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Add to Favorites Persuasion: The art of Temptation
Persuasion is a common form of communication, whether an art form or just a wonderful tool in life that can equally encourage a crying child to smile, a terminally ill patient to strive for the joy of yet another day in the glaring and painful absence of hope , or a world of embattled nations to declare peace. Persuasion may be clever, delicately wielded, breathtakingly artistic, subtle and refined, or applied with the brutal force of a large hammer. Persuasion in it's many forms is pervasive and effective in both the singular human mind and in mankind collectively, but is it an art form?
With reason, timely and well-spoken words, can we not be persuaded to believe almost anything? What would the world be like without the fact of persuasion? Without persuasion and encouragement to enjoy the idyllic happiness of childhood, would all children cry endlessly? Would ill patients simply die prematurely without the delicate persuasion of hope? Would nations offer nothing but violent warfare and ignore forever the advancement of civilization? With little effort, it can be observed that persuasion, like art, is at work in humanity at all times. It might be reasonable to suggest the world cannot exist without persuasion, but why should it be considered an art form?
Just as visual arts have been used, persuasion has been used throughout history, and magnificently at times, to change the direction and nature of civilization . The sophisticated, and clever orator, using nothing but persuasion, encourages others to believe what he envisions and believes unequivocally. Religious leaders shepherd the minds of doubting Thomas clones en masse to their own version of God using persuasion, with a few subtle hints of hell fire, punishment, and offerings of eternal lives bejeweled with heavenly rewards thrown in -a delicate mix that can substantially sway the even the troubled human mind. A despised political leader charges a nation to use deadly, ugly devices borne of the most deviate mind in a quasi-military social laboratory, using persuasion and custom-tailored rhetoric to achieve belief in the correctness of his means to a questionable end. Is that ilk of persuasion an art form? The probability of effecting change, where under normal circumstance change might be unlikely, often requires callous, reckless and daring persuasion sublimated under artistic licence. Therein lies a substantiated, if oblique similarity to art.
The artist or craftsman persuades astounding magnificence to crystallize from pails of raw pigments, produces breath-taking paintings, astounding and delicate works from common clay, and dares common stone to become majestic statuary or sparkling, exotic jewels. Practitioners of the arts are eager participants in the inexplicable human desire to create and be involved in the transformation of materials, and may be persuaded to forsake perfection.
Being suitably persuaded in the extreme may include the forsaking of truth and honest effort for the status and glory of a conjured vision of perfection. Perhaps a dismal failure will emerge instead of a genuine work of art, but that risk is knowingly accepted with self- persuasion. The artist may equally persuade herself to greatness or the mundane and ordinary. The creative mind, once dissuaded from reality and persuaded to think only of greatness, by remaining true to human nature significantly coached by materialism, is spurred to ever greater impossibilities with dreams of success and remains thereafter subjected to the lure and daunting beauty of the ever-distant, but non-achievable perfection proffered by the fine art of persuasion.
The commonality between art and the concept of artistic persuasion is both the improbable and unbelievable altered delicately with finesse, changelings from the previously difficult or highly unlikely. The hereto impossible becomes the believable, and ultimately the substance of reality. The result in art is evolution of the ordinary to an object of beauty, which may even subsequently be entitled to greatness. If the combination of words and thoughts required to effect similar polar change in matters of the mind be labeled persuasion, then persuasion is clearly a fine art form in itself. The line betwixt love and hate, perceived and genuine success, or wasted words and persuasive oratory is subjective, fine, and often invisible persuasion.
A totally different and unique reality, a different mind set and subliminally preferable conclusion may be established merely by skillfully using the fine art of persuasion.
With the right words, the receiving mind is cultivated not only to desire, but to insist upon that prodigy offered, a desirable new form, a different reality, -curiously, at times, even if a price is to be paid or an unpalatable untruth is involved that must be acknowledged. Because of the requirement for visible justification in less subtle forms of persuasion, a dissimilarity between the art of persuasion, and the fact of blatant persuasion is moderately apparent.
The face of art and the ploy of persuasion may at times be similarly becoming, equally offering a heady promise of beauty. The final product of visual art is not only one of manipulation of materials, but includes the winnowing of the mind and vision, emotional involvement and patterned thought, a transformation to a chosen and objectified, idyllic state and preconceived form, perhaps even including a perceived purity. Thus also is the form, substance and art of persuasion.
Within the current understanding of acceptable and manufactured perfection in art , the results from the palette or mold provided by the artist may be equated to a state of mind, the result of manipulation of thought within the mind by the timely persuader, the courier of the promised vision, and the artist of persuasion. The difference in the quality of art that graces one's gallery remains solely a totality and expression of the quality of input, thought, skill and dedication placed into the mind and mold alike, along with the silken promise of hope and adventure, in combination, a highly variable, if unknown influence on the subject mind.
