Neurolinguistic Programming and the Use of Presuppositions in the Greek Elections (fall 2015)

Or, why the other parties hardly stand a chance!

Which parties? the non "Syriza" parties. Syriza is a "surprisingly idiotic" party that came to power in the beginning of 2015, in Greece. It made a monumental mess of everything. So much so, that these Greek politicians are worthy contenders to win the "best case of mismanagement ever" world trophy. They did one thing well, however: they placed cronies, girl-friends, and family in the Greek civil service.

No -- make that two things: Syriza was and is very good at marketing communication.

For public speaking, the Syriza leader (Alex Tsipras) puts on a sad, nostalgic, faraway look, and deepens his voice to make it all more appealing and confidence-inspiring. He leans forward to show energy -- but not too far forward, lest it put part of his electorate that is banking on "money for nothing", as the bail-out funds come pouring into Greek state coffers.

Their campaign is also a textbook case in point. It is fully based on presupposition, with mild hypnotic tendencies.
Their slogans run the gamut of "clean break with the past",  "we cleared the past"  "cleaned up" and hence, "we want to move ahead now". The presupposition is, "you know  that we have cleared with the past, it is past, behind you (don't dwell on it), put it out of your mind."
 And then the injunction, mildly hypnotic:
"(As past is gone) focus on our future, vote for us we are moving forward together."


Meanwhile, the other parties are busy trying to convince people, focusing on content, hoping people will actually listen and understand the message and then, miraculously, think and reach the right conclusion -- right for the campaigner at hand, that is.


Good luck to them!



*Greece's Syriza government, a coalition between the thwarted extreme right wing anti-europeans "Free Greeks" and the authoritarian left-wing "Syriza", made a mess of everything: talks and relations with the EU partners, threw the country into deep recession in 6 short months, helped the Athens Stock Exchange lose 77% of it s value, created an unprecedentedly fast capital flight, and imposed cpaital controls. It has also been the most spendthrift government in recent years, recruiting ~20,000 people in the civil service, raised taxes, called 2 more elections in the year, and signed yet another bailout plan with its EU partners. A dictatorship couldn't have done better!

They also lowered the standards of schools in Greece -- such as are still operating, many aren't -- because "excellence is a disease".