Ogregore fairy tales

Our dreams are different every night, but there are patterns (cf. Marie-Louise von Franz, endnote [1]). Similarly, while corporate PR spin—and other ogregore stories—is slightly different every time, there are perhaps patterns that reveal their deep motivations. In other words, PR could be a way to access an ogregore’s “psyche,” if it has one.

While C.G. Jung was interested in grand myths, Marie-Louise von Franz opens An Introduction to the Interpretation of Fairy Tales (1970, 1971) by saying, “Fairy tales are the purest and simplest expression of collective unconscious psychic processes” (see endnote [3]). She continues, “They represent the archetypes in their simplest, barest and most concise form. In this pure form, the archetypal images afford us the best clues to the understanding of the processes going on in the collective psyche.” Perhaps the stories ogregores tell can give us an understanding of what’s going on in their collective psyche.

Marie-Louise von Franz

Corporations and other organizations are constantly spinning stories to influence other ogregores, especially governments. There is often a pattern to these stories which reveal the values and worldviews of these entities. Perhaps corporation-speak captured in PR spin, press releases, and filings with government agencies reveal the collective unconscious of ogregores. (There may well be different species of ogregores, with differing unconscious “minds.”) It’s very easy to talk about the Big Myths of, say, capitalism or technology, but perhaps the intimacy of ogregore folk tales is a way to avoid being caught up too quickly in ideology.

Looking at some stories from early 2024 (endnote [3]), the corporate pitch in the face of, say, proposed new regulation goes something like this:

• Everything is OK, things are going well.
• In general, what we do leads to social progress and human well-being. (endnote [4])
• If you regulate us, bad things will happen like less investment in stuff you want, less innovation, less economic growth, and less competition. This will damage the economy overall, small business especially, and citizens individually.
• Even if you did regulate, it won’t address the root causes of the problem you’re trying to solve, and will have unintended consequences.
• If you still want to take action, you already have sufficient authority under existing rules and regulations.

Since the regulation is proposed by government, and the harms are to the collective good, the argument is that steps taken against the organizations by the state will harm the state itself.

One could frame this as a rudimentary fairy tale:

• A Monster appeared in the land.
• The Hero was doing their best to fight it.
• An evil advisor persuaded the Ruler that the Hero was actually helping the Monster rather than fighting it.
• The Ruler decided to poison the Hero.
• In a dream, the Ruler saw that poisoning the Hero would make the Ruler and his people sick, and hamper the Hero in fighting the Monster.
• The Ruler changed his mind, and together the Ruler and the Hero defeated the Monster.

Corporate responses to criticism and scandal go something like this, judging by statements by Facebook spokesman Andy Stone in response to the WSJ’s Facebook Files exposé in 2021 (endnote [5]). The associated fairy tale is quite similar to the one just outlined.

• The platform reflects society. Our systems are not the root cause of the problem.
• While the criticism is fair, it’s out of date since systems have been improved.
• We recognize the problem and have been working diligently to combat it, over a long period.
• We are incented to fix the problem because it’s bad for business.
• The metrics being used to attack the company are out of date, partial, or performance against them has improved.

Notes

• Many public policy arguments involve hypotheticals: what would happen (or not happen) if the government took a certain course of action. One could tell them as prophecy stories or, as I did above, as dreams.
• One can apply a similar analysis to other organized groups like political parties or labor unions. For groups on the political left, the movement/organization is the Hero, in alliance with the Ruler. Big companies are often the Monster. In these stories, the Monster tries to deceive the Ruler.

Endnotes 

[1] From “The process of individuation,” Marie-Louise von Franz, in Part 3 of Man and his Symbols, edited, with an introduction, by Carl G Jung (Laurel Edition paperback, Dell Publishing Co, 1964), pp. 159, 161

By observing a great many people and studying their dreams (he estimated that he interpreted at least 80,000 dreams), Jung discovered not only that all dreams are relevant in varying degrees to the life of the dreamer, but that they are all parts of one great web of psychological factors. He also found that, on the whole, they seem to follow an arrangement or pattern. This pattern Jung called "the process of individuation." Since dreams produce different scenes and images every night, people who are not careful observers will probably be unaware of any pattern. But if one watches one's own dreams over a period of years and studies the entire sequence, one will see that certain contents emerge, disappear, and then turn up again. Many people even dream repeatedly of the same figures, landscapes, or situations; and if one follows these through a whole series, one will see that they change slowly but perceptibly. These changes can be accelerated if the dreamer's con- scious attitude is influenced by appropriate interpretation of the dreams and their symbolic contents.

Thus our dream life creates a meandering pattern in which individual strands or tendencies become visible, then vanish, then return again. If one watches this meandering design over a long period of time, one can observe a sort of hidden regulating or directing tendency at work, creating a slow, imperceptible process of psychic growth—the process of individuation.

