Thank you so much for reading Blind Vigilance! It means so much to me that readers enjoy my work. And the fact that you’re having enough fun with my series to keep reading is a big deal to me. I’m so grateful to you.
Much of this book was inspired by the incredibly sophisticated social media manipulation by Cambridge Analytica—not just in the 2016 election but also in their propaganda campaigns around the globe. Fascinating and scary stuff. If you want to learn more about it, I suggest you read MindF*ck by Christopher Wiley. It breaks down how social media can be used to push us into ideological corners that we think we created for ourselves. It is as Wiley says “weapons grade communication”.
To put it simply, we are all very easy to manipulate because our lizard brains are not designed to deal with the onslaught of information the internet and social media companies feed us. Each of us is curating our reality—and advertisers are able to insinuate themselves into that stream—which gives them immense power.
We are easier to control, and sell, if we are blaming each other for our problems rather than searching for the systematic changes necessary to move into a more perfect union. Blaming “the other” is a time tested way to control a population.
I hope we can recognize that we are one people, we live on one planet, and we are all responsible for each other. If we look at power and policies, instead of each other, to find the root of our division, I believe we will discover a path forward for humanity that supports freedom, safety, and joy for all.
I’ll leave you with a Stephen King quote I’ve always loved. “I never opened my mouth and you never opened yours. We're not even in the same year together, let alone the same room... except we are together. We are close. We're having a meeting of the minds. [...] We've engaged in an act of telepathy.” -Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Thank you for reading my words and allowing me inside your head. Without you, I’m just a woman typing into the void. Together we are telepathic.
Emily