Nudge, nudge, wink wink...

How the Government wants to change the way we think.

[link to www.independent.co.uk]

"The public will have "social norms" heavily emphasised to them in an attempt to increase healthy eating, voluntary work and tax gathering. Appeals will be made to "egotism" in a bid to foster individual support for the Big Society, while much greater use will be made of default options to select benevolent outcomes for passive citizens – exemplified by the organ donation scheme."


Of course, there's nothing really new here, but it's an interesting read anyway, and confirms what we all knew already.

I discovered for myself the power of appealing to "egotism" ( [link to en.wikipedia.org] when discussing anything. The trick is to fool people into believing that they have arrived at some conclusion/insight by themselves.
You drop subtle clues into your statements, which tempt the inquiring reader to follow your desired path. When that person "discovers" something for themselves, they will then defend it to the last (protect the ego).