Why Eva and Damon's speech and behaviour are not harmless “ different opinions”

[The highly consistent speech and behaviour of Eva-Damon with the original purpose of the Mastermind]

(A) [The original purpose of the Mastermind]:

Disrupt the potential possibility of the students' unity

[The influence of Eva-Damon's speech and behaviour]:

1. Undermine the moral consensus of the group

2. Undermine the group's will to resist

3. Undermine the potential for unity within the group

See details:
1. Undermine the moral consensus of the group

“Ultimates are more prone to killing”
“Once you realize your dreams can only be achieve if you escape...you'll resort to murder.”
“All of us have a clear motivation to leave this place, even at the cost of other people's lives.”
“ Whether it's to see your families again,...or for the sake of our talents.”

Equating “Ultimates” with “potential murderers.”

Equating “achieving dreams” with “motives for murder.”

Equating “motives for escape/human instinct” with “sacrificing the lives of others.”

Through this move, the boundaries between students and the Mastermind (civilization/moral order VS barbarism/rules of killing) were blurred, and the fragile group morality (no killing) consensus that Wolfgang had just established was destroyed.

Wolfgang implant:

We = civilised people = will not abandon morality so quickly

Ultimates = charged with the betterment of society + above simple acts of self-interest

Eva-Damon implant:

Ultimates = leeching off public attention + more prone to killing

We = have human instincts = have motives for killing people

As mentioned earlier, when everyone is a “potential murderer,” the constraint of murder as a natural taboo will be greatly reduced—after all, everyone else will do it, so why shouldn't I?

2. Undermine the group's will to resist

“Ultimates are more prone to killing”

Equating “Ultimates” with “potential murderers.”

“Look, the title barely means shit nowadays, alright?”

Demeaning the value of titles (group identity, consensus, and psychological pillars).

“ Most Ultimate are just dullards obsessing over some pointless hobby. “
Stigmatising collective honour labels constitutes a direct degradation of the group's character.

“The only thing they're capable of is leeching off public attention for their own goals.”

Denying the personal value and value to exist of the group.

“There's no way the rest of you can't improve the world we live in.' with your niche fixations.”
Use “no way” to create a fateful sense of helplessness, and “niche” to create a sense of shame of existing.

Through this measure, the psychological resilience of the group is destroyed, along with their sense of self-worth, their ability to maintain hope under pressure, their sense of self-efficacy (I can cope), their will to survive, and their foundation for resistance, thereby dismantling the group's will to resist.

Wolfgang implant:

Talent is proof of personal glory and collective superiority.

Eva-Damon implant:

Talented people are more likely to kill; talent itself is useless, and group members have no individual value.

3. Undermine the potential for unity within the group

“Once you realize your dreams can only be achieve if you escape...you'll resort to murder.”

“If you continue to convince all of these people to trust each other, they'll only be more vulnerable.”

“All of us have a clear motivation to leave this place, even at the cost of other people's lives.”

“Whether it's to see your families again,...or for the sake of our talents.”


By stigmatising the human instincts of the group, the group begins to doubt the motives behind its own actions, turning its original external hostility (the Mastermind) into internal suspicion.

By equating mutual trust with vulnerability, the group's survival instinct is stimulated, fundamentally undermining the possibility of establishing a sense of unity and resistance within the group.

(B) [The original purpose of the mastermind]: Instill the concept that mutual killing can be justified

“ Ultimates are more prone to killing”
“ Once you realize your dreams can only be achieve if you escape...you'll resort to murder.”
“All of us have a clear motivation to leave this place, even at the cost of other people's lives.”

→ Implanting suggestions (we are all potential murderers (in line with the Mastermind “player” setting))

“If you continue to convince all of these people to trust each other, they'll only be more vulnerable.”

→ Implanting hints (unity only brings danger) (in line with the Mastermind's original strategy of division)

“ Most of the ultimate high school class are just idiots with pointless hobbies.”
“Most Ultimate are just dullards obsessing over some pointless hobby.”

“The only thing they're capable of is leeching off public attention for their own goals.”

“There's no way the rest of you can't improve the world we live in.' with your niche fixations.”

→ Implant suggestion (Our only advantage—our abilities—cannot be put to use (excluding the possibility of cooperating to survive))

 

Ultimately, the students are implanted with the idea that “the logic of mutual killing by the Mastermind is potentially reasonable.”

This external coercion is transformed into a potentially ‘reasonable’ and “only” option—since we can't do anything, then perhaps the only way is to accept the game of mutual killing.

(C) [The original purpose of the Mastermind]: Establish authority and deterrence in order to keep control of the game

[The influence of Eva-Damon's speech and behaviour]

“Unless that was your plan all along? Is it possible you want to make people vulnerable... so that it will be easier for you to kill them?”

Personal attacks on temporary symbols of spiritual support. It significantly undermines the credibility of the other party, thereby eroding the cohesion of the group.

