It all boils down to this: the intelligence agencies, the NGOs, and the permanent administrative state all believe the general public are too stupid to know what's good for them. The people running these groups have a combination of intellectual hubris and belief in their moral superiority that leads them to think that their censorship and control of the 'cognitive infrastructure' is ethically justified. I also believe many of them are truly blind to how their personal interests (financial, power) are reinforced by these beliefs and enforcement actions.
I don't know have all the answers for how we put a halt to our increasingly authoritarian government, but I know that classical investigative journalism will have to play a major role. We must continue supporting the non-MSM sources of information, else we are doomed.
Saying they are motivated by their "intellectual hubris and belief in their moral superiority" is giving them the benefit of the doubt. The sick thing about pushing a vaccine is that the motivation was greed and profit. Big pharma had way too much control on the narrative and many people died unnecessarily. Ivermectin is safer than Tylenol, and at least somewhat effective against Covid. The demonizing of that drug, during a pandemic, is immoral.
Yes, but why do they want the political power? I believe it's because they have an absolute conviction that they know how our society should be shaped and how people should behave and think the right thoughts. They want the power to bring their vision into being, which involves suppression of dissenting voices.
Unless you think power over others is a primary reward in itself - a sadistic pleasure, as it were, even if couched in all kinds of psychological masking to deny it? I'm not ruling that out either!
Probably some combination of all of the above. They believe they are our betters, and therefore deserve all the power and wealth. A new divine right of kings.
We a select group of human beings are able to actually talk about saving the planet. I mean, it's so extraterrestrial to think about saving the planet. John Kerry.
John Kerry is an outstanding example of these people. Here’s the exact quote you’re referring to. Hubris, unbridled:
“When you start to think about it, it's pretty extraordinary that we — select group of human beings because of whatever touched us at some point in our lives [!!!] — are able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet," Kerry said.
"I mean, it's so almost extraterrestrial to think about saving the planet," Kerry said. "If you say that to most people, most people think you're just a crazy, tree-hugging, lefty liberal, you know, do-gooder, or whatever, and there's no relationship. But really, that's where we are."
“Almost extraterrestrial” = “We select ones are like the Gods.”
Sometimes tyranny is compensation for massive inferiority complexes. Hitler was a failed painter, and his revenge grew partly from that. The grand programs, such as China’s revolution are perhaps based on super confidence, but Bush/Chaney? I see little more than greed and power lust for its own sake with these guys. Like enormous yachts that can’t even leave the shipyard without tearing down a bridge. They’re just testifying.
Wrong country, chief. Here, our Titans from Zenith leverage their financial power for political power by purchasing (for a song) politicians and magistrates through campaign donations and other emoluments, most of them gratuitously illicit, many of them baldly illegal.
Then the official, depending on rank and station, after tiring of 11pm roll calls and Columbus Day Middle School ceremonies, manages to secure 50% ownership of the town's Cadillac dealership with a mere few hundred dollars of his own money, or sails to Paris and back twice a year for 20 years on some plutocrat's dime, or manages to land a spot on the board of directors of Raytheon without knowing the difference between a sticky bomb and a cluster bomb. For the more fairly endowed, perhaps some gabbing and posing for the CNN or Fox cameras.
The Titans, meanwhile, proceed to "guide" the country as though it were the Zenith Chamber of Commerce. Simple.
The SC are lifetime appointments for a reason----the total invasion of politics into the Supreme Court. Anyone advocating for that just wants the court on their side of the aisle without bothering to contemplate the dangers & pitfalls.
Agreed. Federalist 78 makes a number of great points regarding the need for lifetime appointments in the federal judiciary in order to maintain radical independence.
With term limits, judges will need to curry favor with various aspects of society in order to make sure they have post-bench opportunities. They would be carried away by the whims of the majority, when their role is to be a check and balance on majoritarian rule.
The standard of "serving at good behavior" has been fairly successful over a long stretch of time. I really haven't understood where this sudden drive for term limits is coming from.
So true on Big Pharma. Didn’t anyone ever see Dopesick or hear of the Sacklers? How anyone can blindly trust any of these entities is beyond me. But millions did without pause or question...
deamplified so unapproved vaccines could obtain ‘emergency use authorization'?
FDA:
“An Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is a mechanism to facilitate the availability and use of medical countermeasures, including vaccines, during public health emergencies, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic...when certain statutory criteria have been met, ‼️including that there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives.”
Your choice to vaxx or not. As far as the work place goes? ....post covid many folks work from home ( its the new normal) for many others that option doesn't work.
As our ancestor's had to adapt to change so do we (their descendents). Fight or flight you chose. Make the right one and maybe you'll get thru the day make the wrong one and maybe you won't. Nature favors those making the right one.
Some vaccines work; there is no evidence that these do. Even the best claim is just that they "moderate the severity" and keep people out of hospitals; that is not a public health benefit. And it is unaccompanied by numerical evidence. In fact, they mostly keep the numbers secret, like the Chinese.
The blanket statement that "vaccines work" has to be one of the most foolishly inane pieces of pseudo-intellectual gobbelly-gook in the current cultural zeitgeist. It is so utterly absurd, so utterly bereft of intelligence, so utterly lacking in any critical thinking or scientific evidence that I feel sorry for anyone who gives it more than a moment of serious consideration.
"the intelligence agencies, the NGOs, and the permanent administrative state all believe the general public are too stupid to know what's good for them. "
In no way am I supporting censorship, or advocating for government control and manipulation of speech, but if you look at how many Americans brought into all this nonsense with every fiber of their being, I think it's safe to say that many Americans are, indeed, profoundly stupid.
I remember hearing Colbert making fun of those who claimed they wanted to do their own research and thinking, "Damn, this guy thinks Americans who want to think and research for themselves are crazy and stupid? There's little hope for the general psyche of this republic."
What is worse: 1) living with the consequences of many low-level stupid decisions made by individual members of the public, or 2) ceding one's autonomy to a supposedly wiser autocratic state (the governance of which is also susceptible to human stupidity and greed)?
There are of course middle-grounds to be found but as this article reports, we are clearly shifting to option 2 with concerning alacrity.
One thing I will never understand (because I try to employ logic in my thinking) is why people automatically assume that government always has their best interests at heart.
My fields of study were education and American literature, but I'm a voracious reader, and I generally lean towards historical topics, so I've read reams of articles and papers that outlined all the nefarious and evil things our government has done to its own people. So naturally, my reaction to them telling us what we need to do during this "epidemic," and watching how they treated skeptics, was one of doubt.
Some people are naive to the point of being dangerous, and that danger inevitably spreads to those of us who want to think and discover for ourselves. This was evident during this entire "epidemic."
Personally, I've been following public affairs as well as I could for about, no over, 60 years now.
The one indisputable lesson: theyre lying to us, because powerful people almost always have something to hide. That's a hard thing to keep in mind - you always want your particular heros to be honest - but it is the lesson. And it applies just as much to "Science!" as to the rest, especially when it gets tangled up in politics. Scientific fraud is a major problem.
Oh, and: coverups are an admission of guilt. That applies to the Chinese gov't. when it comes to the origin of Covid, and it applies to censorship. It's just another kind of coverup.