Gradually a wider and more mature personality emerges, and by degrees becomes effective and even visible to others. The fact that we often speak of "arrested development" shows that we assume that such a process of growth and maturation is possible with every individual. Since this psychic growth cannot be brought about by a conscious effort of will power, but happens involuntarily and naturally, it is in dreams frequently symbolized by the tree, whose slow, powerful, involuntary growth fulfills a definite pattern.

. . . .

The organizing center from which the regulatory effect stems seems to be a sort of "nuclear atom" in our psychic system. One could also call it the inventor, organizer, and source of dream images. Jung called this center the "Self" and described it as the totality of the whole psyche, in order to distinguish it from the "ego," which constitutes only a small part of the total psyche.

[2] From An introduction to the interpretation of fairy tales, Marie-Louise von Franz (Spring Publications, 1970), Chapter 1, pp. 1-2 

Fairy tales are the purest and simplest expression of collective unconscious psychic processes. Therefore their value for the scientific investigation of the unconscious exceeds that of all other material. They represent the archetypes in their simplest, barest and most concise form. In this pure form, the archetypal images afford us the best clues to the understanding of the processes going on in the collective psyche. In myths or legends, or any other more elaborate mythological material, we get at the basic patterns of the human psyche through an overlay of cultural material. But in fairy tales there is much less specific conscious cultural material and therefore they mirror the basic patterns of the psyche more clearly.

In terms of Jung's concept, every archetype is in its essence an unknown psychic factor and therefore there is no possibility of translating its content into intellectual terms. The best we can do is to circumscribe it on the basis of our own psychological experience and from comparative studies, bringing up into light, as it were, the whole net of associations in which the archetypal images are enmeshed. The fairy tale itself is its own best explanation; that is, its meaning is contained in the totality of its motifs connected by the thread of the story. The unconscious is, metaphorically speaking, in the same position as one who has had an original vision or experience and wishes to share it. Since it is an event that has never been conceptually formulated he is at a loss for means of expression. When a person is in that position he makes several attempts to convey the thing and tries to evoke, by intuitive appeal and analogy to familiar material, some response in his listeners; and never tires of expounding his vision until he feels they have some sense of the content. In the same way we can put forward the hypothesis that every fairy tale is a relatively closed system compounding one essential psychological meaning which is expressed in a series of symbolical pictures and events and is dis- coverable in these.

After working for many years in this field, I have come to the conclusion that all fairy tales endeavour to describe one and the same psychic fact, but a fact so complex and far-reaching and so difficult for us to realize in all its different aspects that hundreds of tales and thousands of repetitions with a musician's variations are needed until this unknown fact is delivered into consciousness; and even then the theme is not exhausted. This unknown fact is what Jung calls the Self, which is the psychic totality of an individual and also, paradoxically, the regulating center of the collective unconscious. Every individual and every nation has its own modes of experiencing this psychic reality.

Different fairy tales give average pictures of different phases of this experience. They sometimes dwell more on the beginning stages, which deal with the experience of the shadow and give only a short sketch of what comes later. Other tales emphasize the experience of animus and anima and of the father and mother images behind them and gloss over the preceding shadow problem and what follows. Others emphasize the motif of the inaccessible or unobtainable treasure and the central experiences. There is no difference of value between these tales, because in the archetypal world there are no gradations of value for the reason that every archetype is in its essence only one aspect of the collective unconscious as well as always representing also the whole collective unconscious.

[3] Corporate responses to public policy debates from early 2024

For example, reporting by the CS Monitor on the failure of the Railway Safety Act, a response the derailment of a train carrying 100,000 gallons of hazardous chemicals had derailed in East Palestine, Ohio in February 2023, contains several lines of argument that look familiar to anyone who follows corporate responses to regulatory initiatives:

• It’s important to enhance safety, but one should create a regulatory burden that reduces how much freight can move and make it more expensive.
• The bill does not address the root causes of the crash.
• It’s been expanded to become a conduit for onerous regulatory mandates and union giveaways.
• The additional labor costs it entails would hurt railroads’ ability to innovate in ways that could more effectively boost safety.
• Industry has already taken steps to address problems exposed by what happened in East Palestine.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is advocating against the re-adoption of “net neutrality” rules (reclassifying broadband as a “telecommunications service” under Title II of the Communications Act) by the Biden FCC (advertising program, video spot, FCC comments). It argues that:

• Predictions by pro-Title II advocates that reversing net neutrality rules would lead to catastrophic consequences did not come to pass; quite the contrary – broadband is now better.
• Re-regulation will turn back the clock and threaten investments in critical infrastructure.
• The FCC doesn’t justify why Title II classification is necessary.
• There are remedies for any problems that might arise under existing FCC authority.
• Rather than regulate, the FCC should focus on pro-competitive, pro-growth policies that will help America continue to lead in the global race for next-generation connectivity.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce objected to the tightening of EPAs air quality rules for particulate matter. It argued that

• The new rule would lead to hundreds of counties going out of compliance, threatening economic growth.
• Compliance with the new standard will be very difficult.
• Seeking exemptions for wildfire sources is time-consuming and difficult, and the EPA hasn’t granted such exemptions in the past.

