[codeflo]

Let’s say I give you a box with two lights to show its state, one green and one red. Currently, the red light is on. The red light will also be on tomorrow. In fact, people who have observed this box for years have only ever seen it show red.

You might argue that this box is simply hard-wired to show red, but then I explain: No, your impression is wrong. I’ve built this box, and I’ve taken every possible measure to make it show green.

How credible am I?

And would you be more inclined to believe me more if I told you about my intrinsic love for the color green, and how I wired up the green light first, and how I have an entire committee of experts that has to sign off every design change to this box to ensure sufficient greenness? While it still shows, and only ever will, show the red light?

[briskapple]

The green light is on, you just can't see it.

[salawat]

Related phenomena: There are four lights! [Star Trek:TNG] 2+2=5 [1984] Gaslighting

[meepmorp]

Both the related phenomena you cite are fictional. Maybe find better supporting examples.

[addingnumbers]

They are fictional archetypes of established historical patterns, their reason to exist in pop culture is as shorthand allegories and extrapolations for common despotic behaviors that are already clear to everyone with a sense of history.

[meepmorp]

If they're archetypes of historical patterns, it should be trivial to find examples from history rather than fiction, no?

[addingnumbers]

It's so trivial that it's pointless because the intended reader is presumed to have already done it himself, excising that triviality is the purpose of any kind of shorthand.

[salawat]

See: North Korea. (I'm sure everyone there is completely up to date and accirate on the character of the world around them!)

See: Russia(Same)

See: Chinese Communist Party (Same)

See: United States and... Well, every nation really. (Same)

See: Propaganda(Literally exists to create skewed perceptions in allies/foes)

See: Filter Bubbles

See: Locality (Physics)

See: Perception Management (general category of activity)

See: Truman Show

See: Information Asymmetry (If you don't know it exists, woo boy, you might want to look into doing something about that)

See: The Great Firewall (Unrestricted access to the Internet is too dangerous to be allowed by an incumbent power structure)

See: DMCA Takedowns (unmanipulated information access is too dangerous to be allowed by am incumbent power structure)

See: Classification (Secret/Top Secret; unrestricted access to information is too dangerous to be allowed by an incumbent power structure)

See: Every Diplomat and liar ever

I mean, if you're going to play the source card, you may want to pick something that doesn't have so many real life examples that actually enumerating them, and the various contexts from which they have arisen, the timelessness in terms of what generation of humanity is in the process of manufacturing/experiencing said perceptual distortions, and level of infiltration into even the most basic levels of human interaction that requiring further requests for further explanation only serve to show one in a poorer or less flattering light. People lie. Period. The more that is at stake, the easier the act of lying becomes to stomach/justify.

You cannot have achieved adulthood without encountering some level of the type of practice being discussed. Even realizing that you have is in and of itself a formative moment in knowing oneself as a free agent.

It's cognitive dissonance. It:s coping. It's repression. It's distortion. It's for your own good, or more probably for the good of someone in a position to decide what is good for you in your stead.

If this is your first time thinking about or realizing this... I'm truly sorry. My condolences. Integrating it into a naive worldview is not a fun or enjoyable experience.

[meepmorp]

> See: [...]

Locality and filter bubbles? DCMA takedowns? The mere existence of classified data? Every liar ever? Every nation that is and possibly has ever been or will be, either as concrete things or abstract entities? This is loose association of ideas, man, and still not the concrete examples from history I asked for.

But the coda makes up for it, and I thank you for the giggle.