It's 7:00 am and the TV comes on and it's one of the many mainstream morning news shows full of bubblegum and death. The show commences with an introduction of the phony reporters, followed by a one minute world news bit. For the next ten minutes we are told how sad it is that John Travolta's son died in the Bahamas. Immediately after that we are hit with another ten minute segment about a man's wife that was murdered. Finally at the end of this soap opera tornado of celebrity fluff and selective propaganda, we are told that now we must all worry about "third hand smoke." Yes, that is correct, "third hand smoke." Not to mention that when the spewing of half truths would take a break, the commercials were made up mostly of pharmaceutical companies, pitching their new diseases.
Our information dissemination in this country is severely one sided. It tells a story of how grand and infallible the elite of this country are, and how "s**t out of luck" the rest of us are. I am not saying that Travolta's son dying is not sad, but that ten minute segment followed a thirty second segment on the Israeli / Palestinian war. Israel is killing hundreds of people's children, bombing houses, mosques, and even hospitals. The death of these innocent civilians (women and children) is portrayed as necessary. They are written off by the media as collateral damage in the "war on terror." The travesty of this thirty second story is that most of it was directed toward the one Israeli soldier killed since the start of the conflict. I ask you this, where is the real tragedy?
The real tragedy is that America is being taught to accept a system of thought uncritically. We are being force fed single partisan views, masked as bi-partisan, as if they are the only truths. We could not be further from any truth. This country is being brain washed, and not in the sense of some sci-fi movie or a mind control ray gun. It is much simpler than that. We are being manipulated through uncomplicated cult-like fallacies.
A destructive cult is almost any kind of organization whose followers have been deceptively and unethically recruited and retained. They use manipulative techniques, which are imposed without the informed consent of the recruit and are designed to alter personality and behavior. These groups are only concerned about advancing the mission or business of the group, and not the well being of the individual members. The leadership is interested in control, power, and self-aggrandizement[i]
The mainstream media, (MSM) insulates the populace from opposing points of view. Our brains are hard wired to quickly dismiss facts based on bias[ii]. This two party dictatorial media conglomerate that we are privy to plays off of this science. Most media portray the same message; -pro war, -pro establishment, and -pro corporate, yet we still think that there are opposing sources of information.
"Of course the public is misinformed! They're reading that trash in the liberal mainstream media!"
"Of course the public is misinformed! They're watching Faux News and the other trash in the corporate mainstream media!"
Another fallacy used is one of ridicule[iii]. Mocking something places it at a lower level in the human mind, thus making it easier to dismiss. This is a highly used technique against any emergent, anti-establishment view. Ron Paul for example, who stood for true freedom and liberty, and who wanted to "get back to the constitution," was all but tarred and feathered in the MSM. He was easily dismissed as a kook and a senile old man by many. Ron Paul was not a conforming candidate so the mockery method was called in as "the conformity enforcer."[iv]
This method of ridicule invokes the "Black and White" constraint of thinking; there are only two choices and one is detrimental while the other is our savior. MSM loves this constraint on your mind, because they can simply convince you that you must go their way, and not with this utterly ridiculous choice. This "all or nothing" system of misinformation works because we are predisposed to make quick two choice absolute decisions. Ten thousand years ago, human minds were the same as they are now, however, back then more hasty decisions had to be made.[v] If you sat back to contemplate the outcome, you might have been eaten by a lion.
The endgame of the mainstream indoctrination is to produce the "Us vs Them" mentality. They, (they will from here on out refer to anyone who profits off of the manipulation of your thought) want everyone on their side, the "Us" side. A science is applied here that exploits our natural tendencies as humans to form tribes.[vi] The same technique that is used to sell us a bar of soap is used to get us behind a war in which millions of innocent people are killed. To keep the mass dehumanization prevalent among the "Us's" new definitions of the "Them's" are emerging ("hippies," "rednecks," "fundies," "geeks," "douchebags," "libs", "cons," "fags," "breeders," "infidels," "towel-heads," "honkies," "darkies," "players", "haters").
We are putty in the hands of these infotainment peddling, controlling elitists. We are swaying with the tide of half truth and consumerism. We are led blindly into wars against enemies that we don't even have a clue of their intent. What they want is you to be a part of their tribe, because they are nothing without tribesman. It is this recruitment of tribesmen that we must resist, or we will be left with desolate nuclear fallout for a planet. Free thinkers are a danger to the establishment, because we see through their petty schemes to control our information. Skepticism is a gift as long as it is never transformed into ridicule.
©2009 -savoy, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Monday, January 5, 2009
Last modified: Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The views expressed in this article are those of -savoy only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. -savoy is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: JimS
Date: 2009-01-05 14:58:28
Well Said!
