The Illusion of Choice is Beneficial Oppression

“Language is legislation, speech is its code. We do not see the power which is in speech because we forget that all speech is a classification, and that all classifications are oppressive.” – Roland Barthes, born Nov. 12, 1915

Something vital to keep in mind when you are a persuasive writer is this: You are not someone who creates enlightenment or increases freedom in your reader. Perhaps poets get that job.

Our goal is oppression. Yes it is.

Your job as a seller is to detail possible choices for the prospect, and then you must make all of them seem inferior to choosing the ONE you desire them to choose.

It's a matter of classifying and qualifying the possibilities.

You illustrate how THOSE options are obviously shit, for these detailed and very good reasons… However, THIS option is amazing for these very convincing AND TRUTHFUL reasons… The “choice” is therefore easy!

See, our goal is to ELIMINATE all other possibilities in their mind.

We want to make their imaginations see value and potential ONLY down our chosen avenue, and ruin and woe as the terminus of every other path they might otherwise take.

Instill in them the sense that the ONLY sensible – even moral – course of action is to get out their wallet and swipe that card and take your offer.

Right the damn hell ass now.

They choose because there IS NO CHOICE. It feels like one, but isn't. It's limitation and oppression of thought, implemented by us, against them.

Of course, this is a beneficial kind of oppression, especially for a frazzled prospect who is bewildered by options and possibilities.

We make the universe more manageable, more comprehensible, and more easy for them to operate in. Not by opening their mind to the vastness and variety – but by closing them off from everything but the best choice. Our choice.

Remember this: They did not come to you for education on the cosmos of options and possibilities and decisions to weigh and worry over. They came to you to make THE decision FOR them by making the choice obvious.

If you do what you're meant to, and they do what you mean for them to, it's a win-win.