Does this sound familiar to you? You’re sitting around talking politics with a friend.
And before you know it, you’re both getting very defensive over your political preferences… and things are getting heated.
Have you ever wondered how politicians manage to evoke such strong emotions in us?
How they get us all fired up as we defend them – even when it’s not always in our best interests?
In this article, you’ll discover how they manage to tap into the raw but ready power of hypnosis for political persuasion.
But before we roll on, let’s take a look at the elephant in the room, okay?
“What elephant?”
The one that’s dividing many people right now.
We know politics is a touchy subject for many people. So we’ve done our best to remain as unbiased as possible.
We’ve got a wide range of views here at the Hypnosis Training Academy. Just as you all do. And we’re respectful of the wide range of perspectives.
At the same time, it’s difficult for anyone not to have an agenda, and we can probably all agree that most politicians do too. (HINT: Knowing this will help you spot their agenda.)
So here’s the skinny. You’re about to embark on a whirlwind tour of hypnosis being used in politics that will open your eyes up to the political persuasion that’s all around us.
Please keep your hands and feet in the vehicle at all times.
(Queue up the clanking sound of a rollercoaster inching its way up the first drop.)
Okay, where were we? Oh yeah, we we’re talking about how politicians have programmed us to defend them, even when it’s not in our best interest.
As you make your way through this article, you’ll come across a secret tactic that politicians like Ronald Reagan “stole” from the Hollywood Insiders playbook.
This tactic, when used correctly, has the power to secretly shape and shift a person’s thoughts in an instant.
NOTE: Milton Erickson was legendary when it came to this technique. Heck, NLP creators Richard Bandler and John Grinder wrote ENTIRE volumes about this technique.
But let’s set the stage for how powerful this technique is before we crack on.
Imagine this. You’re a politician running for office. You’re standing on the debate stage face-to-face, toe-to-toe, with the toughest opponent you’ve ever come across.
You can feel the stage lights beaming on your face. You start to worry that they’re gonna drag you through the mud.
BOOM! You remember, that you’ve got a secret weapon up your sleeve. No amount of mud slingin’ can stack up against it.
So you unleash the hounds with this powerful, effective hypnotic technique. And before you know it, you’re tossed into the center of a media storm.
And guess what? You come out on top, and your opponent’s stances on the important issues are as clear as mud.
“So what’s this secret weapon,” you might be wondering? We’ll reveal this in just a moment.
And that’s not all. We’ll also reveal numerous other hypnotic language techniques politicians have been using in their attempts to persuade and influence you.
But first, we’ve got a question that we’d like you to take a few moments to ponder:
When you think of a politician that you like (trust, believe, etc.) who’s the first person that comes to your mind?
Okay, hold them in your mind for a few. Let’s push on.
- What kind of emotions are dug up as soon as you think about them?
- What kind of positive thoughts start to circle around in your mind when you think about this person?
- What does this politician represent to you?
- What really draws you to this person?
- If you could describe this person with a metaphor, what would it be? (e.g. “Mr. Joe Blow is a breath of fresh air”, “Mr. Joe Blow is as good as gold,” “Mr. Joe Blow is a diamond in the rough.”)
Now let’s shake things up a bit and think about a politician that you can’t stand. Someone you don’t trust; who makes your skin crawl.
- What kind of emotions are dug up as soon as you think about them?
- What kind of negative thoughts start to whip around in your mind when you think about this person?
- What does this politician represent to you?
- If you could describe this person with a metaphor, what would it be? (e.g. “Mr. Joe Schmoe is a snake,” “Mr. Joe Schmoe is a ticking timebomb,” “Mr. Joe Schmoe is an enemy of freedom.”)
Interesting little jog into your unconscious, eh?
Want to know a secret?
None of your thoughts, feelings and perceptions about these politicians happened by chance. Their persona has been as carefully crafted as McDonald’s famous golden arches. All of it has been calculated from day 1.
