Scott Adams' Blog

When Persuasion Turns Deadly

Posted July 11th, 2016 @ 1:04pm in #Trump #black lives matter #police #clinton2016

Some of you watched with amusement as I endorsed Hillary Clinton for my personal safety. What you might not know is that I was completely serious. I was getting a lot of direct and indirect death threats for writing about Trump’s powers of persuasion, and I made all of that go away by endorsing Clinton. People don’t care why I am on their side. They only care that I am.

You might have found it funny that I endorsed Clinton for my personal safety. But it was only funny by coincidence. I did it for personal safety, and apparently it is working. Where I live, in California, it is not safe to be seen as supportive of anything Trump says or does. So I fixed that.

Again, I’m completely serious about the safety issue. Writing about Trump ended my speaking career, and has already reduced my income by about 40%, as far as I can tell. But I’m in less physical danger than I was.

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The Persuasion Diet

Posted July 11th, 2016 @ 9:19am in #fitness #diet #Trump #persuasion

Business Insider has an interesting article on how traditional dieting is becoming less popular. Now people are focusing on health and fitness, with weight management being a side benefit. That’s a big deal because dieting was always the wrong approach to health.

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The FBI, Credibility, and Government

Posted July 7th, 2016 @ 9:19am in #Trump #Clinton

The primary goal of government is its own credibility.

That notion needs some explaining.

Governments do many things, including building roads, providing social services, defending the homeland, and more. But no matter what the government is trying to accomplish, its macro-responsibility is to maintain its own credibility. Governments without credibility devolve into chaos. Credibility has to be job one.

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The Crook Versus the Racist

Posted July 5th, 2016 @ 9:27am in #trump #clinton2016

Do you remember the detailed policy proposal that came out of the Clinton campaign last week?

Neither do I.

I’m not saying it didn’t happen. I’m just saying that if Clinton said something about her policies, I didn’t notice. The Clinton campaign has wisely ditched facts and reason for pure persuasion. And it is working.

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The Time I Accidentally Plunged Europe into Economic Uncertainty

Posted June 30th, 2016 @ 11:38am in #brexit #Trump #persuasion

I have to confess that I wasn’t paying attention to the Brexit issue until after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. I wondered why so many folks from England had been asking me what I thought of the persuasion angle the Brexit “Leave” side was using. I always responded that I wasn’t following the topic and had no opinion.

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Hypnotizing My Dog, Snickers

Posted June 30th, 2016 @ 8:01am in #Trump #persuasion #influence #hypnosis #pets #psychology

I often write about the importance of context. Watch how important context is to my dog, Snickers.

And yes, humans are almost as easily influenced by context. They just don’t realize it.

If you like this video, there is no reason to believe you would also love my book and recommend it to everyone you know. And remember to check out the larger Persuasion Reading List I put together for you.

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The Humiliation of the American Male in 2016

Posted June 23rd, 2016 @ 11:24am in #Trump #clinton2016 #sexism

Perhaps the biggest unreported story of this presidential election is the humiliation of the American male. Unless I’m blinded by confirmation bias – which is entirely possible – it seems to me that the humiliation of American men is now institutionalized in the media.

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Why Gun Control Can’t Be Solved in the USA

Posted June 22nd, 2016 @ 9:17am in #Trump #clinton2016

On average, Democrats (that’s my team*) use guns for shooting the innocent. We call that crime.

On average, Republicans use guns for sporting purposes and self-defense.

If you don’t believe me, you can check the statistics on the Internet that don’t exist. At least I couldn’t find any that looked credible.

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Some Thoughts about Lewandowski, Campaign Funding, and Safety

Posted June 21st, 2016 @ 2:09pm in #Trump

Lewandowski Firing

Trump fired Corey Lewandowski yesterday. Is that bad or good?

Well, if you are on the Clinton team, you try to frame it as campaign chaos, and evidence that Trump doesn’t hire the best people.

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How to Un-Hypnotize a Rabid Anti-Trumper

Posted June 19th, 2016 @ 9:43am in #trump #clinton2016

Regular readers of this blog know I’m a trained hypnotist. I’ve been studying the ways of persuasion – in all its forms – for decades.

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