Posted By: Jake, the champion of the constitution
Date: 2009-01-06 03:20:11
dear -savoy -
this is one great article. thanks.
jake
Posted By: -savoy
Date: 2009-01-06 09:33:18
Thank you jake. Everytime I turn on the tube, I wonder how people can actually take this seriously. My girlfriend, the other day, asked me if I had heard about John Travolta's son dying. I turned to her and said yes, unfortunately. Then I asked her if she knew the fourth amendment. of the constitution, and she said no, unfortunately.
Posted By: HealingMindN
Date: 2009-01-06 12:35:52
One of the sad things about this is that very few people care about how gullible Americans have become, how the freedom to act irresponsibly has nothing to do with making a country free, and look for alternate info on the web or anywhere else, even fewer will find this article. How many of us are willing to do anything about it?
Posted By: -savoy
Date: 2009-01-06 13:55:11
Very sad indeed. I do feel that I actually try to make a difference, I never shut up, and I piss a lot of people off this way. However, if you open one mind it makes getting ridiculed worth it. Then that one mind opens another and another. This country is actually slowly coming out of its slumber of ignorance,my only hope is that it can happen fast enough.
Posted By: Jahfre Fire Eater
Date: 2009-01-06 16:03:38
Hi -savoy,
Just exactly who do you mean by "We" kemosabe? :-) Just kidding. I figured it out.
I turned off the TV back in 1992 and I've never missed it. The fewer pop culture trivia questions I know the answer to, the better. Unfortunately, I still have to deal with people who watch the shows you refer to. From those encounters I'd like to add another tool the media arms the masses with, talking points, platitudes, catch phrases, bumper sticker slogans, Rosenisms and other short, easy to remember, emotionally targeted words that any moron can manage to parrot back in response to key words in conversation. That is annoying in its own right but the real damage to our future comes from the belief of those uttering these phrases that doing so makes them immune to reason, unaffected by reality and not responsible for the consequences of their beliefs. The night of the living dead was just one night, these zombies continue to lurch about eating our future day in and day out.
-Jahfre Fire Eater
Posted By: -savoy
Date: 2009-01-06 19:47:20
Jahfre,
Great insight. The plethora of catch phrases is absolutely ridiculous. Once one shill for the establishment starts it, it is very hard to stop. Remember "you are either with us, or you are with the terrorists!" or "you are anit-american if you speak out against the government."
Posted By: -savoy
Date: 2009-01-06 19:49:05
Haha I just realized that the number 1 article on this site is about John Travolta.....What a shame... I thought different about this place.
Posted By: Jake, the champion of the constitution
Date: 2009-01-07 01:12:55
-savoy and Jahfre -
Re: Travolta. Yeah, how do you think it makes ME feel that MY top articles the past 2 months have been on freakin Obamaman's birth certificate?
But in retrospect, those of us 'freedom writers' are just after those who want to stick around and debate.
Speaking for myself, I wouldn't even mind a few more statists like "Master C" to jab around with at all.
Posted By: -savoy
Date: 2009-01-07 09:45:58
Jake,
I feel your grief brother, not that Celebrity Fluff is not entertaining, but Travolta being the number subject on a site that is mostly libertarian is somewhat of a doozie.
And about Master C, his views might be different from mine, but he seems not to be very distracted. I would be willing to bet that he probably feels the same way about the Travolta article. And yes our discussions are civil ad it is necessary for people to have differing view points.
Posted By: Zaid A.
Date: 2009-01-07 15:35:09
...and this is why I never watch TV anymore.
Posted By: george
Date: 2009-01-08 05:04:13
Nice article. When i was younger, if one were to talk of current events or politics, he'd be greeted with eyes rolled and yawns..perhaps thats still true today. I know that on any of these blogs out here...especially the liberal ones..a differing opinion is greeted with name calling and filthy language. As a conservative, i see no logic in going to conservative blogs to agree with prople that agree with me - thats pointless and uniformative. But this classic "tribal" mentality you refer to Savoy, is SOOO prevelant..its uncanny. A fact that not only media, but politicians, (successful ones anyhow) are well aware of. Neither the media nor the politicians have ANY interests in advancing enlightening debate..and as for civics..well..its a lost and largely "irrelevant" art. That is NO accident. Just look at our new president..Harvard law grad, who believes that gun bans and the 2nd amendment are consistent. He also supported blocking this Burris appointment to the senate, and has openly argued the constitutionality of wealth redistribution. This is who's teaching our youth Constitutional law..frightenening. And the senate, who confirms judiciary appointments...YIKES!!!!!
Posted By: -savoy
Date: 2009-01-08 11:29:33
George,
YIKES indeed. Political discussion used to be the topic of conversation at the dinner table. Now even to bring it up is taboo and is sometimes met not only with rolling eyes, but strict and curt dismisal and offense. I do agree that discussions among people that agree on everything lead to nothing new and I am also met with similar reactions on blogs. This type of thinking is dangerous and will inevitabley lead to tyrrany and loss of freedom.