[Note: At this moment, Wolfgang is not just one person. As the initiator of the declaration of resistance, he is a symbolic object of the group's will to resist, unity, cohesion, and moral boundaries, and a temporary spiritual pillar. Accusing and attacking him is tantamount to directly attacking the psychological stability of the entire group.]

“Most Ultimate are just dullards obsessing over some pointless hobby. Their talents don't contribute anything of worth.”

“The only thing they're capable of is leeching off public attention for their own goals.”

“Some of you are an exception, obviously...But come on, there's no way the rest of you can't improve the world we live in,' with your niche fixations.”

This move triggered immediate discontent and counterattacks from the group, shifting the group's original unified attack (against the Mastermind) inward, and the focus of the scene changed from students vs. the Mastermind to students vs. students.

As mentioned earlier:

The more the students engage in internal strife, the less it costs the Mastermind to maintain control.

The more the students attack each other, the easier it is for the Mastermind to take advantage of the situation.

The weaker the students become as a result, the stronger the Mastermind's deterrence becomes.

Eva-Damon's speech attacked symbols of unity and triggered internal conflicts, ultimately allowing the Mastermind to regain the upper hand in the psychological war and gain the upper hand in the tug-of-war of wills.

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[Eva-Damon's speech and behaviour perfectly filled the influence vacuum created after the Mastermind received an unexpected setback (Grace's physical counterattack ]

When Tozu's brainwashing was interrupted by Grace's sudden beating, the Mastermind's control of the situation was already effectively broken.

Therefore, Mara had no choice but to come out and use firearms to control the situation directly, and Tozu had to directly threaten to execute anyone who crossed the line.

The fact that Mara had to resort to violence proved that Tozu and the Mastermind side had lost control of the situation.

The Mastermind was forced to use violence, which was actually a double-edged sword.

Advantages:

1. Quick control of the situation

2. Rapidly increase deterrence

3. Instill fear in the students and further undermine their psychological defences

Disadvantages:

1. Expose their card (the existence of Mara)

2. Destroy the illusion of “participating in the game” and “equal rules” (see analysis of Tozu's speech), expose their barbaric, violent, and dictatorial essence, and weaken the brainwashing effect on their own side

3. Self-destruction of the “harmless”(at least on the surface) Pseudo

——If the level of external deterrence is too high, especially when showing naked instant violence such as shooting, it may cause students to directly reject any conditions/temptations (because they will regard the Mastermind as a purely “inhuman” threat) and fight to the death out of their survival instinct.

Therefore, in order for the Masterminds to manipulate the students and win the psychological war, they actually need to strike a very delicate balance—they cannot be seen as completely powerless, allowing the students to directly disobey orders, nor can they be too terrifying, causing the students to completely reject any of their demands or views.

And after Mara was forced to shoot, this delicate balance was broken.

This is why Wolfgang was able to take advantage of the interruption in the Mastermind's steady brainwashing rhythm and the gap in his control, when the group's fear reached its peak and their morale was highly shaken, to deliver his second slogan-style speech.

——As mentioned earlier, the Mastermind's decision to resort to violence was a double-edged sword. If the students had handled it poorly, the situation would have worsened; however, if they had handled it well, they could have regained the upper hand in the psychological war.

Judging from the results of Wolfgang's speech (the group's reaction), the students regained the upper hand at this point.

Then came Eva-Damon's speech.

As discussed earlier, Eva-Damon's speech, in terms of content, presentation, and impact, was highly consistent with the Mastermind's strategy and objectives, objectively filling the gap in the Mastermind's influence, upgrading the effect of the Mastermind's speech, and ultimately transforming the Mastermind's attitude from one of embarrassment to calm observation.

Eva-Damon's speech made up for the sudden disadvantage of the Mastermind:

1. Due to the tense atmosphere at that time, it was difficult for the mastermind to further manipulate and pressure the group.

——Excessive suppression could lead to excessive terror (causing the mastermind's side to risk being dehumanised) and inspire students to fight back with their lives.

Eva-Damon's speech and behaviour made up for this:

By creating internal suspicion and hostility, it has dispersed the group's hostility toward the outside enemy and reduced the pressure of the Mastermind's suppression.

Changed the definition of “killing” from external coercion brought about by the Mastermind to the group's own innate flaw (Ultimates are more prone to killing), so that the Mastermind did not need to exert further pressure, thereby avoiding excessive terror.

2. The illusion of “rules” is shattered, and the means to manipulate the group are lost.

Eva-Damon's speech and behaviour made up for this:

By stigmatising the group's collective identity, it strikes at the group's will to survive and its motivation to resist

(Ultimates are more prone to killing) (Trust and unity lead to vulnerability) (Accusing Wolfgang (a symbol of cohesion) of wanting to kill without evidence) (Talent is useless/Ultimates = leeching off public attention)

This prevents the group from forming a stable alternative system of rules and forces them to reconsider the “rules” provided by the Mastermind.

3. Expose their card.

Mara and the Mastermind side's advantage in firearms (physical violence), although it is a significant threat, is now obvious. Based on what has been revealed in the plot so far, if Tozu and Mara want to control the majority with a minority, they need to rely on information asymmetry—unknown threats are scarier than anything else. Still, once a threat becomes known, the other party can use it as a basis for thinking about countermeasures.　　