Be thee persuaded in thy innocence, for the rewards of the forthcoming persuasion and body of art shall vary thee greatly comes to mind.
Persuasion, for all of it's other characteristics, can be equated to an apple, the temptation of humanity at it's finest, just as masterful works so tempt the avid collector. Yes, persuasion is an art form that can tempt the stalwart to tears or a fool to delight.
Learn more about this author, Raymond Alexander Kukkee.
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No
Persuasion is not a form of art; it's a stimulus-response feedback circuit by a controller or would be controller of a human subject or subjects. Persuasion in the context of verbal communication may be highly skilled or threatening-the complete range of expressible forms of speech are possible from false promises to misdirection though talk isn't the only method of persuasion.
Art is the shaping of beautiful things. Reason is the ability to evaluate and prioritize things. Are most people persuaded more by eloquence than by reason? Disregard for the moment the ineloquent slop that stimulates consumerism through broadcast advertising. Though it has little reason and is entirely art and Americans go for it like pigs to a trough full of hot vittals, does that make all people more inclined to be persuaded by puff balls of gee gaws and shiny things rather than by hard, cold facts?
How did the United States build up 12 trillion of public debt, have another ten trillion scheduled by the administration and have a likely target of 50 trillion dollars of debt by 2030? Were the public persuaded by the art of political discourse or by the pure plain corrupting of facts? Is lying really an art? Is incompetence art? Is corporate treason that invests abroad and digs pits of doom for the Americans of today and tomorrow in a hot global mess ruled by foreign investors artistic? A belief that persuasion is an art is to find in favor of the reciprocal that Americans are shallow and narcissistic minded. It isn't a nation of Spocks that can find the way to the half mile course to the objective rather than the artfully appointed 50 trillion dollar way a saleswoman foists upon us.
Starvation with sanctions is one political tool intended to bring individuals or governments in to political submission. Forced homelessness and lack of medical care, destruction of dating and family life affordability and a plethora of aversive conditioning devices may be a persuasive coercion such that a subject may change his or her behavior into conformity with the will of the controller(s). Positive reinforcement is also persuasive-that buxom beauty with the splendid personality can become an irresistibly persuasive argument to throwing one's congress to the sharks, historically. How many have switched to the opposition party in return for the silky caress of the svelte woman?
Art museums have painting and sculptures a thief might steal for if persuaded by the greed or purchasing power of the goods sold to private collectors. What persuasions have brought men and women to break that commandment, or given up compatriots during interrogation, sacrificed moral principles or done wrong because of peer pressure? How persuasive was Adolph Hitler with his resonating speaking voice? Can Hitler's persuasions in any way be said to have been an art?
There are many ways to persuade people to believe, to act upon, to find agreement with the ideas of the controller-or if in a weaker position, the appellant. Truth can be a good method for the honest, simple recitation of facts should be a convincing proof of the reason for agreement. It would be a cynical kind of sophism to have the opinion that persuasion is simply a skill and the meaning a superfluity or even a dissimulation of no consequence. One does not need an art in order to convey facts plainly and accurately to a receiver of information if they are willing to listen. Language arts do certainly exist-poetic language is one obvious application of language to art. Art did originally refer to artisans or skilled workers rather than to aesthetic creations of a non-functional or just pleasure purpose. Today the term 'art' is applied to everything from wrestling to logic probably incorrectly. 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' as a book title applied the word 'art' vary broadly and created a genre of similar applications that followed.
Definitions of words may be changed to mean about anything one wishes so long as the meaning is copied or 'ditto'd' such as Rush Limbaugh listeners used to iterate on calls to the Boggi Swami Rama of radio politic chat. Is it fair to say that Rush Limbaugh's work in broadcasting is an art? There is another radio broadcaster who does fake reality interviews of a political nature that resembles sincerity that qualifies as art because it is intended for entertainment. With so much global network corporate power the line between entertainment and not is eradicated...even the news is entertainment for ratings and advertising revenues. The coverage is driven to enthrall rather than inform. If one is persuaded by it if anything it should be that society is badly structured and in need of substantial reform; one would need to make that inference as a cross purpose from the intended response the controllers desire in the listener or watcher. I read a very good book on classical and symbolic logic by David Kelly named 'The Art of Reasoning'. I believe that the meaning of art in the context is that reasoning with logic and symbolic logic especially is a skill that can be learned and practiced to a better result than at first-such as one expects when learning to play a guitar, understand quantum mechanics or develop knowledge in any field requiring technical proficiency over time. Language that is used for entertainment is an art if done well, while language that is applied for persuasion should convey information well and be plain and concise or at least to the point. The facts should persuade the listener rather than the skill with which the facts or a dissimulation are presented.
Learn more about this author, Gary C. Gibson.
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