To the surprise of most experts, the United Kingdom voted last week to leave the EU, and hysteria has since ensued all around. While there are certainly arguments to be made for leaving and none of us yankees should act like we’re experts on Britain’s political climate, the ‘Leave’ campaign seemed especially predicated on emotional appeals and misinformation.
So it was no surprise that Google searches spiked in the UK for questions like “what is the EU?” and “what does it mean to leave the EU?”, and the recent news first reported by The Guardian that the ‘Leave’ campaign hired a TV hypnotist as a consultant for their television ads and social media videos makes a lot of sense.
Paul McKenna, a 53-year-old British TV hypnotist and other of self-help titles such as The Power to Influence, I Can Make You Happy and Hypnotic Gastric Band, was hired by the Leave EU campaign to advise on early editions of their often dramatic ads. The source from the ‘Leave’ side who spoke to The Guardian made sure to clarify, “We didn’t hypnotize anyone.” When you have to clarify that in a political campaign, something is seriously wrong.
The United Kingdom’s long-term future now looks very uncertain, and the resultant loss of confidence will likely lead to an arduous near-term future. And the professed regrets of many ‘Brexit’ voters already had made it seem like someone had been telling them, “you are getting very sleepy,” before they voted, so now we know that’s no coincidence.
The main takeaway from this story is that people are hardly rational and easily manipulatable, and in politics taking advantage of that is key. And now McKenna’s seemingly innocent tweet below seems a lot more cunning.
https://twitter.com/ImPaulMcKenna/status/740237496504733696?lang=en
TV Hypnotist Was A Consultant For UK's 'Leave EU' Campaign Ads, Because Of Course
