Trapsing through the sludge of corruption

"Get your wellies on!": How to recognise and overcome a strategy of behavioural science that is weaponised against us.

Ever been tempted not to unsubscribe from a website, because the company insist on you remembering your password and you can’t be bothered to go through that ridiculous, circular authorisation process? Ever been tempted NOT to read through the T&Cs of a new customer contract because ‘its just too long and boring’? Have you decided NOT to renew that licence because ‘new rules’ mean you have to upload another piece of identification that you just can’t be bothered to find and scan in?

Ah ha! Gotcha!

Paul Holloway from Birmingham, United Kingdom (Public access)

This is the ‘sludge’….the ‘dark patterns’ of bureaucracy that often prevents us from going with our gut instinct, our first choice, and instead smooths the way for us instead to ‘go with the flow’.

Behavioural science suggests that human beings are instinctively lazy and tend to want to go with the easiest option. That’s why submitting to a Government policy ‘consultation’ is so often so long-winded. Or so it might seem, from first impressions.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Here’s an example below of some sludge from that infamous 2011 UK ‘Nudge Unit’ report, ‘Mindspace’, where it describes the difference between the ‘opt in’ and ‘opt out’ versions on the organ donation forms in different countries:

The data is a bit out of date now, but clearly shows the powerful strategy (used to great effect since this publication came out) of forcing the public to go through a ‘process’ (the longer and more confusing, the better), in order to avoid the possibility of their organs NOT being used for transplant donations.

Is this ethical?

Even the Mindspace authors themselves admit, no, not really. (But they use it anyway).

Today I spoke with Paul Brennan from RCR about how the process of ‘vaccine’ mandate exemptions for NZ healthcare workers were deliberately made from gatekeepers and ‘sludge’ to prevent staff from applying. Since the mandates were dropped (Sept 2022), sludge still exists in seeking data about those exemptions, through the different ‘types’ of application forms and the different authorities involved (see below for more details on this):

Of course many of those who did get granted an exemption, also signed an NDA, and so are gagged from speaking about it. The legal implications form even more sludge.

There are more data to be published about these exemptions, and accountability will be forthcoming, in time. Meanwhile, what can we learn from this experience?

Embrace the sludge !

- in this modern psyops era, sludge is often a sign we are doing the right thing by not complying with groupthink. So - Get prepared! Get a new set of (metaphorical) wellies if necessary, and set aside some quiet time for any bureaucracy. Decide now who you may ask to help you, if reading through and completing nonsensical bureaucracy isn’t your strength (is it anyones?!). Maybe get some friends together for a ‘sludge party’ to overcome the boredom and frustration of the Government corruption together?

One thing’s for sure, this sludge is a bit like that other massive elephant in the room, the propaganda: once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Pass it on.