CUSTODE is an acronym for the phrase “comprehensive universal system for training omni-disciplinary evolution.” We admit, a somewhat unwieldy phrase, but that’s why acronyms exist!
The purpose of CUSTODE is to permanently correct the lag between public and professional information literacy. People in advertising and marketing and politics already know and understand many of the ideas we’ll discuss – any communication or business student is probably familiar with Cialdini, for instance.
The general public, however – “you and me” – are largely kept blind to and ignorant of the ways in which we are constantly bombarded with persuasive messaging, from cradle to grave, and how much of that messaging is designed to motivate, coerce, or compel us to act against our best interests.
Information literacy professionals – for instance, political speech writers – understand and employ these mechanisms every day. The mechanisms themselves aren’t inherently good or evil in many cases, mind you; it’s the intent of whoever’s employing them that makes that decision.
Those of us who aren’t “in the field” one way or the other – and frankly many of us who are – simply are not well-prepared to defend ourselves against the malicious application of compliance-gaining tactics. Indeed, many of us aren’t even prepared to deal with those tactics when our own minds use them against us, for instance when we allow our desire for material comfort to drive us to political decisions we know are objectively harmful to innocent people but beneficial to us personally.
For a word-by-word breakdown of our acronym and what it means practically and functionally, we invite you to read this post, and please do feel free to look around the site for more close-up information about how we intend to address all of this in a holistic, recursive way that both corrects the problem in the short and long term, and prevents it from happening again.
CUSTODE is entirely funded by your contributions. Please consider adding your support via PayPal, or you can explore other options here! Engagement is vital to our growth so please like, share, subscribe, follow, and do all you can to tell everyone about CUSTODE!