Economics vs Truth

Imagine if you have the power to change the world! How would that feel? What if I told you that you actually do have some of that power through os.me. Wondering how? It’s really the power of “your words” that can change the world and may be in the process also change you.

You may not realize it in your day to day use but there is serious economics behind words. Professional (and even non professional but good) writers recognize this economics and there is a $138 billion industry built on words. That obviously is great because we need words that can make us think, challenge ourselves and grow.

But did you know the change that Edward Bernays introduced in how words can be used. Bernays discovered the psychological power that words hold and practically introduced “clever lies” in mass communication. Surprising or even shocking as it may sound, some of Bernays work was used by none other than Third Reich in generating support for Adolf Hitler. While Bernays is gone, his legacy lives on. Among other things, Bernays figured out that “desires” are far more powerful than “needs”. He also figured how that can be used to sell something that people “desire” but may not “need”.  That obviously led to an explosion of never ending “desires”. It was a perfect tool for an industrial era that could mass produce items and make them “desirable” even though most of us “did not need” them.

About fifteen years back, Facebook & Twitter unleashed the economics of words. Just like consumers in the industrial wave were unaware of powerful forces unleashed by Bernays, we are unaware of how economics of words is moving us away from our truth.

My problem with this unawareness is what it is doing to “Our Spiritual Truth” and its discovery.

Our words (and even our silence) are preventing discovery of our truth. Or if I may even say so, they are hindering our spiritual growth. I am not being cynical but just practical. Bear with me as I take you through “Economics of Words 101” and what it is doing to our spiritual truth. I have oversimplified some constructs to keep this post an easy read for everyone.

Economics 101

We all know that fuel prices go up when there is less supply of fuel and more demand. The opposite happens when supply increases. Prices are decided by the play of this demand and supply. A pretty familiar graph below explains it.

You can see that a positive shift in demand can potentially increase the price which makes sense.

Economics of Words 101

Is there a demand and supply for words? Unlike “price”, economics of words requires an understanding of “interests”. Our words are priced by “interest”. Put simply, an individual would usually use their words to justify whatever is in their own interest. Sometimes, we may think about everyone else too but our own interest usually remain a priority.

Shown here is what demand and supply of our words looks like.

Battle of Economics & Truth

It’s obvious how demand can shift supply. As we saw in the case of fuel, higher demand resulted in higher supply and a higher price.

But did you know that supply can shift demand as well. Ability to shift demand was the genius of Bernays. As an example, Bernays relabeled cigarettes as “Torches of Freedom” and got women to smoke cigarettes creating significant economic benefit for American Tobacco Company. The question that begs to be answered is if “Cigarettes were truly torches of Freedom?”.

The battle of Economics with Truth had started.

What facebook & twitter are doing to our truth is pretty remarkable, they are shifting the demand through sheer supply. With advertising being the primary revenue stream, economics is winning over truth in what Elon Musk calls as public town square and what I call as “your digital corner”. So here is how the Economy of Words looks post facebook & twitter per me.

As you can see, “Interest” has shifted the curves.

My problem with this interest (or self interest) is when “it starts undermining our spiritual truth”.

“Self Interest” can pollute our words (and thoughts) very quickly especially if it conflicts with our truth. Watch your reactions carefully “when someone criticizes you and somewhere that criticism is accurate”. You would understand what I am saying.

In case you are thinking – but I don’t use facebook or twitter. This post is not so much about facebook or twitter, it’s about our words and how they promote or hinder our spiritual truth. You may also wonder that we obviously would act in our own interest, how else would one manage their daily life?

The problem starts only when our self interest starts undermining our spiritual truth. Whether it’s our interest with our employment, social standing or even relationships such as family – if it is undermining our spiritual truth then I do see that as a problem.

The question that each of us need to ask at some point is “What is more important to you – Your Truth or Your Interest”?

So where do we go from here?

When we started conceptualizing os.me, “Truth” was the first foundational pillar. Swami Ji added “Kindness” as the second pillar. We had to make a choice on how far we would go for “Truth” and Swami Ji made that choice via Kindness. If Truth was the pillar, kindness was the roof providing the shade. If there is an unkind truth, we decided that os.me will not be the right place for it.

The very reason why os.me community keeps me super excited is due to the power that each individual member holds. As a brahma (creator) of os.me, you can do countless things. It may sound far-fetched but I do think this community can help turn the tides in this battle of Economics & Truth.

We can make Truth win! Want to know how? Well, let me pen it down in my next post. In the interim, I would love to hear your thoughts.