One of the many lessons I learned early on was that people in government I looked up to were lying to me almost as though it was their nature.
Later, I learned it actually was their nature.
Politicians are the most loathsome, vile creatures in human history. They are vipers vying for power and money in a pit full of other vipers trying for the same things.
Barry W., while it is true, that many Americans (and every other nationality, too, from what I can tell) are indeed "profoundly stupid," I don't hold it against those who fell for the massive fear mongering and intimidation inflicted upon them about Covid...and it says a lot that many of the most fearful among us were also among the most "educated."
The question now is, are they prepared to collectively resist and defend medical research based on the damage resulting from their fear. These evil people will try this again. We trusted the educated experts especially regarding our health. There has been a huge breach of trust regarding health care providers. Many people are suffering the effects of treatments or have died from directives that most educated scientists knew were questionable. Also, fellow medical experts (some of the brightest researchers in the world were trying to sound the alarm) were censored by the government while these cowardly providers signed letters affirming their agreement. That was the worst. I hold it against everyone with any power that didn’t speak out. How are we supposed to know who the good folks are when we walk into a medical facility? I know many folks who lost jobs and had their lives upended during covid. If our Doctors won’t stand up for something this heinous and put their own jobs on the line, then we don’t need them. God bless those who bore the humiliation delivered to them by their silent colleagues. I know that was a lot and it certainly wasn’t directed at you Pacificus, you are one of my favorite contributors and I look forward to all of your comments. It just seemed like the best place to place it in the discussion.
Be careful not to confuse being "educated" with being "smart," and having basic working knowledge of how our government actually operates, and how people react to that type of governance.
You say you don't hold it against them. I do. They are the ones who made, and continue to make, life difficult for the rest of us.
With some exceptions, people choose to be stupid in that they refuse to question what they're being told. The simply fall in line and expect the rest of us to, as well.
I've never been one to walk single file behind others. Doing so makes one blind to the pitfalls that may not be visible until it's too late.
Consider the introduction to this interview. That is, the report on human psychological/emotional damage (anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, etc.) which reflects the actual consequences of living inside a distortion. Is the general American psyche dumb or simply wounded and beaten numb? Human beings and nations become ill when forced to live inside a lie. The core driver for present day reality is the leap in Consciousness (my capital) created by the the introduction of new tech and communications. Control of this new and expanding Consciousness is THE FIGHT!! The world political/financial grift is transparent to reality and the perps are scared. Citizens of the Republic have always been manipulated and propagandized. The CIC is the natural amplification of the avaricious self-interest which surrounds and seek to control all governments. As the Doctor pointed out, the issue is control of the narrative. The protection of perps, cover for the looting of an economy and the mal consequences of bad social, health and economic policy demands the creation and imposition of an enforced hyperreality. A truthful fact based human reality is its greatest enemy. What was a whisper is now a scream.
When I say that our Constitution and the Bill of Rights it contains is our only engine of survival I'm not being hyperbolic. They stand, the Republic and its citizens stand. This new Consciousness also demands the recognition that the thugs assaulting human dignity, speech and freedom in Europe are also players here. A cartel of criminal financiers are intent in creating a CCP style electronic surveillance overlay to control the peoples of the world. They're here. Who will fight for us if we won't fight for ourselves.
Look closely at the DNC operatives at the Taibbi/Shellenberger Congressional hearings. Mercenary second rate party line political poseurs, allied with a propagandist MSM, in an attempt to destroy and humiliate the bearers of factual truthful reality, in order to prop up what can only be described as a psyop. Accept it!! The DNC is literally a lie that lines its pockets by serving corporate fascism and protecting the bureaucratic surveillance bureaucracy that serves it.--- Against all propaganda otherwise, as reported in today's article, independent journalism, committed citizens and free men and women across the world continue their assault on tyranny.
If you consider the money trail, it was our money used to pay him too. So Pharma gets billions, gives some to the politicians, who use our $, to create the market and madate the vax's, and round and round it goes.
Thirty years ago the wisdom of the general public was true in many cases. My own parents were both hillbillies from the hills of Appalachia (Eastern Kentucky).
Mom graduated high school only, and dad dropped out, joined the Army, and went to Korea. But both were mentally sharp, and very knowledgeable about politics, government, how society interacts with itself within it various groupings, etc. Both of them were news hounds, watching nightly news regularly, and reading three different newspapers every day. My father always had subscriptions to as many papers that would deliver to our house.
They were both also very active in the politics of the city and county we lived in. They dragged my two brothers and I to county commission and city council meetings. They wanted to impress upon us the importance of civic involvement. They wanted us to understand that living in a free republic involved work, i.e. understanding how our government worked, and what a citizen's duties were.
My father, an Army vet and UAW auto worker coordinated a field trip with my 7th grade history teacher (Mrs. Chrien, a wonderful historian who spoke with the rasp of years of cigarette smoking). He was instrumental in making our class the first to take a field trip to Washington DC (a trip that continues to this day, and I was in 7th grade in 1983). My dad felt it was paramount that young kids learn about their government in every facet they could, and a trip to witness our government in action was the best way to accomplish this in his opinion.
I was an SRO for a couple of years during my law enforcement career, and never saw the type of engagement with government as I did when I was in school.
Kids today can't even tell you where the seat of government is on a map. This isn't "get off my lawn" talk; this is ugly and sad reality.
You grew up in the exact same world I did, Barry. My opinion is that the further the federal government was allowed to entrench itself in our Public Schools, the less true/practical education the average American received.
A federal Department of Education is heresy in a republic comprised of states. The framers understood all too well the dangers of a powerful centralized government (unless you were a Hamiltonian).
A union of states, with states rights and localized power, was a stroke of brilliance in my opinion. Government is a necessary evil that societies need in order to maintain, well, order. Making that government as functionally small as possible makes that government more reactive to the needs of its citizens, in my opinion.
Of course we've screwed that up by tinkering with some of the good stuff. Popular election of senators, creation of a centralized education bureaucracy, attempts to annihilate the Electoral College. All of these, plus hundreds of more sinister tinkerings on the part of the collection of pit vipers known as the federal government, these have all contributed to the erosion of this republic.
Honestly, I'm surprised we still exist a a republic at this point.
Who is to say Americans are dumber now than 200 years ago? It's quite an assumption considering public education did not exist. I also don't recall our Founders worrying about the rights endowed to a lesser educated class. I surmise this distinction is entirely new in America. The elites just started looking more like elites, and the peons, peons. Elites just decided to move first.
But to answer your question, research has shown that the average colonial was rather well educated. Public schools were not needed, as schooling mostly occurred in the home (apart from some private schools that existed). Looking at historical documents, researchers have found that children were already reading earlier than their future counterparts, partially because parents were teaching them to read from an early age.
This private home education system, as it were, consisted of home, church, civic associations and clubs, apprenticeships, even the farm field. Education was foundational in all of these. Mother and father were the teachers, not some government lackey looking for a paycheck (I used to be a public school teacher, so I have no issue calling out our pathetic public education system). Because many things in life back then required a colonist to be engaged, education, done privately, was taken quite seriously. There is evidence that shows children back then were educated in a number of ways, as I outlined earlier. Mothers were mostly as literate as their male counterparts in Colonial America, and they were often the primary educator for their children. All of this was accomplished without public education.
