Comment by lazide
21 hours ago
I think you might want to re-read all of this again.
Manipulation is non-consensual and controlling influence, yes. That part is important.
Just like the difference between a house and a jail is essentially if you are being forced to be there against your will or not.
They both are structures people live in and that provide a degree of structure and protection, but one is generally considered okay or even good, and the other is considered pretty bad and terrible. Largely because one you can choose or do things to change, the other you get stuck in against your will and the environment is outside your control.
Most ‘influencers’ also cross pretty strongly into manipulation many times, so using the title is about as accurate as ‘Democratic Peoples Republic of z’.
I disagree. Short of wearing a blindfold and putting my fingers in my ears there are many opportunities for someone to influence me against my will every day. You have to be exposed to this sort of manipulation to exist in society.
This has gotten a little off-track into pedantry though, I agree.
The parent post's assertion that the author of this post is somehow using "tricks" and that it is unhealthy, is what I take issue with.
It's a bit of unfair framing to claim that people who naturally develop these "tricks" are somehow superior to those who have to learn them. By that reasoning people with poor social skills would be doomed to poor outcomes for the sake of some trick-free "pure" personality.
Or another way... if I take elocution and debate lessons to make my point better and use that to get what I want in life, is this "unhealthy"? I don't think most people would say so. In my eyes this is no different.