What? If this is manipulation then I'm a manipulator as is every other parent (and teacher, and every customer service worth their salt) aren't we?

Yep, we simplify. Yes, we tell stories. We don't lie. (No, teaching Newtonian mechanics without mentioning Relativity isn't a lie, and neither is simplifying the container explanations until even bureaucrats can understand it ;-)

That said, having

1. seen the email that circulated with my customers ten years ago about how container ships transport goods from Asia to US and American air back

2. and having recently listened to "The Goal" by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

I do wonder if this is really the best solution.

I've heard Ryan speak at a dozen or so company meetings. He's genuine, knowledgeable, and has a long term focus not just on Flexport but on the whole freight industry and the global economy.

I'm not saying he's right about everything, but trusting his integrity and industry knowledge is a very safe first step.

Seriously, it's looking like he pretty quickly is looking to start an influence/propaganda channel.

Following the exact same playbook. A bunch of easily agreeable "Rah, Rah bad Wall st. Short term over long term bad" to get everyone nodding, then an incredible leap to push his actual argument.

This guy is falling very quickly from "interesting how he got that thread picked up everywhere", to "somethings fishy here".

The logic presented is "The cause for the port slowdown is a future policy proposal I want people to oppose."

Obviously he isn't literally saying that, but that's the logic path he walks the reader down.

This is communication 101. If you start internalizing that form of storytelling, you'll see it everywhere - literally all of our public discourse has this structure, from the Build Back Better plan to "Immigrants are taking our jobs" to "Flatten the curve" to the right-wing school-board stuff to fluff pieces on local restaurants to top-ranked HN comments. It's so prevalent because it works - it taps into fundamental cognitive & emotional biases that humans hold, so the ideas that spread are the ones expressed in that form.

If you want to be rational about this, judge the plan (and this one too) on its own merits rather than on the fact you're being manipulated. You're being manipulated - you are always being manipulated, every time someone communicates with you, and you can't escape that. It's good to understand how, but then your job is to tease out the rhetoric and understand the underlying proposal enough to judge it on its own merits.

Exactly, I think the most succinctly way I've heard it put is, "Everything is Marketing"

Does it invalidate the message, if you tell it well?