Those living in the Colonies as they explored, and eventually gained, independence were especially enamored with the printing press, prompting many of them to learn to read. This was passed down to their children, and so on. So your statement, "I also don't recall our Founders worrying about the rights endowed to a lesser educated class" is quite incorrect, given what the historical evidence shows.
Even as early as the 1640s, laws were being passed in the colonies that required educating children so that they would be able to "read & understand the principles of religion and &the laws of this country..."
But try this: go to YouTube and pull up any number of videos of young people being stopped on the streets and asked basic questions (even lay Leno was doing this when he was still on TV). Many Americans can't even tell you which side of the country the Atlantic Ocean is on.
Based on what I've read about an educated populace, I'd wager that people were fairly well educated in terms of the social structures that existed.
Our Public Schools, as they once existed, are the best counter to your argument. Imperfect as they might have been, they demanded high standards from all who attended. Just take a look at a McGuffey's Reader from way back when. No, Americans are NOT dumber than they were 200 years ago, but the so-called "education" they have received since then has been dumbed down, with predictable results.
Who is to say that? Well, Gore Vidal, for one, because as he would say (Source: https://consortiumnews.com/2021/07/31/a-conversation-with-gore-vidal-on-the-e-word/), Americans used to be very educated and the average American farmer knew Latin and some Greek. They read all the classics, and were historically and politically literate.
Now, who in America reads any of the classics or knows ancient languages? No one important. For that matter, it is doubtful many Americans could even pass a school test from a little over a century ago. Can you pass this test from 1912? I doubt I could: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/1912-eighth-grade-exam_n_3744163
The elites and academics and "educated class" are not educated. They are ignoramuses, complete and utter barbarians who are too ignorant to recognise the decline that has occurred. It is very hard to recognise when knowledge is lost, because rarely is anyone even aware it has been; what knowledge? They are of a much lower class than the people who once existed in America, and especially of the oligarchic one that was intended from the start to rule it (only Jefferson cared much for democracy).
The Flynn effect never happened and was always an illusion, and in fact as evolutionary anthropologists have observed the trend in society is selecting outright against intelligence and educational attainment—even human cranial capacity is being selected against as one Estonian study showed—people are not becoming more educated, but less; not more intelligent, but less.
Regarding what Vidal noted, today, the only American Latin you'll find (if you're lucky enough to get it to turn up on a search engine that tries to redirect you to "Latin American") will be an introductory relic on some government website, and not a single member of Congress can read it, let alone write and speak it like the Founding Fathers did writing letters to each other in Latin and Greek.
And of course, the academic class that pretends to understand it—including scientists and even linguists who are among the very worst—does not at all and only pretends to, speaking and writing in a crude, uneducated pig Latin where they come up with endless gibberish that make no sense in a language they don't know to try to sound more sophisticated. Orwell observed similar even in his time as the common English names of plants were replaced with Latin (vile butcherings of it).
What hope is there for a people who once read Aristotle and now can only recite sentence-long quotes from him, whose attention spans rarely exceed 30 seconds? If people read him, as Vidal noted, they'd understand what has been done to the Americna Republic is terminal. There is no saving it, and this was the case long ago.
I've done some research that shows that our Colonial counterparts, given the time frame they lived in, were far more practically educated than we are now.
The private education system existed in a number of social and religious organizations that made a foundation in reading and education a central tenet of life in the colonies, especially for children.
Oh, I don't know, I believe that trying to put in prison the man who can beat you in an election is fair game. Hahahaha!
I swear I had a conversation with a friend, who said that Trump should be put in prison. I said, "What for?" And her reply, "He's an awful human being. He's a bully." I said, "So every awful human being who are bullies should be put in prison?" She said, "I don't want to talk about it anymore." I said, "One last comment, don't you think that Biden's bribes coming from Ukraine and China are worse behavior than being a bully?" hahaha. It's not fun finding out your friend is a fool.
I'm not a partisan, and feel 'whatever it takes' is the problem on 'both sides'. Agree the dems have no case on Trump the 'insurrectionist' lol. But Trump is trying to burn it all down in spirt of 'whatever it takes', too. A war of attrition between parties (edit: and constituents) is unlikely in the best national interest yet here we are.
Yeah, I see it a little differently. If ANY President should have been prosecuted, it was George W Bush. But rather than prosecuting him, the Obama's actually resurrected his legacy by acting like he is a kindly old gentleman who needs candy shared.
With Trump, I do believe the election was rigged even though I didn't vote for either Biden or Trump. There is just NO WAY 81 million people voted for a clearly demented old man. I will share an anecdote about the 2016 election: when I was watching the election in 2016, I laughed extremely hard and loud at a bar I was at when Trump won. I got so many dirty looks which made me laugh even MORE! I was asked to leave by the bartender because he said, "patrons are getting triggered by your laughter." So the Trump phenon began even in 2016 and it was accelerated by Hillary's concoction of the Russia Russia Russia, which many people still believe. Even though there has been ample coverage that the whole Russia collusion has been debunked.
The 2020 vote harvesting in the name of 'covid safety' was definitely a scam the dems played better than the repubs. And of course they'd love to keep that going since it's the only way to get young people and certain minority populations to vote as instructed. Which is why I'm skeptical of the recent mask fixations over at CNN.
Trump played the wrong angles on that one and doubled down when he should have pivoted to illegal harvesting. Wait until the suburban mega baptist churches start dumping *their* ballots at the drop off locations.
Let's not forget it was Trump nodding along with Fauci throughout. Should have called BS day 1.
Read writings of 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 who was White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under Obama 2009- 2012. His is some of the intellectual writing that shapes these ideas.
Yes, there are so many connections. And Victoria Nuland married to Robert Kagan, co-founder of the neoconservative Project for the New American Century.
Terrific summation. As you said, the non-MSM is playing a heroic role in shining a stark light on America’s descent into an oligarch/serf political structure. Hey, as history shows, it’s a time-tested model. Ultimately though, it’s not about Matt’s courage, it’s about the American people demanding and voting overwhelmingly for an alternative that will have the courage and will to make the changes necessary to avoid this historical fate. As discussed a few days ago, a big part of this is making drastic and permanent changes to the federal bureaucracy, which is the key enabler of the elimination of individual free will in America.
As Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini said years ago, “There is no need to attack America. They will destroy themselves.” It’s up to us to show him wrong.
Classical investigative journalism has historically played a major role limiting authoritarian government. That's why, after it inspired the Vietnam war protests, it was virtually destroyed by government intel agencies operating inside every mainstream media outlet. That's also why those same agencies now want investigative journalism equated with domestic terrorism.
After spending a few days responding to comments to my posts on Matt's 911 article, it is my opinion that it is not only the government agencies who want to control your thoughts, but it is also people who've been brainwashed by the government propaganda who want to control your thoughts.
I remember when my neighbor told me (after she knew I refused the vax) "People who aren't vaxxed should be denied entry into any hospital." So, she wanted me to die if I needed any emergency hospital care.
