Emotive Conjugation - How Journalists Manipulate Our Emotions.
In August 2023, several Indian "Journalists" reported that the Indian Goverment was banning laptop imports. As one would expect, social media exploded with outrage over this ban that seemed to come out of nowhere.
Only if you read the actual memo, it said restricted, not banned.
"Import of laptops, tablets, all-in-one personal computers, and ultra-small form factor computers and servers falling under HSN 8741 shall be ‘restricted,’ and their import would be allowed against a valid license for restricted imports."
The word "restricted" was intentionally replaced with "banned" to incite outrage. This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is called Emotive or Russell Conjugation. It's a dirty trick that gets our emotional systems firing on all cylinders.
Looking back, I remember seeing tweets/statuses from my friends. Some expressing confusion, some outrage, and a lot of them had uncovered a conspiracy - "This has nothing to do with Reliance releasing the Jio laptop. Right? RIGHT?" - they sarcastically tweeted.
In hindsight, these claims were laughably far-fetched. Even if there was some crony-capitalist collusion between the Government and Reliance to promote Jio laptops, it probably wouldn't be so blatantly obvious.
There are other examples of this emotional trap - "XYZ Celebrity OUTRAGED over ABC Musician's comments", reads the headline. If you spend your precious 2 minutes and read the actual transcript of what was said, you realize they simply expressed minor disagreement, certainly not outrage. Nonetheless, they've got you. Whether you fume over the headline or read the entire article only to realize that it is ragebait, you've been conned. Afterall, you reacted to the trap and gave them the ad-bonus.
Now, to be perfectly clear, I am not asking you to never react to news. It makes sense to feel disgusted and angry when an innocent civilian is murdered, or when some horrific crime is committed against vulnerable populations. But, there's a huge difference between that and losing our collective minds over an import "restriction". We shouldn’t become puppets of disingenious journalists trying to make a quick buck by maliciously pushing out news with emotionally loaded terminology.
The next time you see an outrageous headline, pause for a moment to reflect - ask yourself - "Is this really true? Have all essential facts related to this issue been made public yet?" If all the "facts, not opinions" are public, you can research them and form your own opinion instead of being influenced by a hastily-crafted piece seeking to attract a large amount of eyeballs (pageviews in tech lingo). If the facts aren't public yet, you can wait. There isn't anything wrong with waiting to react. You might as well get upset later.
Until next time, TJ!