Clotaire Rapaille-The Culture Code-author interview

[670Kiester]

So many smart people study marketing, and are proud of their skills,

but fail to connect the dots as to what a nasty dirty business it really is

[koito22]

i can`t believe this asshole is making money brainwashing executives to believe he is an nauthority on marketing by reaching the reptilian brain fucking asshole !!!goes to show you that any mumbling asshole with a made up persona can make spid asshole out of anyone ..by the way!!his quialifications are that he used to be a psychiatrist for autistic children lol. stupid executives those are the ones driving your economy..isn`t that scary ?

[prayfertrey]

No idea who aimee mann is.

[prayfertrey]

Even if we remove all the manipulation that is bad, there would still have to be manipulation quite simply because most people will not, absolutely will not be told what they don't want to hear. That's what makes it impossible to end dissembling altogether without raising the average IQ of humanity. That will only happen through genetic engineering or benign eugenics, and good luck getting folks to get behind putting tax dollars into research of either option for such purposes.

[prayfertrey]

But you can't *directly* communicate with *most* people. They don't want to hear it and don't have the raw anatomy to process it. A few can manage it, and that's why on this planet, a "leader" is not that which many people do for a few; it's what a few do for many. That is why in the book, "Animal Farm" the unscrupulous smart pigs ended up in charge and ruling the animals just like their former owner. It will always be that way, like water taking the shape of the cup it's poured into.

[iwillkillfrankluntz]

Perhaps, to survive, or to protect loved ones, I'd manipulate. To gain power or wealth... no. Never. It's why I find politics 98% unconscionable. Certain political causes fall under protecting loved ones, too, but for Christ's sake, there'd be something wrong if I could admit to being underhanded and not automatically shoot my cause in the foot.

These interviews, they're not for the villager. They're to the intellectuals who may have some shred of that conscience left.

[prayfertrey]

Sure, but the founders didn't ask the masses to go along with them to fight a valiant cause for valiant reasons - those soldiers had to be tricked into it. They used to wait in inns for a young man to get drunk, then trick him into signing papers that legally mean they now owned him. The founders had a vision, but they had to talk to the masses in terms of their pocket books. And shortly after the revolutionary war, the businessmen got busy working to influence law makers... This is the world.

[iwillkillfrankluntz]

uh-huh, and if you uttered "i have tricked you into going to war", you would be punished, horribly, and justifiably.

of course this is the world, where else would it be?

Valiant, Clotaire, so far as I can tell, is anything but valiant. He seems like a market mercenary, an all-purpose medium. He's all but spelled out why I wish everyone like him would cease to exist, and that anyone sees anything different is depressing.

[prayfertrey]

I'm sure they knew they'd been tricked the next morning upon awakening with a hangover. And I'm pretty sure that if someone got on tv and said, "everything on commercial channels is designed to get you facing the screen for the commercials when they come on" no one would be phased. If you got rid of everyone "like him" the only people left would then break down into two groups, those who are in charge and the rest, and they would not speak directly and honestly to their charges.

[iwillkillfrankluntz]

Ahh, so they'll be tricked anyway... whatever.

I've heard PR apologists reiterate their same points and deflect blame ad nauseam before. It seems to be a method of wearing down resistance, to see if they can get their critics to who's actually insane.

It comes down to a Blondie quote for me: "She got the nerve to tell me she's not honest, but her expression is too serene"

Really, you'll get nowhere with me. Try someone else.

[prayfertrey]

So, you're counter argument is, "what evah"? You're using a Homer Simpson catch word as a counter argument? Really?

"to see if they can get their critics to who's actually insane"?

You're refusal to see people as they are plays right into the hands of corporations who hire consulting psychologists. Don't you get that? No one wants to believe bad things about people... and that is where a corporatocracy (or any opportunist) gets its power; people living in warmhearted fictional realities.

[iwillkillfrankluntz]

Look, my point all along was, just because they're dupes doesn't make it anything less than wrong to exploit them, and I DON'T refuse to see them as dupes - this is about deflecting blame, as PR apologists tend to deliberately misinterpret statments or introduce non-sequitors and insults to squeeze extra miles out of their defenses of indefensible creatures like Rapaille. You haven't convinced me that he's anything other than a snake.

[iwillkillfrankluntz]

Neither have you convinced me that I'm acting on my id, or that the inevitable of exploitation lets anyone off the hook, or that I can't think for myself and that I should substitute your views on the matter for my own...

Really, there never was an argument here. I also doubt one could get a reasonable word edgewise with anyone who works in marketing. It's like their souls are damaged.

[iwillkillfrankluntz]

Anyway, I was thinking of aimee mann, not homer simpson. and as far as the pigs who end up controlling us, i'd rather see them gone too... and so on. the list goes on. not like it'll ever happen, which excuses exactly nothing.