I also remember when I was fighting the banks during the Great Financial Crime Spree, my own friends saying, "Why don't you just pay your mortgage?" These comments were after I told them about all the bank crimes that I was uncovering.
And go and look at comments to people who believe that the 911 official story is a lie. People truly want to control your thoughts when it is in opposition to their own thoughts. Maybe it's self-protection, dunno.
As I often tell my kids, there is a big difference between being clever and being wise. Clever people often have the skills and ambition to become part of the elite. Wise people may or may not be materially successful or have lots of degrees, but they can tell which way the wind is blowing, value their own instincts, and know that the secret to a good life are simple, and as old as time.
Propaganda works very well on the first group. Not so much on the second.
A Stupid general public would not require the entirety of the propaganda machinations performed on it for decades via radio/TV/movies, all controlled by the USG via licenses.
The Libs and Conservs had their mags to gripe at the other side, and extol their own - totally ineffectual for taking on the USG. Perhaps both were established for this purpose and result.
I agree there is a lot of stupid people. But I also know people who are, what I consider to be bright, yet they have just totally wacko points of view regarding what is happening in DC and our Statehouses.
I concur. And it's not just the US government: it's global. It's quite horrifying to observe the plutocrats bleating on about what MUST BE DONE. And, like sheep, they are enchanted by that comfort bubble in which most live. THAT said, my daughter works in healthcare. What she experienced working throughtout COVID was horrifying. It dragged on brutally. We believed what we were being told would keep us safe because we believe in science, and we were afraid. My Mom died of it. It sucks that they lied. I am now aware that voices - valid, scientific, fact-based - were silenced. (I'm confident I would have opted for the vaccine.) For me, this silencing of dissent is the most distressing outcome of the pandemic. Not the "Big Pharma made $$." Not the "it's all one big conspiracy." Maybe it is, but I believe there are, like a Venn diagram, several overlapping sets of interests, more likely than one giant conspiracy. But if Klaus Schwab is pulling the strings, I guess we are all fucked.
Well said, and I'm sorry that your mother succumbed to Covid. The only silver lining of the entire Covid nightmare is that it has revealed (for all who care to see) the lengths to which our government (and others) are willing to go in order to silence entirely reasonable people. Perhaps, at a society level, this kind of Covid exposure can immunize us against any future thought-control government pestilence.
I’m sounding like a broken record. It has never been 'stupid people don’t know what’s good for them'. It is the lust for power and self-fulfillment that requires control of others.
A Stupid general public would not require the entirety of the propaganda machinations performed on it for decades via radio/TV/movies, all controlled by the USG via licenses.
The Libs and Conservs had their mags to gripe at the other side, and extol their own - totally ineffectual for taking on the State. Perhaps both were established for this purpose and result.
The internet was built and backed by the USG to instigate, monitor, and control. But with no ‘use licenses’ it lost its influencing mechanism over social media. Once the public used this outlet for its voice, the USG was quick to threaten those it helped to create - you will throttle whom we say.
Sure, about 50% of the citizens are alphabet news watchers still under the propaganda - the USG always works for and on your behalf, all the while taking all rights and depopulating the planet.
My favorite example of this is democrats claiming republican hispanics and blacks are voting 'against their interests'. What interests would those be, I wonder?
I read a book years ago where the writer was opining about voters. It was titled What's the Matter with Kansas. He was in disbelieve that the majority of voters in KS kept electing Republicans which could not possibly reflect their needs and wants!
That's Thomas Frank and I think his broader point is how modern liberalism abandoned the values of midwestern swing voters despite the history of unions in states like Kansas. Same themes in his book "Listen Liberal".
I guess that's the same as "voting against pragmatic interests" come to think of it, but 'values' are interests, too.
Just checked Wikipedia – Thomas is a liberal, Bernie (socialist) supporter and he called Trump "the worst politician ever" saying "quasi-fascist movements" are springing up around the world.
I agree, Trump is the worst politician ever because he doesn’t know how to be a deceiver and liar and he did not sell out the country like the rest of them have since Reagan. Trump gain America three plus years in stalling out the NWO. The others are the fascists.
The bulk of journalists went left because that is where all the accolades reside, otherwise, you are a nobody unless you spin for them like David Brock does.
The only values I recognize align with the 'shall nots' in the Bible. However, it is almost like they don't exist anymore, especially on the 'left'.
This only covers half the problem. George Carlin was right. Think about how dumb the average American is - and stop to think that half of them are dumber than that... right?
The sin here is that people in government seem to think that this observation doesn't apply to them. But it does. Half of them are imbeciles. Despite where they went to college.
The paid incentives for certain protocols murdered people. The Covid Event found me shifting my opinion on the death penalty. Many of us living still with the resulting carnage.
The clip of Dr Paul Marik in tears when told to stand down in ICU lives forever in my mind (mid 2021). On Ron Johnson’s Rumble channel you’ll find many ethical impassioned words. 2 Senate hearings where NO other politician bothered to show up re 2nd opinion. Patients he was saving died afterwards even tho his success rate best in hospital. World leading ICU doc
Home run this week by CHD: 4 part documentary with action plan. #NeverForget & find a doc out of system.
"They" are increasingly inhabiting our minds. Most people are unaware and will continue to be unaware, willingly. The resistance is weak and small in number. This is my cynical take. But I will not give up and sometimes I see cracks in the matrix.
It all boils down to this: the intelligence agencies, the NGOs, and the permanent administrative state all believe the general public are too stupid to know what's good for them. The people running these groups have a combination of intellectual hubris and belief in their moral superiority that leads them to think that their censorship and control of the 'cognitive infrastructure' is ethically justified. I also believe many of them are truly blind to how their personal interests (financial, power) are reinforced by these beliefs and enforcement actions.
I don't know have all the answers for how we put a halt to our increasingly authoritarian government, but I know that classical investigative journalism will have to play a major role. We must continue supporting the non-MSM sources of information, else we are doomed.
Saying they are motivated by their "intellectual hubris and belief in their moral superiority" is giving them the benefit of the doubt. The sick thing about pushing a vaccine is that the motivation was greed and profit. Big pharma had way too much control on the narrative and many people died unnecessarily. Ivermectin is safer than Tylenol, and at least somewhat effective against Covid. The demonizing of that drug, during a pandemic, is immoral.
Political power is the underlying motivation.
Yes, but why do they want the political power? I believe it's because they have an absolute conviction that they know how our society should be shaped and how people should behave and think the right thoughts. They want the power to bring their vision into being, which involves suppression of dissenting voices.
Unless you think power over others is a primary reward in itself - a sadistic pleasure, as it were, even if couched in all kinds of psychological masking to deny it? I'm not ruling that out either!
Probably some combination of all of the above. They believe they are our betters, and therefore deserve all the power and wealth. A new divine right of kings.
“ A new divine right of kings.”
Spot on. 🛎️
We a select group of human beings are able to actually talk about saving the planet. I mean, it's so extraterrestrial to think about saving the planet. John Kerry.
John Kerry is an outstanding example of these people. Here’s the exact quote you’re referring to. Hubris, unbridled:
“When you start to think about it, it's pretty extraordinary that we — select group of human beings because of whatever touched us at some point in our lives [!!!] — are able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet," Kerry said.
