There has always been manipulation. Lies span the millennia of our species’ existence and remain powerful as a subtle form of control. What changes the reach of their power is the speed at which the mechanisms of manipulation are transmitted from one person to another. That flow is faster and faster.

Examining history, we find absurdities carried out on the basis of mechanisms of manipulation. Among countless examples, I cite a few: witch hunts, the Inquisition, the persecution of Jews, slavery and, quite recently, the relentless persecution of scientists and journalists.

The power of control depends on manipulation, so that many will think, feel and do what a few desire. The controlled person has little contact with reality (and even that “little” is perceived through a lens of distortion). They have low awareness of their own needs and of other people’s real needs (their needs and emotions will be defined by the controller) and do not use their intuitive and logical capacities, moving along in definitions manipulated by the controller.

From my narrow point of view, the most painful thing is seeing the controlled person not use the gift of autonomy and of realizing their own potential. It is as if their very connection with reality were extracted and that void filled with subtle and not so subtle commands of control.

Two aspects trouble me: how and why does the manipulator seduce so many? And, what intrigues me most, what leads a person to obey manipulative commands blindly?

Watching manipulators, we can see the systematic and deliberate use of the fallacy. And this is very old: the first to speak of the subject was the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), in his work De Sophisticis Elenchis (Sophistical Refutations). In that text, he described 13 fallacies. Another philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), in the book The Art of Being Right, describes 38 strategies for winning a debate by any means. His book can be considered a manual of argumentative abuse.

Fallacy is a word that comes from the Latin fallere. It means to deceive. It covers incoherent, baseless, invalid, flawed, mendacious arguments. A fallacy can be considered a trap that makes information with no objective contact with reality seem convincing. Moving through notifications and posts on social media, I very often come across the logical fallacy, evidenced by the manipulative use of inappropriate language and flawed arguments.

Knowing the fallacies can protect us, since the controlling, manipulative person knows them and uses them deliberately, with a planned purpose.

Have a look at some fallacies; many of them we can spot with a quick check of the day’s news:

• Appeal to ignorance (argumentum ad ignorantiam) — “Since scientists have not proved that a certain drug does not work, it works.”
• False dilemma — “Either you vote for Eurípedes or evil will prevail.”
• Appeal to force (argumentum ad baculum) — The controlled person is told of the unpleasant consequences if they disagree with the controller.
• Appeal to pity (argumentum ad misericordiam) — Manipulation is carried out by exploiting the controlled person’s fragile state.
• Appeal to prejudice — The controller uses emotion to load with drama aspects related to the controlled person’s beliefs or morals.

And, to close this small sample:

• Personal attacks (argumentum ad hominem) — Instead of countering the argument, the manipulator attacks the speaker, going after the person’s gender, character, origin, race or religion.

It is natural that violence, constraint, threats and the sowing of fear accompany the fallacies.

Let us turn to the other side of this phenomenon: what makes a person swallow, without thinking, arguments, threats and frightening visions of a dystopian future?

Obedience is the primary factor from which all other behaviors that keep one person under another’s control derive. The controlled person is trained, from childhood, not to contest the “truths” of parents, teachers and religious figures. It is very rare that, in place of imposition, there is encouragement of autonomous thinking.

Derived from this chronic subservience are tolerance and conformism, which rest on not qualifying the rare objections. After all, whoever controls knows more than the one controlled, to the point that the controlled person loses contact with their feelings and fears and believes blindly in flagrant lies.

Along with this conformity to the controller, the controlled person turns against those who unmask, protest or point. Pointing at reality (“The emperor has no clothes!”) makes the crowd turn on the one who pointed, even if it sees the nakedness. Because the controlled person doubts themselves. All the time. Not understanding, they attribute to themselves insufficient intelligence. When they think of refusing the command, they judge themselves lazy and, when a bit of awareness approaches, they see themselves as weak and unable to move on their own.

A mission that becomes essential is to expand awareness, keep a watchful eye to qualify reality and attract, with gentleness, controlled people toward lucidity. It is time to do this little by little, each in their own bubble, with emotionally educated invitations to analyze, verify, ground, converse, look around. Perhaps not at the necessary speed, but we can form a great chain to combat fallacies.