[prayfertrey]

Agreed... but one day you'd have humanity whittled down to two people, and if one of them has a higher IQ than the other, one day the one with the higher IQ is going to realize that A) there is a best course of action to take and B) the other person will find it objectionable because they can't see the wisdom in it, so a way will have to be found to put a spin on the plan such that the person with the lower IQ can appreciate it...

[prayfertrey]

cont.: and people here are primitive and anything you say to them will be just white noise. Well, people are still primitive. There may not be Princes or Dukes or people being burned at the stake, but this is a primitive planet. The human neocortex is thin and only evolved recently. You just can't tell people. You can't. That's why if you want to manage people, you have to manipulate them, either for a good reason or for a bad one. Just so happens it's more often for bad reasons (tv ads, for ex)

[iwillkillfrankluntz]

I am disturbed by who appears to be a child psychologist not only using his powers for evil (sorry, PROFIT), but also by the fact that he appears to be proud of it. Didn't this guy consult Phillip Morris on how to put his theories to good use?

[iwillkillfrankluntz]

couldn't listen to the interview. His voice makes me want to scream.

[prayfertrey]

But what else can he do? You just can't ask people to stop being irrational and start being reasonable. They won't and they can't. And if you try to tell them, they just get mad, take it personally, throw a fit, and hate you. Just ask Ralph Nader.

[iwillkillfrankluntz]

Right, but I still think it's wrong to exploit their irrationalities, and I think it's wrong to say "hey look what a genius I am" and not expect people to find him repulsive, and I think it's wrong that fewer people are disturbed by it, and so on...

I know what a conspiracy is, i was botching a joke again. My apologies.

[prayfertrey]

No worries. The internet seems to bring out the id in people.

Did he say, "look what a genius I am?" Even when I was a kid, I noticed that people don't do things for mindful reasons, they act on emotions. Indeed, I assumed everyone kinda knew this but just didn't care. As I got older, I discovered that 1) people don't know and 2) if you bring it up they turn into angry villagers who want to burn down the windmill you've taken refuge in.

[iwillkillfrankluntz]

Of course he didn't say it in those words.

No, most people don't act on reason. I don't think it's anti-reason to find something wrong in the acceptance (borderline celebration) of a career which seems to boil down to "People are idiots, here's how to exploit them". If it weren't for him, it'd be someone equally disgusting, of course.

[iwillkillfrankluntz]

It just seems to come down to, you find it inevitable, I think it's still wrong.

[iwillkillfrankluntz]

I mean, it's one thing to point out that people are unreasonable, it's another thing to make a career out of it-

I'm not trying to burn down your windmill, just his. It's that by admitting and explaining the snakey machinations of his industry he's also campaigning for it's acceptance. I've seen college students lose their humanity to attitudes of their elders this way.

[prayfertrey]

To be sure... of course, all that has gone through my mind and... I used to care a great deal; but I figured out something. Suppose you travel back in time to the middle ages. Now, suppose, coming from a more sensitive, refined future, you are horrified at things you see like public executions of people who angered a prince, blood letting (to death), etc. are you going to jump up and down screaming at people to stop being that way? No, because you would know this is the middle ages and people...

[itsbizbuz]

when you see how he pushed japanese people to drink coffee although they didn't want it you start believing that conspiracy theories are not that crazy finally.

[prayfertrey]

A lot of things don't require a conspiracy. They just have to be the consequence of some people who happen to be on the same page. The captains of industry want maximum profits. To do this requires a corporate citizenry. So, in the 1800s, the captains of industry underwrote and helped along in other ways through foundations, the institution of compulsory mass schooling. Conveniently, guys who are in love with prestige and the sound of their own voice, like Horace Mann, take part...

[iwillkillfrankluntz]

On the same page, that kind of sounds like "conspiracy" in different terms. ahHA. Just the thing a conspiracist would say!

j/k.

[prayfertrey]

The definition of "conspiracy" isn't, "that which is incredulous". Just because it's a "conspiracy" doesn't mean it's fiction. Just because someone points out a "conspiracy" doesn't mean they chase phantoms. And like minded people don't have to be networking with each other to have an over all effect on history. Really, is this subtle?

[ripped222]

absolute crank.

[writerly]

This 'crank' gets huge contracts from many of the top corporations on the planet. They seem to think he's onto something!

[ryanbish]

The company I was webcasting for paid him something like $250,000 (U.S) to assist with a new product campaign.

[prayfertrey]

That's interesting, to me, because it seems to me that what he does is very easy. In fact, it's been obvious to me that the world is run this way since I was in high school.

Hey, I don't recall seeing, "Culture Code" on amazon...

[ryanbish]

Met the guy today.....total prick

[anticonsumer]

the modern-day eddie bernays. amazing. the book is highly recommended.