"I mean, it's so almost extraterrestrial to think about saving the planet," Kerry said. "If you say that to most people, most people think you're just a crazy, tree-hugging, lefty liberal, you know, do-gooder, or whatever, and there's no relationship. But really, that's where we are."
“Almost extraterrestrial” = “We select ones are like the Gods.”
It seems like we're living in a combination of 1984 and leviticus 26 world.
Sometimes tyranny is compensation for massive inferiority complexes. Hitler was a failed painter, and his revenge grew partly from that. The grand programs, such as China’s revolution are perhaps based on super confidence, but Bush/Chaney? I see little more than greed and power lust for its own sake with these guys. Like enormous yachts that can’t even leave the shipyard without tearing down a bridge. They’re just testifying.
We see every day how short and straight the pathway from political power to financial power has become. Term limits for members of congress, please...
Wrong country, chief. Here, our Titans from Zenith leverage their financial power for political power by purchasing (for a song) politicians and magistrates through campaign donations and other emoluments, most of them gratuitously illicit, many of them baldly illegal.
Then the official, depending on rank and station, after tiring of 11pm roll calls and Columbus Day Middle School ceremonies, manages to secure 50% ownership of the town's Cadillac dealership with a mere few hundred dollars of his own money, or sails to Paris and back twice a year for 20 years on some plutocrat's dime, or manages to land a spot on the board of directors of Raytheon without knowing the difference between a sticky bomb and a cluster bomb. For the more fairly endowed, perhaps some gabbing and posing for the CNN or Fox cameras.
The Titans, meanwhile, proceed to "guide" the country as though it were the Zenith Chamber of Commerce. Simple.
AND the Supreme Court.
The SC are lifetime appointments for a reason----the total invasion of politics into the Supreme Court. Anyone advocating for that just wants the court on their side of the aisle without bothering to contemplate the dangers & pitfalls.
Agreed. Federalist 78 makes a number of great points regarding the need for lifetime appointments in the federal judiciary in order to maintain radical independence.
With term limits, judges will need to curry favor with various aspects of society in order to make sure they have post-bench opportunities. They would be carried away by the whims of the majority, when their role is to be a check and balance on majoritarian rule.
The standard of "serving at good behavior" has been fairly successful over a long stretch of time. I really haven't understood where this sudden drive for term limits is coming from.
So true on Big Pharma. Didn’t anyone ever see Dopesick or hear of the Sacklers? How anyone can blindly trust any of these entities is beyond me. But millions did without pause or question...
Were treatments for Covid
deamplified so unapproved vaccines could obtain ‘emergency use authorization'?
FDA:
“An Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is a mechanism to facilitate the availability and use of medical countermeasures, including vaccines, during public health emergencies, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic...when certain statutory criteria have been met, ‼️including that there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives.”
https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/vaccines/emergency-use-authorization-vaccines-explained#:~:text=FDA%20must%20ensure%20that%20recipients,unknown%2C%20that%20they%20have%20the
absolutely
I’m finding other us
Vaccines work.
Your choice to vaxx or not. As far as the work place goes? ....post covid many folks work from home ( its the new normal) for many others that option doesn't work.
As our ancestor's had to adapt to change so do we (their descendents). Fight or flight you chose. Make the right one and maybe you'll get thru the day make the wrong one and maybe you won't. Nature favors those making the right one.
Cheers....
I think you have a lot of homework to do.
You mean shilling for Big Pharma?
Some vaccines work; there is no evidence that these do. Even the best claim is just that they "moderate the severity" and keep people out of hospitals; that is not a public health benefit. And it is unaccompanied by numerical evidence. In fact, they mostly keep the numbers secret, like the Chinese.
Why are they keeping the Chinese secret?
Fine don't vaxx.
Your call.
Live long and prosper
Cheers
The blanket statement that "vaccines work" has to be one of the most foolishly inane pieces of pseudo-intellectual gobbelly-gook in the current cultural zeitgeist. It is so utterly absurd, so utterly bereft of intelligence, so utterly lacking in any critical thinking or scientific evidence that I feel sorry for anyone who gives it more than a moment of serious consideration.
"the intelligence agencies, the NGOs, and the permanent administrative state all believe the general public are too stupid to know what's good for them. "
In no way am I supporting censorship, or advocating for government control and manipulation of speech, but if you look at how many Americans brought into all this nonsense with every fiber of their being, I think it's safe to say that many Americans are, indeed, profoundly stupid.
I remember hearing Colbert making fun of those who claimed they wanted to do their own research and thinking, "Damn, this guy thinks Americans who want to think and research for themselves are crazy and stupid? There's little hope for the general psyche of this republic."
Not denying there's a lot of stupid out there.
What is worse: 1) living with the consequences of many low-level stupid decisions made by individual members of the public, or 2) ceding one's autonomy to a supposedly wiser autocratic state (the governance of which is also susceptible to human stupidity and greed)?
There are of course middle-grounds to be found but as this article reports, we are clearly shifting to option 2 with concerning alacrity.
One thing I will never understand (because I try to employ logic in my thinking) is why people automatically assume that government always has their best interests at heart.
My fields of study were education and American literature, but I'm a voracious reader, and I generally lean towards historical topics, so I've read reams of articles and papers that outlined all the nefarious and evil things our government has done to its own people. So naturally, my reaction to them telling us what we need to do during this "epidemic," and watching how they treated skeptics, was one of doubt.
Some people are naive to the point of being dangerous, and that danger inevitably spreads to those of us who want to think and discover for ourselves. This was evident during this entire "epidemic."
Personally, I've been following public affairs as well as I could for about, no over, 60 years now.
The one indisputable lesson: theyre lying to us, because powerful people almost always have something to hide. That's a hard thing to keep in mind - you always want your particular heros to be honest - but it is the lesson. And it applies just as much to "Science!" as to the rest, especially when it gets tangled up in politics. Scientific fraud is a major problem.
Oh, and: coverups are an admission of guilt. That applies to the Chinese gov't. when it comes to the origin of Covid, and it applies to censorship. It's just another kind of coverup.
One of the many lessons I learned early on was that people in government I looked up to were lying to me almost as though it was their nature.
Later, I learned it actually was their nature.
Politicians are the most loathsome, vile creatures in human history. They are vipers vying for power and money in a pit full of other vipers trying for the same things.
I have zero respect for any of them.
Spot on, Barry.
Barry W., while it is true, that many Americans (and every other nationality, too, from what I can tell) are indeed "profoundly stupid," I don't hold it against those who fell for the massive fear mongering and intimidation inflicted upon them about Covid...and it says a lot that many of the most fearful among us were also among the most "educated."
The question now is, are they prepared to collectively resist and defend medical research based on the damage resulting from their fear. These evil people will try this again. We trusted the educated experts especially regarding our health. There has been a huge breach of trust regarding health care providers. Many people are suffering the effects of treatments or have died from directives that most educated scientists knew were questionable. Also, fellow medical experts (some of the brightest researchers in the world were trying to sound the alarm) were censored by the government while these cowardly providers signed letters affirming their agreement. That was the worst. I hold it against everyone with any power that didn’t speak out. How are we supposed to know who the good folks are when we walk into a medical facility? I know many folks who lost jobs and had their lives upended during covid. If our Doctors won’t stand up for something this heinous and put their own jobs on the line, then we don’t need them. God bless those who bore the humiliation delivered to them by their silent colleagues. I know that was a lot and it certainly wasn’t directed at you Pacificus, you are one of my favorite contributors and I look forward to all of your comments. It just seemed like the best place to place it in the discussion.
