Here we go!
Ever wonder why it is so easy for propagandists and powerful interests to control people? Funnel humans into manufactured cliques and give them something to protect (real or imagined,) and you can control the mass-man remotely. This is the “Granfalloon Technique.” You’ll want to pay attention on this one, because it is the system by which you are remotely controlled.
The concept of the “Granfalloon” was described by Kurt Vonnegut in his classic novel Cat’s Cradle.
A granfalloon = a group of people who affect a shared identity or purpose, but whose mutual association is meaningless. “If you wish to examine a granfalloon, just remove the skin of a toy balloon” ~ Bokonon (Cat’s Cradle)
A granfalloon is a “proud but meaningless” association of individuals who have chosen (or who have been chosen) to identify with one another based on some criteria that (when examined) are inconsequential. Vonnegut gives examples of granfalloons in Cat’s Cradle, but the gist of it is that studies have shown that humans will very easily choose manufactured cliques with which to identify and will often give up any critical thinking or individual responsibility in order to maintain loyalty or obedience within that people group. In a famous test of the technique, groups were formed by systems as simple as the toss of a coin. People were placed in these groups and immediately they began to identify together and “clique up” based on an association that had no meaning at all. We’ve all experienced this. We would choose up teams on the playground and find ourselves in a group all of a sudden. Immediately those “others” would become the enemy. In controlled studies, these types of granfalloons (meaningless groupings) were much easier to control than are independent thinking individuals.
So here is how the granfalloon technique works.
Groups or “cliques” are formed and individuals are encouraged to identify with those cliques. These groups can be centered around some meaningless association, a trait completely out of the individual’s control, or some other manufactured identity. It is even more powerful if this manufactured identity can be focused on some real or imagined grievance or category of victimhood. A perceived threat is the most powerful and pervasive system of controlling granfalloons. The way in which individuals identify with the group then creates pressure to conform, support, and defend what has become a clique or artificial tribe. The granfalloon is more successful as a technique of social control when it has very strong identifying markers, symbols, mantras, or slogans and when the “others” can be demonized.
THE MINIMAL GROUP PARADIGM is a way of understanding this granfalloon concept. Total strangers will form cliques or artificial tribes based on meaningless or contentless identifiers that are inconsequential. Social Media, memes, hashtags, etc. are ways to provide identifying markers or flags around which these artificial tribes can rally. Mental training and brainwashing are easier in these types of online groupings. Now there are a couple of ways control is cemented over the group.
As we have said, individuals are encouraged to identify with one another based on associations which are (in the larger sense) meaningless. But the individuals are encouraged to focus their attention only on the similarities within the group. “We are the red shoe team. We wear red shoes.” “We are left-handed bargain hunters.” “We are the Crips, they are the Bloods.” “We are WEST COAST RAPPERS!” This focus on similarities creates an in-group affinity that is exploitable because humans are, by nature, unjust and morally corrupt. We will interpret and change rules in order to support and defend our group affiliations.
The second way the group is controlled is by focusing attention on the DIS-similarities of the “others.” That is, within our group we focus on our similarities, but outside of our group we focus on the dissimilarities. This creates an in-group and out-group bias. Cognitively, this takes advantage of the lower angels of our corrupt nature. Next we implement a system of feelings and rewards for positive in-group behaviors. Virtue signaling, group building, mutual protection, etc.
Here is where it gets really interesting:
Vengeance and self-defense are the strongest human motivations precisely because in our nature we are fundamentally corrupted in our understanding of justice. We become inflamed with righteousness when we believe we are wronged and this is multiplied when we identify with a group. If you ever want to get a good grasp of this, watch children. Self-righteousness is so strong in them. When the other child has the toy, they will propose sharing and “taking turns.” They soak in justice and righteousness. But if they have the toy, they don’t really like these concepts as much. If they take something from a weaker child, it’s survival of the fittest. If something is taken from them, they’ll put the whole system on trial. This completely corrupted sense of justice is natural to man, and to the spiritual mind it is one of the greatest evidences of the existence of God – because it is in the antithesis that we understand our true nature and need. Needless to say, turning the other cheek was a massive blow to the granfalloon technique handlers. But, I digress. Here is how this all relates to control:
The Granfalloon Technique is fluid and scalable. Social Media and Big Tech manipulations allow control agents to coalesce group affinities in order to move larger and larger sections of the population. Profile symbols, avatars, virtue signaling and flag-waving provide pressure for in-group versus out-group behaviors. Think of “I Voted” but on steroids. Why do you not have pronouns in your bio? Where is your Ukraine flag? Once we identify with our granfalloon, the remote control system works across systems and platforms. People will hear what they want to hear because their in-group bias is the filter by which they interact. Individuals will begin creating in-group bubbles, seek biased news sourcing, etc. in order to reinforce their granfalloon thinking. Phrases and mantras are manufactured by meme mills in order to reinforce control. The mass-man will most certainly never realize that they are being controlled by power blocks and systems that have no loyalty at all to the granfalloons they control.
The last mechanism is to disassociate the individual from people and groups with which they ought to have a more natural affinity. Break down the old landmarks and build new ones that are easier to control.
This is how you are being managed. This is why the system hates critical thinking, individuality, and true kinship (associations based on real and not meaningless identities – such as families.)
Adjust your thinking, moderate your certainty, question everything. Think.
Michael Bunker
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