Telling a good story or throwing shade? Flicking the switch on the reality of Fake Light.

I write this seven days after the 2016 United States Presidential Election and the world is a different place. They say a week is a long time in politics and if that is true then we’ve all had a lot of time to think and reflect. The result of the campaign to get to the White House represents a catalyst and it has motivated me to act so I’ve put pen to paper to try and contribute.

“We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realise truth at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies.”

~ Pablo Picasso

Ideas cannot be killed, they are bigger than any congress woman or any business man and words will always retain their power. Ideas can get us out of a mess and the same ideas over time can go out of date and deteriorate putting us into a completely new mess we never saw coming until it seems like it’s too late.

Since George Washington, the first elected independent president, a 250 year old model, or idea, has been used to elect government — the system by which a state or community is managed. The idea in a nutshell: A small group of people beget the authority to govern a larger group of people inside a market economy and under the rule of law.

As long a government look after us, a civilisation of sorts exists. If not then the people rise up and revolt. Then what? The larger group of citizens remove and replaces them with a new small group of people deemed electable at the end of a four year cycle. The process of finding new candidates creates a campaign where individuals make promises and forecasts in emotional language to persuade a majority to elect them. An elementary approach of an incoming candidate is to guarantee change. So bottom line, who is controlling who? What direction does control normally flow in a civilised democracy? Both?

It is clear at the moment that enough people from the masses in America feel they are not being looked after. Their basic [twenty-first century] human needs to feel pleasure, comfort, security and above all progress are not being met and may not have been met for quite a while. When a minority’s needs are not being met then a government’s position cannot be challenged, not to mention they are under little scrutiny, from an ethics point-of-view, to be persuaded to do anything about such a small problem. Once elected, the public have to settle for the new status quo. i.e. The whims, ambitions and agendas of that inaugurated small group of people.

This is what I believe to be the crux of the problem. Human beings inside a capitalist framework have evolved and emerged through education and technological advancement into savvy media operators who are masters of image exploitation giving them a tangible advantage over others who were not as fortunate. The image savvy are the new social order and as with human nature in any era, the people who are enlightened or ‘smarter’ find ways to control and manipulate the people who are not. These folks stole the keys to the doors of perception a long time ago and now so many others are lost, living within the motif of the veil which maintains that status quo. There is a name for the phenomena that upholds an order where one life regulates another oblivious life and it’s called Fake Light.

What is Fake Light?

Fake Light is an artificial optical version of a reality designed to pacify and appeal to neurotransmitters that stimulate the reward systems in the pleasure centers of the brain. Ultimately Fake Light makes you feel good and when we feel confident we trust and when we trust we become primed to buying goods, services or even candidates. Fake Light can also be known as propaganda, publicity, marketing, advertising, broadcasting, news, the press, merchandising and influencer testimonials.

“All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.” ~ Sun Tzu

Fake Light is a facade or a beacon comprising of various concepts and symbols that work together to incorporate familiar moral ideas and culture mixed together with open deception that emerge into a new, dare to know and desirable necessities. Driving forwards on a positively slanted version of the real truth, Fake Light turns strangers into friends and friends into fans and fans into customers as well as disciples. In sales terms, making a ‘sale’ is akin to making someone follow you.

“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”

~ Niccolò Machiavelli

The feeling of a genuine, natural and legitimate luminescence makes us convinced we are free, we are clean and true. We accept what we see, that this is real. The uniqueness of the signal appeals to us first emotionally then behaviourally until our affirmation turns us into hard earned long standing customers. Life seems predictable and normal. Good/evil, truth/lies, and progress/decline are all proposed alternatives with thousands of concepts and symbols but if the majority of the general public are swayed on a moral crusade about the truth. Being honest, pure and righteous they will eventually police each other. While all of this was materialising our vulnerability made us susceptible to the philosophies and visions of the Illuminaut whose supplementary function is to cast Fake Light to firstly grab attention and secondly shape their world.

What is an Illuminaut?

An Illuminaut is a human being who wants to target, lure, control and then gain from other people. They do this by using their established audience for their own ends by virtue of their individual motivations or purpose. The purpose could be a product, an organisation, a symbol, a person or a living system. Add to that they may also want fame, money, power, sex, respect, adulation or love. They know by reaching out to other people as mere accessories to their plans, the Illuminaut enables themselves to extract money to manifest and provide the lifestyle they desired for themselves in the first place. They’ve long since formulated a mission (who), a vision (what) and a culture (way) they are driven to establish. Discontent is the mother of all invention and a wounded Illuminaut can emerge by solving a major humanities problem they’ve have a solution for and declare it a dream or a cause. Illuminauts may be trained or instead have access to an agent in one or more of these disciplines; brand strategy, business strategy, strategic vision, corporate culture, brand identity and public relations. In most cases the Illuminaut focuses on image first and reputation second, where business is business is business. Altruistic Illuminauts are initially a minority, however if an Illuminaut becomes successful beyond their wildest expectations then at the moment money becomes no object anymore, the Illuminaut will declare themselves a philanthropist and begin redistributing their wealth back into the society where they made the money from in the first place. Not all Illuminauts follow that path. Others keep, maintain and grow the wealth over their lifetime to ensure a legacy for all future generations of their family. This has been the first position of the first wave of Illuminauts for over four hundred years.

