Urkhan Seidov

"Propaganda is losing force as soon as it becomes apparent"
Frederic Beigbeder. "99 francs"

Have you ever thought about why coming into an empty room on the lecture, the students carefully choose where they will sit?

In fact their choice is already known and lends itself to explanation and principles of exact sciences [1]. And when you go to the supermarket and choose a product you want to buy, do you think that you have the freedom of choice and that your decision is the best? Indeed, throughout the entire process - from the beginning to the end, the best marketers in the world have been working with you before the purchase of namely "this" manufacturer’s product. You just make a decision, choosing from the options that you have been offered deliberately.

Drinking freshly squeezed orange juice in the morning, brushing your teeth twice a day, dying your hair, giving expensive engagement rings - all this and much more is the result of the work of marketers and copywriters. Even Santa Claus in the form in which we are used to imagine him was developed by Coca-Cola.

However, the methods applied by companies and corporations are often used by politicians and the state as a whole. Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, who made a significant contribution to the creation of the modern science of mass persuasion, which is based not on reason but on the manipulation of subconscious feelings and impulses, writes in his book "Propaganda": "The conscious and skillful manipulation of regular habits and tastes of the masses is an important component of a democratic society".

According to him, in theory, each citizen should take his own decision on social and personal matters. However in practice, if a person constantly had to get down into intricate economic, political and ethical aspects of any of these issues, it would be physically impossible to take a decision or make any conclusion. That is why people tacitly agreed that "invisible" government will filter information and allocate critical issues reducing the selection field to a reasonable level [2, 38]. Bernays said: "Modern propaganda is a consistent, enduring effort to create or shape events to influence the relations of the public to an enterprise, idea or group ".

Previously it was thought that the behavior of homo economicus (a conditional general concept, the idea that a man as a rational thinking subject building his plans and actions based on the principle of maximizing the benefits) is strictly rational and all his deeds and actions are designed to maximize its usefulness. But the latest research results published by C.Sunshtein and R.Tyler have shown that the actions and decisions of individuals are largely substantiated by their emotional motivations and desires. That is why society needs a boost to the adoption of certain decisions by the state. This new method of state regulation is called a "new paternalism" or "Nudge-based" policy (from the English "nudge" – to impel).

Here are just a few examples of the successful use of this theory in practice. For example, there was a big accident in hairpin turns on one of highways in Chicago. In order to solve the problem, it was decided to make the marking band short and frequent when approaching a turn. Therefore, there was created an illusion that the rate increases, so the driver braked. As a result the accidents rate was reduced to zero.

Another example is that in order to improve tax collection in the US there are regularly sent out letters with a certain message, not with a call to pay. This message contains the next information: "all your neighbors have already paid taxes". As a result, tax collection has exceeded all expectations.

The effectiveness of this method has not passed unnoticed by governments. Behavioural Insight Divisions, which skillfully use the technology of managing people, have been established in the United States, England and Australia at the national level [3].

According to Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, the authors of the book "Freakonomics", everything has a hidden side, and even the most obvious does not always have a cause-and-effect relationship with an event. One of the examples cited in the book refers to the unprecedented high percentage of juvenile delinquency in the US in the early 1990s that foreshadowed the catastrophe in the country. However, despite the forecasts of experts, this figure dropped by more than half by 2000. As it turned out, this phenomenon was facilitated not by laws on the control of arms sales, a strong economy, and even new strategies for the police, but by a court decision on legalization of abortions throughout the country dated January 22, 1973. The fact is that, according to studies, children having disadvantaged backgrounds are much more likely to become criminals than all other. That is the court`s decision prevented the increase in number of criminals. [4]

However let’s return to the "criminals" of capitalism, who are justified by this system. It is worth remembering the 2008 financial crisis, which arose as a result of inflated ratings of mortgage-backed securities. Ratings were no longer just landmarks in the choice of investment; they have turned into a kind of saleable advertising, as since 1907 agencies began to take commissions from banks for their ratings. Accordingly, the transparency and impartiality of these ratings is questionable - it is likely that the high ratings of dubious mortgage loans of 2000-2007 were awarded unfairly.

Thus, there is a hidden and at the first glance invisible motif lying behind every action, which leads to the final result. However, as it is written in the epigraph, this motif becomes invalid as soon as it becomes apparent.
There now, the European Parliament’s last resolution on Azerbaijan appearing as “obscene propaganda” has lost its force as soon as they voted for it.

Obviously, not only capitalism, but, unfortunately, democracy is sometimes justifies criminals and offenders. There is no explanation for the fact that the self-proclaimed "president" of Nagorno-Karabakh was invited to a think tank in London. Moreover, the fact that the Party of the European Free Alliance (by the way, one of the main agitators for the adoption of this biased resolution) takes the separatist so-called "Democratic Party of Artsakh" acting in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh into its ranks is also inexplicable.

If the representatives of the European Parliament really wanted to build a constructive dialogue with Azerbaijan, it could well be put in the paradigm of negotiations. Then, "Nash’s equilibrium" would be observed, the subjective value would be considered, and in their arguments they would adhere to the three-stage model of Douglas, who emphasizes that attention should be focused on the disagreement on certain issues, not on the criticism of the personal qualities of each other [5].

Whereas, the degree of dependence of relations during the negotiations is determined by two parameters:
• the degree of availability of alternative sources of results;
• the degree of interest in the outcome of the issues discussed.

For over 20 years, international organizations have been demonstrating their inability (or unwillingness) to contribute to the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict raising doubts concerning their interest in taking this decision. Fortunately, Azerbaijan has always an alternative, and most importantly a legitimate potential to resolve the mentioned conflict, in other words, Azerbaijan can liberate its lands by military means. However, unlike the other parties of the negotiation process, Azerbaijan`s behaviour is rational and correct throughout the conflict period, and sooner or later such a constant and worthy position will yield fruit.

According to John Nash, a Nobel laureate in economics, portrayed by Russell Crowe in the movie "A Beautiful Mind": "There has to be a mathematical explanation for how bad that tie is". As we can see, there also has been found an explanation for the pointlessness of the European Parliament’s resolution. However this explanation is far from mathematics, but close to hypocrisy.

Bibliography:

[1] Thomas C. Schelling, 2006. Micromotives and Macrobehavior. Revised Edition. W. W. Norton & Company.

[2] Edward Bernays, 2005. Propaganda. Edition. Ig Publishing.

[3] Richard H. Thaler, 2009. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Revised & Expanded Edition. Penguin Books.

[4] Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner, 2006. Freakonomics. First edition & printing in this form Edition. Penguin Books Ltd.

[5] Gavin Kennedy, 1997. Kennedy on Negotiation. New edition Edition. Gower Pub Co.

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