020060106 22:35 • 
Great feedback has been arriving on yesterday’s post, Subliminal Illumination.
Christian Fromme pointed out the ethical dilemma of counter-conditioning:
It seems to me like one subliminal conditioning is as bad as the other.
Therefore, no additions to your sentences from my side.
My suggestion: A subliminal that empties conditionings, leading you into unconditioned thinking.
I would be thrilled to live in a conditioning free world. I do have ethical reservations about using subliminals, and examined the issue extensively before deciding to go for it. The utilitarian in me came out the winner.
Here’s my basic line of reasoning:
1) These messages are a condensed version of what I would say if I had the time and circumstance to speak with each viewer individually.
2) If I did speak with each viewer individually, I would be up against the conditioning already in place by giant corporations in our money and status based culture, reinforced and feeding back through each of us daily. By slipping past complexes of guardian memes, these subliminals are likely more effective than direct conversation.
3) My own feeling is the conditioning we are already subjected to is one of the root sicknesses in Western culture. I’d like to live in a post-antidote world.
4) If I knew I was sick, I would welcome a cure, or at least a maintenance drug.
My exchange with Christian produced a possible answer to my moral quandary. Before the show commences, I will tell the audience the backing video contains subliminal messages, giving them a take-home list of what they will be exposed to. It will be their informed choice to stay or leave based on what they know will enter their head if they stay. I think most will choose to stay.
Christian and I were unsuccessful in coming up with an unconditioning statement. “I can think for myself” is the closest I can find, but it’s still conditioning if delivered in this fashion. I’m not sure it’s possible… does anyone have one?
David Fine handed me an excellent twist on presentation over Kung Pao Tofu. My coding as it stands simply inserts single frames of short text in the video stream. David suggested I speed it out to the viewer one word at a time, fast-flashing through the sentence. This is a great idea, and will likely engage deeper pattern matching interest in viewers’ brains. It will also allow me to use all available screen area per word. Bigger is probably better here.
Jacob Appelbaum suggested another superb presentation hook: leave out crucial words in the sentences. This will be tricky, but worth it. I want to be certain the message cannot be read in a fashion other than positive, but leaving a small hole in the phrase will force a brain to worry over it and attempt to fill it in.
Cesare Marilungo has given me another moment’s pause with his thoughts on possibly offending viewers over controversial issues. Some of the concepts I’ll be using are hot-buttons, particularly here in the United States. This raises many questions on the purpose and power of art as provocation and catalyst. I’m looking forward to further discussions, Cesare.
To cap the evening, Jen Sorenson shot me an absolutely perfect subliminal message, right out of a clear blue memory: “You are enough.” Thanks Jen… you really are and you always have been.
020060105 23:17 •
Taking a break from music tonight, I put some hours into my Jitter backdrop. I’m building for live shows this year, and will be running backing video from a second laptop.
When your brain parses an unattached phrase, it doesn’t really know the difference between external and internal origin. This is why we identify strongly with protagonists in fiction, why we replay conversations in our heads, why we have internal critics. First person statements absolutely destroy the wall.
In keeping with my general view of media as extension of self, I’m working some extremely fast subliminal messages into the video stream. Big Media uses the fuzzy mechanisms of mind to keep us all off-center and spending money. When marketers speak of impressions and how many times a person has to see a logo before they remember it, what they’re really talking about is how many times you must think of what they present to you before your brain absorbs and acts upon it as if it came from within.
We can work against them. Here’s a small sampling of my counteractive video phrases:
I’ll steal my life back one hour at a time
A pirate’s life for me
Fear is the mind-killer
I will learn to merge
War is just a children’s game
I will be the creating
Sex is good
Safe sex is better
Love is good
Violence creates more violence
Relax, don’t do it
Marriage is for everyone
Capitalism is not the answer
Evolution is a fact
I want more knowledge
I can do anything
Bicycles beat cars
I am not my fucking khakis
Email if you have suggestions.
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