Be careful not to confuse being "educated" with being "smart," and having basic working knowledge of how our government actually operates, and how people react to that type of governance.
You say you don't hold it against them. I do. They are the ones who made, and continue to make, life difficult for the rest of us.
With some exceptions, people choose to be stupid in that they refuse to question what they're being told. The simply fall in line and expect the rest of us to, as well.
I've never been one to walk single file behind others. Doing so makes one blind to the pitfalls that may not be visible until it's too late.
No, I've zero sympathy for stupid people.
there's a lot of folks that are smart in the schoolhouse, but dumb on the bus.
Barry, you are a fellow "contrarian". I think we will get along just fine.
We're floating around the ether here and there.
People, overall, are stupid. Individuals, when asked to think for themselves, can be smart.
Consider the introduction to this interview. That is, the report on human psychological/emotional damage (anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, etc.) which reflects the actual consequences of living inside a distortion. Is the general American psyche dumb or simply wounded and beaten numb? Human beings and nations become ill when forced to live inside a lie. The core driver for present day reality is the leap in Consciousness (my capital) created by the the introduction of new tech and communications. Control of this new and expanding Consciousness is THE FIGHT!! The world political/financial grift is transparent to reality and the perps are scared. Citizens of the Republic have always been manipulated and propagandized. The CIC is the natural amplification of the avaricious self-interest which surrounds and seek to control all governments. As the Doctor pointed out, the issue is control of the narrative. The protection of perps, cover for the looting of an economy and the mal consequences of bad social, health and economic policy demands the creation and imposition of an enforced hyperreality. A truthful fact based human reality is its greatest enemy. What was a whisper is now a scream.
When I say that our Constitution and the Bill of Rights it contains is our only engine of survival I'm not being hyperbolic. They stand, the Republic and its citizens stand. This new Consciousness also demands the recognition that the thugs assaulting human dignity, speech and freedom in Europe are also players here. A cartel of criminal financiers are intent in creating a CCP style electronic surveillance overlay to control the peoples of the world. They're here. Who will fight for us if we won't fight for ourselves.
Look closely at the DNC operatives at the Taibbi/Shellenberger Congressional hearings. Mercenary second rate party line political poseurs, allied with a propagandist MSM, in an attempt to destroy and humiliate the bearers of factual truthful reality, in order to prop up what can only be described as a psyop. Accept it!! The DNC is literally a lie that lines its pockets by serving corporate fascism and protecting the bureaucratic surveillance bureaucracy that serves it.--- Against all propaganda otherwise, as reported in today's article, independent journalism, committed citizens and free men and women across the world continue their assault on tyranny.
Colbert was PAID to make fun of the unvaccinated.
HE WAS PAID.
https://www.judicialwatch.org/covid-19-vaccine-campaign/
I wonder if he got a bonus for being over-the-top obnoxious.
I would certainly demand it if I was going to have something as awful as "The Vax-Scene" on my show.
He made fun of people who demanded bodily autonomy, because he was paid to do so. Just think about that for a second......
If you consider the money trail, it was our money used to pay him too. So Pharma gets billions, gives some to the politicians, who use our $, to create the market and madate the vax's, and round and round it goes.
Don't forget that we paid for our own censorship, and ultimately we'll end up paying for the vaccine injuries, too!
I don't care if he was paid in Benjamins or blow jobs.
The point is, he was a hook, line and sinker believer in all that bullshit.
Yeah, I have to laugh at this misbegotten belief in the wisdom of the "general public."
Thirty years ago the wisdom of the general public was true in many cases. My own parents were both hillbillies from the hills of Appalachia (Eastern Kentucky).
Mom graduated high school only, and dad dropped out, joined the Army, and went to Korea. But both were mentally sharp, and very knowledgeable about politics, government, how society interacts with itself within it various groupings, etc. Both of them were news hounds, watching nightly news regularly, and reading three different newspapers every day. My father always had subscriptions to as many papers that would deliver to our house.
They were both also very active in the politics of the city and county we lived in. They dragged my two brothers and I to county commission and city council meetings. They wanted to impress upon us the importance of civic involvement. They wanted us to understand that living in a free republic involved work, i.e. understanding how our government worked, and what a citizen's duties were.
My father, an Army vet and UAW auto worker coordinated a field trip with my 7th grade history teacher (Mrs. Chrien, a wonderful historian who spoke with the rasp of years of cigarette smoking). He was instrumental in making our class the first to take a field trip to Washington DC (a trip that continues to this day, and I was in 7th grade in 1983). My dad felt it was paramount that young kids learn about their government in every facet they could, and a trip to witness our government in action was the best way to accomplish this in his opinion.
I was an SRO for a couple of years during my law enforcement career, and never saw the type of engagement with government as I did when I was in school.
Kids today can't even tell you where the seat of government is on a map. This isn't "get off my lawn" talk; this is ugly and sad reality.
You grew up in the exact same world I did, Barry. My opinion is that the further the federal government was allowed to entrench itself in our Public Schools, the less true/practical education the average American received.
A federal Department of Education is heresy in a republic comprised of states. The framers understood all too well the dangers of a powerful centralized government (unless you were a Hamiltonian).
A union of states, with states rights and localized power, was a stroke of brilliance in my opinion. Government is a necessary evil that societies need in order to maintain, well, order. Making that government as functionally small as possible makes that government more reactive to the needs of its citizens, in my opinion.
Of course we've screwed that up by tinkering with some of the good stuff. Popular election of senators, creation of a centralized education bureaucracy, attempts to annihilate the Electoral College. All of these, plus hundreds of more sinister tinkerings on the part of the collection of pit vipers known as the federal government, these have all contributed to the erosion of this republic.
Honestly, I'm surprised we still exist a a republic at this point.
EXACTLY.
Who is to say Americans are dumber now than 200 years ago? It's quite an assumption considering public education did not exist. I also don't recall our Founders worrying about the rights endowed to a lesser educated class. I surmise this distinction is entirely new in America. The elites just started looking more like elites, and the peons, peons. Elites just decided to move first.
Again, don't mistake "educated" for "smart."
But to answer your question, research has shown that the average colonial was rather well educated. Public schools were not needed, as schooling mostly occurred in the home (apart from some private schools that existed). Looking at historical documents, researchers have found that children were already reading earlier than their future counterparts, partially because parents were teaching them to read from an early age.
This private home education system, as it were, consisted of home, church, civic associations and clubs, apprenticeships, even the farm field. Education was foundational in all of these. Mother and father were the teachers, not some government lackey looking for a paycheck (I used to be a public school teacher, so I have no issue calling out our pathetic public education system). Because many things in life back then required a colonist to be engaged, education, done privately, was taken quite seriously. There is evidence that shows children back then were educated in a number of ways, as I outlined earlier. Mothers were mostly as literate as their male counterparts in Colonial America, and they were often the primary educator for their children. All of this was accomplished without public education.
