Everyone in this world is never in control of his or her own lives. The moment we are born into this world, our parents sat down and decided our future for us. We were taken into schools selected by our parents. As we grew up and thought we could make our own decisions, advertisements on televisions and reports in newspapers swayed our decisions.
An aspiring dancer will come to know that being a dancer will not be feasible in Singapore; She will have read a report about the numerous dancers who have failed in their attempts to be a full-time dancer. She becomes a property agent.
An aspiring writer in Malaysia will come to know that being a writer will not provide any steady income in Malaysia; he sees in the news about a writer who struggles and eventually gives up on his dreams. He becomes a banker.
Somewhere out there, a group of people is engineering us to be what they want us to be. A real estate agency, during a meeting, creates scenarios to convince the aspiring dancer to be a property agent. A bank in Malaysia, during a meeting, creates news in the newspaper to convince the aspiring writer to be a banker.
We are always being social engineered.
A good social engineer creates scenarios to change a person’s decisions. He toys with the victim’s trust to get what they want. A skilled social engineer is very skilled at developing a ruse that stimulates emotions, fears or guilt.
We are always being manipulated. Before a couple goes into a relationship, the guy engineers a story or an excuse to convince the girl to go out with him. When we watch movies in the cinemas, we are manipulated by the trailers that develop the ruse within us. In one day, we are being manipulated more than twenty times by more than ten people.
We are never in control.
To win a chess game, you control your opponent’s movements with your movements. That is the basis of becoming a winner; that is the basis of becoming a skilled engineer. Either you control the game or you will be controlled by the game.
Adapted from “The Perfect Story” by Low Kay Hwa.