Eva-Damon's speech and behaviour make up for this:

By using verbal/cognitive violence to strike at the students, they objectively again transformed the Mastermind's original possible plan to use further physical violence into a psychological war (the Mastermind's original strategy) (and it's an internal struggle), allowing the Mastermind to avoid further exposing their trump card of physical force.

[Key details]

——Even though the Mastermind clearly had a gun (lethal force) and had just said that anyone who crossed the line would be executed immediately, they did not choose to interrupt Eva and Damon's speech, but chose to stand by and watch.

This proves that Eva-Damon's speech was beneficial to the Mastermind.

——In a psychological war where life and death are at stake, whoever's speech causes the enemy to choose to stand by and watch means that the essence of that speech is serving the enemy.

——
[Summary]

This is why Eva and Damon objectively became the thought agents of the Mastermind in this situation.

1. - The content of their speeches is highly consistent with that of the Mastermind.

2. - The manner of expression is highly consistent with the Mastermind's original strategy.

3. - The impact is highly consistent with the Mastermind's original purpose.

4. - They complete the Mastermind's work, even upgrading and expanding its impact.

5. - They enable the Mastermind to regain control of the game after an unexpected turn of events.

Eva-Damon's speech and behaviour are so perfectly aligned with the Mastermind in every way that they objectively assist him and even greatly upgrade his influence. This can only be described as his thought agents.

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[Why Eva-Damon's speech and behaviour are more destructive than the Mastermind]

1. Identity

2. Timing

3. Mastermind's stance

The most lethal thing is that they are members of the student group. Their speeches are hidden under the guise of “for your own good.”

The other members of the group will instinctively regard them as “insiders” who are on their side, and will not have the natural hostility towards them like towards the mastermind, let alone guard against their speech and behaviour.

This is the first important reason why their speech and behaviour caused more damage than the Mastermind—the group instinctively disliked the Mastermind's speech and may have been influenced by intimidation and hints, but they would never have listened directly without any guard up.

In fact, the group's reaction proved this—they only showed their defensive instincts when Eva-Damon's speech began to involve direct personal attacks.

However, in fact, the entire speech by Eva and Damon was an extremely destructive attack, and due to the delayed reaction of the group, they began to subconsciously consider the logic of the speech and the “reason” behind it.

——This behaviour is like unknowingly drinking poison. If it has been digested (internalised) before realising what has happened, it's too late.

The most deadly aspect of Eva-Damon type speech and behaviour is not the chaos it causes in the moment, but the long-term impact it may have on the group's psychology.

Another reason is that when a crisis first erupts (the observation period), the human brain is unable to process complex information.

The various complex traps in Eva-Damon's speech

—pseudo-neutral wording, unfalsifiability, shifting the burden of proof, blurring moral boundaries, concept substitution, confusing chronology, personal attacks...

These traps are so skillfully concealed that many people may not immediately recognise them even in peaceful everyday life, let alone during a life-or-death crisis when cognitive abilities are significantly impaired.

Another reason, which is actually related to the Mastermind's stance.

Tozu must at least superficially maintain his identity as the “game host”, and as an external enemy, he needs to control the intensity of the pressure and maintain a balance (as mentioned above), so he cannot attack the group too directly, but can only use indirect intimidation and subtle hints to lure the students into the trap themselves.

But Eva and Damon don't have this restriction. They can freely make attack speeches—at the cost of their personal image and chances of survival.
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[The highly suspicious nature of Eva and Damon's speech and behaviour ]

Key points of Eva-Damon's speech:

Equating the Ultimates with potential murderers (causing suspicion within the group)

Claiming that unity and trust bring weakness (actively undermining the psychological and identity consensus that the group has just established)

Using slanderous questions to accuse Wolfgang without evidence (attacking temporary symbols of spiritual support, indirectly striking at the group's cohesion and moral consensus)

Disparaging the individual survival value of the group (destroying the group's psychological strength, will to survive, and foundation of resistance)

— Objectively, not only was the content highly consistent with Mastermind, filling the gap in Mastermind's influence, helping Mastermind achieve its original goal, and completing an “upgrade” of its effectiveness, but it also caused the students to lose the crucial psychological war, allowing Mastermind to regain sovereignty.

This behavior alone is enough to make them suspect of being traitors/spies planted by the Mastermind.

Especially Eva.

As the person who initiated the attack, her speech was more direct than Damon's—pointing directly at three fatal weak points—and this behaviour could easily be interpreted by others as a “premeditated and precise attack.”

Her speech, as the first to speak, directly reduced the psychological burden on the second person (Damon) and even a possible third person's burden to launch a destructive attack, causing a devastating chain reaction of internal collapse. (Broken window effect)

Even long after this incident, if someone else intends to carry out destructive actions, they will psychologically feel that the risk of doing so is lower.

And Damon's act of making that speech, even if seen as a fellow spy who responds to Eva's attack, is logical.