Those living in the Colonies as they explored, and eventually gained, independence were especially enamored with the printing press, prompting many of them to learn to read. This was passed down to their children, and so on. So your statement, "I also don't recall our Founders worrying about the rights endowed to a lesser educated class" is quite incorrect, given what the historical evidence shows.
Even as early as the 1640s, laws were being passed in the colonies that required educating children so that they would be able to "read & understand the principles of religion and &the laws of this country..."
But try this: go to YouTube and pull up any number of videos of young people being stopped on the streets and asked basic questions (even lay Leno was doing this when he was still on TV). Many Americans can't even tell you which side of the country the Atlantic Ocean is on.
Based on what I've read about an educated populace, I'd wager that people were fairly well educated in terms of the social structures that existed.
Our Public Schools, as they once existed, are the best counter to your argument. Imperfect as they might have been, they demanded high standards from all who attended. Just take a look at a McGuffey's Reader from way back when. No, Americans are NOT dumber than they were 200 years ago, but the so-called "education" they have received since then has been dumbed down, with predictable results.
Well stated, good sir.
Who is to say that? Well, Gore Vidal, for one, because as he would say (Source: https://consortiumnews.com/2021/07/31/a-conversation-with-gore-vidal-on-the-e-word/), Americans used to be very educated and the average American farmer knew Latin and some Greek. They read all the classics, and were historically and politically literate.
Now, who in America reads any of the classics or knows ancient languages? No one important. For that matter, it is doubtful many Americans could even pass a school test from a little over a century ago. Can you pass this test from 1912? I doubt I could: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/1912-eighth-grade-exam_n_3744163
The elites and academics and "educated class" are not educated. They are ignoramuses, complete and utter barbarians who are too ignorant to recognise the decline that has occurred. It is very hard to recognise when knowledge is lost, because rarely is anyone even aware it has been; what knowledge? They are of a much lower class than the people who once existed in America, and especially of the oligarchic one that was intended from the start to rule it (only Jefferson cared much for democracy).
The Flynn effect never happened and was always an illusion, and in fact as evolutionary anthropologists have observed the trend in society is selecting outright against intelligence and educational attainment—even human cranial capacity is being selected against as one Estonian study showed—people are not becoming more educated, but less; not more intelligent, but less.
Regarding what Vidal noted, today, the only American Latin you'll find (if you're lucky enough to get it to turn up on a search engine that tries to redirect you to "Latin American") will be an introductory relic on some government website, and not a single member of Congress can read it, let alone write and speak it like the Founding Fathers did writing letters to each other in Latin and Greek.
And of course, the academic class that pretends to understand it—including scientists and even linguists who are among the very worst—does not at all and only pretends to, speaking and writing in a crude, uneducated pig Latin where they come up with endless gibberish that make no sense in a language they don't know to try to sound more sophisticated. Orwell observed similar even in his time as the common English names of plants were replaced with Latin (vile butcherings of it).
What hope is there for a people who once read Aristotle and now can only recite sentence-long quotes from him, whose attention spans rarely exceed 30 seconds? If people read him, as Vidal noted, they'd understand what has been done to the Americna Republic is terminal. There is no saving it, and this was the case long ago.
I basically just posted the same thing.
I've done some research that shows that our Colonial counterparts, given the time frame they lived in, were far more practically educated than we are now.
The private education system existed in a number of social and religious organizations that made a foundation in reading and education a central tenet of life in the colonies, especially for children.
And this: stop Trump, whatever it takes.
Isn't "whatever it takes" the problem?
Oh, I don't know, I believe that trying to put in prison the man who can beat you in an election is fair game. Hahahaha!
I swear I had a conversation with a friend, who said that Trump should be put in prison. I said, "What for?" And her reply, "He's an awful human being. He's a bully." I said, "So every awful human being who are bullies should be put in prison?" She said, "I don't want to talk about it anymore." I said, "One last comment, don't you think that Biden's bribes coming from Ukraine and China are worse behavior than being a bully?" hahaha. It's not fun finding out your friend is a fool.
I'm not a partisan, and feel 'whatever it takes' is the problem on 'both sides'. Agree the dems have no case on Trump the 'insurrectionist' lol. But Trump is trying to burn it all down in spirt of 'whatever it takes', too. A war of attrition between parties (edit: and constituents) is unlikely in the best national interest yet here we are.
Yeah, I see it a little differently. If ANY President should have been prosecuted, it was George W Bush. But rather than prosecuting him, the Obama's actually resurrected his legacy by acting like he is a kindly old gentleman who needs candy shared.
With Trump, I do believe the election was rigged even though I didn't vote for either Biden or Trump. There is just NO WAY 81 million people voted for a clearly demented old man. I will share an anecdote about the 2016 election: when I was watching the election in 2016, I laughed extremely hard and loud at a bar I was at when Trump won. I got so many dirty looks which made me laugh even MORE! I was asked to leave by the bartender because he said, "patrons are getting triggered by your laughter." So the Trump phenon began even in 2016 and it was accelerated by Hillary's concoction of the Russia Russia Russia, which many people still believe. Even though there has been ample coverage that the whole Russia collusion has been debunked.
Agree on Bush the War Criminal.
The 2020 vote harvesting in the name of 'covid safety' was definitely a scam the dems played better than the repubs. And of course they'd love to keep that going since it's the only way to get young people and certain minority populations to vote as instructed. Which is why I'm skeptical of the recent mask fixations over at CNN.
Trump played the wrong angles on that one and doubled down when he should have pivoted to illegal harvesting. Wait until the suburban mega baptist churches start dumping *their* ballots at the drop off locations.
Let's not forget it was Trump nodding along with Fauci throughout. Should have called BS day 1.
It’s not just the demented old man, it’s the brainwashing by our institutions/agencies that have too much pull
Nor am I . Trump is hardly a unifier, and we can all do so much better. And all this divisive rhetoric on both sides SUCKS.
Read writings of 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 who was White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under Obama 2009- 2012. His is some of the intellectual writing that shapes these ideas.
......who just so happens to be Samantha Power’s husband. What a web.
Yes, there are so many connections. And Victoria Nuland married to Robert Kagan, co-founder of the neoconservative Project for the New American Century.
Don’t forget Richard Thaler, his accomplice. “Nudge,” indeed!
To his credit, Nassim Taleb unmasked these two, years ago, before their influence grew.
That “nudge” in Libya certainly worked out well.
I would rather not read any writings from Obama's criminal administration. I hate that man more than any other human on this planet.
Even more than men who question the arguments for unlimited abortion-on-demand?
Terrific summation. As you said, the non-MSM is playing a heroic role in shining a stark light on America’s descent into an oligarch/serf political structure. Hey, as history shows, it’s a time-tested model. Ultimately though, it’s not about Matt’s courage, it’s about the American people demanding and voting overwhelmingly for an alternative that will have the courage and will to make the changes necessary to avoid this historical fate. As discussed a few days ago, a big part of this is making drastic and permanent changes to the federal bureaucracy, which is the key enabler of the elimination of individual free will in America.
As Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini said years ago, “There is no need to attack America. They will destroy themselves.” It’s up to us to show him wrong.
Classical investigative journalism has historically played a major role limiting authoritarian government. That's why, after it inspired the Vietnam war protests, it was virtually destroyed by government intel agencies operating inside every mainstream media outlet. That's also why those same agencies now want investigative journalism equated with domestic terrorism.
After spending a few days responding to comments to my posts on Matt's 911 article, it is my opinion that it is not only the government agencies who want to control your thoughts, but it is also people who've been brainwashed by the government propaganda who want to control your thoughts.
I remember when my neighbor told me (after she knew I refused the vax) "People who aren't vaxxed should be denied entry into any hospital." So, she wanted me to die if I needed any emergency hospital care.
I also remember when I was fighting the banks during the Great Financial Crime Spree, my own friends saying, "Why don't you just pay your mortgage?" These comments were after I told them about all the bank crimes that I was uncovering.
And go and look at comments to people who believe that the 911 official story is a lie. People truly want to control your thoughts when it is in opposition to their own thoughts. Maybe it's self-protection, dunno.
Part of the purpose of government propaganda is to create zealous minions who will help enforce their desired narrative.
Angelo Codevilla predicted our worst ruling class ever back in 2010 and then revisited his premise in 2020, before his untimely accidental death.
https://t.co/mh1lZKCLyA
Wow, what an incredible essay. Thank you for sharing. We have indeed lost an amazing mind w the death of Mr. Codevilla.
Point taken, but on the other hand, you have to admit the general public are pretty damn stupid.
I'm not sure "stupid" is the correct word. Propaganda is very strong. And it works, that's why it's employed every day on us.
As I often tell my kids, there is a big difference between being clever and being wise. Clever people often have the skills and ambition to become part of the elite. Wise people may or may not be materially successful or have lots of degrees, but they can tell which way the wind is blowing, value their own instincts, and know that the secret to a good life are simple, and as old as time.
Propaganda works very well on the first group. Not so much on the second.
Educated and smart are two very different concepts.
There are too many educated people in government who aren't smart.
Great assessment WA
A Stupid general public would not require the entirety of the propaganda machinations performed on it for decades via radio/TV/movies, all controlled by the USG via licenses.
The Libs and Conservs had their mags to gripe at the other side, and extol their own - totally ineffectual for taking on the USG. Perhaps both were established for this purpose and result.
There's no shortage of stupid people inhabiting the "general public." The populist idea that the mob knows best is frightening.
I agree there is a lot of stupid people. But I also know people who are, what I consider to be bright, yet they have just totally wacko points of view regarding what is happening in DC and our Statehouses.
Yeah, some people are bright but confused.
There's no shortage of stupid people inhabiting the "government." FTFY
The government being made up of people from the "general public."
exactly, that's why the idea that the "government" knows best is stupid.
I concur. And it's not just the US government: it's global. It's quite horrifying to observe the plutocrats bleating on about what MUST BE DONE. And, like sheep, they are enchanted by that comfort bubble in which most live. THAT said, my daughter works in healthcare. What she experienced working throughtout COVID was horrifying. It dragged on brutally. We believed what we were being told would keep us safe because we believe in science, and we were afraid. My Mom died of it. It sucks that they lied. I am now aware that voices - valid, scientific, fact-based - were silenced. (I'm confident I would have opted for the vaccine.) For me, this silencing of dissent is the most distressing outcome of the pandemic. Not the "Big Pharma made $$." Not the "it's all one big conspiracy." Maybe it is, but I believe there are, like a Venn diagram, several overlapping sets of interests, more likely than one giant conspiracy. But if Klaus Schwab is pulling the strings, I guess we are all fucked.
Well said, and I'm sorry that your mother succumbed to Covid. The only silver lining of the entire Covid nightmare is that it has revealed (for all who care to see) the lengths to which our government (and others) are willing to go in order to silence entirely reasonable people. Perhaps, at a society level, this kind of Covid exposure can immunize us against any future thought-control government pestilence.
I’m sounding like a broken record. It has never been 'stupid people don’t know what’s good for them'. It is the lust for power and self-fulfillment that requires control of others.
A Stupid general public would not require the entirety of the propaganda machinations performed on it for decades via radio/TV/movies, all controlled by the USG via licenses.
The Libs and Conservs had their mags to gripe at the other side, and extol their own - totally ineffectual for taking on the State. Perhaps both were established for this purpose and result.
The internet was built and backed by the USG to instigate, monitor, and control. But with no ‘use licenses’ it lost its influencing mechanism over social media. Once the public used this outlet for its voice, the USG was quick to threaten those it helped to create - you will throttle whom we say.
Sure, about 50% of the citizens are alphabet news watchers still under the propaganda - the USG always works for and on your behalf, all the while taking all rights and depopulating the planet.
My favorite example of this is democrats claiming republican hispanics and blacks are voting 'against their interests'. What interests would those be, I wonder?
I read a book years ago where the writer was opining about voters. It was titled What's the Matter with Kansas. He was in disbelieve that the majority of voters in KS kept electing Republicans which could not possibly reflect their needs and wants!
That's Thomas Frank and I think his broader point is how modern liberalism abandoned the values of midwestern swing voters despite the history of unions in states like Kansas. Same themes in his book "Listen Liberal".
I guess that's the same as "voting against pragmatic interests" come to think of it, but 'values' are interests, too.
Just checked Wikipedia – Thomas is a liberal, Bernie (socialist) supporter and he called Trump "the worst politician ever" saying "quasi-fascist movements" are springing up around the world.
I agree, Trump is the worst politician ever because he doesn’t know how to be a deceiver and liar and he did not sell out the country like the rest of them have since Reagan. Trump gain America three plus years in stalling out the NWO. The others are the fascists.
The bulk of journalists went left because that is where all the accolades reside, otherwise, you are a nobody unless you spin for them like David Brock does.
The only values I recognize align with the 'shall nots' in the Bible. However, it is almost like they don't exist anymore, especially on the 'left'.
This only covers half the problem. George Carlin was right. Think about how dumb the average American is - and stop to think that half of them are dumber than that... right?
The sin here is that people in government seem to think that this observation doesn't apply to them. But it does. Half of them are imbeciles. Despite where they went to college.
The paid incentives for certain protocols murdered people. The Covid Event found me shifting my opinion on the death penalty. Many of us living still with the resulting carnage.
The clip of Dr Paul Marik in tears when told to stand down in ICU lives forever in my mind (mid 2021). On Ron Johnson’s Rumble channel you’ll find many ethical impassioned words. 2 Senate hearings where NO other politician bothered to show up re 2nd opinion. Patients he was saving died afterwards even tho his success rate best in hospital. World leading ICU doc
Home run this week by CHD: 4 part documentary with action plan. #NeverForget & find a doc out of system.
This wouldn't be so grating if they were not, in fact, the truly stupid ones in this relationship.
Well said and agree.
"They" are increasingly inhabiting our minds. Most people are unaware and will continue to be unaware, willingly. The resistance is weak and small in number. This is my cynical take. But I will not give up and sometimes I see cracks in the matrix.
Thanks from the bleacher seats. It’s appalling to see how far from a free society we are.