Let’s take a brief look at some of the external forces that are feeding your mind:
- Politicians themselves
- Media (T.V., print, radio, internet, etc.)
If you break it down, these are the main ways we get information about politics. We’d like to add that the issue isn’t how we get information, it’s how it’s being presented to us.
Curious to know why? Let’s take a look at some of the hypnotic techniques that shape our political perceptions.
1. Metaphors
Political speech is rich with metaphors. Just turn on any political news channel. Fox, CNN, MSNBC, BBC, Al Jazeera etc.
Politicians always talk about the same wedge issues. For example, immigration, abortion, religion, etc.
You know what we’re talking about. The stances that cause emotions to boil over and erupt.
And when they describe these issues are they using logic? Not always. Their language is often laced with metaphors with an emotional kick (not to mention all the other hypnotic techniques which we’ll cover a bit later).
Pretty much any powerful political speech is a salad of language patterns knee deep in metaphors.
A recent political campaign that employed powerful hypnotic metaphors (among many other hypnotic techniques) is the now infamous Brexit campaign.
A metaphor that came along with the campaign was: “Take back control.” Which is similar to Trump’s “Make America Great Again.”
Metaphors help to take an abstract idea and make it more concrete. Easier to grasp if you will. Hell, metaphors are really symbolic when you boil it down. They’re representing something else in easy-to-understand terms.
What kind of metaphor is: “Take back control”? It’s a metaphor of theft and loss of power.
Prior to the Brexit vote, there was fear among some UK citizens that foreigners were taking over.
So this metaphor is symbolic of the fear that too many foreigners are arriving in the UK, and what this means for UK residents and the economy.
According to The Guardian, in addition to a number of other British news publications, a source within the Brexit campaign said to help get the marketing language right for the Brexit campaign, former world-famous hypnotist, Paul McKenna, was enlisted.
The Guardian also published the following quote from the same source:
However, this same person firmly stated:
“We didn’t hypnotize anyone.”
Paul McKenna was simply shown some early rough cuts of the promo video for the Leave.EU campaign.
From the sound of things, the original promo video was all facts, facts, facts. In other words, it was boring. It was absent of any and all emotion. A painting with all the color drained out.
This was until McKenna got involved with the creative process.
So let’s explore how the final cut of the Brexit T.V. commerical started:
Fear-producing doom and gloom music starts playing. Up next on the menu are messages that’ll scare even the devil himself.
It starts off with a little bit of fear. Before you know it, full blown panic washes over you.
Right when you feel like you’re on the edge of the cliff with nowhere to run… you’re tossed a rope to pull yourself to safety.
“Isn’t it time to take back control?”
In a matter of moments you’ve gone from pure fear to relief.
Next time when the idea of foreign criminals comes to the forefront, your body has been programmed to trigger these gut wrenching feelings once again.
Is this a one and done? Nah.
Another hypnotic principle is at play here.
Another hypnotic principle is at play here.
Another hypnotic principle is at play here.
Catch on yet? Yep, it’s repetition.
2) Repetition
The more you’re taken on this emotional rollercoaster, the more you’ve been programmed to act automatically.
You’ve probably heard of someone’s outrage when a politician they’ve supported at one point, has pulled something shady.
Hell, you might even have wanted to scream at the top of your lungs: “Are you kidding me? The writing’s been on the wall for years!”
Just look at how Nigel Farange, UKIP (UK Independence Party) leader and Leave.EU supporter repeated ad nauseum during the Brexit campaign:
“Take back control.”
When you (and politicians) combine a catchy mantra/metaphor with repetition, you’ve got a powerful combination… so handle with extreme care.
Another metaphor that powered Brexit was the metaphor of leaving Europe – as if Britain were upping anchor and sailing away.
Let’s take a quick peek at some more hypnotic metaphors from past U.S. Presidents:
Barack Obama addressing Syria, September 10, 2013.
Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Address, Washington DC, January 21, 1985.
Think Brexit is the only example of this in action? Think again.
What is Donald Trump’s campaign motto?
“Make America Great Again”
Remember what we just said about combining repetition with powerful metaphors? We weren’t lying. Donald Trump probably wouldn’t argue with us either.
When you serve up a tasty dish, sprinkled with a dash of emotion and metaphors and you’ve got a winning recipe.
Politicians need to sear their ideas into your mind.
Is repetition alone enough to accomplish this large feat?
Maybe. Not too likely though.
They need to get under your skin. We’re not talking about your garden variety emotions getting stirred up.
We’re talking about going for the jugular. Think road rage bottled up for years that’s been let out all at once.
How do politicians tap into the raw power of emotions?
With hypnotic anchors.
3) Hypnotic Anchors
If you recall, we had you think about a politician you liked and one that you can’t stand.
How you reacted emotionally wasn’t an accident. (We’ve also mentioned that earlier).
Political campaigns sole purpose is to tap into your raw emotions – for better or for worse, and attach these emotions to certain triggers.
One of the best ways politicians stir up your emotions to a boil is with wedge issues, like the ones we mentioned earlier (i.e. immigration).
Now once they’ve tapped into this firestorm of emotions, they need to anchor it. Great politicians will anchor negative emotions in you about their political opponents. And at the same time, they’ll anchor positive feelings in you about themselves.
Okay, now that we’ve covered all the bases with repetition, metaphors and anchors – let’s tackle another technique that politician’s use all the time.
What’s this other technique you ask?
We’re talking about hypnotic themes.
4) Hypnotic Themes
When you know the message you want to convey, everything seems to fall into place.
To paint this picture, let’s look at:
What Martin Luther King Jr. And Hitler Had In Common
Put the pitchforks down. We’re not trying to say that Hitler and Martin Luther King Jr. were like each other. Not at all! In fact, Hitler was an evil person.
With this being said, they had one thing in common:
They both used the hypnotic theme of freedom.
Think of it like this. How many times did King mention freedom in his: “I Have A Dream” speech? A whopping 13 times!
Now on the other hand, Hitler used the fear of losing freedom in his speeches.
Ask yourself: “Who was more effective in positive creating change?”
Martin Luther King Jr., by far!
His message was one of: “Let’s come together” for the common good of mankind. A similar message also was also conveyed by former U.S. President, Barack Obama.
Ever since Obama hit the ground running with his “Yes we can,” message back in 2008, until the end of his term in 2016, this message affected millions of Americans, for better or for worse.
Even if you didn’t like his political messages, you can’t argue that he’s a master of persuasion.
He had a way of getting people to jump on board with his vision.
What better way to observe his skills in action than by taking a glance at his speeches to see how he always stressed the importance of not letting fear into our hearts. One line really that stands out in his last Presidential speech was:
Democracy can buckle when we give into fear.
This is a powerful metaphor that’s spot on.
Which is a point we’ve been trying to drive on home in this article.
When you know what politicians are doing, you can decide to take what they say with a grain of salt.
5) Power Words
What’s another way that politician’s influence our thinking? With power words.
“What are power words?”
Regarding the last example from the image above – two unrelated things being linked – think of, “Cool as a cucumber”…they aren’t at all related. Yet it digs into your imagination and starts the ball rolling.
Every industry has their own set of unique power words and phrases. Politics is no different.
In a study conducted in 2010 by the Pew Research Center, 1,546 American adults surveyed were asked to rate 9 common political buzzwords as positive or negative.
These 9 words were: militia, socialism, libertarian, capitalism, progressive, states’ rights, civil liberties, civil rights and family values.
Overall their findings demonstrate that:
- Democrats react very positively to civil rights (91%), family values (83%) and the progressive phrase (81%).
- Republicans react very positively to family values (94%), states’ rights (85%) and civil rights (84%).
