How Your Friends And The Media Use Neuro-Linguistic Programming To Control You 

Jacob Shelton
Updated April 3, 2019 7.5k views 10 items

You may be wondering, “what is neuro-linguistic programming?” To put it simply, NLP consists of a combo of verbal and physical cues that cause you to react/think/feel in a very specific way. NLP comes with a number of positive effects, but it also ranks among one of the most effective mind control tactics of the 20th century.

When done correctly, NLP relies on confusing and vague language to disorient a target and convince them into doing something they might not otherwise consider. It’s akin to hypnotism but slightly more scientifically proven and less overt, which makes it all the more dangerous.

Neuro-linguistic programming emerged as a light version of mind control techniques used by the CIA on MK-Ultra victims in the '50s and '60s. While the CIA inundated those poor souls with extreme amounts of drugs and verbal cues, NLP users simply overwhelm their victims with vague phrasing and physical cues. While it sounds like the stuff of sci-fi movies, this mind control seems to actually work, and how the media may be using NLP to control everyone you know. 

Neuro-Linguistic Programming Emerged In The '70s
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Photo: A Clockwork Orange/Warner Bros.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (or NLP for short) arose in the '70s as a technique invented to "reprogram" one's brain to fix your personal problems, or perhaps more accurately, your personal inhibitions. Do you drink too much? Despise working out but still want to make sure you get to the gym? Constantly procrastinating? Well, the reprogramming aspects of NLP might make it so your brain forces you to, basically, be better.

NLP emerged in the 1970s from the work of Richard Bandler and John Grinder, two young college students with a shared interest in neuroscience, computer technology, and hypnosis who wanted to explore the connections between human thought, communication, and behavior. They developed the technique as retaliation against the psychotherapy movement; Bandler considers the process of addressing and exploring trauma as "just cruel."

When the Human Potential Movement boomed in the late '70s, Bandler and Grinder leaned into the process and began marketing NLP as a way for people to improve business dealings, claiming "If any human being can do anything, so can you." 

NLP Workshops Make For Big Business

Even though Richard Bandler and John Grinder went their separate ways in 1980, Bandler still makes a lot of money teaching people how to "improve" themselves with NLP. The Independent reports "intimate" three-day courses cost around $13,000 and the NLP business is allegedly a multi-billion dollar industry.

The workshops are three-day intensives that take place in a hotel and run participants through a series of seminars promising to change their lives by the end of the weekend. If you attend one of the NLP workshops you'll find Bandler and his crew giving speeches on altering reality, influencing people to increase sales, and improving your mirroring techniques. 

One of these workshops in Orlando, FL, attracted 100 visitors, some of whom came from Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.


NLP Provides A "Subjective Reality"
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Photo: Inception/Warner Bros.

NLP involves a series of verbal and physical cues used by business executives, sales associates, pickup artists, and pretty much anyone who gives off a predatory vibe. The core tenants of NLP revolve around creating a "subjective experience," meaning everyone takes away something different from an engagement. Furthermore, NLP teaches that because experiences are subjective you can learn to act them out before they happen in order to find a structure or pattern in those experiences. When it comes to subjective experiences, if you want to never hear the word "No," then you can supposedly teach yourself to remove it from your senses. 

Bandler and Grinder weren't the first people to come up with a concept like "subjective reality" and they definitely weren't the last. Around the same time NLP was in its test phase, an Englishman named Peter J. Carroll was developing what he called chaos magic, which is pretty much all about changing your reality by putting out a specific vibe. Later down the line, Rhonda Byrne created The Secret in 2006. This self-help method calls for using positive thinking to effect your life; in turn, this was influenced by 1910's The Science of Getting Rich.

Outside of the realm of self-help, some argue the Trump administration relies on tactics similar to NLP's technique of subjective reality. According to these people, by suggesting extreme measures such as the Muslim ban or a massive wall on the border, Trump takes the public's concerns and elevates them a step further, thereby making the public respond in desperation.

NLP Teaches How To Model Behavior
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Photo: The Double/StudioCanal

One of the largest tenants of NLP is the concept of "modeling" behavior. While similar to creating a subjective reality, this is a full physical and mental technique.

The basic idea behind this concept involves finding someone whose behavior or performance you wish to copy, figuring out what they do well, then slowly changing your behavior to match theirs. For instance, if you want to be as cool as David Bowie you must identify all the ways in which David Bowie is cool then adopt his personal mannerisms and style.

Once you begin achieving similar results to the person you chose to emulate, then you figure out what you don't need from them and cut it out until you're just adopting the specific mannerisms you need for success.