An Illuminaut does not reveal their true selves or their real motivations. Only the company line until the deal is done. They make sure they are seen by the targeted audience to be doing and saying the right thing. They rarely risk speaking without a script, opting instead to crafting a carefully prepared story because they want to get something from you. They want you to believe they are who and what they say they are. That you can trust them. They are the Illuminauts because they know our weaknesses and insecurities and they play to them with intentionally false statements which serve a variety of functions from instrument to interpersonal to psychological.

The five steps of an atypical Illuminaut

1. Conceal the truth (shortcomings or errors)

2. Exaggerate the myth (journalism is the first draft of history)

3. Do it at the expense of someone else’s common sense (blatantly and publicly)

4. Make them ‘buy the lie’ (fooled into feeling good)

5. Secure material, political or financial gain (milk the cow)

The *Illuminati

A legitimate goal for an Illuminaut is by hook or by crook to become part of The Establishment. Once in The Establishment it is even easier to dominate other human beings and even to play god, if that’s your thing. Between the two worlds I occupy (mainstream media and the open internet) I believe it is this global elite that currently holds power or authority over nations and organisations. This 1% of the global population are coined ‘the enlightened ones’ and some people use the word *Illuminati to describe them. The *Illuminati, whether real or fictitious, may not refer to themselves with that moniker but they do meet up together in proximity as a closed social group from time to time. This collective of the ultra rich selects its own members or specific entrenched elite structures, either in government or in specific institutions. The decision making that has to take place in these meetings is clearly above democracy and by proxy cannot exist for the benefit of all mankind. It is so blurred that it makes it almost impossible to rise up against or to challenge their agenda and the bear weight of money and pressure can persuade Presidents and their cabinets to align. The 1% do not benefit all of mankind and the proof is in the amount of economic inequality not just in the United States of America but the entire planet, which is clearly under siege — let’s not even bring up all the wars simultaneously taking place. If there is a 1% and whether there is an agenda towards the new world order and a global government, this set up is still the same 250 year old system we’ve used where a small group of people beget the authority to govern a larger group of people inside a market economy and under the rule of law. From what I can see, enlightenment in this current world means praying upon the ignorant, uneducated and uninformed. If you’re a gamer like me you may have played The Sims or perhaps you had a pet Goldfish or some Guinea Pigs when you were a kid. There’s a level of responsibility and satisfaction in the upkeep of a domestic animal but in this scenario the animals purely generate comfort and relieve stress, they show us love and keep us from being lonely and we take care of them in return, a reasonably healthy value exchange. However, domesticated pets are not slaves that work for us. So the deployment of Fake Light must boil down to the ethics of the Illuminaut behind it. Because the lifestyle they want makes the planet their playground and not everyone is invited to that party.

The ethics of Fake Light

The human struggle for life is still somewhat influenced by the concept of natural selection in the animal kingdom. All I’ve even known since I can remember is that it’s ‘dog eat dog in the rat race.’ I’m one of Thatcher’s children. From what I’ve read in the last seven days Neoliberalism has brought us all here, an out of date idea that has deteriorated putting us into a completely new mess we never saw coming. One of the aspects of Neoliberalism from what I can understand rewards winners and punishes losers, a meritocracy where in some instances a digital entrepreneur can flourish with their innovative knack of solving major humanities problems and declare it a dream or a cause. Like inventing a better brain washing and time wasting application than a television and then pumping free wifi over an entire continent giving them access to said invention (and open internet). Yes, these initiatives mean well in an altruistic sense but who’s taking the plastic out of the sea and the CO2 out of the sky because apart from Elon Musk, there doesn’t seem to be any innovative Illuminauts finding a profitable idea out of some of the graver problems facing the playground planet Earth — the playground we all call home. Don’t forget our bodies too. Why are we casting Fake Light to persuade young minds to drink liquid sugar or instead a cancer inducing saccharine, which is not a sufficient alternative product? A realignment of priorities is what is needed, not more and more sophisticated Fake Light oscillating at higher frequencies so we are hardly conscious of it. I think it’s time to try and stop making everyday decisions based on the idea that, ‘I’m alright and that’s the most important thing.’ When is enough money enough for one individual?

In twenty-first century mobile-first life Fake Light is inevitable and it doesn’t always mean something negative or threatening, it provides an income for people which is a working part of commerce and a healthy economy. I’m calling it out today so people know about the concept, that it exists and that people are trying to control you left, right and centre. Yes, lot’s of people already know about these themes but for those that don’t, giving the concept the name such as Fake Light serves many purposes, unforeseen ones of course, but if Fake Light simplifies an idea and makes it interesting, digestible and shareable then I truly hope my creative kick in the ass to act contributes positively in the road ahead.

*Illuminati [ih-loo-muh-nah-tee] plural noun, the collective name for a gathering of Illuminauts.

To dialogue Fake Light go to twitter@thgilekaf

If you want to continue the conversation about Fake Light and discuss how we might reverse the negative aspects of it, or if you’ve helped propagate Fake Light and felt tricked and want to share your story go to https://twitter.com/@thgilekaf

I’m a creative leader who has contributed to more than my fair share of Fake Light (knowingly and unwittingly) throughout my career. I’m available for hire.