The North American Gourmet Demon Handbook

"Give me all the information on Theodore Lancaster, including his shady human experimentation records, financial transactions, his organ trafficking in India, and evidence of his private contacts with those bastards at Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, and Merck. Get it all out!"

"I want the whole world to know what kind of person this well-dressed Englishman is!"

"I want the whole world to know that there is a real scum in the medical field!"

…………

Over the next day, the entire medical community was shocked by the huge wave that Romano had created.

He used all the power granted by James Drummond, combined with all the resources he had accumulated in the public relations and media circles over the years, to expose Theodore Lancaster's misdeeds layer by layer like peeling an onion.

Those internal documents that were once strictly sealed, anonymous letters of complaint, and even some experimental logs that were destroyed and then restored by technical means, flooded into major media outlets like an avalanche.

News headlines, in-depth reports, and online forums are all discussing the name Theodore Lancaster.

Unveiling the Bloody Medicine Skills of the "White-Robed Paladin"

Exclusive Disclosure: Professor Lancaster Conducts Illegal Human Experiments

Victims' families tearfully accuse: My loved ones were used as living petri dishes

From Devil Doctor to Kidnapper: The Bloody Life of Theodore Lancaster

"It seems that Theodore Lancaster's handwritten letter has made Mr. Romano mad."

Li Shanze calmly flipped through the front-page headlines with a relaxed smile.

There was even a hint of admiration in Li Shanze's tone: "Wow, there are so many different angles for shifting the blame. There's even this kind of angle!"

"Look at the public opinion on the Internet. All the evil done by the pharmaceutical company now is caused by Theodore Lancaster. The others actually got away with it... Aren't Americans a little too easy to fool?" Li Shanze sighed.

"Master, these articles should contain some kind of cognitive spell." Jennifer said in a low voice with her eyebrows lowered and her eyes submissive.

309 Brainwashing Witchcraft

"Cognitive spell?" Li Shanze raised his eyebrows.

He knew that Jennifer was a wizard from the School of Delusional Mind, an expert in manipulating cognition, and would not speak carelessly.

Li Shanze gestured for Jennifer to continue.

"Yes, Master." Jennifer bowed obediently.

Her eyes swept over the news summaries, and a subtle runic light flashed in her eyes, as if she could see through the deep structure beneath the surface of the text.

"I briefly detected at least three types of complex cognitive spells. They work together to achieve such an amazing effect." She stretched out her slender fingers and tapped the air lightly, as if outlining invisible runes.

"First, there's the emotional resonance symbol." She ran her finger across the layout of the article on the tablet, magnifying the seemingly scattered spaces in the article.

Then he extracted the shapes formed by these spaces and explained them to Li Shanze.

“It doesn’t create emotions directly, but rather amplifies and guides the audience’s deepest fears.”

"You see, in the center of the symbol is the word 'panic,' and on either side of the symbol are 'Theodore Lancaster' and 'unscrupulous scientist'."

"This symbol can amplify people's inherent disgust and fear of Theodore Lancaster and unscrupulous scientists."

"Theodore Lancaster's image has since been shaped into the ultimate devil. This rune can precisely direct the public's negative emotions towards him like a tidal wave, forming an overwhelming outcry."

Li Shanze frowned and looked at it for a long time, and found that he could not understand the beauty of it no matter what.

On the other hand, Charlie nodded frequently while listening, and seemed to have gained a lot.

Since Xia Li nodded, Li Shanze signaled Jennifer to continue.

"The second is the Logic Mist Charm." Jennifer's tone became more serious. "It consists of the reverse order of the capital letters of these paragraphs."

"You see, the paragraphs in this article can be divided into three parts. The first letters of each part are Tenebrae, Zonam, and Liminis."

"This is not a simple combination of letters, but an ancient Latin spell."

Jennifer went on to explain, "Tenebrae, meaning 'darkness' or 'obscurity,' casts a shadow on the minds of the audience, making it difficult to see the outlines of the truth."

"Zonam, meaning 'area' or 'domain,' defines a mentally enclosed space, trapping the audience's cognition and preventing them from escaping the established framework of thought."

"Liminis, meaning 'threshold' or 'boundary', blurs the lines between logic and illogicality, reality and fantasy, allowing the audience to invisibly cross the threshold of reason and fall into a carefully woven 'logical fog'."

"This technique can cleverly obscure the complexity of an incident and simplify the chain of responsibility involving multiple parties to a single 'culprit'."

