Fraser … developer of the Generative Imprint model). This takes the entire experience into the transcendent domain, making it all about transformational change vs. rehabilitation or therapeutic intervention.
Thanks for your provocative comment … got me thinking `;~)
Joseph
t says
Hi,
The wholeform is what has added tremendous value, agility and deep sense of agency around the story. I’ve explored other somatic traditions that have aikido, speech acts and physicial reorganization as their foundations. I find that it’s more of re-shaping into a new shape as a process and not a singular act or wholeform act of re-shaping the ontology. Hence, I’m applying now those other traditions which are a bit more physical and still embedded in informing and growing awareness only after I’ve mytho-cized myself. Then and only then do I find that the other practices just deepen my whole form. It makes the path of mastery much more precise and anchored and grounded in wholeform self. I take it from my experience that some of the other emobidment forms are more like incremental movement with some sudden shifts towards transformation and the mytho is instant transformation again and again with the original transoformation being the anchor.
Best,
T
Freada says
Yes, this is true the wholeform structure is key and opens the inner sanctuary to meld with the transcendent.
Thanks for the book recommendations.
Freada
Joseph says
Freada,
Welcome … enjoy.
J
Awoke says
.
Joseph says
Awoke …
Does that mean I’ve said everything there is to say???
J
Dagfinn says
You’re poking one of my biggest interests here, Joseph. I’m with you in everything you say, at least in principle. But since you talk about comforting lies, I feel I must point out that alarming lies as well. Comforting lies are almost inevitable with an event like Fukushima. Alarming lies also exist, like the picture of the whales that were allegedly killed by radiation from the Fukushima reactor. Here’s one example: http://conservativeread.com/hundreds-of-whales-radiated-to-death-near-fukushima-story-being-censored-by-japan/
When I first saw it a few months ago, my bs detector went off immediately, and I did an image search on Google and found that the image was from New Zealand in 2010 and had nothing to do with radiation. Now I see that a Google search for “fukushima whales” turns up articles that are critical of the original scare.
There is a common willingness among certain elites to manipulate the population emotionally. I oppose that whether it’s about calming people or scaring them.
I led the organization that opposed the use of mercury tooth fillings in Norway. They are now banned. The ADA will probably still tell you theyr’e safe, which is ridiculous. To take just one example from the other side of the coin, global warming has not caused hurricanes in the USA. There is no increase, rather the opposite. The IPCC has confirmed the absence of an increase in catastrophic extreme weather twice now.
I guess what I’m saying is that it’s harder to find the truth than to detect lies. But first you have to understand that there’s something amiss. Which is your point, of course.
A different question is why people believe alarming lies. Surely one reason is the fact that bad news travels better than good news.
Dagfinn says
I suppose I should give some data to back up my claims. It’s been 8 years since the last landfall of a hurricane of category 3 or higher in the US. It’s never been nearly that long since the start of the record in 1900. Sandy was a category 1, but caused a lot of damage mainly because of the fact that it hit densely populated areas.
http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.no/2013/09/updated-major-hurricane-drought-figure.html
This may be coincidental, or possibly hurricanes are forming further east in the Atlantic due to global warming.
The IPCC on extreme weather:
http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.no/2013/10/coverage-of-extreme-events-in-ipcc-ar5.html
Globally, hurricanes are expected to decrease in number and increase in intensity in the future, but there is significant uncertainty about this.
The main thing this shows is that you can’t trust propaganda from environmentalists, politicians and media.
Joseph says
Dagfinn,
Very interesting stuff!
FWIW it’s the first time I’ve encountered this data, so thanks for that … and now I have some homework 😉
Joseph
Dagfinn says
Joseph,
I can recommend Judith Curry’s blog at judithcurry.com to get a wide range of perpectives.
T says
so on the subject of lies, what does one do when the teacher lies ? As in the case of knowing Irv Dardik. This subject reminded me of a conversation I had with his son Trevor. Yes I found his theories on health so interesting that I called and spoke with him several times and when he asked how I discovered his work, I told him. Ironically he mentioned this to his father who said he had never even met you.
Joseph says
T,
FWIW I don’t think that either Trevor or Irving lied to you, or at least I can’t think of any reason why they would. So you’ll have to ask them about that if you continue to wonder.
I do think it’s possible that Irving has no recollection whatsoever of meeting Nancy and me at his home in N.J. … I assume he’s met many, many people, as have I, and can’t remember all of them (and, FWIW neither can I).
When teachers lie there are many reasons I could come up with … i.e.: to support an argument they are making that is unsupported otherwise, to appear more significant than they are (or perceive themselves to be), to manipulate a student for either their own purposes or the students (Richard Bandler has often said that he’ll “lie” when he’s telling a story for the purpose of creating an outcome with someone … but he tells them he may lie to them, so I have to ask is then a lie???) …
But, the question you ask is what does one do???
My first response is to offer that you verify the lie, and then you do you best to determine the impact and outcome of it. From there your options begin to open in different directions, so the only valid response is the same one I always offer … “What’s Next?” (only you have that answer for yourself).
I recently did a call for one of my monthly teleseminar membership groups and we discussed the idea of “agendas” and that everyone has one at any given moment, and more then one as you track through time … the real question for me is what’s the agenda for what someone does, for instance, what’s your agenda in asking this question about Irving and Trevor???
People have a potential of four agendas in any interaction … 1) the agenda they know they are running that they share, 2) the agenda they know they are running that they don’t share, 3) the agenda they don’t know they are running that they can’t share, but is known to others, and 4) the agenda they don’t know they are running that others don’t know they are running either.
IMO the latinos had it right when they posed the caution, Caveat Emptor. Not so much literally, i.e.: “may he beware” … but more in terms of remain “aware” … I assume it’s my responsibility to act adumbratively and to allow the present to foreshadow the future.
So I guess I’m saying are you getting what you want from the teacher … and is the relationship intact, ethical and operating with integrity??? If it’s not then maybe you need to either beware … or become more aware.
I hope that helps.
Joseph
Sarah Lawrence Hinson says
Really enjoyed this post Joseph thank you.
Also found your ‘4 agendas’ comment interesting and enlightening. Hadn’t heard of that before and will try tracking it at the next school Parents Group – heh! Have tested out the ‘bs tools’ installed from your past trainings over time and they/me/I work pretty well. Even managed at a party several years ago to try it out overtly (with agreement) with someone, who told three stories and asked me which were true/false. The stories were respectively true, false and some truth, some falsity. Is that a word?? Anyways…
The information about the enteric brain. V useful. In the energy work I’ve studied come across the (albeit metaphysical) concept of the ‘Know-Not’ located as an energy center in the body up under the ribs in the solar plexus area. If one ascribes to a certain metaphysical viewpoint…this is where our ‘soul purpose’ is stored in this lifetime and can be activated. It’s exactly where I feel lies or incongruencies from people, fer sure. Definite quiver or tremble as you discuss.
In gratitude always for the work given in the past and the knowledge shared. Think I’ll be reading more about the enteric brain.
Cheers
Sarah