What are PIRATE LENSES and what do they do?
Pirate Lenses are a color-coded spectrum identifying the 6 most-common communication/persuasion styles we see in the media today.
Each color represents a style, with its strengths and weaknesses.
The system to create them is simple:
The system to create them is simple:
5 variables are weighted across
7 proofs
to create 6 types
I call this The 5-7-6 SYSTEM.
These objectives lenses don't care about politics, national origin, wealth, status, or any other built-in biases. The 5-7-6 SYSTEM takes each speaker at their word and lets those words self-identify the lens.
These objectives lenses don't care about politics, national origin, wealth, status, or any other built-in biases. The 5-7-6 SYSTEM takes each speaker at their word and lets those words self-identify the lens.
What do each of these labels mean?
Explorers focus on gathering perspectives and information, and re-presenting to the best of their understanding.
Teachers ask questions in order to gather information that supports their focus.
Influencers seek out peer conversations and participate as equals, finding information and often sharing real-time (knowing that 99% of people will not act on it).
Entrepreneurs present information supporting a specific worldview. Data reinforcing claims is often maximized, while competing possibilities are often omitted or minimized.
Pundits present insight on a specific topic with an inherent bias of presenting themselves as accurate and contenders as less-educated or -informed.
Preachers place all information into an ongoing narrative they maintain is an overarching story all collectively share, whether participants are aware of it or not.
These names are not intended to indicate actual professions, only the type of communication typically personified within the type. In this regard, an atheist can be a Preacher if s/he implements that form of rhetoric just as an agoraphobe with a YouTube channel s/he uses to communicate to the world may communicate like an Explorer.
My original intention in creating these filters was to objectively identify bias in media. To that end, it can be used to:
Explorers focus on gathering perspectives and information, and re-presenting to the best of their understanding.
Teachers ask questions in order to gather information that supports their focus.
Influencers seek out peer conversations and participate as equals, finding information and often sharing real-time (knowing that 99% of people will not act on it).
Entrepreneurs present information supporting a specific worldview. Data reinforcing claims is often maximized, while competing possibilities are often omitted or minimized.
Pundits present insight on a specific topic with an inherent bias of presenting themselves as accurate and contenders as less-educated or -informed.
Preachers place all information into an ongoing narrative they maintain is an overarching story all collectively share, whether participants are aware of it or not.
These names are not intended to indicate actual professions, only the type of communication typically personified within the type. In this regard, an atheist can be a Preacher if s/he implements that form of rhetoric just as an agoraphobe with a YouTube channel s/he uses to communicate to the world may communicate like an Explorer.
My original intention in creating these filters was to objectively identify bias in media. To that end, it can be used to:
- Find your type(s) and follow them across platforms and topics
- Place contrasting perspectives in your feed to keep an eye on gradients of bias on topics you care about
- Learn from skilled communicators and enhance your own skill set
- Get news and advice from people who typify your values
- Understand what rhetoric is currently trending and why
The system is flexible and neutral, meaning it can certainly extend outside of politics into other industries. You'll see me playing around with different applications as I test real-world uses.
Why Make Pirate Lenses?
Imagine you are on a ship out at sea.
You’re standing on the ship’s deck—a steady wind at your back and land on the horizon. You spot signs of a civilization so you pull out your telescope to see what you can see.
Your ship is still a good distance from land, so you can only see things in broad strokes through your telescope.
As you move your lens along the shore, you see pillars of smoke, structures, and the general interaction of people on the shore. You know a lot of nuance is playing out within the civilization you are looking at but, from afar, you only see in broad strokes.
- Do you see conflict or collaboration?
- Do you see barriers or open exchange?
- Do you see frolic or fatigue?
- Does reef stand between you and them, or is there an open approach?
- Are these people you want to deal with, or are you going to keep looking for a more hospitable port?
Through your telescope lens, all you can see are the broad strokes of a developed society but that is often enough to make an educated decision as to how you will fare if your well-being is placed in their hands.
A Macro Lens on Micro Views
These days, we don’t use telescopes anymore. We tap into lenses of created content to check out the world around us—lenses that produce images from inside an environment, using scripts, sets, actors, editing, financial investors, and more.
These lenses give us the sense that we are seeing things—not through a telescope—but in intimate, insider detail through a microscope.
Two organic consequences to this approach viewing the world like this are over-confidence and bias.
More each day, people are putting down their personal telescopes and replacing them with mass-produced multi-media microscopes with scripts and forced-frames that decide exactly what is presented and what is omitted while considering any given topic.
Pirate Lenses are a macro hack that clues you into the rhetorical bias infused in your chosen micro-media.
We live in a world where well-produced bias isn't going anywhere. Pirate Lenses allow you to keep an eye on the micro biases that color your big picture and choose your trajectory accordingly.
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