"It creates a haze in the audience's cognition, making it difficult for them to see the full picture of the incident and to think deeply about the role of other pharmaceutical companies in this incident. All causal relationships will ultimately be directed to Theodore Lancaster alone, as if he is the source of all evil."

Li Shanze originally wanted to wave his hand impatiently and say that there was no need to explain in such detail, but when he looked at Xia Li who was listening with great interest, he forced himself to hold back.

"Finally, and most importantly, there's the scapegoat shaping technique."

Jennifer's fingertips traced a complex symbol in the air. "This is an extremely sinister spell. It's a variation of the traditional sheep-transfiguration witchcraft. It's not just a diversion; it's also about constructing a perfect scapegoat image for Theodore Lancaster in the audience's subconscious."

It's the technique of turning your mind into a sheep... Li Shanze has no problem understanding this kind of explanation that focuses on functionality rather than details.

"This image is so vivid and so heinous that the public will instinctively pour all their anger and condemnation on him, while ignoring the other real people who were involved behind the scenes."

"Once this scapegoat is thoroughly nailed to the pillar of shame, other pharmaceutical companies, including Romano himself, can easily clear themselves of suspicion and even transform themselves into 'victims' or 'justice exposers.'"

"These three spells are intertwined and progressive, simplifying the complex truth into a clear-cut opposition between good and evil, and accurately anchoring all negative emotions and responsibilities on Theodore Lancaster."

"So, although the American people are easily fooled, they are not completely fools. Their cognition and emotions are cleverly guided by these hidden cognitive spells."

Li Shanze seemed to be lost in thought.

"Are you saying that I was actually misled by this part of the article? I think it actually lists many undeniable facts, which clearly point out that Theodore Lancaster is not a good person."

Li Shanze felt that although some of those articles cursed Theodore Lancaster, and some of them could be seen as shifting the blame if one looked closely, there was also a lot of solid evidence that proved that Theodore Lancaster had done countless immoral things.

"Um, Master, have you attended public elementary school, junior high school, or high school?" Jennifer asked cautiously.

"Ah, of course—" Li Shanze nodded as a matter of course. Then he suddenly realized that Jennifer was asking about public elementary, middle, and high schools in the United States, so he quickly changed his words and said, "No."

"Of course not. I didn't go to a public school in the United States." In order to avoid misunderstanding, Li Shanze added specifically.

Jennifer nodded: "Ah, then Master, you shouldn't fall for this simple brainwashing trick."

This was a strange statement, and Li Shanze frowned. "What do you mean, is this just a simple brainwashing technique? It can only be used on people who have received public education in the United States?"

Jennifer nodded. "Yes, when selecting any wizard, the first thing to do is to avoid someone who has received a public education in the United States."

Is American public education really that bad?

Li Shanze bared his teeth, quite dissatisfied with this answer.

So he asked, "If poor people can't afford private schools, then they can only receive public education? Doesn't that mean there aren't smart people among the poor?"

Jennifer heard the displeasure in Li Shanze's tone. She shrank her neck and replied cautiously, "You are right, Master."

"But what?" Li Shanze waited quietly for what was to come.

Seeing that Li Shanze didn't seem to be angry, Jennifer plucked up her courage and said carefully: "But the crux of the matter is not here."

"Yeah." Li Shanze nodded and motioned Jennifer to continue.

"The key is that wizards use their spirits to communicate with the world, striving to avoid existential crises and maintain their existence. And wizards who have received public education are all unable to avoid existential crises, without exception."

Jennifer spoke cautiously, watching Li Shanze's expression as she spoke, fearing that she would say something wrong and displease her master.

But Li Shanze has already started to get curious.

"Why? Is public education particularly prone to existential crises? Does this have something to do with being easily brainwashed?"

"Yes, Master, you are absolutely right." Jennifer nodded repeatedly.

"In the United States' 'new era education reform,' in order to 'cultivate citizens' critical thinking and independent judgment,' the Ministry of Education has launched a series of innovative courses."

"The most core and most respected of these is the civic literacy education course called 'Awakening': The Labyrinth of Truth and Self-Discovery."

“It was mandated in all public schools and rolled out to community colleges and adult education programs.”

Li Shanze listened patiently.

Seeing her master like this, Jennifer dared to speak freely.

“The course slogan sounds great and sets four major goals.”

“First, encourage students to question authority and not blindly follow any established ideas.”

“Second, cultivate the ability to look at problems from multiple perspectives and understand the complexity of the truth.”

“Third, it inspires personal exploration and the formation of unique values ​​and worldviews.”