- Independents react very positively to family values (91%), civil rights (86%), states’ rights (78%) and civil liberties (75%).
So what does all this data tell us? That politicians have tapped into the power of our deeply held beliefs by using language as leverage to stir up emotions.
But remember how we said that politicians aren’t the only ones to do this? We weren’t kidding. Take a look at the advertising and marketing industries (and therefore any industry that uses these methods to sell their products) – they all have their own subset of power words.
Words such as: “free,” “easy,” “safe,” – they all play on your emotions and desires. If something is free, you think you’re getting an irresistible offer. If something is easy, it plays on your desire to have something – such as a skill – with minimal effort. If something is called safe, this will put your mind at ease if the product is for your child, for example.
And in politics, let’s say you’re hearing a politician talk about how capitalism is being attacked in America, the following speech (which we just cooked up) might also draw you in:
Piecing It All together
We hope, by now, that you’re getting a feel for what this whole article has been getting at: that language patterns, rather than magical hypnosis tricks, are used in politics to draw people in and stir up emotions.
Regardless of whether the individual using language patterns is intentionally trying to hypnotize you (as let’s face it, not every person – politician or not – has the time to master such a skill), they are trying to conjure up particular emotions in you so you then act in a certain way – usually in the direction of their agenda.
Sometimes their agenda is to benefit the greater good and hypnotic language patterns allows them to broadcast this positive intention at a more inspiring pitch so it can reach the masses.
But other times, politicians use it for their own personal gain – and not for the greater good – which of course goes against our whole H+ motto (setting a positive intention to help others).
So now that you know how politicians are trying to sway your vote with hypnotic persuasion, we’ve got a simple game for you to play the next time a politician is on T.V. that’ll loosen their grip on your mind and emotions.
Wanna know what it is? Throw your T.V. out. Just kidding.
Here goes:
- Grab a pen
- Listen for their metaphors they use to describe the wedge issues (immigration, abortion, healthcare, national security, etc.)
- Make a note of how these metaphors impact you on a gut level
You’ll notice how these metaphors conjure up emotions in you, often even if you don’t agree with their politics. That’s the beauty of metaphors. They cross political party lines.
A metaphor about your way of life being attacked will affect you no matter what political party you identify with.
For example, in the U.S, you might get a political analyst on the news talking about how: “Our constitution is under attack. There is an assault on our constitution.”
We’re not sure about you, but that definitely will bring up feelings in most people. Not to mention some visuals.
Remember when we said Ronald Reagan had a secret weapon he stole from Hollywood Insiders?
Well, here it is. It’s a doozy.
It’s a well-known fact that Ronald Reagan was a Hollywood star before his jaunt into the political arena. His acting skills taught him to be fast on his feet.
There’s no better demonstration than when he destroyed Walter Mondale during their U.S.
Presidential debate on October 21st, 1983.
The debate moderator had just brought up the fact that Reagan was the oldest President in history.
Reagan replied:
With language tricks like this, it should come as no surprise that Mondale lost by a landslide.
What was the secret tactic that Ronald Reagan used?
He reframed the situation with a redefine pattern. A redefine pattern is a hypnotic language technique. This pattern works wonders if you need to change the topic up in an instant. When someone presents a particular argument or issue, you can use this to shine.
Here’s the basic structure of the redefine pattern.
The issue isn’t X. The issue is Y, which means z.
The issue isn’t that I’m the oldest sitting President. The issue is my opponent doesn’t have the experience that I have.
So to sum everything up:
Politicians – like many influencers and people with power – have learned that language patterns are an effective and subtle way to stir up emotions and get you to pay attention to their message – regardless of whether their deeper agenda is positive or negative.
But now that you’ve got a solid idea of what to look out for, you’re more informed than the Average Joe so you can decide for yourself whether their intention marries up with your values.
Because as a reader of the Hypnosis Training Academy blog, you’re one of the select few that understands that hypnosis should only be used as a force for good in the world.