I was cruising along the Daily Mail website today, looking for something to pique my jaded interest.
Sure, there were stories about Harry and Meghan, about David and Victoria, about Brad and Angelina. Yawn.
But then, right as I was losing hope and nearing the end of the page, my eyes lit up. The headline read:
“Are you a Flat Earther? You’ve probably had a tough life! People who have experienced hardship are more likely to believe conspiracy theories, study finds”
As the tagline on my website can attest, for much of my life, I’ve had sympathy for Flat Earthers.
And now that the article pointed it out, I realized that, why yes, I have had a pretty tough life:
My parents divorced before I can remember… the country I was born into broke up amid civil war around the time I was 10 years old… my mom and I fled to America, where we were alone and for years pretty poor… during this vulnerable time, I moved around from state to state and school to school 5-6 times in 2-3 years… I developed epilepsy in my teenage years… I once twisted my ankle bad while playing badminton.
So yeah, pretty tough.
On the other hand, I’ve also had a pretty easy life:
I’m white, male, and with an IQ north of 101… my parents were both well educated and pushed me to get well educated also… aside from that initial onset of epilepsy at age 16, I haven’t spent a single night in a hospital my entire life… even though I’m lazy and careless by nature, and though I’ve made many dumb mistakes in my life, things have magically worked out for me, and I have long been living a life that many people envy.
So yeah, pretty easy. And had that Daily Mail headline read…
“Are you a Flat Earther? You’ve probably had a privileged life! People who are born smart, talented, and beautiful are more likely to believe conspiracy theories, study finds”
… I might have convinced myself that my easy life and privileged background explain my sympathy for Flat Earthers.
There is subtle psychology at work here.
It’s the psychology of generating the feeling of insight.
I’ve long been fascinated with the topic of insight, because insight feels fun when you experience it… and because it’s one of the most powerful, most effective ways to change people’s minds, and to get them to go from A to B, in a way they feel like it was all their own idea.
Maybe you can see how that can be useful for marketing, sales, and business.
I once put together a training about the most insightful things I had figured out about generating the feeling of insight. I used some of that even in the name of the training, which I called Age of Insight.
I recently got a brilliant testimonial for the Age of Insight. And while I don’t normally sell Age of Insight, I decided this brilliant testimonial was an occasion to do so. So I will be selling Age of Insight tomorrow for 36 hours only. (I’ll also share the testimonial then.)
I’m letting you know all this today so you can set your alarm, take time off work if you need to, and make sure to check my email or emails as they arrive tomorrow.
Meanwhile, just so you know I’m not fooling when I say I have sympathy for Flat Earthers, here’s a personal confession:
https://bejakovic.com/why-i-can-no-longer-be-a-flat-earther/