"Fourth, improve the ability to discern information and avoid being misled by a single information source."

Li Shanze almost yawned. Jennifer sounded like she was writing an official written report, full of clichés.

Li Shanze asked boredly, "Those are all good things, but what's the problem?"

Jennifer answered seriously, "The problem lies in 'diversity' and 'independent thinking.' Can the answers to math problems also be diverse?"

"The actual effect of this course is to plunge the educated into a nihilistic state of 'infinite questioning' and 'infinite tolerance'."

"Let them be skeptical of all truths, but open the door to all fallacies and heresies, because these fallacies are often disguised as anti-mainstream and independent thinking."

"This course doesn't teach people how to distinguish truth from falsehood, but rather how to deconstruct everything, refute everything, and ultimately 'believe' everything and embrace everything."

"Wizards fear nihilism the most—nihilism represents an existential crisis, and publicly educated wizards, without exception, all die in existential crises."

Listening to Jennifer's bitter criticism of America's ridiculous education system, Li Shanze suddenly felt like laughing.

In Li Shanze's opinion, wizards are the ones who pay the least attention to objective facts.

After all, they can solve many objective problems through subjective will.

So when the wizard Jennifer—even though she was a spiritual wizard from the Delusion Society—criticized the prevalence of the slogan of "independent thinking" in public education, which led to nihilism, Li Shanze always felt a sense of absurdity.

When Li Shanze pointed this out, Jennifer bravely replied, "Wizards can sometimes use witchcraft to break the laws of nature, but that doesn't mean they can disrespect them."

"The more you respect the laws of nature, the less you have to pay to cast spells."

Author's words: Thanks to Qianxiao Anran and Xiaopingguo112633 for their recommendation votes

310 How to Get Rid of Existential Crisis

Jennifer seemed very excited about the question, and she became more and more excited as she spoke.

"A typical civics course that lasts six months to a year looks like this."

“The first step is to deconstruct authority and break the cognitive cage.”

"At the beginning of the course, instructors will guide students to 'critically' examine traditional textbooks. They will select some historical events, scientific theories or social phenomena, deliberately exaggerate the details, unresolved mysteries or historical controversies, and introduce a large number of unverified or even obviously absurd alternative narratives."

"For example, people question the theory of evolution because 'I haven't seen monkeys transform into humans'; or they question whether the earth is round because 'I feel it is flat when I stand on the ground'."

"Children, is the 'truth' you are told really the truth? Who defines the truth? Is it those in power? You must learn to question and see the other side that is hidden by the mainstream narrative."

"This is the most common rhetoric used by teachers of 'civic literacy classes.'"

"Students begin to develop a deep-seated distrust of all parents, officials, mainstream, and authoritative sources of information. They no longer believe anything their parents, textbooks, news media, scientists, or even the government say."

Li Shanze felt his blood pressure rising as he listened to this nonsense.

“The second part is called the relativity of truth, which involves multiple perspectives and the construction of personal narratives.”

"At this stage, students are encouraged to create their own truth. Mentors will emphasize that 'everyone has their own truth' and 'there is no absolute truth, only different perspectives'."

“They will hold group discussions where students share their different interpretations of the same event and emphasize that all interpretations are equally valid.”

"This is replacing objective truth with personal subjective feelings."

When such well-organized words came out of Jennifer's mouth, Li Shanze felt that he had a new respect for this woman.

I never thought Jennifer was such a logical woman before. Is her Columbia University degree genuine?

Li Shanze couldn't figure out how Jennifer could have changed so much, while Jennifer was still talking.

“When discussing climate change, some people say it’s a hoax, some say it’s a natural cycle, some say it’s aliens. My mentor would say, ‘See, that’s multiple perspectives! Who can say who’s wrong? What matters is what you believe.’”

"Don't let someone else's 'truth' define you. Your feelings, your beliefs, are your truest 'truth'. Be brave enough to believe what you believe, even if it's different."

“This is also the most common tactic used by teachers in the second phase.”

"Students begin to view all opinions as equally valuable, regardless of whether they are supported by evidence. Logic and facts become unimportant, and they begin to resent any attempt to establish objective standards."

Hearing this, Charlie's eyebrows were already furrowed. After all, this was completely contrary to what her teacher had taught her.

"The third link is the comfort zone of the information cocoon."

"Students are guided into 'independent research', but in reality, they are directed to a series of seemingly 'niche' and 'counter-mainstream' websites, podcasts and social media groups that offer highly homogenous content."