Chewtoys: The alchemy of mastering mass anger
People are constantly being manipulated to build anger against useless effigies to exhaust their energy to work for change.
The public has a lot of frustrations, especially when you’ve been isolating, poisoning, and stealing from them for many years. Surely this frustration has to go somewhere?
Instead of this frustration being used on productive actions to organize, solve problems, or find out how they’ve been bamboozled; Social engineers would love to have a tool that would ensure this energy is entirely diffused pointlessly. John Titus has coined the term “Chewtoy”
Enter the Chewtoy™
The chewtoy is something (usually someone) thrown out to the public to feel cathartic about attacking. Often the chewtoy is a person, who can personify a set of valid frustrations the people are experiencing. The chewtoy’s role is to soak up as much attention and anger as possible. If it’s a person generally they are safely out of reach from the people to build more and more anger over time. This allows the chewtoy to really let the public get really worked up in outrage.
Speaking of anger...
A chewtoy’s actions for good or evil are far less important as how they are portrayed.
One person’s chewtoy can often be another person’s hero. You can very often find inflammatory headlines about them even in mainstream publications. This isn’t to say that these people’s actions or words don’t matter or shouldn’t be criticized, but one has to be careful with their time and attention.
Notable chewtoys:
Politicians:
Justin Trudeau
Joe Biden
Donald Trump
Vladimir Putin
…
Celebrities
Will Smith
Amber Heard
Public figures:
Mark Zuckerberg
Klaus Schwab
Kyle Rittenhouse
Q(anon)
Beyond simple public figures I would argue that certain issues and events can be used as chewtoys when the purpose is to shock people into giving the issue the majority of their attention at the expense of all else. People have come to call this “the current thing”.
The current thing is any issue that is suddenly and completely saturating all media and communications. A potential “current thing” generally has a few major attributes:
It is intertwined with a powerful wedge issue.
A wedge issue is a highly divisive topic that large parts of the population have very strong opinions on. These issues are difficult for people to compromise on and they evoke very strong “they are with us or against us” feelings.A sense of urgency
People need to act RIGHT NOW OR ELSE.
Regardless of what the issue is there is generally an impetus to avoid taking time to think things through. Very few issues are so urgent that they truly require the sudden abandonment of all other (often important) pursuitsThe ability to display your affiliation
Public displays of affiliation or “virtue-signaling” is what allows the “current thing” to completely take over media and discussion. People are able to identify those “on their side” and isolate those who aren’t
One of the most concerning things about this dynamic is how much useful information this provides to algorithms learning to manipulate people. By having easily identifiable immediate engagement AIs are being fed with an incredible amount of valuable data to use against people. Every single time someone is rushing to engage with a particular topic, social media algorithms are being taught what they need to present to control people.
These days (has it always been this way?) there is an endless stream of chewtoys being placed in the public consciousness. Take your pick; you’re focusing on the important issues everyone else is simply a sheep focusing on meaningless distractions. The truth is that the only important issues are the actions you can take in your life to improve your life, and the lives of those around you. Try to be forgiving of those who are trapped by this mechanism, it’s designed to work that way. The best thing you can do for someone overly fixating on any chewtoy is to take them aside and spend some quality time with them.
Solutions
Reverse any menticide damage
If you recognize any of the above signs in yourself, not to worry. Just follow this twelve-step recovery program, and you’ll be thinking clearly, logically, rationally, and independently in no time!
1) Acknowledge that you have been deceived.
2) Turn off the television.
3) Stop reading newspapers and magazines.
4) Stop listening to NPR and other legacy radio stations.
5) Eliminate or minimize the time you spend on social media.
6) Break out of the Big Tech bubble.
7) Cultivate a Beginner’s Mind.
8) Watch interviews, lectures, panel discussions, and other educational content from the scientists and doctors of integrity the spin doctors told you to fear.
9) Choose your entertainment judiciously.
10) Read! Read lots and lots of books!
11) Build immunity to mind control.
12) Escape your Stockholm syndrome.
Avoid algorithmic sources of information
All mainstream social media (Facebook/Twitter/Tiktok/…) have the ability to “decide” what you “should” be seeing at any given moment in time. All trending topics can be safely assumed to be manipulated. (Either by the platform itself or other actors).
Federated social media is a great choice, but simple things like using RSS feeds can make a huge difference.
Treat for shock
Patience in a moment of anger can prevent 100 days of sorrow
When a new “current thing” drops people are generally in a subtle form of shock. The sudden rush of fear/anger from it leaves them vulnerable. Getting people (or yourself) away from the stressful situation/stimuli, and focusing on something positive can make a real difference in the long run.
Whether it’s meditation or going to touch grass it’s important to take the time to rejuvenate so you can tackle what’s important to you.
Chewtoys aren't limited to people. They are also Internet hangouts. Unwittingly, we do it to ourselves, when we find comfort in like-minded dopamine feeds in online circles. The algorithmic bulletin board style of commenting and news posting with thumbing up likable comments (and down voting unpopular ones), even outside of the mainstream, is a problem. All Internet bulletin boards are built on this polarizing system and, therefore, inherently become do-nothing chewtoys. At best - news aggregation. At worst - a self-inflicted sticky trap.