After the FTC announced an inquiry into five Big Tech companies about generative AI investments and partnerships in January 2024, the ITIF decried it, suggesting that

• Startups – and companies generally – will be deterred from partnering with Big Tech, fearing the legal problems and costs of an FTC inquiry
• This will chill AI start-ups, hurting US competitiveness. 
• It will deter funding since a hostile regulatory environment deters investors. This will limit the ability of AI start-ups to grow.

[4] Cf. “About TechFreedom” banner at the bottom of its web pages,  “Technology is the great driver of social progress and human well-being, and we aim to keep it that way” (accessed 6 Mar 2024)

[5] Andy Stone’s statements as examples of corporate spin

Statements by Facebook (now Meta) spokesman Andy Stone in the WSJ’s 2021 Facebook Files package (and a bonus one from Feb 2024).

Facebook Says Its Rules Apply to All. Company Documents Reveal a Secret Elite That’s Exempt, WSJ 13 Sep 2021, about XCheck, a program that “has given millions of celebrities, politicians and other high-profile users special treatment, a privilege many abuse”

• The criticism is fair, but the system was introduced to create additional screening steps.
• The “self-remediation window,” a perk for VIP, was phased out at some unspecified date.
• The program didn’t include all candidates running for office, but Facebook made multiple efforts to ensure everyone was included.
• Performance on a bad metric has improved, though without giving evidence

In a story about how Zuckerberg resisted efforts to fix a change in how Facebook ranked divisive content, Facebook Tried to Make Its Platform a Healthier Place. It Got Angrier Instead, WSJ 15 Sep 2019

• A change in ranking isn’t the source of the world’s divisions – it was going on before Facebook existed.

Responding to employee alarms about how Facebook is used in developing countries, Facebook Employees Flag Drug Cartels and Human Traffickers. The Company’s Response Is Weak, Documents Show, WSJ 16 Sep 2021

• Facebook has a comprehensive strategy for countries at risk for conflict and violence.
• It prohibits human trafficking and combat it on its platforms since 2015. There’s a dedicated team of employees.

In a profile of the former employee, The Facebook Whistleblower, Frances Haugen, Says She Wants to Fix the Company, Not Harm It, WSJ 3 Oct 2021

• It untrue to suggest that Facebook encourages bad content and does nothing about it.
• There are ongoing work and significant improvements to tackle the spread of misinformation and harmful content.
• Facebook has invested heavily in people and technology to keep our platform safe.
• Why would we do this? Hosting hateful or harmful content is bad for businesses.
• Even if Facebook doesn’t make its research public, it uses it to inform changes in its apps.

In a story about the effectiveness of AI in removing problematic content, Facebook Says AI Will Clean Up the Platform. Its Own Engineers Have Doubts, 17 Oct 2021

• The low success rate of AI in removing posts doesn’t take into accounts other actions the company takes.
• While Facebook introduced “hate speech cost controls” to save money, the funds were shifted to hire more people to train Facebook’s algorithms.
• Moves that seem to reduce detection were intended to make the system more efficient, and in any case, some of them have been rolled back.

Responding to a report that Facebook Services Are Used to Spread Religious Hatred in India, Internal Documents Show, 23 Oct 2021

• Declined to comment on the Hindu nationalist groups’ activities on Facebook, but the company has a careful process to ban groups or individuals.
• Declined comment on proposals internal researchers had made, but emphasized Facebook invest in research to improve over the long term.
• Given Facebook’s massive global audience, everything in society will find expression on the platform.
• The company continues to work to improve its systems.

In a story that Facebook Allows Stolen Content to Flourish, Its Researchers Warned, 9 Nov 2021

• Facebook has taken steps to address the issues raised by an employee in a 2019 presentation.
• It’s a working document showing preliminary results and doesn’t reflect solutions implemented since then.

In response to a Feb 2024 WSJ story that Meta Staff Found Instagram Tool Enabled Child Exploitation. The Company Pressed Ahead Anyway, Mr Stone averred that 

• The tools in question were launched with a robust set of safety measures in place.
• The company had ongoing safety work to limit pedophiles from subscribing to children’s accounts.
• The presence of a gift button in the UI didn’t mean that Meta had actually paid money to suspect accounts.